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Gerard Butler as Beowulf. Winner of 6 international film festival awards, this entertaining documentary tells the dramatic story behind the making of the epic movie Beowulf & Grendel, starring Gerard Butler, Stellan Skarsgard, Sarah Polley and Ingvar Sigurdsson. When Canadian director Sturla Gunnarsson and his cast and crew, including Gerard Butler and Stellan Skarsgård, set upon Iceland to film Beowulf & Grendel in 2004, they expected the usual complications involved in making a major motion picture. What they encountered was a ruthless Icelandic winter on a foreboding landscape, financing complications and a bizarre run of bad luck that led some of them to believe they were in an epic battle with the Norse gods themselves. Filmmaker Jon Gustafsson was along for the ride. Hired to play one of Beowulf’s warriors, he’s one set with his camera as the crew battles hurricane force winds and he’s in the backroom as the producers scramble to shore up a collapsing deal, creating an intimate portrait of filmmakers fighting the odds in pursuit of a vision. If you liked "Lost in la Mancha" or "Burden of Dreams" you will probably like this one. DVD Special Features: 2 hours of bonus features, 1 hour exclusive interview with Gerard Butler, exclusive interviews with producers of Beowulf & Grendel, additional & extended scenes, chapter selection, Subtitles: Spanish, German, French, Icelandic, Polish, English, version for the hearing impaired.

Product details

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
MPAA rating ‏ : ‎ NR (Not Rated)
Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.1 x 5.42 x 0.58 inches; 2.88 ounces
Director ‏ : ‎ Jon Gustafsson
Media Format ‏ : ‎ Director's Cut, Letterboxed
Run time ‏ : ‎ 1 hour and 12 minutes
Actors ‏ : ‎ Gerard Butler, Sturla Gunnarsson, Paul Stephens, Peter Pedrero
Subtitles: ‏ : ‎ English, German, Spanish
Producers ‏ : ‎ Karolina Lewicka, Jon Armann Steinsson
Studio ‏ : ‎ Artio Films
ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000V8VNUM

Best Sellers Rank: #239,242 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- #11,710 in Documentary (Movies & TV)

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3.8 141 ratings

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3.8 out of 5

141 global ratings

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Shopalol

A True Professional!

Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2014

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I received this and watched it the same night, I have a whole new respect for the actors, directors and all the other crew involved in the making of movies. This gives you a unique behind the scenes view of making a movie and in this case in the worst conditions I was looking forward to the breathtaking landscapes and seeing Iceland up close, its somewhere I would have loved to go before I got ill. I especially wanted to see it as I am an avid Gerry Butler fan and have seen everything he's made even the hard to get ones, but I was not prepared for this adventure. I have nothing but admiration at both the talent of these actors and the professionalism in wanting to give their blood,sweat and tears to finish this film. It is about the making of Beowulf & Grendel and it made it even more special for me that I knew what it took to get it done. It isn't all lounging about in between takes in their luxury campers but making the best of a whole lot of bad luck and bad weather conditions and still showing us all what professionals they all are. My admiration for Gerry's continued contribution to this industry, a true professional.

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2007

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I was one of the privileged people to attend the Oxford Film Festival in Ohio in April 2007 and to meet Jon Gustafsson! I was not disappointed! I had already preordered the Wrath of Gods DVD and so I was very excited to see some of the clips from the DVD. I couldn't believe what the cast and crew had to endure to make Beowulf & Grendel and it's all on the DVD. I particularly enjoyed all the behind the scene features and all the interviews. I am an avid fan of Gerry Butler's and I especially enjoyed the hour-long enterview with Gerry and Jon! I'm afraid, with Gerry's new found star status, we will never see another hour long interview with him....ever again! So with this DVD, we have something really special! What a labor of love this was for Jon! I never tire of watching this!
Thank you Gerry and Jon for this marvelous piece of work!!

Pat Marcum

13 people found this helpful

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E. A. Solinas

"Every day I feel like Prometheus..."

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2017

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If there is one thing I have learned, it's that the movie "Beowulf and Grendel" had probably the worst shoot of any movie that actually got completed.

And thankfully it was completed, unlike Alejandro Jodorovsky's infamous "Dune" or Terry Gilliam's "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote." But in a strange way, the documentary "Wrath of Gods" is entertaining just for the question of what possible issues can arise next -- everything from financial issues to hurricanes, from a sinking boat to a botched blessing.

Icelandic-Canadian director Sturla Gunnarson had a dream of making his own movie version of "Beowulf," based on the ancient Anglo-Saxon poem about a monster-slaying hero. And at first, things seemed to be going well -- they had Gerard Butler in the titular role, Icelandic shooting locations, and a passionate group of people who wanted to see this project come to life. It was a pretty low-budget story, but it was one that was trying to do what no other adaptation has managed.

But problems started almost immediately, when the financial backers started getting cold feet even as the days ticked down to winter, constantly diminishing the available Icelandic daylight. And after an Asatru priest botches the blessing of the production, it seems like the Norse gods have decided they don't want this movie made -- every aspect of the play is hit with increasingly disastrous problems that range from the mead-hall almost burning down, the sets being blown away by a hurricane, lost beaches, a volcanic eruption, and a replica of a Viking ship that must be somehow transported to the set... and then not sink.

If nothing else, "Wrath of Gods" will get across how blindingly hard it must be to make a movie, especially an indie one with a big scope. I have nothing but admiration for filmmakers, if nothing else because they must juggle dozens of issues, ranging from producer/studio issues to making sure everyone is fed and sheltered. And that's before all the unexpected problems come up, like a bunch of the Icelandic extras riding their terrified horses into the water... while incredibly drunk. You can't make this up.

So a great deal of the documentary is simply tracking the string of disasters that plagued the production, which were so common and relentless that the documentary opens with a member of the crew declaring that every day he feels like the Titan Prometheus, wondering what horrors await him. They build slowly but consistently, making you sometimes marvel at the fact that "Beowulf and Grendel" was actually finished at last -- when a volcano erupts just a few days before a troubled shoot ends, you have to wonder if a divine force doesn't want your movie made.

And of course, the people making it pretty much exhibit the "you have to laugh or you'll cry" mentality, often taking their misfortunes as humorously as they can despite the constant disasters. There's a certain wry humor in the problems they encounter.... except perhaps in Gerard Butler, who seems downright giddy and near-hysterical from all the mayhem ("Don't talk to me about the pagan blessing!"). You can tell all the tension was wearing on the poor people, but they handle it as well as possible.

It's pretty much the worst nightmare of every filmmaker, but "Wrath of Gods" makes a dandy little documentary about almost supernatural filming woes -- and if nothing else, will teach you about just how many things can go wrong in filmmaking.

13 people found this helpful

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eo ipso

I can't believe I watched the whole thing!

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2017

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Presumably this on-set documentary was intended to justify cost overruns, cashflow constraints and production delays for the movie -Beowulf & Grendel-, which the documentary certainly inclines me not to watch. The fact that its $15M budget returned only $68,820 at the box office -- the-numbers.com doesn't offer free data on video or streaming receipts -- and despite its inexplicably won a number of awards, some justification would be in order. But the random action and needless detail coupled with the stars' sarcasm and melodramatic misery, the snarky reluctance of the financiers, and the conspicuously absent contextual account of Odin's wrath make for something to suffer, indeed, yet without commiseration of the crew's plight. Poor planning and incoherent management are little to be pitied. The memorable theme, voiced by the director, may be paraphrased as "this is the movie business, nothing is real" -- certainly not the cast's angst or substance of the documentary -- but Iceland's sublime land/seascape was both pleasant and memorable, albeit not enough to warrant your watching it.

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SeaJay

Man Up boys! Your taking on ***ICELAND*** - anything in that name sound friendly ?

Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2016

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Actors take on Iceland - and learn how just the weather is enough to make Heros out of men...
It is a blessing no one suffered worse - like filming on top of a volcano - at the wrong time ! :-O
I want to move to Iceland now - I want every trip to town to feel like an EPIC Journey.
Facing the Wrath of Nature - feeling danger from the very ground you walk on - makes you feel so alive!
Some might want sunny beaches with palm trees and bikini girls - Iceland breeds MEN.
And the only thing stronger than Men of the North - are their women !!!

4 people found this helpful

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C. Stupak

interesting

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2015

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If you've seen the movie you should watch the documentary.

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Wrath of Gods

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Genre	Documentary
Format	Director's Cut, Letterboxed
Contributor	Sturla Gunnarsson, Karolina Lewicka, Jon Armann Steinsson, Jon Gustafsson, Gerard Butler, Peter Pedrero, Paul Stephens See more
Runtime	1 hour and 12 minutes