Just in time to celebrate his release from prison, Varg Vikernes, the man behind Norwegian black metal band/project Burzum, is about to be immortalized on film. In what may be the ultimate punishment for his many crimes, he’ll be played by Jackson Rathbone, recently seen as the blond, extra-weird, ultra-mopey vampire Jasper Hale in Twilight.
Vikernes has already been angry about the way he was portrayed in the book Lords of Chaos, which documented a string of church burnings in Norway and the stabbing death of Øystein Aarseth, aka Euronymous of the band Mayhem. Vikernes was convicted for the 1993 murder of Euronymous, who was stabbed 23 times, and for arson in relation to three church burnings. His sentence was 21 years. Vikernes served 16 years, and was released in March of this year.
Lords of Chaos isn’t a great journalistic work, but it does capture a certain essence of the wild Norwegian metal underground of the early ’90s. It will be brought to film by Japanese director Sion Sono (Suicide Club, Love Exposure), who’ll be making his first film outside Japan.
If nothing else, this is a good time for the film. Black metal, truly underground when things went bad between Vikernes and Euronymous, was still under the radar when Lords was initially published. The book was the beginning of a wave of media attention that has brought the genre as close to mainstream as it’s going to get. At this point, if I heard Wolves in the Throne Room in a Prius commercial, I wouldn’t be surprised.
The film shoots in Norway in September. Before it hits, you’ll have a chance to chuckle at Rathbone in New Moon and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender.
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Varg Vikernes (a.k.a. Count Grishnackh), the former BURZUM mastermind who was convicted of murdering MAYHEM guitarist Oystein Aarseth (a.k.a. Euronymous) in August 1993 and setting fire to three churches, is a free man.
“I can confirm that I have been released from prison,” Vikernes told Norway’s Dagbladet.
Although his parole application was denied four times — most recently in September 2008 — Vikernes received word in February that he would be released after serving almost 16 years in prison. He was finally allowed to leave a couple of weeks ago, according to Dagbladet.
“I will have to report [to the parole officer] for one year — initially every two weeks, and then once a month,” Vikernes said.
For the past couple of years, Varg had been allowed to leave the prison regularly to walk around Tromsø, Norway (where the prison is located) and visit his family.
Last year it was reported that case workers at the Justice Ministry feared that Vikernes would be unable to adjust to life on the outside after his years in jail.
“I’m ready for society — and I have been for many years,” Vikernes told Dagbladet last July. “I have learned from my mistakes and become older. Now I just want to be together with my family.”
He added, “My mind has never been in prison; I think all the time about what I should do on the day that I am released.
“I have barely seen my son since he came into the world. Even though I hear his voice on the phone almost every day, it is very tough to not be present while he is growing up.
“I miss my family. And I look forward the day that I could work on my farm, create music, write books and be with the wife and kids around the clock — and live a normal life.
