Baltasar Kormakur: ‘Vikings’ Will Be My Next Movie After ‘Everest’
Baltasar Kormakur, Iceland’s top director and producer, is looking forward to direct his long-gestating passion project, “Vikings,” once he wraps “Everest.”
Kormakur said he envisioned the movie as character-driven, yet packed with action.
“It won’t be a traditional viking story in the way that it will show vikings the way we’ve never seen them portrayed,” said Kormakur. “Vikings were pretty brutal, but also very educated people. They were salesmen, businessmen who started raiding when business wasn’t good. That’s why they had such great boats.”
The helmer told Variety that he started writing the script in the early 2000′s, based on on Iceland’s most famous Viking sagas, “Vikingur,” but decided to put the project on hold because he wasn’t able to raise the budget necessary to make an ambitious film.
Although “Vikings” will lense on location in Iceland, it will likely shoot in English and feature an international cast.
“It will be a mixture of European stars and Scandinavian actors. I’ll mix that together. The lead is an Irishman,” revealed Kormakur.
The project, which Kormakur estimates in the $60-to-$100-million range, will be backed by a soon-to-be-annonced U.S. partner. Kormakur will be co-producing via his own Icelandic shingle, RVK Studios.
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