Alexander Skarsgård Talks About Becoming a Savage Beast in THE NORTHMAN
A red-band trailer was recently released for director Robert Eggers’ The Northman and a good chunk of the footage features Alexander Skarsgård making his way through a fort in beast mode brutally killing anyone who crossed his path.
It’s pretty insane seeing him in this role and the way he plays this character. When talking about his character in the Viking revenge epic, he talks about mentally and physically transforming into this bear-wolf beast. He tells the AV Club:
"Yeah. I mean, [one of the character's names] is Bjorn, which means bear-wolf. So preparation was both mental and physical. I wanted to put on some weight. I wanted Amleth, when he moves through the village, he's shed his humanity and become a beast. It was important to see that in his eyes, he was a predator. I had to be nimble and flexible like a wolf, but have the kind of weight and confidence of a bear."
Judging from what I’ve seen so far, Skarsgård has done an incredible job bringing his character to life. He is totally badass in his predatory-like state. He went on to say:
"A lot of it had to do with just letting go of inhibitions and allowing yourself to open up and just explore. We all have that, an inner animal, a beast! There's something quite atavistic in all of us. I, for one, am quite naturally mellow and don't explore that animalistic side very often. So it was quite cathartic to just open up and let him out."
The Northman will be released in theaters on April 22nd.