House House
Jul
02
2008

Refn’s Viking Epic VALHALLA RISING Rolling In Scotland!

Posted by Todd Brown at 11:01am.

Posted in Film News , Drama, Action, Continental Europe & Russia.

Oh, this makes Todd a happy boy for a number of reasons.

With production of his UK crime picture Bronson now wrapped up Denmark’s Nicholas Winding Refn has begun work on his long talked about viking epic Valhalla Rising, a film he has jokingly referred to as Pusher 600 BC.  The film is beginning production in Scotland - if the original plan holds it will also shoot some here in Canada - and actors Jamie Sives and Gary Lewis will join Mads Mikkelsen in the cast.  Here’s the synopsis:

For years, One-Eye, a mute warrior of supernatural strength, has been held prisoner by the chieftain Barde. Aided by a boy, Are, he kills his captor and together they escape, beginning a journey into the heart of darkness. On their flight from bounty hunters, One-Eye and Are board a Viking vessel for Norway, but the ship is soon engulfed by an endless fog that first disintegrates as they sight an unknown land. As the new land reveals its secrets and the Vikings meet a ghastly fate, One-Eye discovers his true self.

Okay, why am I happy?  One, Refn is brilliant and we’ve now got two new films to look forward to from him.  Two, I just love the idea of a hard-ass viking picture.  Three, I absolutely fell in love with Scottish actor Jamie Sives when he took the lead in Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself but have seen him in precisely nothing since.  Obviously this is a totally different picture than Wilbur but Mikkelsen was in that one, too, and the pair of them play very well together.  Nice.

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Reader Comments

  1. kidlazarus 07/03/2008 @ 9:30pm

    Very excited for the new Refn projects.

    considering the subject at hand _Bronson_ may have the potential to be the next _Chopper_.  given Refn’s knack for filming taut crime-oriented fare I don’t see how he could miss w/ a hard mo-fo like madman Bronson.

    It’ll be interesting to see how Refn fares with the period piece.  “Pusher 600BC” is quite amusing. Very strong leads for this. Absolutely agree with the observation regarding the leads in _Wilber Wants to Kill Himself_.

  2. dbo77 07/15/2008 @ 8:53am

    This makes me very happy, too! I have been waiting to see this since I had heard the first rumors...what, 3 years ago? It’s got to be good with Mads & NWR.

  3. Riller 07/28/2008 @ 5:35am

    3 years of waiting, yes! “Hard-ass viking picture”, haha… Anyone got pictures from the set???

  4. Riller 07/28/2008 @ 6:52am

    Found this one myself http://youtube.com/watch?v=kjXPopXD6Kc - wonder who she is?

  5. dbo77 07/28/2008 @ 10:44am

    You can find the first pic of Mads as One-Eye here:

    http://www.madsonline.net/NewsInterviews.html

  6. Riller 07/29/2008 @ 12:18pm

    Oh, yeah i saw that, Thx by the way. Its pretty interesting to follow the Video Diary from the set. A new one came up today - 3 episodes now.

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