Reykjavík Grapevine - 14.03.2014, Qupperneq 20

20Film
The story follows protagonist Hera
(Þorbjörg Helga Dýrfjörð), a raven-
haired maiden in her early twenties
who lives with her parents on a remote
countryside farm. In her early adoles-
cence, Hera lost her older brother in a
tragic accident and she subsequently
copes by escaping into the loudest and
heaviest rock music available. Mean-
while, the silence between bitter Hera
and her grieving parents is as deafen-
ing as the music.
At the recent Edda Awards (the
Icelandic Film and Television awards)
Þorbjörg took home the Best Actress
award for her first leading role in a film.
Her onscreen parents, Ingvar E. Sig-
urðsson and Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir,
both won as well in the Best Supporting
Actor and Actress category (and to top
it all off, Ingvar won Best Actor as well,
for his role in ‘Hross í oss’ (“Of Horses
and Men”).
We spoke with Þorbjörg Helga
about working on ‘Metalhead,’ anger
and angst and chasing snow in the
foothills of Eyjafjallajökull.
Who were your role models (ac-
tors) growing up?
When I was little they were [Astrid Lin-
gred] characters like Ronia the Rob-
ber’s Daughter and Pippi Longstock-
ings. In my teenage years I looked up
to actresses like Natalie Portman and
Cate Blanchett. On the Icelandic front
I’m inspired by artists like actress Il-
mur Kristjánsdóttir, singer Björk, and
my aunt Sigríður Eyþórsdóttir—the only
actress I know of in my family, and for-
mer president Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, of
course.
Do you feel more at home on a film
set than you do working on stage
in the theatre?
These days I feel more at home on a
film set; I think it’s more interesting.
However, both have the potential to be
interesting if the project is a good one.
Making Metalhead
What attracted you to the role of
Hera?
There were a few things that I found
myself really relating to: she’s a strong
female character, yet she’s an introvert
and she’s not really into discussing her
feelings with other people. She just
wants to listen to music. I play a bit of
guitar myself and I also have an older
brother who is a real metal head (i.e. a
heavy-metal fanatic).
What is Ragnar’s style of
directing?
He has an approach that is similar to
Mike Leigh [writer/director of Naked
and Happy-Go-Lucky]. He often works
on a character in lockstep with the
actor who will play that character BE-
FORE writing the script. This wasn’t the
case with ‘Metalhead,’ however. There
was already a script in place when we
started meeting, but everybody put
in their two-cents about what they
thought should be different about their
own characters. I think collaborating is
a strong approach for a director to take.
That way, he opens the film up to all
kinds of new ideas.
It was difficult to find snow during
production, is that correct?
You would think that finding a location
with snow in Iceland would be easy…
Ragnar found a perfect place near Ey-
jafjallajökull for the family farm. They
went there to scout it and it was just
beautiful, everything covered in snow.
When it came time to film in October
of 2012, however, there was no snow.
In November, December and January,
there was still no snow. February, same
story: No snow. We eventually found
out from the locals that the snow was
an anomaly. Ragnar had visited on the
one day that there was any snow there.
Cleaning Up At The Eddas
So you guys took home ALL the
acting awards. Did that surprise
you?
It was a pleasant surprise. We all man-
aged to connect well on set and our
work together was a good experience.
Winning was the cherry on top. I can’t
speak to my win, but I think theirs were
well deserved.
Have you had a chance to cel-
ebrate in real-life with your on-
screen-parents?
No. My on-screen-mom is travelling
the world [actress Halldóra Geirharðs-
dóttir is travelling with her family] and
my on-screen-dad is currently “making
it” in Hollywood [Ingvar E. Sigurðsson
is on location in the Italian Alps, filming
Baltasar Kormákur’s latest film, ‘Ever-
est’].
Did working with them force you to
step up your game?
Yes. I mean they have a lot more experi-
ence than me. ‘Metalhead’ was only my
second movie. It felt good to have them
there. I could ask them anything, and if
I was stressed out, I felt comforted by
the fact that they weren’t stressed at all.
That whole experience being the lead
and spending every day on set, working
with all these great actors—I don’t know
what I would have done without them.
Not Just Fun And Games
I read that you started feeling bitter
about acting after graduating from
the Iceland Academy of the Arts
acting programme. Where did that
bitterness come from?
I was in the acting programme for four
years. It was a lot of fun, but very in-
tense as well. In our last year we put
on three theatrical productions and I
thought that would be a reward for all
the hard work that I’d put in, but as the
last year unfolded that feeling escaped
me. In retrospect I may have set my ex-
pectations too high. The process had
become very difficult for me, physically
and emotionally.
Right after graduating from acting
school in 2009 I started working for the
City Theatre and was in a play there un-
til January 2010 when the show had run
its course. At the time it felt like a nega-
tive experience, but looking back this
was really a lesson I had to learn. Even
with your dream job it’s not just fun and
games. If you lose the joy at some point
you have to find a way to get it back, by
any means necessary.
What did you do after acting in
‘The Deep,’ before you started on
‘Metalhead’?
After filming ‘The Deep’ in the summer
of 2010, I worked as a receptionist at
a law firm. It was a relief to not feel so
defeated all the time. I was enjoying a
regular nine-to-five workday, living the
“normal life” if there is such a thing.
Acting is very demanding. You ARE, in
effect, your work. It was hard for me to
separate myself from my work, and the
solution isn’t necessarily to just work
harder or read more, if you aren’t nail-
ing your part.
‘Málmhaus’ (“Metalhead”), written and directed by Ragnar Bragason, is both a coming
of age story and a love letter to heavy metal music.
Words
Óskar Bragi Stefánsson
A Metallic Maiden
Þorbjörg Helga Dýrfjörð wins
Best Actress at the Eddas
Nanna Dís
Issue 3 — 2014 ‘Metalhead’ is currently out on VOD.
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