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Lost in Iceland: freezing rain, blinding sandstorms, dead sheep, erupting volcanoes and the making of Beowulf & Grendel.

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Beowulf & Grendel, a feature-film adaptation of the epic 8th-century Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, is a medieval adventure that tells the blood--soaked tale of a Norse warrior's battle against the great and murderous troll Grendel, who is threatening the kingdom of Hrothgar, the well--respected King of the Danes. When Beowulf arrives to help Hrothgar, he encounters Selma, reputed by locals to be a witch, who is key to deciphering the puzzle of the troll's rage. Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson (Rare Birds, Such a Long Journey) and written by Andrew Rai Berzins (Rare Birds, Scorn), Gerard Butler (The Phantom, Timeline) stars as Beowulf, Stellan Skarsgard (Dogville, Kang Arthur) as Hrothgar, Sarah Polley (My Life without Me) plays the witch Selma and Ingvar Sigurdsson (K-19, The Widowmaker) is the troll, Grendel.

The film is produced by Paul Stephens and Eric Jordan of Toronto--based The Film Works (Love, Sex & Eating the Bones, Such a Long Journey) and Sturla Gunnarsson in Canada, by Michael Lionello Cowan and Jason Piette of Spice Factory (The Merchant of Venice) in the United Kingdom and Fridrik Thor Fridriksson (Angels of the Universe) in Iceland. Prep began in Iceland July 4, 2004, and principal photography ran from September 6 to November 5, 2004. Wendy Ord, who was the first assistant director on the shoot, kept a production diary and daily blog.

From the beginning, Gunnarsson planned to shoot Beowulf & Grendel in Iceland because it is his spiritual home and birthplace. "I wanted to shoot a film where I was born, in the landscape that I first dreamed on," he said. During the writing process, Gunnarsson and Berzins made several trips to the North Atlantic isle to soak up the rugged and austere landscape that would stand in for Beowulf's world of 700 A.D. Iceland is steeped in history, tribal wars, mystique, superstition and an oral tradition birthed of hardship and beauty. It is the perfect setting for the magical adventures of Beowulf and his men as they set out to quell Grendel.

Iceland, October 20, 2004: Day 33 of principal photography on Beowulf & Grendel. As dawn breaks, so does the cellphone silence. The overnight security watch reports that the base camp has blown away--again. This is...

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