Jonas Akerlund to Direct Black Metal Biopic 'Lords of Chaos'

Lords of Chaos, a book based on the Norwegian black metal scene of the early '90s—perhaps the most notorious genre in music history—will be getting a film adaptation from Jonas Akerlund, best known for having done music videos for Madonna, Lady Gaga and Paul McCartney among others. Rory Culkin has been tapped to star, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Although it's not confirmers that Culkin will be in the role, the film will reportedly focus on Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth, the founder of the band Mayhem and frequent ringleader of the scene's misdeeds. The bands that came out of the underground scene were less renowned for their musical acts than for a series of crimes committed to terrorized the "normalized" culture of the nation, including church burnings and several murders. Aarseth himself was the victim of one such murder, when Varg Vikernes of Burzum stabbed him (many times), reportedly over a financial disagreement. Vikernes has been in and out of prison since then, for charges as varied as inciting racial hatred to planning terrorist attacks. No word on how far into the future the film will continue after Aarseth's murder.

Although he's best known for his work with Madonna and Lady Gaga (for "Ray of Light" and "Paparazzi," respectively, among others), Akerlund has always had a soft spot for metal...directing for Candlemass and modern black metal band Satyricon as well. More notably, he himself was the drummer for iconic Swedish metal band Bathory, which was one of the primary influences for Mayhem et al.

The Hollywood Reporter suggests that the film will be shopped around for international distribution at the Cannes Film Festival in the future.

Reports suggest the film will be a "thriller." Akerlund first broke into the full-length film business with Spun, a 2002 film dark comedy based on the drug culture in Eugene, OR. This isn't the first time a film adaptation of the book has been ordered up: Sion Sono was tapped to make a film adaptation during 2009, which never materialized.

Tags

Madonna, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, Mayhem, Burzum, Varg Vikernes