The Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) is the largest organization of Location Managers and Location Scouts in the motion picture, television, commercial and print production industries. Their membership plays a vital role in the creativ
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44 • LMGI COMPASS | Summer 2022 designer and what we're logistically and capably going to be able to achieve. There is no point taking anybody to a location which is utterly unserviceable, or it's so highly protected, you are simply not going to get the permission that you require in order to make it happen." She took the production leads across Northern Ireland, visiting rolling pasturelands and blustery peaks in search of Northern Ireland's Nordic potential. "The first thing she did was share her immense knowledge of the area with us, touring the area with us and helping us find these perfect locations for our film," says Lathrop. "We had so many difficult locations that we found through her." "I loved the locations that she proposed," Cingolani says. "She tried to look for locations that had a vast landscape that could not be referred to only as Northern Ireland, and she was really able to do the job." Eggers told The New York Times, "I'm deliberately trying to find the most punishing, brutal locations I can shoot them in because that's what the story demands." In Northern Ireland's gorgeous, wind-howling wildlands, his narrative requirements were well satisfied. KNOCKDHU In late 2019 and early 2020, two of the three main builds were launched: Prince Amleth's home at Torr Head and Fjölnir's farm on the breathtaking grasslands of Knockdhu on the southeastern coast—also used as a location in the first season of Game of Thrones. The farm build involved extensive earthworks and a sprawling, multi-structure set built authentically with peat blocks and Icelandic turf. Cingolani explains its layout as an extension of the film's dramatic structure. "It's like you're on a theater stage, challenges. "I knew that we would have people and crew spread throughout all of Northern Ireland working at each of the different locations, all at different stages. So, my plan was to make sure we had the "A" team, the crew at the top of their game who would be able to handle the requirements of such a big movie." She assembled Eggers' core creative squad: Liston, Cingolani, Huffam and the producers would be joined by Lathrop, editor Louise Ford, costume designer Linda Muir and Jarin Blaschke as director of photography. "We were a very well-oiled wheel," recalls Cingolani. "We really worked very well." "In The Northman, there are sort of three main worlds, and I wanted to make sure that these worlds were distinct in terms of the architecture," says Lathrop. The film's theatrical three-act structure would feature a trio of main "stages": Hrafsney, the Land of Rus and the evil Fjölnir's farm. "The landscapes in which they lived influenced the locations we picked, and then the characters themselves—their levels of wealth in terms of everyday objects, we had to build it all. We built almost all the furniture, almost all the props, and of course, we found those incredible locations." Liston studied Iceland's unique features, from craggy volcanic peaks to fertile plateaus to fjords, then broke up Northern Ireland into a diagram of corresponding regions: in the south lie County Down and the Mourne Mountains, where barren boglands and rocky landscapes dominate. To the west are the green flatlands and rivers of Antrim, and the North Coast is carved into dramatic seacliffs. She parsed the script into narrative chunks, then matched each one to its Northern Irish topographical twin. Liston approached the film's sweeping, dramatic environments with the pragmatism of a production lead. "You've got to manage the expectations of the production and of the director and of the