Iceland on the big screen

In Húsavík, Reykjanes peninsula, and more

In Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams play Icelandic musicians Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Erickdottir, who are from the little fishing village Húsavík in North Iceland.

“It’s such a beautiful country,” says Will Ferrell, about picking Iceland and Húsavík as its main location. “It felt like the perfect backdrop, to be from this small town in Iceland.”

Lars and Sigrit are two musicians longing to make it big and become part of the Eurovision Song Contest. They perform their song ‘Volcano Man’ in the lava fields of Valahnúkur on the Reykjanes peninsula, dressed in Viking-inspired costumes.

“Shooting on those lava fields was something I’ll never forget,” says Will about creating the music video. “That was where we shot the ‘Volcano Man’ sequence and that was our last day of filming. And even though it was freezing cold, what an amazing environment to get to shoot in. Here we were, ostensibly shooting a really silly music video in the middle of nowhere. And it was just one of the cooler days of filmmaking I had ever done.”

Read more in our interview with Will Ferrell on the making of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.

At Þingvellir National Park

British actress Gwendoline Christie played the knight Brienne of Tarth in the popular fantasy series Game of Thrones. Over the course of its eight seasons, many parts of the TV show were shot in Iceland.

“I loved Iceland,” says Gwendoline about shooting there. “It’s such a wonderful place. It’s so radically different; parts of it are like being on the surface of the moon. Particularly when you go to the Blue Lagoon and there’s all that incredible smoke and everyone’s wearing that white mud on their face.”

It took three days to film the scene in which her character Brienne fights the Hound (played by Rory McCann) in the fourth season of Game of Thrones. The historic Þingvellir National Park in Iceland was used as the location for the fight, on cliffs near Hengill, an active volcano, and the Nesjavellir geothermal field.

“I loved it,” says Gwendoline. “We filmed on top of a mountain and it was really strange weather conditions. It was blisteringly hot sunshine. And it was supposed to be incredibly overcast. And Rory and I, the brilliant Rory McCann, fought it out for three days.”

At Skógafoss waterfall, Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon, and more

One of the standout romantic moments from the final season of Game of Thrones was filmed on location in South Iceland and stars, among other gorgeous places, the legendary Skógafoss waterfall in all its winter glory. 

The scene, from the ‘Winterfell’ episode, features Kit Harington as Jon Snow and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen taking the dragons for a spin through a stunning snow-laden river canyon (actually Fjaðrárgljúfur) before landing in front of the spectacular icicle-encrusted waterfall (CGI-enhanced), where they share a passionate kiss. 

Over the course of filming the eight seasons of Game of Thrones, Kit Harington spent a good deal of time in Iceland, from season two’s storyline where he’s captured by Wildlings, shot at Fjallsárlón glacier lagoon, to season three’s plotline where he loses his virginity to Ygritte (in a the natural hot spring known as Grjótagjá, in the Mývatn region of North Iceland).

Kit speaks very fondly of his time in Iceland and his appreciation for the local culture: “You cannot go to Iceland without learning abut the culture. It’s a population of so few that you are invited into, and the culture is just there. The world is just there. The culture is so defined by the landscape and its weather and its wildness that you just bleed into it.”

In Stykkishólmur and Seyðisfjörður

Ben Stiller had never been to Iceland when he directed and starred in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. He was amazed by the energy of the country, filming in places like the beautiful fishing towns of Stykkishólmur on Snæfellsnes peninsula, Seyðisfjörður in East Iceland, and in the valley between Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon and the southeast town of Höfn.

Stiller had some rather daring scenes to shoot for the movie, in which he plays the eponymous office worker who embarks on a global adventure – inclding a scene where he was in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic and his character is attacked by a shark.

“It was so surreal,” says Ben about shooting this particular scene. “... the boat had to be approaching me, and the camera was in the boat, and they dropped me in the water, and then the boat went away and we were in the middle of the ocean. The boat had to go away to come back to film the shot, and I was just alone in the ocean, and I had this moment where I was realizing; this isn’t a movie, this is real life.”

For him, it was a revelatory moment. They had been shooting in the fishing village of Garður on the Reykjanes peninsula, home to one of the oldest lighthouses in Iceland along with thousands of migrating seabirds. This is where Walter ends up in the North Atlantic Ocean.

“It was kind of wonderful... I never thought I’d have a chance to do something like this in my life if I wasn’t making this movie.”

In the Westfjords

Jason Momoa played Aquaman in the superhero film Justice League, which was partly shot in Iceland. The production team traveled to the tiny coastal village of Djúpavík in the Westfjords – Iceland’s least populated region, with a dramatic landscape.

Hawaii-born Jason is used to a warmer climate, but he loved the spectacular scenery surrounding Djúpavík, which is located some 300km (186 miles) from Reykjavík.

“I didn’t get to have the pleasure to go to Iceland during Game of Thrones,” says the actor – he was only part of the first season of the fantasy TV show. “So that [filming Justice League] was my first time there and it’s unbelievable. It’s one of the most magical places I’ve ever been in my life and I would love to spend a lot of time in Iceland, I really would. I would recommend it to anyone. It’s so special.”

At Svínafellsjökull glacier

In Christopher Nolan’s film Interstellar, Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway play two astronauts looking for an alternative home for mankind as the Earth is dying and becoming uninhabitable.

Svínafellsjökull glacier and the hill Orrustuhóll in the Eldhraun lava field are both stand-ins for an alien world.

Matthew was impressed. “Iceland naturally was one of the most epic places that I have ever been. I know that I was standing in some places where I was like: I am sure no man has ever stood here before.”

Svínafellsjökull glacier, which is an offshoot of the Vatnajökull ice cap in southeast Iceland, impressed the American actor. “We’re standing on a glacier that is growing and the avalanches keep coming, because it’s growing,” he says. “There are chasms beneath us so if someone fell, that’s it, that’s the last you would see of them. And there were high winds, so naturally the place has a major bite. We had some time to hike around that glacier, and there are some national parks there and it’s pristine. It’s really, really untouched and it was gorgeous. But strong.”

 On Skálafellsjökull glacier

George Clooney plays a lonely Arctic scientist in The Midnight Sky, which he also directed. He spent a little over two weeks filming in Iceland, which stands in for the Arctic in the film.

“My experience in Iceland was that I have never seen anything like it. First of all, I think there are only about 300,000 people there – it’s very small. But the space and the grandeur of the glaciers is something that I’ve not seen before.”

The team shot on Skálafellsjökull glacier, another outlet of the mighty Vatnajökull ice cap in the southeastern part of Iceland. The temperatures were well below zero and the director could barely see the crew, as they worked under whiteout conditions. Clooney, who plays a scientist witnessing a global catastrophe, was aware of the effect of the climate changing.

“I live in a country, where there is a good portion of the country that denies science – that denies climate change,” says Clooney. “When you’re in the front lines, which they are [in Iceland] and you can see that glaciers are melting… theret’s no denying it. And to them it’s not a question of debate, it’s about when, not if. So I really appreciate being there. They are all environmentalists there. They have a great outlook on life and I really love Iceland.”

Read more in our interview with George Clooney on the making of The Midnight Sky.

At Reynisfjara and Mývatn

Director Darren Aronofsky cast Australian actor Russell Crowe to play the lead character Noah in his biblical epic Noah, and he chose Iceland as the pre-flood ancient world that is Noah’s home. 

In the film, you see the black sandy beaches at Reynisfjara in the south of the country, and the Reykjanes peninsula at Kleifarvatn lake and in the Raufarhólshellir cave – as well as the beautiful lake region of Mývatn in North Iceland.

“We were working in extremely difficult situations,” Darren says about the shoot. “Iceland was so challenging. We were in the really far reaches of Iceland.”

The film is based on the Old Testament story, where Noah is tormented by visions of a forthcoming apocalyptic flood and starts building an ark to save the animal species. It was thus not only the harsh weather conditions of Iceland that were challenging: “We were working on a 70-foot tall structure of the ark with all uneven floors,” explains Darren. “So all of a sudden one day we all started complaining about our hips, and we realized that we had been standing on uneven surfaces for like 100 days, and we just couldn’t sleep because our hips were aching so much.”

At Dettifoss, Landmannalaugar, and more

British actor Tom Hiddleston plays Loki, Thor’s brother, in the superhero films based on the Marvel Comics character Thor. He felt that shooting part of the action film Thor: The Dark World in Iceland was very appropriate.

“What’s amazing about using Iceland as a location is that these characters have evolved from Norse gods,” says Tom. “It kind of felt like the story had slightly come home. If you go out in Reykjavík, people are actually called Thor.”

Tom describes how they were driving to the dormant volcano listening to the local Icelandic post-rock band, Sigur Rós. Since a lot of the fight scenes were shot in a studio, where it was safe to do the stunts, it was important for the actor that they actually went on location in Iceland. The film was shot various locations, including Dettifoss waterfall, the black-sand outwash plains of Skeiðarársandur, the beautiful canyon Fjaðrárgljúfur, and the geothermal area Landmannalaugar near the volcano Hekla in southern Iceland.

“We’re on a volcano that’s dormant,” says Tom about his experiences in Iceland. “We're on a real lava field with extraordinary kind of magic-hour light for 12 hours a day. It really gives us a lot of atmosphere and a lot of dimension.”

In Akureyri and Dalvík

Jodie Foster stars as police chief Elizabeth Danvers in the fourth season of hit HBO series True Detective. The series is set in the middle of winter in the small fictional town of Ennis in Alaska, but the filming took place in Iceland, parts of which were transformed to look like the ‘Last Frontier’ US state.

The crew shot the series in and around Reykjavík, and in the North Iceland towns Akureyri and Dalvík, where the production team built the whole fictional village of Ennis.

Jodie and the rest of the actors fell in love with Iceland – they were particularly impressed with the quality of Reykjavík’s restaurants. “The food is delicious,” says Jodie. “There’s great music in Reykjavik, and just 15 minutes outside of Reykjavik it’s like you’re in the absolute middle of nowhere. I don’t think there’s another landscape that’s like that.”

“You’re so close to nature in all of its beauty and grandeur and all its harshness,” Jodie says, of filming during the Icelandic winter. “What was really great was when we were shooting outside...and then suddenly the northern lights start happening and we all just stop... and start looking at the northern lights.”

Read more in our interview with Jodie Foster on the making of True Detective: Night Country.