Write On with 'The Northman' Co-Writers Robert Eggers and Sjón

Write On: A Screenwriting Podcast

From visionary director Robert Eggers, The Northman follows a young Viking prince (Alexander Skarsgård) on a quest to avenge his father's murder. Eggers and his co-writer, Sjón, chatted with Final Draft about the collaborative process of working on the script. "I had lunch with Alexander Skarsgård, who said that he wanted to make a Viking movie," Eggers said, "and I said, 'I can make a Viking movie, and I know the perfect person to write it with me,' and luckily, Sjón wanted to... I wrote the first draft, and from there, we just [passed] it back and forth for eternity, all through production, all through post-production."

When asked if they would recommend collaborating with a writing partner on a project, Sjón said, "I really recommend working with a co-writer on films. I've written poetry and novels and all sorts of things, but when it comes to film, I really think it works when you're writing with someone you know because film is already a medium of collaboration, and to go into it from the beginning, from the story level as a collaboration, I think is really great."

The Northman is now available on Amazon Prime.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Write On Podcast on iTunes! Now available on Google Podcasts!