Icelandic horror movie on a new level

It is smoldering hot on the balcony of the film actor Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson and if I didn’t know we were in Reykjavík, I might as well be in the mecca of the film industry, Hollywood. In the world of movie stars, yes, the sun shines all year round. Jóhannesson, a little sunburned after the Icelandic summer, says he is not looking for the life of the stars in Hollywood. He is content to live in Laugardalur area in Reykjavík, with his wife and children, and while he often spends time abroad on film and television projects, he gets good time off  in between. Now he is going to Rome to play a gladiator, but Icelanders will see him on the white screen next week in the chilly horror film Kuldi or Cold in English. Jóhannesson promises that the film will be hair-raising and give the audience a chill.

Making bread

John graduated from the theatre in 2005, at the age of 25.

“I was very lucky to have a role in a professional theatre immediately while I was still studying acting, and I and Gói got a role in Grease which went on throughout the winter of our second year at the University of the Arts. Then the following year, the musical Hair was put up in Austurbær, and we were also performing. Magnús Geir Þórðarson, who was then accepted as the head of the theatre in Akureyri, persuaded Goi and me to come north immediately after graduation, and I spent a year there, which was a great school,” he says John smiling.

“Listen, I need to take the lid off the pot; I’m making bread!”

Asked if he is a great baker, he replies:

“When you’re 43, you get a cart, a high-pressure pump and a pickle base. And two grills; a carbon grill and a gas grill,” he says, laughing.

We return to his career, but Jóhannesson says he then went on contract at the National Theatre and later the City Theatre.

“I never had to look for a job, as it were. I spent most of my time at the National Theatre and stayed there until 2014 when acting projects abroad started rolling in,” he says.

Adventures of a Disciple in Morocco

“It was after Black’s Game that I first got an agent abroad, but all overseas recruitment goes through an agent,” says Jóhannesson, relating the story of how he came to get an agent.

“Þorvaldur Davíð, who also played in Black’s Game, was graduating from Juilliard. He was already with a manager in the United States and gives him a copy of the movie. There’s a guy named Matthew, who was then setting up his own agency with a friend also named Matthew,” he says and smiles.

“They were looking for exciting European actors and were watching this movie, but Þorvaldur Davíð was then reserved for his own agency. Matthew contacted me, and I was decided to give it a go. They were making some auditions, but I didn’t get any part until two years later, in 2014. Then, suddenly, I receive a phone call. The audition came as soon as I received a part on NBC’s “The A.D. Kingdom and Empire,” a show about Jesus’ disciples after their crucifixion. I was told that filming would begin in Morocco three weeks later. The theatre year was not yet started at home and I was not in any performance that was continuing, so I got a year’s leave and went to do this project,” says John, who played Thomas, one of the disciples.“ He was not disappointed.

"It was such an adventure!"

I don't crack

Did you feel like a movie star?

“Yes, a little bit. There are always good facilities and conditions when you’re on this kind of assignment. We were all there together in a hotel in the desert in the mountains of Morocco. We got to know each other really well. I thought, then, that it’s always the same, but I’ve learned since that it’s not. It’s just that if you’re filming in remote places, everyone gets really good friends. When you’re shooting in London or New York, you don’t get to meet people outside of work hours much.”

Were you stressed out on that first assignment?

“Yes, yes! The setting and the fancy conditions scares you; snow machines and “green screens” and all kinds of things. I heard a sentence that is appropriate: “Under pressure, you don’t rise to the occasion; you sink to the level of your training. So under pressure, the experience benefits me, and having been on the stage a thousand times and the acting at home in a movie saves me. I’ve done this before. So despite the stress, I can get through it. I don’t crack,” says Jóhannesson, “and he says he’s had a lot of experience since then.

The wife is the safety net

After landing the role in NBC's A.D., the ball began to roll, and Matthew and Matthew also found an agent for Jóhannesson in the UK, with whom they began working.

“I went to London for a few days and became a partner with one of them and he immediately made some money doing auditions for Game of Thrones. The key to continuing this was to dare to ask for a leave of absence at the National Theatre. I wanted to give it a go, and I would never have dared it if my wife wasn’t working at the Central Bank and was up for it. I knew then that if it went all the wrong way and I didn’t get anything to do, that we were still quite all right,” says Jóhannes, whose wife is Rósa Björk Sveinsdóttir, an economist.

"She's my safety net," he says, laughing.

When Jóhannesson received an invitation to audition for Game of Thrones, five seasons were completed and the show had become the biggest show in television history.

"It was for the sixth series. I hadn't seen it, but my wife was watching," he says, and he ended up acting in two episodes of this series.

"It wasn't a big role, but what I noticed was that as soon as I had Game of Thrones on my CV, I started getting more auditions. Often directors don't want to get any auditions from everyone, they want to screen over a CV and choose from it. So after that there were a lot more people who wanted to see me, so I got more offers. But in 90% of cases I still get no,” says Jóhannesson, “and I don’t fret over rejection.

Rubberized bamboo swords

At about the time of the pandemic, Jóhannesson was given roles in Vikings that was filmed in Dublin. He starred in two series, in 2020 and 2021.

"They may have sometimes been artistic licence about historical facts, but these are successful and entertaining shows that have been a huge success on Netflix," says Jóhannesson, who also recently acted in the final series of Succession, the wildly popular American show.

"I was there on the sidelines and I had nothing much to say that way. I followed Alexander Skarsgård there and it was great to be there watching these actors I have watched in three seasons," he says, "and it was a very good experience.

Today, John is playing a television series recorded in Rome called Those About to Die. Anthony Hopkins plays Caesar, and John is one of the gladiators.

“I’ve spent quite a few hours practicing the battle scenes, but I’m there in a pretty big role and I’ll be in eight out of ten,” he says, mentioning that the director is Roland Emmerich, who is known for his disaster and end-of-the-world films.

John says the fighting is not dangerous.

“We use rubberized bamboo swords, but of course you might get hurt, but nothing much. It’s mostly a lot of work learning it!”

Real Icelandic horrow movie

On Friday, September 1, the film Kuldi (Cold)  will premiere, with Jóhannesson playing one of the lead roles. The film is based on the book of the same name by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir.

“Director Erlingur Thoroddsen is an exciting director and a great scare specialist. I think we’re seeing Icelandic scare-mongering on a new level in his hands here,” says Jóhannesson, “and he says he enjoys playing in Icelandic.

John plays opposite his daughter, Ólöf Halla, who plays his daughter in the film.

“I thought it was great! She thought it would be great to be in the movie, but not as much fun to be with me every day. She’s fifteen and being very close to her dad is not on the top of the list,” he chuckles.

In Kuldi (Cold) , there are two stories that take place in different times and seem completely unrelated.

“But then the stories start to connect. I play a child welfare officer who is investigating the affairs of a juvenile care home; one boys’ home. The other story is that of a boys’ home thirty years ago. In my personal life, I’m raising my daughter who’s just lost her mom,” says Jóhannsson, “and the film is a real scare.

“My twelve-year-old son plays a small role as one of the boys in the boys’ home. I don’t know if it’s necessarily a good idea that he’ll see the film.”

A longer version of this interview is in Morgunblaðið this weekend.