BATHORY's Co-Founding Drummer JONAS ÅKERLUND To Direct Film Adaptation of 'Lords Of Chaos'

According to Variety, Swedish film and music-video director Jonas Åkerlund will helm the English-language film "Lords Of Chaos", based on true events in the Norwegian black metal music scene in the early 1990s.

Rory Culkin ("Scream 4", "Signs") and Caleb Landry Jones ("X-Men: First Class", "Byzantium") are confirmed for leading roles in the adaptation of the scene-chronicling book "Lords Of Chaos: The Bloody Rise Of The Satanic Metal Underground", with further cast to be announced shortly.

"Lords Of Chaos" is described as "the terrifying story based on real events about a dream-turned-nightmare for a group of teenagers who spiral out of control." The movie will follow the life of Euronymous (a.k.a. Øystein Aarseth),the founding member of MAYHEM who was murdered in 1993 by BURZUM's Kristian "Varg" Vikernes. In the movie, Euronymous "becomes fixated on creating true 'Norwegian black metal' music with his band MAYHEM, and creates a phenomenon by using shocking stunts to put the band's name on the map. But as the lines between publicity and reality start to blur, acts of arson, violence and a vicious murder shock the nation."

The film will shoot in the fall of 2015 on location in Norway.

"Lords Of Chaos: The Bloody Rise Of The Satanic Metal Underground" was originally published in 1998 by Feral House U.S. A second edition followed in 2003, documenting black metal activities since 1997.

Back in 2009, when initial reports surfaced that the "Lords Of Chaos" book was being turned into a movie, vocalist Sigurd "Satyr" Wongraven and drummer Kjetil-Vidar "Frost" Haraldstad of the Norwegian the black metal band SATYRICON expressed their disgust over the plans. Satyr told Dagbladet.no: "Now that the focus on black metal finally has shifted towards the actual music, this gossip journalism in the shape of a book is made into a movie. Since 'Lords Of Chaos' is an incredibly bad book, I can only assume the movie will be bad as well."

He continued, "It is sad that such an inaccurate story, written by someone who doesn't understand black metal, has become a book of reference. And it is sad that someone is willing to go that far to exploit the history of black metal."

Frost added: "This is a parasitic phenomenon."

Åkerlund, who formed the pioneering black metal band BATHORY with Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg in the early '80s, went on to have a successful video-directing career, having worked with the likes of METALLICA, PRODIGY, MADONNA, U2 and the aforementioned SATYRICON.