No Rest for the Wicked is more than a supernatural horror film. Set against the breathtaking yet isolating landscape of the Faroe Islands, the film gradually unfolds as an intimate love story before shifting into something far darker. Directed by Kasper Møller Rask and starring newcomer Jegor Venned, the film uses nature, silence and atmosphere to explore identity, loneliness and human connection.
Ahead of the film’s release at Fantasia Film Festival 2026, Four Time Film School Dropout spoke with Rask and Venned about adapting an 1884 short story, crafting the film’s distinctive atmosphere, and why authenticity became the foundation for every relationship on screen.
Four Time Film School Dropout: The film establishes such a strong visual and emotional tone from the opening scene. What were the first creative conversations you had about the atmosphere you wanted audiences to step into?
Kasper Møller Rask: Since the film is based on a short story written in 1884, it actually begins exactly the way the original story does. From the beginning, we wanted to accomplish two things. First, we wanted audiences to immediately experience the force of nature—the fog, the landscape and just how powerful nature is in the Faroe Islands. It’s such a huge part of life there.
At the same time, we wanted to establish the love story between the two young men while making Heli feel a little mysterious. The opening is really focused on Baldur, and then this stranger suddenly enters his world.
Four Time Film School Dropout: When you first read the script, what was it about Baldur that immediately made you want to be part of this project?
Jegor Venned: First of all, I’m from the Faroe Islands, and we’re incredibly proud of our country and our history. As soon as I realized the story was set there, I was excited.
Then I read the script and connected with Baldur almost immediately. Even though the story takes place in a different time period, I related to his curiosity and his loneliness. Growing up in the Faroe Islands, I also grew up without really understanding how big the world was. I was always curious about what existed beyond the islands.
His shyness, his loneliness and the way he sees the world really spoke to me. Then, as I kept reading, the story just became wilder and wilder. I remember thinking, This is going to be so much fun to make—but how are we actually going to pull all of this off?
Four Time Film School Dropout: The story asks audiences to invest in a relationship that develops through small moments rather than grand gestures. How did the two of you work together to make that emotional progression feel authentic?
Kasper Møller Rask: We talked a lot about the different energies of the two characters because we wanted audiences to genuinely believe they belonged together.
Baldur is quiet, grounded and very much in touch with his emotions, even though he’s lonely and shy. Heli is almost the opposite. He has much more energy and is a bit childish in a charming way.
We wanted those differences to complement each other so that the audience would naturally feel the connection growing between them.
Jegor Venned: We constantly talked about keeping everything natural and intimate. That’s how love works—you slowly get to know someone, you slowly open yourself up and build that trust over time.
The relationship never jumps ahead. It develops through curiosity, small moments and simply spending time together. I think the film captures that progression really beautifully.
Four Time Film School Dropout: The island feels like much more than just a location—it almost becomes another character. What made the setting so essential to telling this story?
Kasper Møller Rask: For me, the Faroe Islands fit the themes of the film perfectly.
The first time I visited, I was struck by how beautiful everything was. But at the same time, there was this feeling of isolation. Wherever you turn, you’re surrounded by the sea, and the rest of the world feels incredibly far away.
For me, this is also a story about being gay. I grew up in a very small town in Denmark before the internet existed. I didn’t have any role models. I didn’t know any gay people, and I didn’t have anyone to talk to about those feelings.
It honestly felt like living on an isolated island where the rest of the world was unreachable. I connected with the story immediately, and I felt the Faroe Islands were the perfect place to visually express those emotions.
Jegor Venned: You can really feel that loneliness through nature. The landscape is incredibly beautiful, but it can also feel isolated and even a little claustrophobic, especially the first time you visit. That feeling becomes a huge part of the story.
Four Time Film School Dropout: There are several scenes where Baldur communicates more through silence than dialogue. As an actor, how did you approach conveying those emotions while saying so little?
Jegor Venned: I tried to really live inside Baldur’s thoughts. If you’re genuinely thinking something, you’re usually feeling it too, and that naturally comes across without needing dialogue.
I connected so deeply with both the story and the character that it felt natural to immerse myself in those emotions and let my eyes do most of the talking.
It also helped that everything around us felt incredibly authentic. The sets, the costumes and the environment made it easy to stay present, and everyone on set created such a comfortable atmosphere. We really became one big family, and that allowed everyone to feel safe enough to simply focus on the work.
Four Time Film School Dropout: The film balances intimate character drama with supernatural horror. How did you make sure one side never overshadowed the other?
Kasper Møller Rask: Finding that balance was a huge part of making the film. It started with writing the script and continued all the way through the edit.
The beginning of the film is intentionally much more of a drama than the second half. I love inviting audiences into this intimate gay love story and then gradually letting it transform into something much darker.
I also think audiences today are much more open to films that blend genres. We’ve seen so many great genre films over the years that it’s exciting when a film doesn’t stay inside one box.
For me, horror also became the perfect language for telling this story. A lot of queer people grow up feeling isolated, anxious or afraid of being rejected by society. Horror naturally speaks to those feelings of shame and anxiety, so combining the love story with supernatural horror felt like the right approach for this film.
Four Time Film School Dropout: The chemistry between the two central characters feels incredibly natural. Was that something you built through rehearsal, or did it develop organically once filming began?
Jegor Venned: Honestly, we didn’t rehearse very much.
From the very first read-through in Denmark, Palu and I just connected naturally. A friendship formed almost immediately, and there was an instant level of comfort between us that continued throughout production.
The same thing happened with Sofie, who plays my mother in the film. After our very first table read, she gave me this hug that felt incredibly motherly. From that moment on, I felt completely comfortable around her, and she really became that presence throughout filming. She’s one of the warmest people I’ve ever met.
Kasper also created an environment where we felt free to explore our characters without fear. We all genuinely enjoyed being around one another, and that translated directly onto the screen.
Kasper Møller Rask: Shooting in the Faroe Islands also helped tremendously because the entire Danish crew stayed there for the duration of production.
We spent weekends together, evenings together, and really got to know one another outside of filming. Those relationships became genuine, and I think audiences can feel that authenticity in the finished film.
Four Time Film School Dropout: The music and score play such an important role throughout the film. How much did the score influence the rhythm of the performances and the overall storytelling?
Kasper Møller Rask: It was incredibly important to me that the composers came from the Faroe Islands because music is such an important part of the country’s identity. Using composers from somewhere else wouldn’t have felt authentic.
Ironically, finding the right composers took much longer than expected, so we actually didn’t know what the score would sound like while we were filming. Normally, I like having the composers involved much earlier because it helps establish the emotional tone before production even begins.
One moment that still makes me laugh was during the beach scene where Baldur and Heli are swimming. I asked the composers to write something really joyful because it was such a happy moment in the story. They came back with this incredibly sad piece of music.
I remember joking, “Well, I guess this is what happy music sounds like for Faroese people.”
Eventually we found the right balance, and I love where the score ended up. The film also features a large men’s choir from the Faroe Islands, which gives the music a very distinctive emotional quality.
Jegor Venned: Singing together is such a huge part of Faroese culture.
Whether it’s family gatherings, parties or community events, people naturally sing together. We’ve grown up with these traditional hymns and songs that everyone knows by heart. It goes all the way back through Faroese history and Nordic traditions.
Having that musical heritage reflected in the score made the film feel even more authentic because it’s genuinely part of everyday life where we come from.
Four Time Film School Dropout: Without spoiling anything, the film gradually shifts from grounded drama into something much more unsettling. How difficult was it to find the right pace for that transition?
Kasper Møller Rask: It was probably one of the biggest challenges during the edit.
While the script already had that progression built into it, editing almost becomes another rewrite of the film. You start moving scenes earlier or later, adjusting the rhythm and constantly asking yourself when the horror should truly begin.
Finding that balance was something we kept working on throughout post-production, but ultimately we trusted the emotional rhythm of the story. It eventually found its own pace.
Four Time Film School Dropout: The emotional journey your character experiences is incredibly demanding. Was there any particular scene that challenged you the most, either emotionally or physically?
Jegor Venned: Emotionally, there wasn’t one specific scene that stood out because I felt connected to Baldur throughout the entire film. Physically, though, there was one sequence that was definitely the most demanding.
We spent almost an entire day out on a small wooden boat that was built as a replica of a Faroese boat from the 1800s. It was incredibly unstable, and I had to wear a flotation suit underneath my costume in case I fell into the water. That also made something as simple as taking a bathroom break almost impossible.
We spent eight or ten hours rowing, and the current was so strong that you could really feel the force of the ocean. It was probably the biggest workout I’ve ever had on a film set, but it was also a lot of fun.
Four Time Film School Dropout: Nature is consistently contrasted with grief, beauty and loss throughout the film. Was that visual contrast something you consciously wanted audiences to wrestle with?
Kasper Møller Rask: Absolutely. Film is built on contrast. Without contrast, you don’t really feel anything.
From the beginning, we wanted those visual contrasts to be very clear. That’s why the weather became such an important storytelling tool. We needed sunshine for certain scenes, fog for others and strong winds for others because each emotional beat required a different atmosphere.
Of course, we couldn’t control the weather in the Faroe Islands. It’s incredibly unpredictable, so we actually adjusted our shooting schedule around the forecast. We even started filming earlier than planned because we knew we only had a couple of sunny days before the weather changed.
Those warmer scenes early in the film were essential because they make the darkness later in the story feel even more overwhelming.
Jegor Venned: Looking back, those first few days were probably some of the hardest for me as an actor.
Because we changed the schedule to capture the sunlight, my very first day filming ended up being one of the biggest dialogue scenes in the movie. We hadn’t really rehearsed because we weren’t expecting to shoot those scenes first.
It was my first film, and suddenly there were around fifty people standing behind the camera watching me. You have to stay present, remember your lines, stay in character and somehow forget that an entire crew is watching your every move.
It was definitely nerve-racking, but once we got started everything settled in, and I’m really proud of how those scenes turned out.
Four Time Film School Dropout: Thank you both for taking the time to speak with me today.
Kasper Møller Rask: Thank you.
Jegor Venned: Thank you. It was great talking with you.
No Rest for the Wicked blends an intimate romance with atmospheric supernatural horror, using the breathtaking landscapes of the Faroe Islands to explore identity, isolation and human connection. Speaking with Kasper Møller Rask and Jegor Venned made it clear that every creative decision—from the music and weather to the performances themselves—was rooted in authenticity, resulting in a film where the setting becomes just as emotionally powerful as the characters who inhabit it.