The Northman features Alexander Skarsgard in the lead role; Credits: IMDB

Alexander Skarsgard is ready to make another theater debut, this time with The Northman, by Robert Eggers. The actor is incredibly happy to work on the film and shared why he chose to act on the project. 

The Northman is the story of a young Viking prince played by Alexander Skarsgard. The prince is following his vengeful vendetta as he wishes to avenge the murder of his father. 

Apart from Alexander Skarsgard, the film stars Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Björk, and Willem Dafoe.

During an interview with Collider, the actor talked about his childhood dream of wanting to work in a Vikings movie. He was overjoyed when he got the opportunity to work on the project with Eggers and knew the director was the best choice for directing the particular project. 

The actor also talked about getting to perform with Nicole Kidman, who plays the role of his mother in the movie. He also explained the work behind the one-shot scene where the Vikings raid a village and the whole sequence is shot without any cuts. Here is all Skarsgard had to say about his experience aboard the film sets. 

Sharing his first reaction to watching the film as compared to working on it, the actor revealed that he was completely "overwhelmed" by its vast expanse. He said that the scenes reminded him of the shooting process, especially as there were no cuts when they shot the film, and hence, he could remember the exact process that went behind each sequence. 

While most films have to spend quite a lot of time in the editing room given that it has to be shaped and reshaped in many ways, The Northman had plentiful scenes where no editing was required at all. The actor essentially got to watch the film just as he remembered it from his days of shooting. 

Sharing why he would want anyone who is new to watching his performances to see The Northman as his first introductory work, he said that he never felt more involved in a film than The Northman. He explained that he had always wanted to star in a Vikings movie, even as a child, and went ahead to make his dream a reality when he joined forces with Danish producer Lars Knudsen. 

They started by getting to know more about the Icelandic myths and sagas, the lore of the place, and its poetry. Their first and foremost ambition was to stay true to the language and the tone of the region. 

Only later did he meet Robert Eggers and learn that even the director was looking forward to working on a project about Norse mythology and the Vikings. Hence, that is how they came together to work on the project and started their journey to create The Northman. 

Similarly, getting to see Eggers' works for the first time was also exceptionally surprising for the actor. The first film he watched by Eggers was The Witch and he was pleasantly stunned by all the detail and thought put into the film. 

That project also featured a collaboration between Lars Knudsen and Robert Eggers just as in The Northman, and the two had worked magic into portraying history. Seeing that film, opened the actor to all the opportunities that were possible with a team like this. He simply knew that Eggerfs would be the perfect option to helm a work on Viking lore. 

Giving an insight into the most challenging yet satisfying shot from the film, Skarsgard shared that it was a treat to film the village raid scene in perfect continuation for a full 90 seconds without any cuts. The actor revealed that he had never done such a sequence before and most action films do not believe in single-shot action scenes. 

While action scenes are shot from varying angles with multiple cameras, a single long shot with just one came in The Northman is a particular novelty. But it is not like they shot that scene with just a little detail. 

The actors had to come together months earlier to shoot that scene and practice it over and over again with the choreographers, along with settling on how the actors had to appear on the screen. The stuntmen also had to make their way into the battle and act on the command of the beats.

Hence, they performed that shot over and over again until they had the perfect scene to play. They had to retake the sequence just as many times as they could, playing each little detail time and time again for all of it to fit and work together. 

The Northman was released in theaters in April 2022 and the actor has advised his fans to watch the film even if they don't have much knowledge about the Vikings or the Norse tales. He explained that the film is a great watch even if you know nothing about the movie. He hopes that the audience would love his work in the film.