To complement the modest wages on offer as he started his career in the domestic league, the 34-year-old goalkeeper worked in the film business before going full-time as a professional footballer when he moved to Norway in 2012.
Back home in Iceland, 99.6 percent of the country's TV viewers saw him stop Messi's shot as the tiny island nation made their World Cup debut last Saturday night (AEST).
"Many footballers, when they play in the Icelandic league, they have a job on the side, it's a semi-professional league," Haldorsson said ahead of Iceland's clash with Nigeria on Saturday (AEST).
"My job just happened to be a film-maker. I always had a passion for it when I was young, and that's what I got sucked into after high school."
Plenty of players in the squad have followed the same path through the semi-professional ranks as Halldorsson, and coach Heimir Hallgrimsson still practices as a dentist when he has the time.
"I'm not an expert in which jobs the players have, but I think film-maker must be up there among the strangest - it's not a usual combination, footballer and film-maker," Halldorsson said.
The heightened exposure brought about by World Cup qualification has caused Halldorsson, who plays his club football for Danish club Randers, to take a seat in the director's chair once again, if only briefly, to make a TV ad.
