http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/05/22/kultur/film/black_metal/varg_vikernes/lords_of_chaos/6348453/
Black metal stars dismiss Hollywood film based on the story of the "Count".
(Jackson Rathbone of "Twilight" fame to play the Count.)
Hollywood-based Stuart Pollok (front, in white shirt) has worked for years to bring the dramatisation of "Lords of Chaos" to life. Now, this film is slowly starting to become realised.
Controversial: The book "Lords of Chaos" sparked much debate after its release in 1998, and is shunned by many within the Norwegian black metal scene.
Murdered: Øystein Aarseth.
This September, the filming of "Lords of Chaos" will begin in Norway. This film is the dramatisation of the book of the same name about the Norwegian extreme black metal community in the early 1990s. It is to be directed by Hollywood producer Stuart Pollok.
It has already been made clear that Jackson Rathbone, of "Twilight" fame, will play the main role of Varg Vikernes. The film is likely to provide renewed attention to those who were involved in the first wave of black metal in Norway.
This news puts many who belong or have belonged in that scene in despair.
- I have boycotted the book ever since it was released. It is full of lies and rumours, Gylve "Fenriz" Nagell writes, in an SMS to Dagbladet.no.
Another unnamed person, who was sentenced in court for serious crimes in the early 1990s and is also discussed in "Lords of Chaos", explains to Dagbladet.no that he has tried to put his past behind him.
- Therefore, a dramatisation like this will only be a burden to me, he states, to Dagbladet.no.
"Lords of Chaos", written by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind, came out in 1998. The book caused much controversy, as it had only been five years since the murder of Øystein Aarseth in 1993.
Much of the material in the book was based on interviews with Varg "Greven" Vikernes which, among other things, attempts an exposition of his worldview.
DRAMA
Author Moynihan has also been accused of fascism in general, while the reliability of his book's historiography in chronicling the criminal activities of the black metal scene has also been questioned.
Kjetil Manheim, one of the founders of the band Mayhem, states that while the book functions well as a piece of entertainment, it is more rewarding to view documentaries if one wants to know more about what actually happened.
- The book focuses on what the media focus was on during the time. There were many young people, a lot of drama. While this might seem like a source of good entertainment to some, it was really just a tragedy, says Manheim.
THE SUBJECT OF MUCH DEBATE
Varg Vikernes himself has not been happy about neither the book nor the film. In a review of the book from 2004, he states that most of what is stated in the book are exaggerations, lies, or misconceptions.
After Dagbladet.no wrote about the film in Tuesday, several foreign media have picked up on the case. The metal site Blabbermouth discussed both the book and the choice of casting Jackson Rathbone as the lead role of Varg Vikernes. Particular attention has been directed to the fact that the Count will be played by a teenager from the "Twilight" series.
- I have heard that Jamie Foxx will be playing Euronymous, Justin Timberlake will be playing Dead, and that the losers from "High School Musical" will also be participating in the film, stated Snorre Ruch.
ULVER TO COMPOSE SOUNDTRACK FOR FILM?
However, all this controversy from the black metal fanbase may be consoled by the nature of director Sion Sono's previous films.
Sono has made several films that have been both controversial and have had artistic value. 2002's "Suicide Club", for instance, recounts the tale of 54 Japanese schoolchildren who committed mass suicide by throwing themselves in front of a train.
The director has now completed the writing of the script for the film "Lords of Chaos". The Norwegian band Ulver has been called upon to compose the soundtrack for the film, and band member Kristoffer Rygg is not as negatively orientated about the project as many of his black metal colleagues.
- I think that the book is a good mixture of music journalism, so-called "true crime", and the history of ideas. I read the script three years ago, and since this is a featured film based on actual events, it is dramatised with supernatural and occult elements. The full package. But now it has come into the hands of completely new people, so I really have no idea about what exactly this film is going to be like," says Rygg to Dagbladet.no.