You’ll be hearing a lot about The Northman in the coming weeks. The latest idiosyncratic cinematic creation from Robert Eggers, the director responsible for not one but two of the best horror movies of the 21st century, looks like it’s going to put epic in historical epic.

And with a cast containing Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Willem Dafoe, it really can’t miss. The Northman is a revenge thriller, following a Viking prince as he seeks justice for the murder of his father.

The making of the movie, however, wasn’t without its problems. In a new interview with the New Yorker, Eggers discussed the difficulties he had working with a bigger budget and studio. “I don’t think I’ll do it again,” he went so far as to say. “Even if it means not making a film this big ever again. I’d like to make one even bigger. But, without control, I don’t know.”

That’s not what you want to hear: cinema currently needs arthouse directors like Eggers to be given more money and greater freedom of expression, not the other way round. And considering The Northman clocks in at 135 minutes on a budget of $90 million, it would be fascinating to see just how big Eggers could go with his next movie.

He won’t be the last director to face such problems though. There’s the notorious tale of Harvey Weinstein’s attempts to interfere with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, with Peter Jackson repeatedly clashing with him over budgets and how many movies would be in the series.

Weinstein’s company, Miramax, allowed Jackson to take the series to any other studios if he could make it happen over one weekend and if the other studio agreed to make all three films at once, conditions he fully expected to be unfulfilled. Thankfully New Line Cinema stepped in on time and an orc was modelled on the horrifying Weinstein.

The Northman is set for release on April 22nd.

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Check out the trailer for The Northman:

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