After playing a slightly mopey and definitely odd vampire in Twilight and its upcoming sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Jackson Rathbone is set to stay on the dark side for his next film, landing the lead role in** Lords of Chaos**. In it, he'll play a Norweigan death metal star convicted of brutally stabbing a rival musician.
Yes, they put the "death" in "death metal" up in Norway, since this is based on the real-life story of Varg Vikernes, aka The Count, of one-man-band Burzum. He was imprisoned for 16 years between 1993 and this year, following a series of church arsons and the stabbing to death of rival Øystein Aarseth, aka Euronymous of the band Mayhem. Vikernes also dabbled in far-Right politics, the Heathen Front and was found with a cache of explosives when he was arrested for Aarseth's murder.
The film is based on the book Lords of Chaos by Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind. It's been adapted by Adam Parfrey, Hans Fjellestad, Ryan Page and Sion Sono - with Japanese director Sono (he directed Suicide Club and Love Exposure) also set to make his English-language debut with the film.
It will certainly be a change of pace for Rathbone to star in this, following Twilight and an upcoming role in M. Night Shyamalan's kiddie-friendly The Last Airbender, but perhaps that's what every incipient teen heartthrob needs: an edgy role. But is this too dark to work?