The first trailer for Robert Eggers’ “The Northman” combines the best of both worlds: it’s a bloody and epic Viking story that should tantalize any action fan, but it’s also hauntingly beautiful and artful in the way any fans of his spellbindingly weird previous film “The Lighthouse” are expecting.
That’s in part because you have Alexander Skarsgård playing a Viking prince who as a boy witnessed the murder of his father and then sets out on a quest to avenge his father’s death and take back his kingdom, all at the hands of his uncle. But then on the other hand, you’ve got Willem Dafoe and Björk looking dead into the camera and prophesying in resounding whispers.
“Remember for whom you shed your last teardrop,” Björk says in the trailer, marking her first movie appearance since 2005.
She’s just one of the highlights of the impressive “The Northman” cast, which also includes Anya Taylor-Joy, Claes Bang, Nicole Kidman and Ethan Hawke. The film is set at the turn of the 10th Century and shows how, over years, Skarsgård’s character plots his revenge and teams with Taylor-Joy so that together they can break people’s bodies and minds.
Eggers wrote and directed “The Northman,” and he co-wrote the script with Sjón, an Icelandic poet and novelist. The film’s producers are Lars Knudsen, Mark Huffman and New Regency.
Focus Features is releasing “The Northman” in theaters on April 22, 2022. Check out the first trailer for Eggers’ film above.