'The Northman' Director Reveals CGI Genitals Were Added in Battle Scenes
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- Robert EggersAmerican film director and screenwriter
The Northman spoilers follow.
The Northman doesn't shy away from authenticity, with the epic movie having a whole Viking village built by history experts, even down to the right type of grass being planted a year before shooting.
The authenticity continues right to the film's bloody battle scene, that sees Alexander Skarsgård's Amleth and Claes Bang's Fjölnir duel naked top of a spewing volcano.
Discussing the editing process, director Robert Eggers explained that unusually for a nude scene, they didn't have to erase anything in post production.
"We actually had to add things digitally because they were wearing thongs [instead of being naked] because no one wanted to get their bits chopped off," he said to The Hollywood Reporter.
"So, we actually had to add some CG genitals for certain shots so that they didn't look too Ken doll-ish. You've got to make it look real, so I'm sure we did some full-body scans of Alex [Skarsgård]. They're out there."
Skarsgård previously explained that it was actually very important for the battle scene to contain nudity.
"It was essential to be naked," he said to SlashFilm. "There are a lot of stories about the Vikings taking their clothes off before a fight for many different reasons. One being to intimidate the opponent. When you're completely naked, you're completely vulnerable. It is a way of showing fearlessness, and also potentially to shock your opponent. So that was always the plan."
He added that he actually fought to keep the nakedness in the blockbuster: "In our puritanical society, it's easier to portray violence on screen than nudity, which I find quite strange. So you can kill and chop heads left and right, but you can't show any nudity.
"We had to figure out a way to do this long fight scene [nude], and at one point, there were conversations about, 'Should we just do it shirtless?' But I felt strongly, and Rob did as well, that it was imperative that they would take their clothes off. They're completely naked on this mountaintop."
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