Life in the 10th century was intense. Look no further than The last kingdom: seven kings must die, which recently appeared on Netflix. The standalone feature film is a fitting finishing touch to the popular British Netflix series, the last kingdom, which is based on the compelling novels by Bernard Cornwell. Written by Martha Hillier and directed by Ed Bazalgette, the film is set eight years after the events of season five and jumps out of the series to bring Uhtred (Alexander Dreymon) back.
He is the fearsome warrior leader of a region of Northumbria now facing the death of King Edward, to whom Uhtred swore allegiance as season five came to a close. The king’s son, Aethelstan (Harry Gilby), rises to power and decides – perhaps advised – to take over all of the British kingdoms.
Bold move. How will he overthrow eight kings? A prophecy suggests that seven of those kings will perish and as things unfold, Uhtred must decide where his loyalty lies: with the king or with his homeland. For head photography Luke Bryant, The last kingdom: seven kings must die, was a gigantic undertaking. There were numerous camera angles to take on a variety of challenges using multiple camera setups, including the epic boss fight. In this exclusive interview, he shared more about the movie with MovieWeb.
Breaking through the recordings and special cameras
Luke Bryant had a monstrous workload The last kingdom: seven kings must die. For starters, the film required him to switch to an anamorphic shooting style, while also retaining hand-held shooting so he could adapt a similar look to the series. But that approach gives this outing a more cinematic feel.
“The main difference between what we’ve done in the previous five seasons of the show is that anamorphic style,” said Bryant. “When you’re in your 40s, many of the movies you grew up watching are anamorphic, whether you’re aware of it or not. An onlooker will always be aware of it, even though they may not be able to tell you that the anamorphic lens is a wider aspect ratio, or the depth of field of that sort of thing. But they noticed. The public is smarter than we give them credit for. We just felt that with this story, as it wrapped up five seasons of the show, we wondered how we could also stay true to the show’s visual DNA.
There’s a lot of handheld, almost documentary-like feel these scenes from the Middle Ages. In fact. “We wanted to up the ante and give you a wider aspect ratio where everything looks a bit more epic on screen,” added Bryant. “Second, because anamorphic lenses basically squeeze the image as it moves toward the center, you get beautiful hollows and the quality of what happens when something is out of focus.”
The handheld shots and the rawness of the color also enabled Bryant to create compelling visuals that immerse audiences in the gritty realities of the era, making them feel part of the journey, whether it’s a intimate shot between the main characters or the stunning final battle, with more than 300 extras and four cameras.
Filming the epic battle was a struggle in itself
Bryant admits that the film’s final battle sequence was definitely the most challenging he had to film. It was also shot with a second unit for 10 days. “We generally ran in front of cameras and had a drone at the same time. So to keep continuity, especially when we were filming in the middle of Hungary in winter with a temperature of -8 degrees, it was incredibly cold.”
Snow, wind, sleet and rain also joined the fun. “We tried to set up all four cameras and then keep unity with 300 extras on the battlefield. That was a bit crazy. And we were also quite remote. So basically every time you see all these shots, we feel like you have thousands of men in the background. We used very long lenses and crammed the frame as much as possible. And when we decided to shoot anamorphic lenses, they were huge. They are incredibly heavy. You have camera operators who just get exhausted.
Bryant’s use of lighting, camera angles and composition is striking. First, they emphasize the important intimacy of interpersonal relationships with the characters here, even predicting one character’s future and motivations. All this adds depth to the project.
As for why viewers have been so enthralled the last kingdom, Bryant chuckles. “They’re very tight. There’s a huge, devoted fan base. That’s what I love. The fan base responds to it being really rooted in historical accuracy. There are plenty of shows that are shot in a more contemporary way because they’re trying to reach a contemporary audience But it’s not about historical accuracy While I feel what we’re doing the last kingdom, you feel like you are watching a documentary that was made in the Middle Ages. It is awesome.”
The last kingdom: seven kings must die streams exclusively on Netflix.