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At The Movies

AMON AMARTH Frontman Reflect On First Acting Gig: "I Never Really Knew What It Took Before This"

VIKING ACTOR.

VIKING ACTOR.

Amon Amarth frontman Johan Hegg was recently in the movie Northmen: A Viking Saga, which makes perfect sense considering Hegg is pretty much a viking from another time period that traveled here via ancient wooden ship. Apparently acting is pretty weird! Or at least that's what Hegg said in a recent interview.

"Trying to get into a character is a strange feeling. I never really knew what it took before I did this. But you really have to think like, 'All right, I'm not Johan Hegg. I am this [other] guy.' So when you look at that guy over there and you hate his guts, you really have to hate his guts. Like, you have to say that in your head, really, because then, all of a sudden, it just comes out that way. At least I found that. It's a strange experience, but a lot of fun."

He also touches on beating the piss out of people…

"[It was] way too much fun. The first day of stunt training, when we did the fighting scene and all that stuff, the stunt people had to tell me to stop. They were, like, 'Dude, you can't do it anymore, because you're gonna feel it tomorrow.' I just wanted to keep going. I had so much fun, fighting with swords."

…and if acting is anything like being on stage.

"It's not really acting, because all the feelings are real, but it's a character; the stage persona is not the way I am [off] the stage. That would be crazy. Who would wanna have a guy screaming at you all the time? But all the feelings up there are always genuine. So it's not, like, faking anything; I don't like to do that. I wanna show people how I feel, and usually I love being up there and am having a good time, and that usually shows. But every once in a while you have a crappy show. But that's cool too. If you get pissed, let it out, and people will think it's cool."

"Acting on stage and acting in movies is two completely different things. In a movie, you have retakes. You never have a retake when you're on stage. It's not like I can stop in the middle of a song and go, 'Ah, excuse me, I wanna do something different here. Can we start over, please?' That's not gonna happen. Once the ball is rolling, it's rolling, and you only have one shot. So it's completely different and it has to come natural. And that's why you can't act on stage; you have to be natural."

Since Hegg is now recognized as an actor, can we get him and Adam Sandler to do a movie? I just wanna see Hegg react to a terrible Sandler film. Like, real bad.

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