Nikolaj Coster-Waldau will soon be seen in “Against the Ice”, a new Netflix movie dramatizing the true story of two Danish explorers struggling to survive the elements after being stranded in frigid Greenland.
As the “Game of Thrones” star revealed in an interview with Deadline, he suffered a head injury while filming a scene in which his character fights off a polar bear — even though the bear was added later via CGI.
“I got a small concussion that day,” he said, recalling that the bear was played by a “heavyweight judo champion of Iceland, who also does work as a stunt guy. He was the bear.”
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According to Coster-Waldau, his commitment to make the scene look authentic led to the concussion.
“On the day, I wanted it to look as good as possible, so I let my head go and he really went for it, throwing me around like a rag doll,” he explained. “Very strong man. We’ve been watching cuts of this scene and it’s me and a guy in a brown suit with a weird bear helmet on. It looks ridiculous. Now [with the CGI], it’s incredible.”
“In 1909, Denmark’s Arctic Expedition led by Captain Ejnar Mikkelsen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) was attempting to disprove the United States’ claim to Northeast Greenland,” reads the Netflix synopsis of the film. “This claim was based on the assumption that Greenland was broken up into two different pieces of land. Leaving his crew behind with the ship, Mikkelsen embarks on a journey across the ice with his inexperienced crew member, Iver Iversen (Joe Cole). The two men succeed in finding the proof that Greenland is one island, but returning to the ship takes longer and is much harder than expected. Battling extreme hunger, fatigue and a polar bear attack, they finally arrive to find their ship crushed in the ice and the camp abandoned. Hoping to be rescued, they now must fight to stay alive. As the days grow longer, their mental hold on reality starts to fade, breeding mistrust and paranoia, a dangerous cocktail in their fight for survival. Against the Ice is a true story of friendship, love and the awe-inspiring power of companionship.”
“Against the Ice” debuts on March 2.
