Actor Ethan Hawke recently expanded his cinematic scope by playing the antagonist on Moon Knight and now, as he swings to promoting other projects, says his work on The Northman reminded him of the iconic Apocalypse Now set.
“So much of moviemaking is people trying to sell you something. I’ve spent my life wondering, ‘will I ever get to be on a set that feels like Apocalypse Now? You know, somebody’s trying. They have balls and hubris and arrogance to say, ‘I want to make a masterpiece. I’m going to write a movie about Vikings with an Icelandic poet. And shoot it in a way that a film has never been choreographed before.’ So, for me, just seeing somebody take a swing like that, you know, it’s like a jump off a high dive.”
The actor made the comments in a recent piece for The New Yorker about director Robert Eggers (The VVitch), which examines the degree of accuracy his movie achieves about Viking culture, and digs into the filmmaker’s ambition. The report notes that the movie’s pace was tinkered with in editing, and that Eggers and his team often disregard conventional ways of making movies. Hawke observes that Eggers’ process resulted in something hazy and set-apart from the manner in which work on a set is usually carried out.
“It’s almost like being with people that saw a movie two years ago, and they’re trying to remember it.”
Audiences will see how this takes shape soon enough, on April 22. Apart from Hawke, the film also stars Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe, Anya Taylor-Joy, and even Icelandic singer Björk, as a mysterious and mystical seeress.