# I want Mel Gibson to make an exceptional Viking movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 26, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465 "2010-02-26T01:31:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/1 "2010-02-26T01:31:25Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/2 "2010-02-26T01:39:56Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/3 "2010-02-26T01:46:58Z")
Charlize Theron would make a great Viking Queen! Did they have queens? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/4 "2010-02-26T01:49:59Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Charlize Theron would make a great Viking Queen! Did they have queens? Yes, but they generally stole them from someone else. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/5 "2010-02-26T02:03:24Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > 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. There was that one where they traveled in time to the present. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/6 "2010-02-26T02:54:01Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > There was that one where they traveled in time to the present. [The Very Virile Viking](http://www.amazon.com/Very-Virile-Viking-Sandra-Hill/dp/0843952059)? ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/7 "2010-02-26T03:10:56Z")
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!) ETA: REAL! [http://www.cinematical.com/2009/12/14/mel-gibson-leonardo-dicaprio-vikings/](http://www.cinematical.com/2009/12/14/mel-gibson-leonardo-dicaprio-vikings/) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/8 "2010-02-26T03:40:46Z")
> [@Emily\_Litella](#): > > 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. No, he didn’t. He confused the Maya with the Aztecs. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/9 "2010-02-26T04:26:14Z")
I’m definitely there! DiCaprio is good in everything he does, and **Apocalypto** was my favorite film of 2006. I hope it happens. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/10 "2010-02-26T06:02:42Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > There hasn’t been a really great Viking movie since Richard Fleischer’s “The Vikings” in 1958. _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 … . ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/11 "2010-02-26T14:25:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/12 "2010-02-26T18:54:46Z")
> [@mack](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/13 "2010-02-26T19:14:34Z")
Hah - for some reason I thought he actually was involved in that piece of drek - Pathfinder? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/14 "2010-02-26T19:36:29Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/15 "2010-02-26T20:34:54Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > 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. [Sagas of Iceland.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelanders%27_sagas) ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/16 "2010-02-26T20:56:11Z")
Mel Gibson is an asshole, and a talented director. This should be good. I’d give Johan Hegg a part if I ever made a Viking movie. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/17 "2010-02-26T21:09:31Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/18 "2010-02-26T21:44:33Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Mel Gibson is an asshole, and a talented director. This should be good. Much like the Vikings. Talented assholes. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/19 "2010-02-26T23:28:29Z")
If can only be good if it surpases “Erik the Viking” ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2010, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465/20 "2010-02-27T16:41:07Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > No, he didn’t. He confused the Maya with the Aztecs. Yeah, I forgot about that. Lets hope he learned his lesson and has someone checking the facts this time. > [@mack](#): > > 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. 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. > [@teela\_brown](#): > > 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. Karl Urban, good choice. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-mel-gibson-to-make-an-exceptional-viking-movie/530465.md?page=2)