VICE Films will finance with Insurgent Media, 20th Century Fox and Chimney Pot, the sensational story of Norwegian black metal band Mayhem under the moniker Lords Of Chaos, a name taken from Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind’s 1998 book about the Norwegian black metal scene, focusing on the string of church burnings and murders that occurred in the country in the early ‘90s.

Jonas Åkerlund, the Swedish music video director and former drummer with legendary heavy metal band Bathory, will direct the film from a screenplay he co-wrote. The project was first unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Rory Culkin (Signs) will play Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth, who was stabbed to death by fellow band member Varg Vikernes in 1993. He owned both the Helvete (Norwegian for "hell") record shop in Oslo and the Deathlike Silence record label, in addition to his role as guitarist for Mayhem.

Vikernes will be played by Emory Cohen (Brooklyn, The Place Beyond the Pines), stabbed Euronymous to death in 1993.

Mayhem's late lead singer, Per Yngve Ohlin (Dead), will be played by Jack Kilmer (The Nice Guys). Dead killed himself in 1991

Emperor drummer Bard "Faust" Eithun will be played by Valter Skarsgård. He was jailed for the 1992 murder of a gay man, luring him into the woods and stabbing him some 37 times. The day after the murder, he burned down a church with Euronymous and Vikernes.

Sky Ferreira is Oslo mayor Ann-Marit Sæbønes.

In a press release, VICE's Danny Gabai said: “This is a wildly freaky story that our audience has been obsessed with for years, and Jonas' brilliantly imaginative take on it is simultaneously one of the most uniquely entertaining and beautifully humanistic scripts we've seen in a long time."