Alexander Skarsgård Reveals Filming The Northman Almost Made Him Cry

On The Northman set, Alexander Skårsgard was so exhausted from shooting complicated one-shot scenes again and over that he could have cried.

The Big Little Lies actor co-stars with Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, and Anya Taylor-Joy in Robert Eggers' upcoming epic as a Viking prince who seeks vengeance for his father's death.

Alexander Skårsgard Reveals How Tough Robert Eggers’ Scenes Could Get

The Northman's Skårsgard and The Power of the Dog's Kirsten Dunst sat down for an interview with Interview Magazine. She asked about his time working with Eggers on the upcoming epic. Skårsgard has vast acting experience, but The Northman was still a challenge for him.

“In The Northman, there are long, intense fight scenes with 40 stuntmen and horses and 200 extras,” Skarsgård said. “To shoot it all in one shot means you do this four-minute take, and then a horse deep in the background looks the wrong way and you have to do it all again.”

Dunst replied that his experience sounds like her “worst nightmare,” to which the actor replied with:

“You’re so exhausted that you want to cry. You feel like you finally got all the choreography of the fight worked out, but then you have to go again and again and again. There’s always something in the background that wasn’t quite right. The flip side of that is when you finally get it, it feels like winning gold at the Olympics.”

Alexander Skarsgård as Amleth in The Northman

The Northman finds Skarsgård alongside other cast members including Ethane Hawke, Björk, and Willem Dafoe.

Eggers directs the film from a screenplay he co-wrote with Sjón. The story takes place in Iceland at the turn of the 10th century. Amleth, the Viking warrior prince, is played by Skarsgård. He desires vengeance for his father's death. Amleth is willing to go to any length to ensure that he is able to carry out his vision of justice.

Eggers is most renowned for his genre-defying horror films The Witch and The Lighthouse, with The Northman serving as his first non-horror production as a director.

The Northman hits theaters on Apr. 22.