Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.03.2007, Side 9

Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15. mars 2007 • 9
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or unconsciously, ‘I can’t put
this on tape.’ Those were mo-
ments where people’s dignity
was compromised, and some of
them were just too horrible for
me to want to fi lm them at the
time.”
Sturla himself emerges in
Wrath of Gods as a surprisingly
upbeat driving force, adapting
to mounting diffi culties and
keeping his cool. At one point
he grins and says, “We haven’t
had an earthquake yet, and there
are still no frogs falling from the
sky. So this we have to be thank-
ful for.”
Some of the cast and crew
muse half-seriously that the
production is cursed. The fi lm’s
composer, Hilmar Örn Hilmars-
son, is a practitioner of ásatrú,
and performed a pagan blessing
at the outset of fi lming. Seconds
later, Sturla tripped and injured
himself.
Gerard Butler (Beowulf)
later jokes that Hilmar must
have read the wrong spell and
pronounced a curse instead;
but towards the end of fi lm-
ing, Stellan Skarsgård (Hroth-
gar) declares, “We have been
so lucky, Sturla. Any normal
person wouldn’t have a fi lm at
all.”
Which is true: unlike Terry
Gilliam, Sturla Gunnarsson got
to fi nish his epic. Beowulf and
Grendel premiered at the 2005
Toronto International Film Fes-
tival, and its success in Cana-
dian theatres in 2006 earned it
a US theatrical release.
But the story of how close
it came to almost not happen-
ing is at the heart of Wrath of
Gods, which premiered at the
Reykjavík International Film
Festival in fall 2006, and re-
cently received its Canadian
theatrical premiere at the NSI
FilmExchange in Winnipeg on
March 3. (A shorter version
was broadcast on CBC News-
world in November.)
Jón recounts a story Sturla
told during the shoot about
the ability to persevere. “He
learned it when he was a young
man on an Icelandic fi shing
boat during the winter season,”
says Jón. “After they had pulled
up nets for 10 hours and the last
one came up full of coral, they
knew that they would have to
spend the next 20 hours fi xing
it.
“The Icelandic fi shermen
reacted by bursting out laugh-
ing. What else where they go-
ing to do? Sturla told me in
an interview that ‘if you can
survive on an Icelandic fi shing
boat in winter, you certainly
can survive a fi lm shoot.’”
Wrath of Gods is being
shown at a number of fi lm fes-
tivals and will be available on
DVD. For more information,
visit www.wrathofgods.com.
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Gerard Butler struggles through the mud before collapsing.
THE ICELANDIC - CANADIAN
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
will hold a meeting on Sunday, April 29th
at the Hotel Fort Garry, 222 Broadway Avenue, Winnipeg
Registration and a light lunch
from 12:00 noon - 1:15 pm followed by the meeting
R.S.V.P. is requested
Please call Karen at the Lögberg-Heimskringla offi ce
204-284-5686 if you are attending
(More details to follow)
“Gerry, I think the weather’s improving...” “Right, Sturla.”
The horses were not always docile — crashing waves spooked them, spoiling a shot.