A Viking epic to conquer them all in 'The Northman’

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterHollywood is often skewered for no longer making large-scale original epics like “The Northman,” director Robert Eggers’ bloody Viking tale about a warrior’s quest to avenge his father’s death.Yet Focus Features, Universal’s indie label, took a gamble, not only backing “The Northman” but releasing the film in theaters nationwide. Driven by positive reviews, the movie generated $12 million from 3,865 North American theaters over the weekend, enough to secure the No. 4 spot on domestic box office charts.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic“The Northman,” a violent epic of Viking revenge, is not a good movie. It’s like “Gladiator” without the Colosseum and with a stubbornly uninteresting hulk avenger hero. (It also drags on 45 minutes longer than it should have.) A lot of critics have overpraised the movie because they feel invested in the career of Robert Eggers, the maverick indie director who made the spectral Puritan horror film “The Witch” (2015) and the even more impressive two-men-in-a-lighthouse gaga period fever dream “The Lighthouse” (2019).

Epik High‘s Tablo has revealed that Big Bang’s Taeyang is his “favourite” person to work with, while hinting at more to come with the K-pop idol.The Korean-American rapper had hosted an “ask me anything” (AMA) session on Twitter yesterday (April 21), where he responded to various questions from fans. “I know you collaborated [with] a lot of artists, but do you have a [favourite]?” asked one fan, to which Tablo responded with Big Bang’s Taeyang, whom he has worked with on several times before.taeyang— tablo (@blobyblo) April 20, 2022The duo first teamed up on Tablo’s 2011 album ‘Fever’s End Pt.

A.D. Amorosi Without a doubt, Robert Eggers’ “The Northman” traffics in his now-usual brand of haunted atmospherics and wonky mysticism, a signature whose intensity is upped by the savage bloodlust of its characters and the vastitudes of his first big-budget epic with a price tag reportedly hovering between $70 million and $90 million.The only thing more intensely stressed than the dilemma of a Viking prince in the year 895 (avenging the death of his father, the king, at the hands of his jealous uncle who stole the prince’s mother as the spoils of war — or did she go willingly?) played to brutal, muscular perfection by Alexander Skarsgård, is the all-consuming dedication of its tactile production design, its brooding, cinematographic ambiance and the craftsmanship of its furry, hierarchical costuming.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterNicolas Cage is back… not that he went anywhere.The actor’s latest movie “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” a meta comedy in which he plays a fictionalized version of himself, is one of several films opening nationwide over the weekend. It’ll compete against director Robert Eggers’ Viking epic “The Northman” and Universal and DreamWorks’ animated family film “The Bad Guys,” as well as last weekend’s champion “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.”Unless ticket sales crash in week two, “The Secrets of Dumbledore,” the third chapter in the “Harry Potter” spinoff series, should retain the domestic box office crown.

The first sign that not everyone in Robert Eggers' 10th-century Viking revenge tale “The Northman” has their priorities entirely straight comes early in the film, when the Viking king Aurvandil (Ethan Hawke) returns home to the North Atlantic kingdom of Hrafnsey after a year of fighting overseas.After trudging up on horseback to the snowy cliffside village, Aurvandil's queen, Gudrún (Nicole Kidman), greets him warmly and, after a hug for their son, Amleth (Oscar Novak), urges him to bed with her. Aurvandil, though, says he has something more pressing to attend to.

Writer/director Robert Eggers returns with his third feature film, “The Northman,” after giving us arresting genre thrillers like “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse.” His new movie takes us 1,000 years into the past with a young Viking prince who witnesses his father’s murder and his kingdom stolen, only to return years later to intact a path of violence and revenge which is based on the original Scandinavian tale that directly influenced “Hamlet.” Focus Features has released a short red band trailer (See below) ahead of “The Northman” swinging into theaters this week, focusing on heroic character Amleth’s brutal journey towards his goal of revenge within this visually stunning setting.

BBC’s foreign correspondent and Mastermind presenter has a fondness for accessorising his outfits with fetching chiffon scarves, even combining one with a T-shirt when he appeared on The One Show earlier this year. He also wore one on the red carpet at the National Television Awards last September when he sported a grey and black polka dot scarf with a traditional tuxedo. His fashion-forward style, which has been described as ‘London media attire’, certainly seems to chime with film and television celebrities – and not just when it’s chilly outside.

Björk has shared that she would like to see more female directors taking on the Viking Age in film and TV.The musician and actor stars in Robert Eggers’ new viking epic The Northman as a whispering Seeress predicting the future of Alexander Skarsgård’s Amleth.The film follows Amleth as he seeks revenge for the murder of his father, played by Ethan Hawke, and aims to save his mother Queen Gudrún, played by Nicole Kidman. Other stars include Anya Taylor-Joy, Claes Bang and Willem Dafoe.Posting to Facebook after attended the Icelandic premier of the film, Björk shared a statement about her role and to thank those involved.“so proud to be part of this,” she wrote.

Björk in The Northman.The actor plays lead character Amleth in the third feature film from director Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse, The Witch), starring alongside Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe.The most unique cast addition is Björk, who plays a seeress, whose last feature film acting credit was in 2005’s Drawing Restraint 9 from director Matthew Barney.Speaking to NME about acting alongside the musician, Skarsgård said: “I felt very lucky. It was crazy.“I don’t think you see it on camera in that scene, but we shot it in that burnt out barn after the big raid. And Björk when it was her shot, behind her I could see it was just this gigantic full moon right behind her head and it felt so perfect for that scene and her character and the way she looked.

Epik High‘s Tablo has revealed that the hip-hop trio have no plans to disband or stop making music as a trio.The 41-year-old Korean-American rapper recently spoke to Complex in a new interview, during which he said that he didn’t ever see himself and Epik High having this degree of longevity as artists in the music industry.“I also didn’t ever imagine that I’d be doing what I’m doing for more than three years when we started,” he admitted. “You know, I thought this was just something that I was really passionate about, but wasn’t sure that I wanted to make it a lifetime profession.

Björk in The Northman has just been shared exclusively with NME – take a look above to watch it.The musician and actor stars in Robert Eggers’ viking epic as a whispering Seeress predicting the future of Alexander Skarsgård’s Amleth.The film follows Amleth as he seeks revenge for the murder of his father, played by Ethan Hawke, and aims to save his mother Queen Gudrún, played by Nicole Kidman.Anya Taylor-Joy also stars in the film as Olga, alongside Claes Bang as Fjölnir, Amleth’s uncle, and Willem Dafoe as Heimir the Fool.Eggers co-wrote the screenplay for The Northman with the Icelandic poet Sjón, who has previously collaborated with Björk on the songs ‘Jóga’, ‘Cosmogony’, ‘Oceania’, and others.The filmmaker had previously directed The Lighthouse, starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe, and folk horror film The Witch which starred Anya Taylor-Joy.Last year, British actor Ralph Ineson, who also stars in The Northman, shared further details from the movie.“It’s an enormous movie,” he told NME. “I saw a four-minute montage of some of the stuff they’d already shot and I was really blown away.

Do you know what people seem to already adore? Robert Eggers’ epic, bloody, wild-sounding action film, “The Northman,” a revenge movie set in the Nordic Viking era. With an all-star cast that includes Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Björk, and Willem Dafoe, the review embargo for “The Northman” lifted this week and critics were absolutely ecstatic about the movie.