I normally prefer to assign Norwegian metal stories to our Norwegian metal expert, but she’s unavailable at the moment, so here goes nothing! Black metal lovers who once may have cringed at news that Jackson Rathbone of Twilight fame was set to play Varg Vikernes, aka Count Grishnackh, in Lords of Chaos can breathe a sigh of relief today, as Rathbone has pulled out of the project, reports the Quietus.
Though Rathbone cites scheduling issues for his reason for departure, you have to wonder if the role was just too controversial for a teen heartthrob to take on at this stage in his career. As stated in our previous post:
Vikernes, if you’ve never heard of him, is founder of black metal band Burzum and a church arsonist currently serving time [who served 16 years] in prison for the murder of his bandmate Euronymous (born Øystein Aarseth). He also is a fairly prolific writer, with numerous books, stories and articles espousing his controversial ideologies.
So yeah, perhaps Rathbone wasn’t ready to portray someone with a creepily-nuanced position on Nazism. For more info, check out our previous Vikernes-related posts, or read the Quietus’ piece here. For more on Rathbone, you can probably go anywhere else on the internets.