1. In July 2013 Swedish heart-throb Alexander Skarsgard told E! Online he would be spending some time in Iceland when filming True Blood came to an end.
“We wrap in a couple of weeks and I‘m going to go to Iceland on a week-long kike. No phone, no iPad, no nothing – I‘m very excited about that.“
The actor spent some time hiking in the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve with a group of friends. When back in town he met restauranteur Pétur Marteinsson, a former player for the Hammarby Football Club in Sweden.
2. The model Karlie Kloss vacationed in Iceland last August and shared a few breath taking photographs with fans on her Instagram account. One caption read: “Thank you Iceland. That was fun.”
3. Musician Frank Ocean ended his Orange world tour in July 2013 in Iceland. The rapper didn’t say much about his short visit but posted a number of photographs to his official Tumblr site instead.
4. The actress Emma Watson filmed Darren Aronofsky’s Noah in Iceland in 2012. On David Letterman’s show in September 2012 she talked about Icelandic cuisine and her distaste for it.
“I struggled a bit with the food. I don’t eat a lot of fish but they’re into more exotic food so it’s not uncommon to serve whale or puffin or reindeer. They take you on these tours,'Let's go see the whales, let's go see the cute little puffins, and you're like 'this is amazing'. And then they sell the cute little cuddly toy and then they serve it to you for dinner,” said Watson.
5. Noah’s lead man, Russell Crowe, joined Jay Leno on his show in February 2013 and had this to say about Iceland:
“It‘s one of the most demanding places you could ever go to. Let me paraphrase that by saying it’s fascinating and a wonderful place and an incredibly cool culture but … Iceland is a tough place, man. When they have a good summer that means there has been more than eleven sunny days. And it can turn in a drop of a hat, the weather. It was pretty extreme … It was very challenging but so, so beautiful. If you have a chance in your life to go and look at the sights and feel the culture of Iceland, do it,” the actor advised.
6. Another fan is actor Ben Stiller, who shot his directorial debut, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, in various places in Iceland. In an interview with ComingSoon.net in April last year, he said:
“When you get to Iceland and it’s such an incredibly beautiful place and the light is so amazing that it’s hard not to shoot stuff that looks good there. I saw Russell Crowe in Iceland before because they were shooting Noah there. They were just leaving when we came and he said:“You gotta dominate the weather.” And I was like, “Okay. I will make sure to dominate the weather. Thanks Russell.” But he was right. He was right because you couldn’t wait around for a cloud to leave. You just had to go and do it and it’s going to change, it’s going to be different. And somehow, the weather respects you for going forward. So it was an amazing time.
7. British actor Tom Hiddleston spent time in Iceland when filming Thor 2. In an interview with GQ Magazine in November 2012 he spoke fondly about his time in the country.
“Sigur Rós! Yes! So, we actually shot some of “Thor 2” in Iceland and it was amazing when we were actually there, driving up these volcanoes listening to Sigur Rós. It suddenly all made sense,” the actor said when asked which artist he would want to record the soundtrack of his life.
When asked about his favourite drink he named the Icelandic Reyka vodka.
“Actually in Iceland there was a great vodka called Reyka. We would shoot on this dormant volcano, then we'd come back when the sun went down. It was really cold – sub zero already – and I'd order a Reyka and tonic with a squeeze of lime, then go and sit in the hot tub and wait for the Northern Lights to roll in.”
8. Mega-star Tom Cruise stayed in Iceland when working on Oblivion. In a short clip about making of the film he said: “It’s absolutely stunning. It is just so vast and it just seems to go on forever.”
Numerous celebrities have visited Iceland over the past years, both for business and pleasure. Many have become captivated by the country’s beauty and have sung its praise in interviews. Iceland Insider recalls some of the more memorable comments made by Hollywood-stars in the recent past.
1. In July 2013 Swedish heart-throb Alexander Skarsgard told E! Online he would be spending some time in Iceland when filming True Blood came to an end.
“We wrap in a couple of weeks and I‘m going to go to Iceland on a week-long kike. No phone, no iPad, no nothing – I‘m very excited about that.“
The actor spent some time hiking in the Hornstrandir Nature Reserve with a group of friends. When back in town he met restauranteur Pétur Marteinsson, a former player for the Hammarby Football Club in Sweden.
2. The model Karlie Kloss vacationed in Iceland last August and shared a few breath taking photographs with fans on her Instagram account. One caption read: “Thank you Iceland. That was fun.”
3. Musician Frank Ocean ended his Orange world tour in July 2013 in Iceland. The rapper didn’t say much about his short visit but posted a number of photographs to his official Tumblr site instead.
4. The actress Emma Watson filmed Darren Aronofsky’s Noah in Iceland in 2012. On David Letterman’s show in September 2012 she talked about Icelandic cuisine and her distaste for it.
“I struggled a bit with the food. I don’t eat a lot of fish but they’re into more exotic food so it’s not uncommon to serve whale or puffin or reindeer. They take you on these tours,'Let's go see the whales, let's go see the cute little puffins, and you're like 'this is amazing'. And then they sell the cute little cuddly toy and then they serve it to you for dinner,” said Watson.
5. Noah’s lead man, Russell Crowe, joined Jay Leno on his show in February 2013 and had this to say about Iceland:
“It‘s one of the most demanding places you could ever go to. Let me paraphrase that by saying it’s fascinating and a wonderful place and an incredibly cool culture but … Iceland is a tough place, man. When they have a good summer that means there has been more than eleven sunny days. And it can turn in a drop of a hat, the weather. It was pretty extreme … It was very challenging but so, so beautiful. If you have a chance in your life to go and look at the sights and feel the culture of Iceland, do it,” the actor advised.
6. Another fan is actor Ben Stiller, who shot his directorial debut, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, in various places in Iceland. In an interview with ComingSoon.net in April last year, he said:
“When you get to Iceland and it’s such an incredibly beautiful place and the light is so amazing that it’s hard not to shoot stuff that looks good there. I saw Russell Crowe in Iceland before because they were shooting Noah there. They were just leaving when we came and he said:“You gotta dominate the weather.” And I was like, “Okay. I will make sure to dominate the weather. Thanks Russell.” But he was right. He was right because you couldn’t wait around for a cloud to leave. You just had to go and do it and it’s going to change, it’s going to be different. And somehow, the weather respects you for going forward. So it was an amazing time.
7. British actor Tom Hiddleston spent time in Iceland when filming Thor 2. In an interview with GQ Magazine in November 2012 he spoke fondly about his time in the country.
“Sigur Rós! Yes! So, we actually shot some of “Thor 2” in Iceland and it was amazing when we were actually there, driving up these volcanoes listening to Sigur Rós. It suddenly all made sense,” the actor said when asked which artist he would want to record the soundtrack of his life.
When asked about his favourite drink he named the Icelandic Reyka vodka.
“Actually in Iceland there was a great vodka called Reyka. We would shoot on this dormant volcano, then we'd come back when the sun went down. It was really cold – sub zero already – and I'd order a Reyka and tonic with a squeeze of lime, then go and sit in the hot tub and wait for the Northern Lights to roll in.”
8. Mega-star Tom Cruise stayed in Iceland when working on Oblivion. In a short clip about making of the film he said: “It’s absolutely stunning. It is just so vast and it just seems to go on forever.”
