I insist! I’m stamping my foot and will throw a tantrum like a 3 year old!
…not that Vikings are the new Pirates, not that it’s going to be the new Braveheart, I don’t particularly like the man (much) or the actor (more so); but as a director, I think he has the resources at his disposal to get the job done. I remember Apocalypto and think he did a decent job with the documented history that was available and crafted a story that was exciting, engaging and captivating.
He's got Leonardo DiCaprio (I'm looking askance here :dubious:) lined up as the star and the writer William Monahan who wrote the script for "The Departed" doing the script for this movie. It's supposed to be about Viking raids on Scotland and England in the 9th century when the Vikings first raided England. I'm going to assume it will be about the raid on the monastary at Lindisfarne(?). I'm sure there will be a crapload of gore and bloody death; Mel says he wants us to be afraid of the Viking Berserker with a war ax. I'm sure there will be a love story and family values and a destroyed family and revenge that is justified by rightous love (sound familiar?) I would be very surprised if there isn't a theme about paganism vs. christianity (I'm an athiest myself).
He want the actors to speak in the Old Norse language, the same as in “the Passion of the Christ” (latin) and “Apocalypto” (really ancient South American latin? what? huh? please stamp out my ignorance!).
I have a laundry list for Mel if anyone knows him. I’m not going to fork up the change to join IMDB Pro. I want him to ask Rutgar Houer, Paul Bettany, ___? (insert your favorite here) and Mads Mikkelson to be in this movie too. I want to see a lot of big hulking blonde dudes in this movie, but just for the sake of realism.
Please lose the grossnes, like the circle spitoon in the 13th Warrior and the dump in “Severed Ways” (if you don’t know, you don’t want to know, but that movie has great scenery porn).
It will be better than “Alfred the Great” with David Hemmings and Michael York, because the effects have gotten better over the years.
I really want to be entertained with a great story thats realistic and historically accurate.
I was thinking about starting a thread about everyone hitting me with everything culturally relevant about Vikings they can think of to see if I’ve missed anything. Lets see how this local snowstorm shapes up tomorrow.
First I’ve heard of this project, but it sounds like a winner. I love Mel’s directing style, and loved Braveheart, Passion, and Apocalypto; this could be another great item in the series.
Maybe he’ll get Brendan Gleeson again; he’d make a fine Viking.
There hasn’t been a really great Viking movie since Richard Fleischer’s “The Vikings” in 1958.
I was telling someone the other day that there haven’t been a lot of good Viking movies despite how cool the subject matter is and how entertaining a Viking film would be.
Alex Skarsgaard, Eric from True Blood, would need to be in the film.
(And I honestly cannot tell from the OP if Mel Gibson is making this film or it is just a very imiginative pitch by the OP!)
The Vikings totally rocks. And for 1958 it was pretty hardcore – eyes gouged out, severed hands, a major character ripped to shreds by ravenous wolves – good times, good times … .
I don’t know. At the heart of Braveheart was Wallace bellowing “FREEDOM!!!11!!” . At the heart of Apocalypto was the subjugated nature boy trying to get back to his family. These days to make an awesomely successful Viking movie, we’d somehow have to feel sorry for the poor put-upon rape and pillaging vikings. Might as well make a movie of the poor suffering blitzkrieging Nazis enduring the hardships of lebensraum. I’m thinking maybe there will be some sort of vikings meet Christianity angle.
It could be set in Iceland. There was no indigenous population to conquer or exterminate or plunder. The Norse simply settled there – and then did a lot of fighting among themselves, which provided material for many sagas, and I’m sure some of them could be film-adaptable.
I’d like to see the actor who portrayed Eomer (too lazy to look him up) in the LOTR films take part. He was a most impressive helmeted warrior in the berserker style.
I’d like to see Stellan Skarsgaard reprise his role as a Viking chieftain. Yes, yes, King Arthur was awful, but his take on Cerdic was the best role in the film. He was ruthless and inhuman.
Yeah, I forgot about that. Lets hope he learned his lesson and has someone checking the facts this time.
Yes, they were pretty nasty. I thought that they went viking because there was no land left for them at home so they had to go and take their own. The reasons behind why they did this could be anything from an initiation into manhood to finding a way to survive. They were also trying to make a name for themselves, gain power and get into Valhalla by dying with a sword in their hand. There were plenty of Vikings who converted to Christianity. I’m reading Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Chronicles right now, making a Viking character sympathetic can be done.
