The Northman, a violent Viking epic starring Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, and Anya Taylor-Joy, has just debuted its first trailer. In the film, Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood, Big Little Lies) plays Amleth, a Viking prince who goes on a journey of vengeance to get justice for his father, King Aurvandill (Ethan Hawke), who was murdered by his own brother, Fjölnir (Claes Bang). The movie is a adaptation of an old Norse legend that was the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and it is set to be released in theaters on April 22, 2022.
Kidman portrays Queen Gudrún, Amleth’s mother who he seeks to free from his uncle’s captivity. Taylor-Joy, who has become a well-respected star from recent roles in and Last Night in Soho, plays Olga, a kindred spirit who helps Amleth on his quest to avenge his father. Additional cats members include Björk, Willem Dafoe, Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Murray McArthur, Ian Gerard Whyte, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, and Kate Dickie. Ísadóra Bjarkardóttir Barney and Ralph Ineson will appear as well, though their roles have yet to be revealed.
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The Northman is directed by Robert Eggers, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Icelandic novelist Sjón. Eggers is a critically acclaimed filmmaker who has written and directed two other award-nominated films: The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019). The Northman re-teams him with many of his past stars, including Dafoe, who co-starred in The Lighthouse with Robert Pattinson. Three cast members from The Witch — Taylor-Joy, Dickie, and Ineson — all appear in The Northman. Notably, Eggers and Taylor-Joy already have plans to work together again, as she is set to star in his reimagining of .
The original Nosferatu (1922) is an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic Dracula novel and is widely considered to be a true cinematic classic. It was first reported that Eggers would be doing a remake of the film back in 2015, following the critical success of The Witch. At the time he expressed some skepticism over making his second feature film being a remake of an iconic movie but was prepared to move forward anyway. “It feels ugly and blasphemous and egomaniacal and disgusting for a filmmaker in my place to do Nosferatu next,” he said in an interview. “I was really planning on waiting a while, but that’s how fate shook out.”
