Fanspot
Volcano
“Now look!”
Heimir the madman (Willem Dafoe)
The Covid-19 pandemic caused a number of problems early in the production of The Northman. The filming took a lot of time, causing the departure of Bill Skarsgård, because of an incompatibility of planning. The latter was to play Thorir. A disappointment on which he also returned: “It’s a terrible regret. Robert Eggers is one of the greatest filmmakers today and I could have worked with my brother. I’d rather not talk about it because I might burst into tears.” Most of the filming was also supposed to take place in Iceland, but even if some shots were indeed produced there, it is in Northern Ireland that the production was really centered.
The final confrontation scene takes place at the foot of a volcano. However, no volcano or mountain in Hightown Quarry, where the actors filmed the fight between Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) and Fjolnir (Claes Bang). More than fifteen tons of black sand were brought to the site to replicate the soil. The set designers also moved in several trenches to allow for digital lava overlay in post-production. The volcano was also added later. And since the scene is supposed to take place at the foot of the Hekla volcano, it is the volcano that the special effects specialists have digitized and then transported to Ireland. Filmed at night, the sequence has a very particular patina.
Very invested in his role, Alexander Skarsgård, together with his director, wanted to deliver an authentic interpretation without glorifying his character, as he explained to the Den of Geek website: “It was important to do a vast amount of research on how they fought, the strategy behind it, the purpose behind it, and a big commodity was slavery. Just as it was important to not portray these fighters as heroic gods from the North.“
This is the second time that Willem Dafoe turns under the direction of Robert Eggers after The Lighthouse.
Hydepark Dam
This quarry is located south of Hydepark Dam, near Squires Hill, a few miles from Belfast.
Planned to bury waste, this quarry now hosts film shoots and is thus part of the Irish armada for film and television productions. It is also located near the famous studio in which the Game of Thrones series was produced. Close to the city but immersed in the countryside, it offers many amenities and rubs shoulders with historical sites of notable importance.
The Fantrippers Buying Board
The Paris guide to the 1000 cult places of films, series, music, comics and novels
The coolest guide in Paris!
The café of Amélie, the mansion of Untouchables, the jazz club of the finale of La La Land, the Hôtel du Nord of the mythical replica of Arletty “Atmosphere”, the cinema of A bout de souffle, the restaurant of Ratatouille, the quays of the Seine of Midnight in Paris, the secret places of the Da Vinci Code, the grocery store of January in La Traversée de Paris , the Bridge of Inception and Peur sur la ville, the addresses of the spectacular scenes of Mission Impossible 6, but also series Call my agent, Gears, Le Bureau des légendes, Sense8, Sex and The City, Gossip Girl…
Etienne Daho’s Café de Flore, Jay-Z and Kanye West’s hotel in Nas in Paris, Serge Gainsbourg’s Poinçonneur des Lilas metro station, Serge Reggiani and Marc Lavoine’s Mirabeau Bridge, Mc Solaar’s Lyon station…
The places evoked in the comics Adèle Blanc-Sec, Largo Winch, Blake and Mortimer, Michel Vaillant…
But also in the novels of Ernest Hemingway, Victor Hugo, Leo Malet, Daniel Pennac, Marc Levy, Guillaume Musso… you’ll find all the must-see places of Parisian Pop Culture in this new guide.
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Discover all the places The Northman on our map
By Gilles Rolland
Passionné de cinéma, de rock and roll, de séries TV et de littérature. Rédacteur de presse et auteur des livres Le Heavy Metal au cinéma, Paroles de fans Guns N' Roses, Paroles de fans Rammstein et Welcome to my Jungle : 100 albums rock et autres anecdotes dépareillées. Adore également voyager à la recherche des lieux les plus emblématiques de la pop culture.