Iceland review - 2015, Page 19

ICELAND REVIEW 17
Gyllenhaal and Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson.
Parts of the movie were filmed on location
in Nepal and Italy.
At times the shoot in the Himalayas
seemed crazy, he recalls. “It was very cold
in January sitting on those hanging bridg-
es. We were carrying everything up on the
yaks, we were standing on one of the bridg-
es and then the yaks were getting scared
of the helicopters flying around,” he says,
laughing with a real sense of relief that it’s
behind him.
Conditions were also tough in the
Dolomites, Italy, where scenes were filmed
too. “It was down to -30ºC [-22ºF] and we
were shooting 12-hour days at high alti-
tudes for five to six weeks. There was a 100-
year snow record, which was good for the
shoot but it made it really difficult because
we had to evacuate due to avalanche risk
every-other-day. It was a grueling experi-
ence, let’s put it that way,” he sums up.
To ensure he was up to the task, Baltasar
prepared by swimming and doing other
training in the lead-up to the shoot. “That
helped a lot because it’s my job to drag
the team. You can’t show any weaknesses.
Energy-wise, it’s very important—especial-
ly when you bring A-list actors to these
situations. You really need to be on top of
things.” An actor himself—he graduated
from Iceland’s National Academy of Fine
Arts in 1990 and worked in theater and film
before his directional debut, 101 Reykjavík
in 2000—Baltasar says he always enjoys the
experience of working with other actors,
on challenging shoots like on location on
Everest, included. “The experience of us all
going up the mountain together, going on
this journey together and getting to know
each other along the way, was actually really
great—also for the film,” Baltasar says. He
prefers for actors to be able to really expe-
rience a situation and to gradually reveal
characters rather than they simply ‘play’ a
FILM
Opposite page and above: Baltasar Kormákur on the set of Trapped in North Iceland.