What björk is one of the most prolific Icelandic multidisciplinary artists of recent times is no mystery. In addition to her musical journey, the native of Reykjavík has also made her acting debut, debuting in 1990 in ‘When We Were Witches’, making half the world fall in love with Lars Von Trier’s ‘Dance in the Dark’, or participating in ‘Drawing Restraint 9’, her last acting credit to date.
Back to the ring
But, 17 years after his acting retirement, Robert Eggers has recovered the magnetic presence of Björk in front of the camera in ‘El hombre del norte’, in which she plays a Seeress —a kind of Viking prophet— who points out Amleth’s destiny in one of the most overwhelming scenes in the film. A role that the director did not conceive embodied by someone other than her:
“Björk is like the pop shaman of planet Earth. Who else could walk onto the set and be a Seeress?”.
But, How did Björk get signed to ‘The Northman’? The answer lies in one of those rare clusters of connections which begins with Robin Carolan, co-composer of the film’s soundtrack, the artist’s collaborator on the Tri Angle music label. Carolan introduced Eggers and Björk, who, in turn, introduced the filmmaker to Sjón, the Icelandic poet who ended up co-writing the script for the feature film. According to Eggers, “”Sjón has known Björk since they were teenagers, so it was a family environment. I think that’s why Björk was encouraged to do it.”.
As I said, the scene shared by Björk and Alexander Skarsgård is a tremendously beautiful, suggestive and intenseand the protagonist of ‘El hombre del norte’ confirms that the filming experience was pretty close to what ended up coming out of the editing room and onto our screens:
“It was an amazing night. And shooting in that burning barn… I don’t think it looks [en el montaje final], but there was a full moon that night. It was gigantic. We did the scene, and the moon was right behind her head, this tremendously beautiful moon. She made all the sense in the world at the time. He could see her through a hole in the burned out barn. Just to see her in the role and to know that it was the first time she had come out of retirement after 17 years, it was a real honor.”
Via | ew