Mel Gibson and Leonardo DiCaprio: Heading for a viking epic.
Academy-Award winning director Mel Gibson visited Iceland last year with his two sons, as widely reported in the Icelandic media at the time. It now seems that the trip was in part location scouting or a field research for the director’s next film, as Variety reports yesterday that Mr. Gibson will direct and Leonardo DiCaprio will star in an untitled period drama set in the world of Viking culture.
From newspaper DV website, July 28th 2008. The headline reads: "Gibson didn't do well golfing."
According to ICN sources, Mr. Gibson visited several places of historical significance during his stay, including the Borgarfjordur area in the west part of Iceland, showed a great deal of interest in the Icelandic Sagas, and expressed his desire to mount a viking epic.
It remains to be seen if he’s to shoot any scenes in Iceland, but according to Variety he’s working from a script by William Monahan (The Departed) and The Graham King-produced film is expected to start shooting next fall.
Mr. Gibson is known for his energetic and no-holds-barred style as in Braveheart, The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto. The last two had entirely native dialogue; using Arameic/Latin and Maya languages respecively. It is certainly worth wondering if Gibson intends to go on in that vein; using Old Norse in his viking project. Hearing Mr. DiCaprio swearing in Icelandic would certainly be something…
