Björn Hlynur Haraldsson is one of the most prominent Icelandic actors in the world, famous for roles in both Eleven Men Out (2005), Jar City (2006), and Lamb (2021). For fantasy fans, he's best known as King Eist Tuirseach in Netflix's The Witcher. A perfect fit for the role, King Eist Tuirseach is the ruler of the Skellige Isles and step-grandfather to Princess Cirilla, a.k.a. Ciri. He portrayed the character for three episodes in season 1 before Eist met his fate during the Battle of Marnadal.
Moving on from his Witcher foray, Haraldsson has set his new project in the form of Icelandic romantic tragedy Klara, a movie from Lamb co-writer Sjón. After winning a national Edda Award, Lamb was one of Haraldsson's most successful recent projects, so reuniting with Sjón is a super exciting prospect indeed.
Klara sets up a very interesting premise. It's set in Reykjavik, Iceland, during the 1940s, where a female medium with a deep connection to all things supernatural approaches a grieving husband with the promise of news from the afterlife.
In fact, Klara is loosely based on true events. "The seed for Klara came from an actual case in Iceland in the early 1940s involving a celebrated medium whose life intersected with crime, grief and wartime politics,” Haraldsson explained, per Variety. He was particularly drawn to this movie due to being fascinated by “the blurred line between faith and deception, especially when people are grieving and looking for meaning.”
Haraldsson has spent a number of years working in the realm of serialised dramas, not least The Witcher. While he has a love for that form of storytelling—"[It's[ fantastic for character depth and long-form storytelling"—returning to the big screen was alluring. He says he felt “an urge to return to the concentrated power of cinema, where you can hold an audience in a single, sustained emotional and visual experience."
"Klara is the perfect bridge between those worlds: it has the layered complexity I love from television, but with the intimacy, atmosphere, and cinematic sweep of a feature film," he added.
The movie celebrates its "vital" Icelandic setting, embracing its breathtaking landscapes. Haraldsson says Klara utilizes “the sharp winter, the narrow wartime streets, a landscape that can shift effortlessly between beauty and menace."
Klara doesn't have a release date yet, but we'll keep you updated on how things progress! What do you think of the premise? Tell us in the comments down below!