Karl Urban (Doom) stars in the 20th Century Fox movie Pathfinder directed by Marcus Nispel (Texas Chainsaw Massacre - 2003). Urban plays a Viking who, as a child, was shipwrecked on the northeast coast of America and raised by Native Americans. 15 years after being taken in by his new family, he must decide where his loyalties lie when Vikings land on America's shores and attack his adopted tribe.
What kind of workout did you have to do to be ready?
“I had all sorts of training. I had sword fighting training, stunt training. I had to be in just absolute prime physical condition, which is a lot of gym work. So it was very, very grueling.”
Do you normally go to the gym?
“You know what? I don't traditionally spend a whole hell of a lot of time at the gym unless I have to, like for a specific role. But when I do, I really enjoy it. I like being fit. It gives you a good energy.”
Did you wind up doing your own stunts?
“I kind of wasn't really prepared for how much I actually ended up doing. The director, Marcus Nispel, I honestly thought was completely off his rocker at a point. I was sort of jumping around these rocks and trees and boulders and stuff, like a 10-year-old kid would do. I was having the time of my life and I was just thankful that I didn't sustain any real, serious injuries. I was nursing injuries right throughout the whole shoot. I actually pulled some tendon in my leg on the very, very first day and it took about two weeks for that to come right. It just seemed like every other day I was injuring myself in some way or another.
There's a point in the film where we have this sequence where my character flees from the Viking pursuers on a shield. He's hurtling down the mountain at outrageous speed. Well, we didn't have the budget to do that how you would normally do that, which was to be on a soundstage and use CGI. We actually went up the side of a mountain and I had some shield which they had attached a snowboard beneath. I was literally hurtling down the mountain out of control. It was a lot of fun.”
And the fight scenes had to look more primitive?
“Yeah, it's about survival. It was important to me that the character's technique with the sword wasn't overly flashy or he wasn't equipped with numerous moves, flashy moves. It's really about survival and do what you can, and he uses everything and anything he can to get the advantage on his opponent. That was a lot of fun. Even to the point of using dirt and blinding his opponents or whatever. He'd fight dirty, whatever it takes to win the battle.”
But you've used swords before, haven’t you?
“Yeah, in Lord of the Rings I was trained by Bob Anderson. I was able to bring some of that, of what I learned in Lord of the Rings and employ it in Pathfinder.”
What did you find out about the Viking culture while working on Pathfinder?
“Well, this is not based on a true story. This film is a hypothetical situation that is based upon the meeting of these two cultures. The Vikings actually did have interactions with the Indians and I think for the most part, they were very peaceful and both cultures traded, were heavily into trade. But occasionally it did go south and their meetings became conflict-driven. Our film is kind of based loosely upon that.
I think traditionally the Vikings do get a raw deal in films. They are traditionally portrayed as these monsters who went around raping and pillaging. There is obviously a lot of evidence that there were some clans or factions of Viking tribes that did that, particularly on the coast of England with the monasteries they raided. But there is also a lot of historical artifacts and evidence to point that this was actually a highly sophisticated culture who had its own judicial system and its own laws. And they were incredible adventurers and seamen. Really, the bottom line is that the Vikings discovered America 1,000 years before Christopher Columbus and that's fascinating.”
Did you get into all that research?
“Oh, absolutely. I took the opportunity to find out as much as I could in a limited amount of time. Even down to the old Viking myths and legends, which I found fascinating, which of course formed the very basis for a lot of today's modern works from the Harry Potter series… Obviously Tolkien was heavily influenced by them and that's reflective in some of the names you find in Lord of the Rings.”
What's your costume like?
“It's actually kind of funny. The first day I turned up to the costumer, to the wardrobe fitting, the costume lady handed me this little leather kind of thong. I was like, ‘What's this?’ She said, ‘That's your costume. Those are your pants.’ I couldn't believe it. My costume consisted of this leather thong, which then I would put on chaps and they'd tie the chaps to the little leather thong. Within week we were getting notes from the studio, ‘Uh, we can see Karl's butt. Can you please do something about that?’ So it was almost too authentic.”
What did they cover you with?
“Mud, more leather. I got a bigger leather thong.”
Page 2: The Sets, the Dialogue, and Moon Bloodgood
