The owners of a Swedish Viking longship replica used in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey say they feel “forgotten” after claiming the Hollywood production returned their vessel damaged and failed to pay for repairs reported The Guardian. The nonprofit Vikingaleden association, which operates a Viking centre and museum in Värmland, western Sweden, says the replica warship Glad av Gillberga suffered damage during its six months with the production. The association claims the vessel sustained damage to parts of its wooden structure, including the stern and mast, after being used as one of the escort ships in the film’s Viking-inspired fleet.
The group says Universal Pictures agreed to cover repair costs but has not paid an invoice worth around $6,000 for materials used to restore the ship. The owners say they did not charge the studio for volunteer labour. Peter Olausson, chair of the Vikingaleden association, said the organisation felt proud that the historic replica appeared in Nolan’s epic, but frustration followed when the alleged payment failed to arrive.
“We are only charging for the material cost, not the labour,” Olausson said. “Of course Universal can afford this $6,000. We feel forgotten.” The association says the ship is now sailing again, but Olausson believes Universal failed to honour its agreement.
“The agreement was that we would fix it and get financially reimbursed,” he said. For Universal, the outstanding amount represents a relatively small expense compared with the reported scale of The Odyssey, which had a production budget of around $250m and generated a reported $264m during its opening weekend.Advertising1 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The Glad av Gillberga replica is based on a Viking-era shipwreck discovered in Denmark’s Roskilde Fjord dating back to around 1040. Over almost three decades, the vessel has sailed across the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and even travelled to Canada.
During production, the ship formed part of the fleet used to depict ancient vessels in Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic poem about Odysseus’ decade-long journey home after the Trojan War. The main vessel representing Odysseus’ ship was the 35-metre Norwegian replica Draken Harald Hårfagre. Swedish captain Björn Ahlander, who worked on the production, said filming aboard the ships for six months around Greek and Italian islands presented ch…
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