'Lords Of Chaos' Norwegian Black-Metal Movie Shooting In Oslo: First Look

The English-language film “Lords Of Chaos”, based on true events in the Norwegian black metal music scene in the early 1990s, has begun filming in Oslo and the Norwegian movie news site Filter Film Og TV has posted several photos and a video clip of the set, showing actor Emory Cohen (“Brooklyn”, “The Place Beyond The Pines”) as notorious musician and convicted murderer Kristian “Varg” Vikernes (BURZUM).

The apartment cooperative which owns the condo where MAYHEM founder Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth was murdered more than twenty years ago confirmed earlier this week that the movie will shoot scenes there. Filter Film Og TV‘s photos, however, are from a nearby street in the eastern Oslo borough of Toyen.

According to Filter Film Og TV, there has been no word from the producers on what other actors may be on set in Oslo; they are very secretive. But it is known Rory Culkin (“Signs”, “You Can Count on Me”) has the role of Euronymous, and Sky Ferreira (upcoming “Baby Driver”, “Twin Peaks”) plays a groupie named Ann-Marit. Both actors were visible in METALLICA‘s “ManUNkind” video, which was helmed by “Lords Of Chaos” director and co-writer Jonas Åkerlund and which contains scenes from the movie.

Åkerlund is the original drummer of BATHORY, one of the first black metal bands, who made his mark directing music videos for artists from Madonna and THE ROLLING STONES to MAROON 5 and Beyoncé. These have won him a host of awards, including several Grammys, an MTV VMA, MVPA Hall Of Fame award and more. Åkerlund has also directed a number of feature films, including cult favorite “Spun” starring Jason Schwartzman, Mickey Rourke, Brittany Murphy and John Leguizamo.

“Lords Of Chaos” is described as “the terrifying story based on real events about a dream-turned-nightmare for a group of teenagers who spiral out of control.” The movie will follow the life of Aarseth, the founding member of MAYHEM who was murdered in 1993 by Vikernes. In the movie, Euronymous “becomes fixated on creating true ‘Norwegian black metal’ music with his band MAYHEM, and creates a phenomenon by using shocking stunts to put the band’s name on the map. But as the lines between publicity and reality start to blur, acts of arson, violence and a vicious murder shock the nation.”

The “Lords Of Chaos” movie is based on the “Lords Of Chaos: The Bloody Rise Of The Satanic Metal Underground” book, which was originally published in 1998 by Feral House U.S. A second edition followed in 2003, documenting black metal activities since 1997.

Back in 2009, when initial reports surfaced that the “Lords Of Chaos” book was being turned into a movie, vocalist Sigurd “Satyr” Wongraven and drummer Kjetil-Vidar “Frost” Haraldstad of the Norwegian the black metal band SATYRICON expressed their disgust over the plans. Satyr told Dagbladet.no: “Now that the focus on black metal finally has shifted towards the actual music, this gossip journalism in the shape of a book is made into a movie. Since ‘Lords Of Chaos’ is an incredibly bad book, I can only assume the movie will be bad as well.”

He continued, “It is sad that such an inaccurate story, written by someone who doesn’t understand black metal, has become a book of reference. And it is sad that someone is willing to go that far to exploit the history of black metal.”

Frost added: “This is a parasitic phenomenon.”

All photos courtesy of Filter Film Og TV