An interview with Örn Árnason (The Lazy Genie)

December 5, 2005
Words by Sveinn Birkir Björnsson

The most popular comedy program in the country, the comedy troupe behind the show Spaugstofan recently celebrated 20 years working together. Founding member, and former Grapevine cover boy, Örn Árnason sat down and explained the appeal of his program.


Örn Árnason
Photographed by Gúndi


After 20 years in the business, is Spaugstofan still funny? Do you ever feel like it’s hard to stay...

Written by Stephanie Argy
American Cinematographer Vol. 86 Issue 9, p84. September 2005 When Icelandic athlete and entertainer Magnus Scheving set out to create the children’s series LazyTown, he knew he wanted the show to have a whimsical feel all its own. “I wanted people to say, ‘I’ve never seen this look before, what is this?’ I wanted to do something absolutely different, and I wanted to use live action with puppets and 3-D backgrounds.” Scheving gathered a team of artists and technicians from all over the world, and they devised an innovative tapeless workflow that not only combined all the elements Scheving wanted, but also did almost everything in real time on set. This brought production and post much closer together, something that the show’s director of photography, Tómas Örn Tómasson, found very exciting....

DIGITAL Cinematography. March 2005

Thomson Grass Valley’s Viper Film- Stream digital cinematography camera is being used to shoot LazyTown, a children’s program that airs on Nickelodeon Jr. and CBS. Mark Read of production company Hypercube (Boulder, Colo.) and Magnús Scheving of LazyTown Studios (Reykjavík, Iceland) began collaborating in late 2003 to create a children’s show that would blend puppets, live action and CG backgrounds—and to devise an all-digital, data-centric workflow to make it happen.

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Written by Debra Kaufman
StudioDaily, December 1, 2004 It’s a long way between Boulder, Colorado, and Reykjavik, Iceland, but the distance is even greater between a traditional television workflow and a futuristic, data-centric all-digital pipeline. Mark and Dana Read have traversed both divides with LazyTown, a children’s TV program running on both Nick Jr. and CBS. LazyTown Entertainment joined forces with Mark Read s’ Hypercube, a Boulder company specializing in virtual environments...

"I had never been to Europe before I came to Iceland", says Julianna Rose Mauriello who plays Stephanie in the TV series LazyTown on the TV station Nick Junior where it's currently shown. "It was snowing when I arrived in January but it was also snowing in NY where I live and the first thing I noticed when I arrived here was the language which sounded a ot difficult". Julianna spends most of the time on the set for LazyTown till the end of December. "Hanna Maja who's the make up artist is teaching...

Written by Ken Pontac
Iceland, July 14, 2004 Holy Christ! I’m in Iceland! The sun shines all the time here, and the hot water from the tap smells like a fart from a sourstomached old man who’s eaten too many pickled eggs. The signage is incomprehensible, people’s names are unpronounceable, and the money looks like panels from a comic book regaling tales of stern, bearded men wearing odd hats and holding ponderous tomes. ...

Written by Simon Ashdown
KidScreen June 2003 While children's fitness may just now be shaping up as the issue du jour in North America, Reykjavic, Iceland's LazyTown keyed into its importance 11 years ago. Founded by fitness guru and lecturer Magnus Scheving, the LazyTown concept launched in 1992 with a mandate to improve health of children. Since then, the multi-million dollar icelandic francise has grown to encompass books, board games, videos, CDs, a radio station, theatrical productions, and even...

Written by Inga Rún Sigurðardóttir
MBL - Fólk í fréttum 2002 Latibær has a new look and townspeople have got American names and looks. Inga Rún Sigurðardóttir talked with Ágúst Frey Ingason, Secretary General, about the expansion. Life and animation are around Latabæ these days, and perhaps Americans may not have to wait long for a chance to get acquainted with the Sports, Solla Stare, Gogga Mega and Glanna Crime, or Sportacus, Stephanie, Pixel and Robbie Rotten, as they are called in English. ...

ROBBIE ROTTEN IN LAZYTOWN (Glanni Glæpur í Latabæ)
The National Theatre in Iceland (1999)

A play by Magnús Scheving
Glanni Glæpur í Latabæ

The characters of Lazytown are household names with Icelandic children, who have got to know them through children books, videotapes and visits to schools and kindergartens by the protagonist, the Sports-Fairy or Sportacus, played by the author himself. "Lazytown" has in fact become an educational concept, emphasizing the importa...