Varg Vikernes: ‘Lords of Chaos’ Movie Is ‘Made Up’ + ‘Plain Wrong’

Burzum / Mayhem musician Varg Vikernes has weighed in on the upcoming Lords of Chaos film, in which he is depicted. Having watched Lords of Chaos, Vikernes claims “the whole film is just made up” and “everything in this film is just plain wrong.”

Originally released in 2003, the Lords of Chaos book has proved extremely popular, though it’s been criticized for factual inaccuracies. Focusing on Satanism, church burnings and murder in the black metal realm, the biography covers the overarching scenes which made the genre so notorious. Despite this, fans have labeled Lord of Chaos “sensationalist” and “sloppy.”

Now that the Jonas Akerlund-directed film has premiered at Sundance, critics have given some positive feedback, while black metal scholars haven’t been so kind. Now, Vikernes himself has jumped in.

"So, you just watched the Lords of Chaos -- the film where they have a fat Jewish actor play the role of me. I’m Scandinavian, by the way,” says the notoriously anti-Semitic musician. “So, the fat Jewish actor said things in that film that I never said in real life; received things that I in reality never received. He did things that I never did. He did things for reasons that I never had; knew people that I, in reality, have never even heard about.

Varg continues, “By and large, the whole film is just made up. If they actually did some research into this story and the Black Metal scene, they must have just ignored everything they found and made up a story instead. Because everything in this film is just plain wrong.”

“As you probably know, the whole film is just a character murder and they completely ignore the facts. Yes, the facts, that you can verify easily, by talking to the people who were actually there. Or by reading my conviction from 1993, freely available to the public in the Oslo courthouse. When you at one point realize that this film is just a lot of made-up crap, I suggest you contemplate around the concept a little bit and understand that I am not the only one in history who has been exposed to their character murder. Character murder is a common weapon used by people who don’t like Europeans.” [transcribed by Ultimate Guitar]

Vikernes was convicted of the murder of Mayhem guitarist Euronymous in 1994. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison, but was released on parole in 2009.

Lords of Chaos will premiere in theaters on Feb. 8 and on-demand beginning Feb. 22.

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