THE BEAST

In a recent interview with Consequence of Sound , “Lords of Chaos” director Jonas Åkerlund was asked on none of the characters in the film have a Scandinavian accent, to which he responded:

“I went through the whole thought process. I was writing this in Swedish and Norwegian years ago. And it was a little bit of a conflict because the first thing I thought of was to make this true and real and as close to the realities as I possibly could.

“But I also feel like this movie translates into a much wider audience than just a Scandinavian audience. So, for me, I just felt like I had to write it in English, and work with English-speaking actors. And for us to work in an accent was never really an option.

“We tried to have a transatlantic type of non-accent in there, but I felt like if this was ever going to be an issue, the movie had bigger problems.

“So, we didn’t really pay much attention to it, and I was actually ready for more questions about it. You bring it up now, but it hasn’t really come up that much. And I’ve also seen movies where they add an accent, and it never really works.”

When asked if he had contacted any of the MAYHEM members about the film, he replied:

“I was in contact with all of them early on, which I had to do because I needed the music in the movie. I couldn’t have done the movie without the music.

“I wanted to treat, especially Euronymous’ parents and Per’s [Per Yngve Ohlin, aka Dead] brother, with respect, so they read early versions of the script, and were involved.

“Same with [surviving Mayhem members, bassist] Necrobutcher and [drummer] Hellhammer. Problem was that Euronymous gave a lot of credit, like, every song had like 10 different people who had to approve the usage of the music. So that was a big challenge.

“But I’ve been in contact with pretty much everybody except Varg. Varg has been the one that has been the most outspoken, and he told this story so many times. So, I never really felt like I needed him.

“And I never asked for his music, because I know he was going to say no, so there was no point. And we felt in terms of developing the character, it was already there. He told it so many times, so we knew enough from him.”

During the interview, actor Emory Cohen , who plays the role of Varg , was asked about Vikernes recently commenting on the film and saying he’s portrayed by a “fat Jewish actor.” Cohen briefly replied:

“Who better to play him than a nice Jewish boy from the Upper West Side!”

Asked about portraying Varg , who is presented as a shy fan who develops into a dark, sinister character, Emory replied:

“Well, you need to have somewhere to go with Varg. You can’t start off and he’s already found himself. I mean he even changes his name throughout the movie.

“I really liked looking at Varg as a shy kid who wanted to play Legos with the other boys. The scene where Varg is just at the party, and he’s watching everyone.

“I remember thinking about what it was like going to a new school for the first day, and watching all the other kids play, and wanting to make friends, but not knowing the rules. He didn’t know the rules.”