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| Get to know Sweden's greatest export (take that Abba.... and Ikea!) by reading this collection of articles and interviews dating as far back as 1998.
From sources such as [to name a few]:
- Aftonbladet
- Frihet
- Expressen
- Los Angeles Times
- New York Post
- Movieline
| - Swedish ELLE
- Metro Boston
- Oslopuls Film
- Sci-Fi Wire
- Newsweek
- True-Blood.net
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More will be added as published.
So sit back, relax, and have a read
Avnjuta!
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PeopleOctober 25, 2009
What's True Blood Star Alexander Skarsgård's Type?
 When it comes to finding love, True Blood's vampire hunk Alexander Skarsgard is looking for a woman with brains - not fangs! - who likes to laugh.
"A sense of humor is number one for sure," Skarsgard told PEOPLE at the Gucci Icon-Temporary Flash Sneaker store opening in New York City. "Being funny and smart is very important."
Known as the sexiest man alive in his native Sweden, the single actor, 33, is turning heads and causing blood pressures to rise with fans everywhere thanks to his brooding True Blood ego and charming good looks. "It's very flattering," he said of the swooning. "I turn a little pink!"
Though Skarsgard, who's been shooting the film Straw Dogs in Shreveport, La., for the past three months, has been linked romantically to costar Kate Bosworth, the sexy vampire has experienced fervent fan encounters that have ranged from sultry to slightly uncomfortable.
"I've gotten proposals and suggestions that are slightly inappropriate," Skarsgard said with a laugh. "It's odd but very flattering!"
While True Blood fans will have to wait until next year to see Skarsgard again as bad-boy vampire Eric Northman, the actor will start shooting season 3 of the hit HBO series next month, and says he's eagerly looking forward to catching up with costars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, who announced that they were engaged to be married in August.
"They are some of my best friends back in L.A.," said Skarsgard of the couple. "The cast and the crew is amazing and I can't wait to get started again. I really look forward to it and I miss them a lot." |
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Irish HeraldOctober 20, 2009
An actor on the frontline
What do sex-crazed vampires and bored US marines have in common? They're both the subject of shows on Channel 4 which star Alexander Skarsgard. The Swedish actor, son of Mamma Mia! star Stellan, is set to become as big as his father, thanks to his roles in HBO series Generation Kill and True Blood, which are currently shown on Wednesday nights.
Alexander, who plays True Blood's Eric Northman and Sgt Brad 'Iceman' Colbert in Generation Kill, may be a rising star now, but the truth is he's already had one successful acting career. He retired back in 1989 when he hit the ripe old age of 13.
"I did my first movie when I was seven, and then I worked for about six years, doing movies and television in Sweden," he begins. "Then I quit."
"Back then, I did a movie for television, and it had a huge impact. Suddenly people recognised me wherever I went, and it made me uncomfortable.
"I didn't know how to handle it, and I was very self-conscious and stressed out about the whole situation. So I quit."
celebrity
His father, Stellan Skarsgard, has starred in films such as Ronin, Exorcist: The Beginning, Good Will Hunting and Angels And Demons, so you might think Alexander would have been able to get some tips from his old man, but his celebrity preceded his dad's, who, back in the late 80s, was a jobbing actor in Stockholm theatres.
"He wasn't that big a star when I grew up. The thing that took him to Hollywood was Breaking The Waves, the Lars von Trier movie, in 1996. I was already 20 years old by that point," says Alexander. "Growing up, he was mostly a stage actor, and although he did movies as well, they were small Swedish ones.
"I've got younger siblings, and it was different for them; they did more of the travelling around the world, being on sets and all of that exotic stuff. For me, it was running around backstage at the theatre."
If you haven't already seen either True Blood or Generation Kill, they're well worth the time.
The HBO stable can generally be considered a mark of quality. The US broadcaster, owned by Time Warner, is responsible for some of the very best TV of the last 20 years. The Sopranos, Deadwood, Sex And The City, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage and The Wire. They're now some of the biggest-selling DVD box sets available, with millions of fans around the world.
Continuing the connection with The Wire, Generation Kill was also penned by David Simon and Ed Burns, creators of the aforementioned Baltimore-based series. They adapted the seven-part series from Evan Wright's 2004 memoir, written about his time with an elite Marine unit, the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
deployed
The 1st Recon often spearheaded military operations, and despite not being deployed in the way they had been trained -- as a reconnaissance team -- they were extremely effective in breaking down Iraqi defences, making way for fellow soldiers on their way to Baghdad.
"Everything on the show happened in real life," says Alexander. "One of the actors [Rudy Reyes] is a real Marine, and plays himself on the show. We had two other guys from 1st Recon with us for the duration of the shoot, which was seven months in South Africa.
"They were behind the camera for every single take every single day, making sure that everything was legit and was real. It was very important to us to show exactly what happened, and not make it into a Hollywood movie where everything is dramatised, and things are added or removed." |
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Telegraph.co.ukOctober 2, 2009
Alexander Skarsgård on starring in both Generation Kill and True Blood
Alexander Skarsgård, the star of HBO's biggest hit since The Sopranos, talks about his sudden success and having a famous father.
Channel 4 is giving both True Blood and Generation Kill their first airings on terrestrial television on Wednesday, one straight after the other. It’s an odd juxtaposition, because apart from the fact that they are both made by the American cable company HBO, they could scarcely be more different, True Blood, a tale of vampires coming out of the closet in the Deep South, is a fantastical, at times hilarious chunk of modern Gothic; Generation Kill, based on real events and people, is a painstakingly realistic seven-part depiction of life for an elite detachment of US Marines in the first phase of the Iraq War.
The one constant between them is the Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård, 33. He plays a 1,000-year-old Viking vampire in True Blood, and a laconic US marine sergeant in Generation Kill, but he steals the show in both.
Skarsgård’s True Blood character Eric Northman is ‘funny and confident but also lethal’, he says. Eric is more anti-hero than hero, a blood-sucker with an entrepreneurial bent who runs a nightclub, Fangtasia.
Brad Colbert, the marine in Generation Kill, on the other hand, is known as ‘Iceman’ with good reason – time and again he proves himself a steady-headed totem among a group of marines seemingly plucked fresh from the frat house. The roles are worlds apart; Skarsgård went straight from filming one to the other.
‘To go from Generation Kill, which is a very real, dark, gritty series, to True Blood, which is flamboyant, crazy, way out there… I couldn’t ask for two better jobs,’ he says.
If Skarsgård’s face doesn’t yet ring any bells, his surname might. He is the son of Stellan Skarsgård, Sweden’s most famous actor, who was most recently seen in Mamma Mia! Alexander worked as a child actor in his homeland from the age of seven, but when he was 13, the success of a Swedish film called The Dog That Smiled brought him countrywide recognition. Rather than turn his head, it put him off from the family business altogether.
‘The fame was scary to me,’ he says. ‘When people stare at you and you read about yourself in papers, at 13 it just got very confusing. I thought that if this is what it’s like to be famous I don’t like it one bit.’
For seven years he gave up acting and ‘did nothing’, in his own words. ‘Nothing’ included 15 months’ military service (he is a sergeant in the Swedish marines, something he chose to keep from his fellow cast members on Generation Kill), and, aged 20, a stint carousing in Leeds.
‘I was watching football, hanging out, getting drunk and into trouble for six months,’ he says. ‘But it was then that these thoughts came up – what do I want to do with my life? Acting came up again and I thought maybe I should give it a last go. So I went to New York and went to theater school and as soon as I started I knew I really missed this.’
In 2004 he moved to Los Angeles and for three years went back and forth between there and Sweden ‘working on movies I didn’t like to pay rent’. By the beginning of 2007, the good scripts had dried up: ‘I was an unknown guy from Sweden who kept playing the boyfriend in a teenage horror movie who gets killed halfway through by a guy in a mask. I felt, is this it?’
He hadn’t worked for three months and was heading back to Sweden for the summer when the call came from his agent saying they were casting for the lead in Generation Kill. Two weeks later, he was heading to southern Africa for the actors’ boot camp.
True Blood, which has been HBO’s biggest hit in America since The Sopranos, is the series that has brought Skarsgård the most attention. But it is Generation Kill, he says, that remains the work of which he is most proud. The shoot, in Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique, took seven months.
‘It was such a profound experience for me,’ he says. ‘Being away that long, the friendships I created with the other guys out there, and how important it was just to tell that story. People don’t know much about what’s going on on the ground in Iraq: what you see in the media is heavily censored. I’ve never worked on a project like that before and I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to do it again.’
Three weeks into filming he was given the email address of the real Brad Colbert but he decided not to contact him until after the shoot. Back in LA, Evan Wright, the author of the book on which Generation Kill is based, organized a barbecue for the Colberts both fictional and real to meet.
‘I was very nervous,’ says Skarsgård. ‘He never asked for this, to become an HBO series. So I didn’t know how he’d react to it if he felt that I’d messed it up. Plus I had so much respect for him, it was tremendously important for me to get his acceptance.’ Did he feel accepted? ‘Well, he didn’t kill me so that’s a good sign I guess. He’s the freakin’ Iceman, he could have done.’
Skarsgård suddenly finds himself with as much Hollywood traction as his father. They remain close. ‘Of course we discuss work a lot,’ he says. ‘If your dad is a carpenter and you’re a carpenter you’d probably talk about it. But for me it’s always been important to make my own mistakes and not have him guide me in Hollywood or open doors. I need that to build my confidence and really feel like I deserved the parts, that it’s not because of my name.’
His father, he says, has seen him in both True Blood and Generation Kill: ‘He’s very, very happy and proud.’ And right now, probably just a touch jealous. |
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Channel 4 (UK)September 2009
The TV and movie industry is littered with actors who were tipped to be ‘the next big thing’ only to end up with non-speaking parts in the latest Jean-Claude Van Damme film. Predicting stardom is a precarious business but Alexander Skarsgård has as good a chance as any of making it big. Movie-star good looks? Check. Sensible career choices so far? Check. An engaging and intelligent personality? Check. Family pedigree in the business? Well, his dad is Hollywood star Stellan Skarsgård, so: Check. He’s also recently starred in two of the most critically acclaimed and successful TV series to come out of the US last year, True Blood (from the creator of Six Feet Under) and Generation Kill (from the creators of The Wire). Both series will be on Channel 4 this autumn.
It was almost all so different, though. As a child actor, Skarsgård turned his back on the industry aged 13. It was only after a seven-year hiatus that he decided to give acting another go. It was, it would seem, a good decision. Just how good, the next few years will reveal.
You’re from an acting background, and obviously your dad [Stellan Skarsgård] is hugely successful. Did you grow up proud of his level of success, or did you just take what he did for granted?
He wasn’t that big a star when I grew up. The thing that brought him to Hollywood was Breaking the Waves, the Lars von Trier movie, which was in 1996. I was already 20 years old by that point. Growing up, my father was working at a theatre in Stockholm, so he was mostly a stage actor. He did movies as well, but smaller Swedish movies. I’ve got younger siblings, and it was different for them. They did more of the travelling around the world, being on sets and all of that exotic stuff. For me, it was running around backstage at the theatre, and I didn’t really think much about it.
On the subject of your siblings, a few of them have gone into acting as well, haven’t they?
Yeah. I’ve got a brother who’s two months old, and it’s kind of difficult to say what he’ll do! But I’m the oldest, I’ve got a brother who’s four years younger than I am, and he’s an actor back home in Sweden. And I have another brother who’s 18, who’s working doing movies in Sweden right now as well.
How old were you when you started acting?
Seven. I did my first movie when I was seven, and then I worked for about six years, doing movies and television in Sweden. But then I quit when I was 13, and didn’t work at all for seven years.
Why did you quit?
This was in 1989, and back then in good old Sweden, we only had two TV channels. I did a movie for television there, and whatever was on, people would watch, so the impact that had back then was huge. Suddenly people recognised me wherever I went, and it just made me very uncomfortable. It was a weird age to become famous. I didn’t know how to handle it, and I was very self-conscious and stressed out about the whole situation. I just wanted to be one of the guys, so I quit, basically. I didn’t have the urge to act for seven years.
What drew you back into acting?
I was 20, and like most guys of that age I was trying to figure out what to do with my life. I was thinking about different options, and naturally acting came up again, and I thought about it, and I felt that it might be different now I’m 20 instead of 13. Hopefully I’m a bit more sure of who I am and what I want in life, and maybe I can handle it better than I did when I was 13. Leaving acting had never had anything to do with the craft, the work, at all. It was only because I wasn’t comfortable being recognised, and I thought that might be better. So I decided to give it a go again, and went to New York to study theatre for a while, and got hooked pretty instantly.
You’ve got two new series coming up on Channel 4 this autumn. True Blood is a drama about vampires, which will automatically make people think of Buffy - but it’s really not like that, is it?
I wouldn’t know. I’ve never seen Buffy!
Well, this isn’t exactly aimed at kids, is it?
No! Definitely not! It’s pretty dark.
Summarise the concept of True Blood.
The series is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries. Charlaine [Harris, the books’ author] created this world where vampires live in coexistence with humans. They came out of the coffin two years ago, and went out publicly and said ‘Yes, we do exist, but don’t worry, we’re not going to harm you because we can drink synthetic blood now. We just want to live in peace.’ And it takes place in Bon Temps, a small town in Louisiana, and it’s basically about prejudice, and how these vampires try to fit into society and find a role.
Your character is a vampire called Eric Northman. What’s he like?
He’s the sheriff of Area Five, which basically means he’s the sheriff of the vampires in Louisiana. He’s one of the oldest vampires around, and one of the strongest and most powerful. He’s a true entrepreneur - he’s got a nightclub in Shreveport, and he sees this as an opportunity to make money. Curious humans will come into the club and buy souvenirs and see real vampires, and he uses that and makes money from it.
He’s been around for 1,000 years. How do you play someone who has a thousand-year back story?
Well, I think he’s got huge confidence, and also he doesn’t waste time. He’s been around for that long, so he cuts to the chase and gets down to business. And it’s hard to impress a guy like that, because he’s seen it all. That’s why he’s intrigued by Sookie [the show’s heroine, Sookie Stackhouse, played by Anna Paquin] because there’s something new here, something interesting and different about her that he can’t really put his finger on. In general he’s not very interested in humans, they don’t impress him, he thinks they’re naïve and stupid in general. But there’s something different about Sookie, and that intrigues him. That’s what gets his attention, basically.
Did you read the books when you got the part?
Yeah. I read the first five books before we started season one, but when we started shooting, it was just too confusing to keep reading the books [there are nine] because I didn’t want to end up wondering if I’d read something in the book or in the script. But we’re on hiatus now, so I’m going to go back and read a few more.
The series is adapted by Alan Ball, who wrote and produced Six Feet Under and American Beauty. Did that add to your excitement about the project?
Oh yeah, yeah. I reacted like most people would do when I heard it was a vampire show, I thought ‘Whoa - I have no idea what this is going to be like.’ But then, when they told me that he was behind it, that made me very interested in working on it.
In literature and cinema and on TV we seem to return time and again to vampire stories. What do you think is behind our fascination with the genre?
I think it has to do with immortality and eternal youth. What creates a platform for good drama is that that is so alluring and intriguing to people. Immortality and eternal youth are so attractive, yet the fact that vampires are also lethal predators who could kill you in an instant creates great platforms for drama, I think. You have that duality. An encounter with a vampire could let you live forever, or you could become vampire food.
The series is quite risqué. Did it cause controversy when it first came out in the US?
Yeah, a bit. It’s pretty full-on, and very graphic and gory. Season two is even more graphic, so we’ll see what the response is.
The other series you’ve got coming up on Channel 4 is Generation Kill. That’s also based on a book, isn’t it?
Yeah, it’s based on a book written by Evan Wright, who was a journalist who was embedded with First Reconnaissance Battalion of the US Marines for the first five weeks of the Iraq invasion in 2003. It’s basically about his experience of that journey.
Are the events portrayed pretty accurate to what happened?
Yeah, everything that is on the show happened in real life. One of the actors is a real Marine, and plays himself on the show. We had two other guys from First Reconnaissance with us for the duration of the shoot, which was seven months in Africa. They were behind the camera for every single take every single day, making sure that everything was legit and was real, and what we say and what we do on the show happened for real. It was very important to us to show exactly what happened, and not make it into a Hollywood series or movie where everything is dramatised, and things are added or removed. We just wanted to tell it exactly as it was, and I hope we succeeded in doing that.
You play Sergeant Brad Colbert. What’s he like?
He’s a team leader, a sergeant, and one of the senior guys in First Reconnaissance, but he’s not as macho as the other guys. He’s a bit of a loner, he’s doing his own thing. He loves the first stage of the invasion, where he actually gets to sit down alone and plan the mission that he gets. He’s a perfectionist when it comes to that, and he really believes in the cause. He believes that they’re out there to help people, to liberate people, but throughout the series things will change. It’s hard for him to do his job, because he needs to be there and motivate the guys, and make sure they’re sharp and aggressive, because otherwise they’re more likely to get killed. But at the same time, he’s beginning to think “What the hell are we doing out here?”
Did you meet the real Sergeant Colbert while you were filming?
No.
Was that a conscious decision?
No. If I’d had a chance to meet him before we started filming, and hang out with him for a month or two, then great. But he was in the UK, embedded with the special forces.
UK? That’s a really tough posting, being sent over here!
Yeah. That’s the real deal! So he was in the UK, and I couldn’t get hold of him. I was able to get his email address, but at that point we were already two weeks into shooting it, and I’d already created my version of Brad Colbert after talking to the guys who knew him, and also talking to Evan Wright, who spent five weeks in a Humvee with him. So I’d already created my Brad Colbert, and at that point I decided not to get in touch with him, because I’d made my choices and found my path, and had to continue down that road with conviction. But I did get a chance to see him as soon as I got back to the States. Evan Wright was kind enough to throw a barbecue at his place, and he invited me and Brad, because he wanted us to meet somewhere other than the red carpet before the Premiere, and get a chance to sit down and talk. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life to finally meet him.
It must have been strange, finally meeting someone whose character you’ve spent so long immersing yourself in.
Yeah. I was with that character for a year. It’s his life. All the quotes and things I say on the show are his life. When I talk about my ex-girlfriend, and hookers in Australia, these are things that he actually said. And he never asked for this to become a huge HBO series, so I didn’t know how he would react when I met him. But I have a tremendous amount of respect and love for the man, so it was very important for me that he would be proud of what we did and how I portrayed him. And he didn’t kill me, so I guess I did okay.
Aside from the guys working on the show, did you spend any time immersed with the US Marines as part of your research?
No, but I’m a sergeant in the Swedish Marines.
Yeah, you did your national service with them. Did that experience prove useful in filming this series?
Absolutely, it was very useful, just to help understand how you deal with your officers and peers, understand the group dynamic between the guys, and also how you handle your weapons systems and all that kind of stuff. It was very helpful to have gone through that.
Were you a good soldier, and was it something you enjoyed?
Not really. It’s mandatory to do it in Sweden. I wanted to join the Marines, that’s not mandatory, but you have to do some sort of service to the state, doing something else. But I wanted to do this because I grew up in downtown Stockholm, and I wanted to challenge myself. I figured if I was going to do this, I wanted to do it for real and full-on, and actually physically and mentally challenge myself. At least then it might be interesting, and something I can use later on, instead of spending ten months in a booth stamping passports. But most of the guys I was with in my platoon were kind of like Rambos, you know? I wasn’t like that at all. I knew this definitely wasn’t a profession for me. I did this solely for my own reasons, to experience these things and challenge myself. It was kind of weird, and at times I hated it, but I’m glad I finished it.
Generation Kill shows a lot of bravery and gusto from the Marines, but it doesn’t necessarily tie in with the homespun, patriotic, apple-pie image of troops that exists in the US. Did the depiction of the troops upset people?
No, I think the Marine community really embraced the show, because it felt legit and it felt real and it made the audience realise that it’s more complicated than they might have thought. It made the audience realise that these are all individuals, and they’re very young, and they’re all there for different reasons. Some really believe in it, some are there because they’re bored, some are there because they’re trying to avoid jail. So it was definitely embraced by the Marine community, and by the army and the air force and the navy as well. I know that some of the officers weren’t happy about it, because they wanted it to be a pro-Marine Corps series where everything is amazing and they’re all patriots and all fighting for the right cause, so some of them weren’t happy with either Evan Wright’s book, or with the series either. But we can live with that.
I imagine that filming it was a pretty odd experience on set. It must have been an almost exclusively male environment.
Yeah. It was funny talking to the real Marines who were out there with us. They said it was very similar to being in the Marines - not, obviously, what you do for your work, but with the group, and how bonds are formed and how tight you get when you spend that long all together. And on a set it’s 80 per cent wait and 20 per cent action, and I think it’s pretty much the same thing in the Marine Corps. You do something, then you sit around and bullshit for hours and hours, and wait for the next order. So that definitely created a similarity, and I think it was great that we did this 3,000 miles away from our families and our homes, because all we had was each other, and I think that was good for the show.
Looking at the two series, which you did back to back, the roles are very different. Was that a conscious decision - do you always like to have that element of variety to your roles?
Yeah, because it keeps me on my toes and it keeps me motivated and creative. If I do something for seven months, and then I jump into a character that’s very similar to that, I think I’m going to get bored, and I’m not going to do a good job. I need to be challenged, I need to feel almost nervous about a new project and a new character. That gets me excited, and it definitely helps me in my creative process. |
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IO9September 11, 2009
One of the favorite fan things was you coming down the stairs with the highlights in. Whose idea was that to put your hair in highlights?
It was Alan Ball’s.
And how’d he tell you to go with that whole scene?
Well, I was wearing a wig … and we all felt that maybe it was time to get rid of it. And they kinda needed a way to get rid of it, and came up with that, and I just kinda loved it; I thought it was a great idea.
We finally saw a little bit of your backstory, with Godric. Are we going to get more flashbacks with you?
I truly hope so. We have like … I wanted more stuff with me and Godric, I thought that would be fun. Because Allan Hyde, the guy that plays Godric, is really good, a really fun guy, and he’d be fun to … I mean Eric and Godric hung around for almost a thousand years together and had a lot of fun together so I think there’s definitely a possibility for more flashbacks.
Tell us more about Eric. He seems so fed up with humanity and yet constantly finds himself in the throes between vampire and human conflicts.
I think he’s kind of in general over humanity, he’s kind of like, they’re not very interesting to him. He’s kind of like, whatever, they’re kind of naive and that interaction doesn’t give him anything at all. But Sookie’s obviously different; there’s something interesting about her and he doesn’t really know what it is and I think that kind of triggers him. |
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NewsweekSeptember 11, 2009
Alexander Skarsgård Is A Neck Man
Why the 'True Blood' hunk has TV's hottest set of fangs.
The only Swedish import that ever stole my heart was IKEA. OK, maybe a Volvo. But then along came Alexander Skarsgard, the vampire bad boy with a true (though a non-beating) heart in HBO's True Blood. Skarsgard plays Eric Northman, the 1,000-year-old Viking sheriff of the undead, but he might as well be named Vampire McSteamy. Do we blame Anna Paquin for secretly fantasizing about him when the sun goes down? That smoldering face. That surfer-boy hair. Those chiseled cheekbones.
There are thousands, maybe millions, of women out there who are smitten with Alex (as I like to call him). He also charms the pants off men, like his costar Nelsan Ellis. "He's very humble, extremely talented, and so freaking Mount Olympus good-looking that sometimes I just want to be him," says Ellis, who plays another True Blood fan favorite, Lafayette, a gay, cross-dressing, short-order cook. "But, I want to say, 'Brother, please don't stand next to me.' " In that case, Alex, could you stand next to me instead?
Skargard’s take on Eric is a little bit Gordon Gekko from Wall Street (he’s so mean) mixed with a little Mr. Darcy (he’s so misunderstood). His character lurked in the shadows in season one, ”I was a glorified extra,” he says, but he’s quickly become a pivotal part of the show. Eric is the hunk trying to woo away Sookie (Paquin) from her vampiric main squeeze (Stephen Moyer), in a love triangle inspired by the Charlaine Harris books, that could get extra heated in the show’s season finale this weekend. As True Blood has become HBO’s biggest hit since The Sopranos, averaging about 5 million viewers a week, Skarsgard is the vampire of the hour. Paquin might have won the Golden Globe, but Skarsgard won over the blogosphere. “The real truth is, I was in Europe when season two started, and I had no idea how big the thing had gotten,” Skarsgard says. “I landed in L.A., went to Comic-Con and it was absolutely crazy.
Skarsgard might suck blood on TV, but, so far, he’s not going to be sucked into his own fame. He’s a little bit of an anti-celebrity, even if his other major marquee credit was sharing a bed with Lady Gaga in the music video for “Paparazzi.” Skargard is now in Shreveport, La., shooting the Rod Lurie (The Contender) “reimagining” of the 1971 Sam Pekinpah film Straw Dogs. The film raised a lot of eyebrows back in the day for an excruciating rape scene that seems to morph from violence to lust. The perp is Skarsgard’s character, Charlie Venner. “It’s something that we talk about every day on the set,” says Skarsgard. “It’s going to be tough. It’s a painful scene, but it’s also a crucial moment.”
Skarsgard stays in character during our interview, and he speaks in a soft Southern accent that could make the toes of 1,000 middle-aged women instantly curl. He’s humble and polite, and hispter smart about the indie- and punk-music scene (Glasvegas, the Buzzcocks, the Adverts, the Clash and the Arctic Monkeys are all sprinkled into conversation). He’s been so busy, he almost didn’t celebrate his 33rd birthday this year. “I was chilling in my hotel room and a couple guys from the Straw Dogs set dragged me out to dinner,” he says. “It was actually very casual. And it was very sweet of them to do this. I haven’t been doing a lot for my birthdays the last couple of years.”
Part of the reason why Skarsgard is so low-key about his new celebrity status is that he’s been acting nearly all his life. A director pal of his father, the Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard, gave him a role in the film version of the Swedish children’s book Ake och hans värld (Ake and His World), in which he played Kalle Nubb. Then came some Swedish TV, including the lead role in 1989’s Hunden som log (The Dog That Smiled). “My parents never dragged me to auditions. They didn’t push me. Things just kind of happened, and I thought it was fun,” Skarsgard says. But by age 13, he’d had enough. “I was really self-conscious and I wasn’t comfortable with all the attention. Thirteen is a tough age. You’re trying to figure out if you are a child or a man. It’s a strange time. People on the street would recognize me, and I hated it. It was too much. I said to my dad and mom, ‘I don’t want to do this. I want to play soccer.’ I wanted a girl to like me because I was funny or cute, not because she saw me on TV. So I quit.”
“If I didn’t quit at that time,” he says, “I would have crashed and burned, and I doubt I would be acting today.”
He still crashed a little. He moved to the United States in his early 20s for theater school, but he dropped out after six months. “I was lonely, I had no money, and I was in love,” he says. He packed his bags and flew back to Stockholm. Two days after he landed, he and his girlfriend broke up. Then came more Swedish productions, and a small role in Zoolander, playing Meekus, a dimwitted Eurotrash model who dies in a gasoline fire. Then more Swedish films.
His big U.S. break happened when he was cast in Generation Kill, the 11-time Emmy-nominated HBO miniseries following the exploits of the Marines’ First Recon Battalion during the early part of the Iraq War in 2003. The series is based on the book written by Evan Wright, an embedded Rolling Stone reporter, and Skarsgard plays the alpha male team leader Marine Sgt. Brad (Iceman) Colbert. “Alex was definitely put through his paces, and there was a lot of discussion throughout the ranks about casting him,” says casting director Alexa L. Fogel. The Colbert role was a fine tightrope act: military brawn combined with intellect, and then there was the language issue. The entire seven-part series is rich in the peculiar, colorful shorthand of the Marine slang, with phrases like “Oscar Mike” (on the move) and “Stay frosty” (stay alert) peppered into the screenplay. “In walks this skinny guy that looked like a really tall Kurt Cobain,” says Rudy Reyes, a former recon Marine sergeant who played himself in the miniseries. “But once the cameras started rolling, Skargard became Colbert.”
Skarsgard didn’t get nominated for an Emmy for his performance, but he has been named the Sexiest Man in Sweden five times. “I give him a lot of crap about that,” Reyes says. But at least it’s prepared him for the furor he’s creating in his True Blood role.
We know that True Blood will end its second season with a cliffhanger (involving, duh, likely you know who). But expect to see plenty of Skarsgard next season, literally. And that should make the fangirls happy. “I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that there’s no problem with violence, but I have to sign these legal documents if I show my ass onscreen,” he says. “It’s really not like that in Europe.”
He is hoping to keep working in both U.S. and Swedish productions, and maybe even some theater. “I love the idea of working up close with an audience like that,” says Skarsgard, who starred in a Swedish Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. But right it’s all about being afraid of Skarsgard. He’ll start filming the third season of True Blood in a few months, and the vampire love is contagious. At least when it comes to his cast. “I really miss those guys,” he says. “It sounds so stupid, but these guys really have become my family.” I guess that makes them blood relatives. |
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KCRWSeptember 9, 2009
Guest DJ Project
Anne Litt: Hi, I am Anne Litt and I am here with the actor Alexander Skarsgard who stars in the popular vampire drama series True Blood on HBO. He plays the powerful vampire Eric. Today, we will be playing excerpts of songs he has selected that have inspired him over the years as part of KCRW'S Guest DJ Project.
Alex, what did you bring us today?
Alexander Skarsgard: I brought 5 songs that I'd want to dedicate to peoplem, five people that play or have played an important part in my life.
AL: What a great idea. Let's start with Rolling Stones "Mother's Little Helper"
AS: I spent a week at my Dad's country house in southern Sweden. His grandfather built that house 9 years ago and my dad, it's very important to him to maintain it like the way it was built, to preserve it and not to modernize it too much. So, there is no running water there. If you want to take a shower you have to go out to the well and pump up water and pour it over yourself. When I was a kid, me and my Dad would go out and pump up water, pour it over each other and sing this song. So I want to dedicate this song to my old man and I want to thank him for not building a jacuzzi out there or an infinity pool or anything like that.
Song: Rolling Stones" Mother's Little Helper
AS: At the time , I didn't know a word of English but it didn't stop me from shouting, ‘ra pa doo pa da da dee…' I just made up jibberish but it was just a beautiful thing to share with my Dad singing that song. I couldn't care less what we were saying."
AL: That was the Rolling Stones, "Mother's Little Helper." I am here with Alex Skarsgard on KCRW's Guest DJ Project. What's the next dedication?
AS: When I was a teenager I was a punk rocker. This was in the early 90's and it was like 15 years after it was cool to be a punk rocker. Everyday after school I would bring my boombox out to this park and I would sit there with my friends singing and watch the sunset and listen to loud, angry, fast music. One of my best friends from back then, he's sick. He's been in and out of the hospital for a couple of years now. This is like an old Swedish punk song from the late 70's that I would like to dedicate to him. I hope he gets better soon so we can get a chance to drink cheap beer and bitch about the decay of our civilization. This is Ebba Grön (dedicates it to his friend in Swedish)
Song: Ebba Grön's 800 °C
AS: I was kind of a half ass punk rocker. I didn't go full punk. Ebba Grön started the Swedish punk wave in the mid-70's so this was 15 years after that but we loved this band and listened to them all the time.
AL: Are they still around?
AS: They're not but they are still very, very famous in Sweden. I still love them and think they are an amazing band.
AL: I am Anne Litt from KCRW and we are here with Alex Skarsgard. This is KCRW's Guest DJ Project and the next song I want to talk about is the Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen in Love."
AS: Yeah, I had this girlfriend awhile ago, many years ago, and it was a very passionate relationship. I was very much in love with this girl, but after a few months we both realized we weren't good for each other. But it was one of those relationships that we didn't make each other happy, but every time we broke up, we ended up back together and that went on for almost 3 years. I don't know if you've experienced that, but it just killed me. It was really, really tough. I just tried to move on and so did she but we just couldn't. I want to dedicate this song to her and I hope she found happiness somewhere out there.
Song: Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen in Love"
AS: Every time after a fight I would just put on my big headphones and I would crank up the volume and go Pete Shelley freakin' gets it. In a way she will always be a part of me, but I don't have to listen to Buzzcocks and cry every day and night any more. I can actually listen to it now and enjoy it because it's a great song.
AL: It's the Buzzcocks," Ever Fallen in love". We're here with Alex Skarsgard from the HBO series, True Blood, on KCRW's Guest DJ Project. What's the next song you have for us?
AS: When I was a kid we went on a lot of road trips and my mom had this song that she always wanted to play. She is a very considerate person, my mom, so she would always ask the kids and my Dad if it was okay if she played the song. Like I mentioned before, I was a punk rocker so I would just shrug my shoulders and be like ‘oh whatever, I don't care.' So I want to dedicate this song, my mom's favorite song, to her and I want her to know that even though I would never admit it at the time, I actually loved it every time she put it on.
Song: Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl"
AL: Do you ever feel homesick?
AS: Yeah.
AL: Is there a piece of music that you hear that just takes you there?
AS: It's kind of tough because I am the only one in my family here in LA. The rest of my family lives in Sweden so music is great for that. I just put on a song and it brings me right back home.
AL: That was Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl. This is the KCRW'S Guest DJ Project. I'm Anne Litt with Alex Skarsgard who has brought in a whole bunch of great songs and the next one is "The Passenger" by Iggy Pop. Tell us about that one.
AS: I've been in LA for five years now, on and off. Growing up in Stockholm, Sweden that transition, it's not easy because Stockholm is a very densely populated place, you walk or you ride your bike. Most of my friends are within just a few blocks away from each other and coming out here was kind of tricky. Suddenly you're in a city where it's considered normal to sit in traffic for 45 minutes for coffee with a friend or people drive Hummers to the gym so I've kind of spent five years complaining about LA and talking about how much greater Stockholm is, how good it is back there. I was just there for two weeks and when I landed I flew into LAX and I had this really weird feeling when we touched ground. I felt like I was coming home. I've never felt that before so this last song I actually want to dedicate to Los Angeles and I hate to admit it but I think I'm falling in love.
Song: "The Passenger," by Iggy Pop
AL: Nobody is going to let you get out of here today without telling us what music Eric listens to.
AS: He listens to a lot of Swedish death metal.
AL: Is it hard to talk with those things in your mouth?
AS: The fangs?
AL: Yeah
AS: Yeah, you know, it takes a while to get used to it.
AL: Are they like those things you used to get on Halloween?
AS: Well, they're not plastic they're like molded for your teeth but it's basically the same thing.
AL: Alex, thanks so much for joining us on KCRW.com, you've shared such a meaningful group of songs.
AS: Thank you so much for having me, it was a true pleasure |
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LIVSSTILAugust 30, 2009
Alexander Skarsgård: "Where I am now, I am by my own hand."
Alexander Skarsgård has gotten his final breakthrough in the States by playing a Viking vampire in the TV-series “True blood” DNs Erik Ohlsson has met the new born Hollywood star that is still picking up his own laundry.
“There are 600 churches here,” Alexander Skarsgård informs us, while folding his long body into a purple-red Toyota Prius and taking us sightseeing in the town that will be his home for the next seven weeks.
Shreveport’s central parts are strange. The town, which is situated in northern Louisiana and is the size of Malmö, has a central core where decayed store houses are mixed with shiny polished sky scrapers. In addition the town consists mainly of churches and casinos. A merciless sun is burning the dusty roads. We see some occasional cars but not one single pedestrian.
This part of Louisiana is heavily struck by unemployment. To improve the economy, the state rulers have decided to give movie companies big reductions in taxes if they record in Louisiana.
Alexander Skarsgård has one of the leading roles in a new version of Sam Peckinpahs drama “Straw Dogs,” that right now is being recorded in and outside of Shreveport. The original movie came out in 1971 and was heavily debated due to its content of heavy violence. The new version of “Straw Dogs” will also turn bloody, Alexander lets us know.
Alex, as everyone calls him, wants to eat lunch and we drive towards the town’s house blocks where green gardens mix with strip malls.
On the radio, tuned into the local country station KXKS, Justin Moore sings about the benefits of living in an American small town, “Smalltown USA.”
Skarsgård had to work hard with his accent for the role and thinks it is useful to listen to country “but sometimes it gets painful, some songs are really bad,” he says.
“I have a dialect coach to get the right “twang.” The movie will take place in Mississippi. I am a hillbilly and speak with an accent, but I have been to the university for a year or so and gotten rid of the worst part.”
Alexander Skarsgård has simple but good looking casual clothes: white shirt, narrow gray jeans and black shoes. In addition, he has straggling stubble and trendy Japanese sunglasses that he puts on and off.
When we sit down by a table in the dining hall at La Superior, which is mainly crowded by family weekend lunch guests from Mexico, Alexander Skarsgård continues to tell us about his ongoing movie project with great enthusiasm.
“I play Charlie that grew up in a small town in Mississippi. He is the star of the school’s American football team, somewhat king of the town. Charlie gets a scholarship to study at the University of Louisiana to play football. The road to NFL seemed to be wide open. But then he suffers from a knee injury and has to go home after a year.”
He earns his living as a carpenter in his old hometown. One day he gets the assignment to renovate a house bought by his old girlfriend from the prime time of his youth. She is working to get a Hollywood career going but has temporarily returned to town with her husband, a peaceful scriptwriter.
“It really hurts Charlie to see their relationship. He looks upon his ex-girls husband as a real wimp, says Alexander Skarsgård.”
The youth sweetheart is played by Kate Bosworth, famous from “Superman Returns” as Lane while James Marsden is her meek husband.
The director wanted a legible contrast between the ex-athlete Charlie and the book-loving script writer. Thus, Alexander is training extra in the gym in order to put on extra muscles.
“ I put on about 17lbs before filming. But I am built rather lightly, so I will never turn into a real muscle man,” he states.
Except for building muscles he has also learned how to do carpentry – or at least how to fake it, and has experienced how it is to work outside when it is over 100 degrees hot and the sun is shining as Gods worst interrogation lamp. It is hot, hot in Louisiana in August.
“ It is only something you have to get used to. You get soaking wet, but I am playing a sweaty carpenter so that is ok.”
Skarsgård is at the moment in a schizophrenic situation since he is recording two movies on two continents. Simultaneous with “Straw Dogs” he is also working in Sweden with the last shots of Johan Kling’s “Puss.” The recordings started on the same day, so it took an effort to make both schedules work.
“ Last weekend was messy. I flew from here via Atlanta to Stockholm. And then a domestic flight to Visby and taxi to Fårösund, where the last scenes were recorded. The travel took 23 hours. But all fatigue was erased when we started to record. It is wonderful to work with Johan, very secure, he has every detail under control.”
Johan Kling attracted attention after his director debut “Darling.” “Puss” is a relationship drama revolving around some young adults in Stockholm that operate a theatre. Alexander Skarsgård’s describes his character as “slippery as a fucking eel.”
“A city guy that drives vintage sport cars and is interested in design from the 60s. He deceives his closest friends and is always in trouble. Pretty far away from Charlie in “Straw Dogs.” Since the characters are so different it makes it easier for me to keep them apart.”
Yes, things are going well for Alexander Skarsgård right now. He has gotten lots of good criticism for his performance in the TV-series “True Blood,” the most popular show on HBO at the moment. “True Blood” is a real cock and bull story that revolves around modern vampires that “ravage” in the fictive town Bon Temps in Louisiana. Alexander plays the 1000 year old Viking vampire Eric Northman, with white makeup, long hair and with sharp teeth. Sometimes he spice things up by using Swedish dialogue. Funnily enough Viking-Erik also has a connection to Shreveport: in the series he owns the vampire bar in town, Fangtasia.
The first season of “True Blood,” started this week on Swedish television. In the States it has reached cult status among young people. New episodes will start being recorded right before Christmas.
How does Alexander Skarsgård explain the series immense popularity?
“Alan Ball, the director, is extremely talented. He uses all the tricks in the book, but he is never stepping over the line when things gets too obvious or silly. I think that is why ‘True Blood’ appeals to so many.”
Alexander Skarsgård got a big raise when he signed up for season 3. He doesn’t want to reveal how much, but is enough for him to seriously start looking for a house in Los Angeles. For the last five years he has lived without a real home in LA. Five pretty scrawny years of test castings, meetings, roles that he “almost” got and regular trips home to Sweden to work and get money.
“ I want to live in Venice Beach. That is one of few places in Los Angeles where things are at walking distance. Los Angeles is a weird town and it has taken some time to adjust. And I will always have at least one foot left in Sweden. But last time I landed in LA, in the beginning of August after spending some weeks in Sweden, I felt as if for the first time that this was home to me.
If “True Blood” has filled up Alexander Skarsgård’s bank account, it is another TV-series, “Generation Kill,” that is helping him to get the film offers he is now receiving. During the recording breaks of “Straw Dogs” Alexander is reading and pondering manuscripts that his agent has sent forward.
And Viking vampires in all due respect. But it is pretty obvious that the role as sergeant Bradley Colbert in the TV-series “Generation Kill” is what Alexander Skarsgård feels most strongly about.
“What makes “Generation Kill” so intense is that it doesn’t make any attempts to squeeze in a love story or any other main Hollywood themes,” says Alexander Skarsgård, that got a lot of good criticism for his interpretation of Sergeant Colbert.
“The best reward is that lots of men and women that have been to Iraq have contacted us and think that we are telling a truthful story of what is going on down there.”
It probably also helped that Alexander is a real sergeant – he did his military service in the Swedish marines, one of the toughest trainings in the Swedish military.
“I was a restless 19-year-old that wanted to do the service, I wanted something challenging and that would give me something in return. And it felt as if I needed a break from the safe and comfortable life in Söder, Stockholm.”
Alexander Skarsgård adds that he has nothing positive to say about the political game behind the war, “the invasion was an obvious mistake and based on lies.”
Skarsgård doesn’t match the twisted image of the polished vain and self-centered Hollywood star. He does his own laundry, doesn’t expect VIP treatment at the restaurant and now when he meets a Washington correspondent it almost seems as if he is more interested in discussing President BarackObama’s troubles with reforming the healthcare system than his own career.
“Yes, of course I try to be updated with the news, as much as possible, even though I travel a lot. And I try not to miss “Meet The Press” (NBC),” he says.
He is much more reluctant to evolve how it is to be part of the Skarsgård clan in actor-Sweden. But it is hard to dismiss, when your dad is called Stellan and one of few Swedish internationally established actors, and with a brother (Gustaf) that frequently appears in leading roles in big Swedish movies.
“I have nothing to compare with, I have always been a Skarsgård, isn’t that so? Sure, I have grown up with theatre and movies, but I never looked upon acting as a career choice when I grew up. And I feel that where I am now, I have gotten by my own force.”
We are in a hurry to the hotel, because the film crew is supposed to participate in the event of the year in Shreveport; the guitar hero James Burton has arranged an international gala dinner to collect money for music education for school children.The 70 year old Shreveport son, has enticed names such as Albert Lee, Steve Lukather and Al di Meola.
The event will take place in Municipal Hall, the arena in music history was created on October 15th, 1954 when Elvis Presley did his first performance here.
Alexander Skarsgård mingles behind the stage with aged guitar heroes, his six-foot-four height makes him constantly noticeable in the crowd. When the guitar idols take the stage and start to entertain the audience, Skarsgård sits in the front among his acting friends, apparently happy with life. In random intervals he collects a cold beer from the bar – tomorrow is a free day from shooting.
When I take a taxi back to the hotel I ask the driver Bren if he knows who Alexander Skarsgård is.
“Mr. Skarsgard, oh yeah. Is he Scandinavian, Danish, oh Swedish! He has made Shreveport better known in the world and he is a fine young actor. Tell him that!”
Which I now have. |
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MovielineAugust 27, 2009
9 Fun Facts About True Blood Breakout Alexander Skarsgård
If we’ve learned anything from Lost and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it’s that the blond bad boy always comes out ahead in a genre love triangle. Perhaps, then, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Alexander Skarsgård popped this summer as True Blood’s insinuating (but crucially restyled) vampire sheriff Eric Northman; to judge from the fan worship thrown his way online and at Comic-Con, I’m sure that Sookie’s not the only one fantasizing about him.
Good thing that Movieline’s a font of Skars-knowledge! Here are nine facts that should help you appreciate this 33-year-old Swedish “newcomer” even more:
1. In his first U.S. role, he played one of the ill-fated male model roommates in Zoolander. For the denizens of ONTD, who love Skarsgård and (in equal measure) making animated .gifs with heads pasted over the Zoolander “Jitterbug” sequence, the discovery was mindblowing: A True Blood “Jitterbug” .gif could be made that Skarsgård was already in!
2. He is the son of actor Stellan Skarsgård, who you may remember as the professor from Good Will Hunting. (No doubt, he’d rather you remember him from that than for his role as one of the potential fathers from Mamma Mia!)
3. Skarsgård rocketed to Swedish stardom at age 13 with his role as “Jojjo” in Hunden som log (The Dog Who Smiled). What’s it about? Take it away, IMDb commenter Pamela from Malmö, Sweden: “[It] is about this boy Jojjo and his friends a blond male sexmaniac and a girl called Peggy. They travel town…goes to school sometimes, entertain themselves by switching mail between mailboxes and just chill. Jojjo’s dog is getting old and one day bites Jojjo that gets really sad. This is quite hard to explain been a while since I saw it and it hasn’t been on TV for a while.” Sounds amazing!
4. Perhaps you’ve YouTubed his (surprisingly SFW) shower scene with two other men in the Swedish film Hundtricket? Incoming vampire queen Evan Rachel Wood certainly has! “I am not going to lie,” she told E! when asked. “Yes I have.”
5. Skarsgård was heavily tipped to be in the running for the title role in Marvel’s Thor, and met several times with director Kenneth Branagh and Marvel head Kevin Feige, even going so far as to try on the costume for a screen test. Sadly, the role went to Chris Hemsworth. MTV reporter Larry Carroll recently told Skarsgård he was surprised by the outcome, as he thought Skarsgård had the perfect look for Thor; the Swede responded simply, “So did I.”
6. Still, at least we can all agree that Skarsgård had the perfect look to play a suicidal trannie in the straight-to-DVD film Kill Your Darlings.
7. Skarsgård’s U.S. career began to take off when he developed a relationship with HBO during the 2008 miniseries Generation Kill, where he played Iraq War sergeant Brad ‘Iceman’ Colbert. The network added him as a recurring character almost halfway into True Blood’s first season, then upped him to a regular for season two.
8. Don’t be fooled if you hear Skarsgård talking in a Southern accent (as he did during the True Blood panel at Comic-Con). He’s just prepping for his role in Rod Lurie’s upcoming Straw Dogs remake, where he plays a Southern jock who has a past with James Marsden’s wife, Kate Bosworth.
9. When Skarsgård moved to New York to study acting, he rented a room from a 55-year-old Filipino fashion designer named René. (Who hasn’t!) “Once when I got home and sat down to study he told me I looked tense and he wanted to give me a massage,” Skarsgård recalled once. “I just couldn’t stop laughing. He knew I was straight, but he was trying again and again. I told him: ‘René, please. I will not suck your dick, you know this.’” |
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AftonbladetAugust 23, 2009
You Can't Play Sexy
“You can’t play sexy” Alexander Skarsgård holds back on the vanity in “TrueBlood”
On Wednesday, SVT will start airing the vampire series that has made Alexander Skarsgård a sex symbol in the US.
During pre-launch of True Blood, Nöjesbladet got the chance to talk to the Swede in Hollywood.
“My parents complain of the lack of nudity in the show”, says Alexander Skarsgård.
That’s the exact opposite of the reaction in the US, where the nudity content is especially noted.
Alexander’s comment makes his co-worker, Nelsan Ellis who plays Lafayette Reynolds, react:
“Really? Wow”.
Alexander explains himself:
“My parents are old hippies.”
Ellis doesn't look satisfied with the explanation.
“You know, my father works in Europe and grew up in a different culture. He became very upset because nudity was censored, but not violent and bloody scenes. That it was appropriate for kids, but not boobs.”
“Now he (Stellan) just says “Finally” (laughs). “This is the way we’re created. It’s beautiful. What’s wrong with that?’”
Those of you who want to see the younger generation of Skarsgård (turning 33 on Tuesday) undressed will have to be patient. In the first season he appears in only 7 episodes. In season 2 the Scandinavian vampire gets a bigger role.
Eric Northman, blossoms
“In the beginning I was mostly the mean vampire leader telling others what to do. In season 2 I become more personal. That pleases me. After season 1, people said ‘Oh, you’re the mean guy, the cool vampire.’ But I don’t see it so black and white. Season 2 shows many more sides of Eric.”
Falling in love with a vampire
The story revolves around Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a barmaid in Louisiana whose life turns upside down when she falls in love with the vampire Bill (Stephen Moyer).
The series makes Alexander Skarsgård, who’s been voted Sweden’s sexiest man, closer to conquering an equivalent title in the US. He’s already popular in a reader’s poll Entertainment Weekly made.
"You can not play sexy"
He denies that he deliberately would make himself sexy in ‘True blood’.
“You can not play sexy. It would be ridiculous. If you think about it while filming it’s distracting.
I hate vain actors. You just have to try to be present in the moment. You can't think about how your hair looks. |
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AftonbladetAugust 17, 2009
Alexander Skarsgård on Swedish cinema, Hollywood and his father Stellan
He has had great success in the American TV series “Generation Kill” and True Blood”.
Aftonbladet was the only newspaper present when Alexander Skarsgård did a short visit at Gotland (Swedish island), to record the movie “Puss”.
On a plane over the Baltic Sea he tells us about his opinion of the Swedish movie industry, his life in Hollywood and how he handles fame.
It is pretty empty at Bunge airfield close to Fårösund, Gotland. Close by you can see some cows grazing and a neglected old Volkswagen is standing in front of one single flight hangar.
But not a single aircraft.
I thought it would be here, says Fredrik Heinig, producer of St Paul film that makes “Puss”, a movie which has been delayed a year after the director Johan Kling burned himself out last Autumn.
“Aged 25 years”
Alexander Skarsgård, 32, has one of the leading roles.
In the movie, which revolves around an amateur theatre in Stockholm, he plays “Alex”, a typical trendy media guy from Stockholm.
We have had so much fun. Johan (the director) is such a nice guy, he makes the actors feel very comfortable, says Alexander.
He has been working hard from early morning to late night for three days. That’s as long as he was able to stay away from Shreveport, LA, where he’s shooting the Hollywood movie “Strawdogs”.
It’s not exactly one of the nicer parts of Louisiana, says Skarsgård.
Of course it’s tough travelling 24 hrs (from Louisiana to Gotland) and walking onto the set and spending three days straight there. I bet I have aged 25 years in the last few days but it was worth it, I am so happy I was able to pull this togeter.
Now, a private plane has been rented so Alexander will arrive in time for director Rod Lurie in Louisiana. And wow, after a couple of minutes we can hear a “wrooooom” and a Socata plane is flying by at low height before it lands.
On with the headphones and on the floor of the little cabin there are life jackets handy. Alexander Skarsgård bombards pilot Bjorn Carlsson with questions.
He would like to have a pilot's license.
I was damn tempted this summer when I flew with a friend and landed at Borglanda at Öland. An incredibly beautiful way to travel.
Up to 6 000 feet. We take a short trip over Ingmar Bergman's favourite island Fårö. The director's red Mercedes jeep 1980 are out for sale.
- I've been here a lot, he wanted to work with me, but I thought it looked like too much hard work, "says Alexander Skarsgård.
A few seconds later he adds:
Nah. I'm lying.
No, he will never get the opportunity to work with Ingmar Bergman.
“He is awesome”
But Alexander Skarsgårds career is now spinning faster than ever. He is celebrated in the HBO-series “Generation Kill” and “True Blood”. This autumn starts the recordings of season 3 of the vampire sreies. Successful Alan Ball has directed and written the script.
He is awesome, incredibly creative, very smart and open to ideas.
Movies such as “The Dog Trick” seem very far away. That is something he can thank Swedish directors and casting directors for. They only cast him as the young hunk which led him to take a chance in Hollywood.
I think Swedish directors are cowards. They know what works and then they only go after that. As an actor that is suicide. It is also why Swedish movies are going downhill; they are like lukewarm bland milk, there is no original language. My character situation at home was not interesting, he says.
On the other hand he insists that a new gang of directors are on their way up: Jesper Ganslandt, Tarik Saleh, Mikael Marcimain and not least Johan Kling.
Waited for my chance
After going back and forth between LA and Stockholm during several years, Alexander Skarsgård is now permanently living in the States. His home is in Hollywood Hills but this fall he moved to Venice.
He wouldn’t say that he has gotten that many tips from his father Stellan. To stand on his own feet has been important.
I wanted to do my own thing and I felt that it was important to make my own mistakes, I sat an the back and waited for my chance.
But now he is starting to notice the impact from the tv-series he is in. He gets recognized more often and he has ended up at celebrity blogger Perez Hilton’s site.
Of course it is fun, but I don’t read what they say about me on the net. I don’t want to read any comments about my acting. It would get to my head.
Also, due to the success he is becoming increasingly more restrictive in interviews.
I don’t want to be seen everywhere, I think I am already over exposed.
Damn, Bajen lost
Far bellow we can see Stockholm, Globen stadium and the Söder stadium.
Fuck, Bajen just lost down there. But Stockholm is so incredibly beautiful, when you have been away for long you get tears in your eyes just by looking at it.
We are landing at Barkarby airfield and take a quick visit into the bushes. Early next morning Alexander will be on a plane back to the States. The first thing he does in the taxi to Stockholm is to call his mother, My.
Now I'm going home to eat crayfish with dad, meet my siblings and then I will head down to Babylon at Medis and have some beers with my mates. I didn’t think I would have time to see anyone, this is a fantastic bonus.
Family: Name: Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård.
Age: 32 Profession:
Actor Lives: Hollywood Hills, LA
Family: Dad Stellan, 58, mother My, 53, brothers Gustaf, 28, Sam, 27, Bill, 19, Valter, 13 and sister Eija, 17, and in addition just some month old half brother Ossian (son to Stellan and his new wife Megan).
Skarsgård on:
... love:
I don’t have a girlfriend. I travel a lot and it is hard to keep a relationship. But because of True Blood I am now situated in LA for 6 month periods. So yeah, I guess it could be solved, but I have to be in love first.
... the future:
There are some projects I know my manager and agent in LA are looking at during autumn, but nothing is certain. We are finished with Strawdogs in the middle of October and it depends on when the recordings of True Blood starts.
... friends:
I hang a lot with the guys from Generation Kill. We have become very close. I socialize most with Billy Lush, he is also on Strawdogs. It is great.
... Lady Gagas video “Papparazzi”:
My friend Jonas (Åkerlund) called and asked if I wanted to be in it. I would not have been so keen if it was about holding hands at the beach. But I knew Jonas had some fun ideas. |
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Interview MagazineAugust 11, 2009
Alexander Skarsgård Kills In Sweatpants
Out of the Swedish mist came Alexander Skarsgard, the evil, increasingly nuanced vampire leader Eric Northman of True Blood. He sucks blood; he stars in Lady Gaga's video for "Paparazzi" as an abusive, ill-fated boyfriend; he gets recognized by fans on the street over the course of our interview.
MIGUEL ENAMORADO: Hi Alex, how are you?
ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD: Hey Miguel, I'm good, how are you doing?
REBECCA SINN: Where are you?
SKARSGÅRD: I'm in Veras, California. Are you guys in New York?
ENAMORADO: We're in the office while you're probably outside on a beautiful day.
SKARSGÅRD: It's a beautiful day. I'm standing underneath a palm tree.
ENAMORADO: Have you been to Sweden lately?
SKARSGÅRD: I hadn't been there in eight months, but I recently went for two weeks to visit my family, and I just got back to California a week ago.
ENAMORADO: So are you originally from Stockholm?
SKARSGÅRD: I grew up in downtown Stockholm.
ENAMORADO: I love Sweden. I've been there a couple times and it's one of my favorite cities in the world. I have a lot of Swedish friends, and it's one of those places where you meet one and you meet everyone, you know? You only need one Swedish friend.
SKARSGÅRD: I like it a lot.
ENAMORADO: What is your favorite thing to do in Sweden?
SKARSGÅRD: The last couple years I have been on the road, and I only get two weeks a year where I have a chance to go back home. So it's intense when I go back: I go out to a country house and hang out with my family and...
SINN: Pack it all in.
SKARSGÅRD: Exactly, and I try to spend a couple days in Stockholm to hang out with my friends from my childhood.
SINN: Does your family ever come to LA?
SKARSGÅRD: My father is an actor as well, so when he worked in LA, he would miss his family a lot, and he would get a house instead of a hotel room, so he could bring the whole family.
ENAMORADO: On the new season of True Blood, your character has come out of the shadows. You blossomed this season into the one to watch, so...
SKARSGÅRD: Well that's very flattering to hear, thank you very much. After season one a lot of the reactions were, "Oh, you're the bad guy," and I would always have to defend Eric, because I've always thought there was so much more to the character than just being like, the badass vampire leader.
[INDISTINCT, SOMEONE YELLING TO SKARSGÅRD]
SKARSGÅRD: Hi, brother! [LAUGHS]
ENAMORADO: There you go! You see, you're becoming a star.
SKARSGÅRD: Yeah, that was interesting. But I knew when we shot that this character would grow.
ENAMORADO: I think one definitive moment was when you got blood in your hair, and then you cut it off. I think you freshened up the character visually, and now it seems like there's a triangle with Bill and Sookie.
SKARSGÅRD: In season one there's definitely an interest on Eric's part, in Sookie. Eric knows there's something different about Sookie and he's intrigued but he doesn't do anything about it.
SINN: Well I think there's more fear in season one.
SKARSGÅRD: You're right and I think that's why he came across as evil and not much more than that. He's an animal, and a killer. And I always try to keep that in mind.
ENAMORADO: And there's such a strong bond between your character and Godric.
SKARSGÅRD: Look, I'm 32 years old, and I've got a couple friends back home I've known for 25 years. Can you imagine a guy like Godric—they spent a thousand years together, and they were kind of a tag-team up until just a hundred years ago. Just imagine what kind of bond you achieve in not 25 years but 800, 900 years. They have so much in common that they're almost the same person.
ENAMORADO: On the list of best vampire's, you're number five, before Edward Cullen and Bela Lugosi in Dracula and Christopher Lee's Dracula.
SKARSGÅRD: [LAUGHS] I could never be Bela Lugosi.
ENAMORADO: There are so many projects that involve vampires. What is the relevance for you?
SKARSGÅRD: I think they represent consistency and something permanent in a world where everything's changing. You have someone like Eric who has been around for a thousand years, who he hasn't changed one day in that time—but then he's also an animal and a killer, and could just turn on you and kill you in a second.
SINN: There's a mischievous thing about it, too, that's attractive.
SKARSGÅRD: The vampires on True Blood, and on the other shows right now, they're more accessible. Eric and Bill go to the mall to shop, and they fit right in.
ENAMORADO: Are you closer to Eric in terms of what you normally wear?
SKARSGÅRD: Eric can be quite extravagant in the way he dresses. I like Swedish designers a lot. I don't know if it's because I grew up. I like Whyred, and Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair is a great brand; Hope. It's very classic and fitted. A lot of people here in California, there's a lot going on in the way they dress.
ENAMORADO: Very dramatic?
SKARSGÅRD: Yes very dramatic, and, uh..
SINN: And they like the jewelry.
SKARSGÅRD: A lot of that, and the skull with diamonds, or the T-shirt with writing all over the back and the eagle.
ENAMORADO: Do you meet with your costume designer and shape the look of your character?
SKARSGÅRD: Audrey Fisher is absolutely amazing. We get together before every episode and we talk about the scene and we bullshit and we come up with ideas. For instance, in the beginning of episode two, there's the scene where I kill the guy. I thought it'd be fun to come down wearing sweatpants and flip-flops. I thought that'd be fun [LAUGHS]
ENAMORADO: And highlight foil. Why wouldn't a vampire wear highlights, you know?
SINN: Is the show popular in Sweden? Is it over there right now?
SKARSGÅRD: Season one already aired and season two starts in two months, I believe.
But I was surprised when I came back to the States ‘cause in Sweden I was with my family at a country house... I was detached from all the hysteria.
SINN: And from the paparazzi? [LAUGHS]
SKARSGÅRD: Oh yeah. In Sweden we don't have paparazzi.
ENAMORADO: Speaking of which, you were in the Lady Gaga video.
SKARSGÅRD: I've known the director, Jonas [Akerlund], for years and he's a good friend of mine, although we've never worked together. I didn't know Lady Gaga at all before. She was really cool and interesting.
ENAMORADO: Did you coach her on the Swedish lines?
SKARSGÅRD: We were supposed to do that whole thing in English, but then because I'm Swedish and Jonas is Swedish and the DP was Swedish, she heard us talking in Swedish and- and she's like, "Whoa, why don't we do it in Swedish?" It was a joke but we all had fun with it. |
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Goal.comJuly 31, 2009
Keeping The Faith In The Feeders
Hammarby fans and others, unite and celebrate the kinship of sporting loyalty that goes deeper than wins or losses - yes, even many losses.
It might not have been the best idea, given that he was attending a promotional event for FC Barcelona, but Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard didn't show up wearing the famed purply-blue and red uniform of the Catalan champions.
Skarsgard was wearing green and white, instead - a Hammarby jersey. As he explained this, there was a chorus of boos from the spectators in the Nike Ricardo Montalban theater in Los Angeles. The audience was all about Barcelona, and they had little tolerance for any divided loyalty.
Skarsgard tried to explain. He mentioned that as a Swede, he was excited to be there to support Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish player recently signed by FC Barcelona.
"Soccer in Sweden is like a religion," Skarsgard said, "Growing up in Sweden, in the south of Stockholm, we supported Hammarby."
He paused briefly.
"They're terrible," Skarsgard continued. "We don't really have any good players. We don't have any money. We almost always lose. It's not a lot of fun."
The crowd hesitated, unsure what to make of such a withering description of a club by an alleged fan.
"You don't have to feel threatened by us," continued Skarsgard, "We won't ever defeat or take anything from Barcelona. The Swedish league is weak. Our good players leave. The good players go to clubs like Barcelona."
A few cheers went up at this, but most people were taken aback, or perhaps feeling sympathetic for Skarsgard.
When the host of the celebrity segment mentioned in a commercially pandering segue that Hammarby was sponsored by Nike, and could perhaps improve, seeing how Nike sponsored a winner like Barcelona, Skarsgard shook his head vehemently.
"Nike paid like three dollars to sponsor this," he said, one hand on his Hammarby jersey. "We're not even the best team in Stockholm."
At this point, most in the room decided Skarsgard was joking, and chose to laugh along.
Skarsgard grinned and said he might not even be able to comprehend Barcelona's skill on the field. "I'm used to watching slow - it's probably going to be too fast for me."
One thing Skarsgard never said, however, was that he would give up being a Hammarby fan.
Loving a winner is easy, and Barcelona has had droves of fans following their every move even before they conquered the stunning treble of wins this past season.
The FC Barcelona players don't need to sign autographs until their feet are sore; they don't need to take time out of their day to talk to local press after their practices; they don't need to fly coach or stay at budget lodgings. So they don't, for the most part, do any of those things.
Really, Barcelona doesn't have to win Skarsgard over - the club doesn't really need new fans. They have plenty of them already and collect more with every victory.
The glamor of the sport lies in clubs like Barcelona, who engrave their names on the big events, but the heart and soul of the game lies in clubs like Hammarby and the loyal fans that support these smaller organizations, far from the red carpets and the glittery reflections from multiple trophies.
Soccer would not be played all around the world if people just turned on their televisions to watch the big clubs play. The sport's growth and longevity has often rested on the tribal aspects of a club representing a community. Those communities also serve as the cradle for developing players.
Before there was Barcelona or even Sevilla in the life of Dani Alves, for example, there was Bahia. Ibrahimovic started off at Malmo. Eidur Gudjohnson began his career with Valur Rekyavik. Yes, it might be that good players leave their local clubs and countries to pursue the biggest giants in the sport, but it's doubtful they could improve enough to get there without those early opportunities and loval development.
Many have toasted Barcelona's accomplishments and rightly so, for they are impressive.
However, the local leagues, clubs and players who toil with far less recognition are also worthy of respect.
Here's to the fans who celebrate an improved season or drown their sorrows over a poor one, but never waver in their allegience. Here's to the coach who takes the time to nurture a player who will quickly become too good for his team. Here's to the players who wear their colors proudly, even if they can't always pronounce the name of the club they play for correctly. Here's to the vast, vast network of teams known by a only a small percentage of the world, that still do their part to keep the passion for the game something vibrant and living in local stadiums, not some image on the TV or computer screen.
Not every club can be Barcelona, but even mighty Barcelona would not exist without all those other clubs. If every car was a Rolls-Royce, they wouldn't be special. Here's to the reliability of Corollas that get people to the game, here's to true blood, and here's to Hammarby.
Skal! |
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AftonbladetJuly 26, 2009
"I Don't Even Have Time To Eat."
Alexander Skarsgård on being hot in Hollywood, single, and a big brother again.
HOLLYWOOD. He has a growing role in a hit series and one of the most important roles in an upcoming movie.
It is not difficult to understand why Alexander Skarsgård made Hollywood his home.
I have it very well, he said to Aftonbladet when they met him in Beverly Hills. Skarsgård, 32, has just returned from summer vacation in Sweden.
Now he is in the middle of the launch of the second season of “True blood” – a series that has only increased in popularity and has become the channel HBO’s biggest success right now.
It is not official that there will be a season three. But I find it hard to believe that they will quit, given the success of the series, he says.
Hype justified
In Sweden we sometimes tend to exaggerate our Hollywood Swede’s greatness. But in this case the hype is justified. Since Skarsgård’s character Eric Northman appeared in the series, viewers have given their approval and the numbers are on the rise.
This is just the beginning for Alex. His role is growing this season, says one of his pr-women.
Add Skarsgård’s new key role in the remake of the 1971 controversial movie “Straw Dogs”.
The action revolves around a writer and his wife returning to her hometown in the American South.
There they encounter her ex-boyfriend, Charlie, played by Skarsgård, who is obsessed with winning her back – by any means possible.
Charlie is a guy who was once the high school football star and had the school’s prettiest girl.
But an injury ruined his career. Now he works as a carpenter and the frustration he feels makes it really interesting. One must dig deeper, said Skarsgård.
Kate plays ex
His ex-girlfriend in the movie is played by blond Kate Bostworth, 26, and filming starts in August.
Skarsgård flew over to visit friends and relatives in Sweden.
This time the journey home was extra special because he met his baby half brother, Ossian, for the first time.
It was very exciting. I went down to see Dad and his wife in Öland. It was a blast. They are so happy and cute together. And he is a lovely little kid.
Do you dream yourself of starting a family?
I’m single now. It will come when it will. Right now I barely have time to eat. I am so focused on this. But if it happens, it would be just wonderful.
Stockholm base:
In the past five years he has hovered between Sweden and Hollywood.
Stockholm will always be my base. It is where I have my family and my friends. But when I came back to the U.S. this time it was the first time it felt like home. It was actually a really strange feeling.
Commuting between Stockholm and Los Angeles
Name: Alexander Johan Hjalmar Skarsgård.
Age: 32 (turns 33 August 25).
Born: Stockholm.
Lives: Splits his time between Stockholm and Los Angeles.
Occupation: Actor.
Family: Single.
International breakthrough: In the U.S. miniseries on the Iraq war, “Generation Kill”.
Current: As Eric Northman in the vampire series “True Blood”.
Coming Soon: Filming soon starts on the remake of “Straw Dogs” in Shreveport, Louisiana. Is also about to finish filming with Johan Kling, the upcoming film, “Puss”. |
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ExpressenJuly 24, 2009
Alexander Skarsgård: "I Prefer To Be Totally Naked."
His Viking vampire Eric has made great success in the acclaimed TV series “True blood”. Expect the attention around Alexander Skarsgård will grow. This season he does nude scenes, too.
"I have no problem with being naked in front of the camera", says Alexander Skarsgård when Expressen met him in Hollywood.
HBO series “True blood” has taken television viewers around the world by storm.
The second season has just begun in the U.S. and critics continue to pour praise on Alan Ball, who also created “Six Feet Under”.
Alexander, or Alex as he is now known in Hollywood, plays the Viking vampire Eric Northman in a role that is growing in the series.
The most recent episode broadcast in the United States on Sunday, the viewers see a little of Eric’s background and him breaking in to Swedish for several minutes in the flash back with a group of Vikings that just lived through a battle.
“I love Sweden”
Alex came to back to Los Angeles earlier this week after two weeks of vacation in Sweden.
"For the first time I felt that I came home when the plane landed in Los Angeles. I love Sweden and my family and my friends there, but now I have lived in California for five years and have begun to rekindle my career here, he says."
During the first three years, Alex lived on a couch at a friend in Hollywood.
"I fought really hard for roles, just as so many others and many of my talented friends here still cry tears to get their breakthrough. I realize how fortunate I am."
“Not so crazy”
Tv-series “Generation Kill” about a group of U.S. Marines during the invasion of Iraq made Skarsgård a star in Hollywood last year.
“True blood” will lift him even higher. He loves the series’ mix of sex, desire and danger and the impossible.
"There is attraction, it’s easy to go wrong. Eric is not as crazy as many think, but he has a strong will and can justify his actions."
And now we see you naked too?
"For me, it is no big deal, I’ve been naked in other roles I have in the past both in the theater and in films. Here they wanted to test everything from a sock or nude mini underwear, but it just felt weird. I prefer to be totally instead. So long as you and your co-stars know that it works, it is okay and we are a tight bunch that make this series."
Not a daring guess
He would not reveal who he has sex with the “True blood”, but there is probably no daring guess that it is Anna Paguin who plays Sookie Stackhouse.
Surprised at success?
"No, not at all." |
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Swedish ELLEJuly 13, 2009 (August Issue)
“Children will come when they come”
Alexander Skarsgård’s hard work in Hollywood has turned him into Sweden’s hottest star. Elle has met him and talked about vampires, dating and how it feels not to be allowed to pick your own T-shirt.
Alexander Skarsgård travels through life with light packing. He has learned only to bring the absolute necessarily things since traveling is a big part of his life now days. When Alexander meets ELLE he picks the celebrity crowded café Joan’s on Thirds, between La Cienega Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles. He has just had a coffee with the actor Michael Wincott. Since the shooting of the celebrated TV series True Blood, (in which Alexander plays the vampire Eric Northman) is ongoing almost 24 hour nonstop, our interview has been delayed a number of times. But when we finally meet there is not a trace of stress or of being tired. On the contrary we see a relaxed and humble man that cheerfully welcomes us. On the table we see a well read copy of Kurt Vonneguts essay collection “A man without a country”. The book gives a hint of those sides of Alexander that is not shown by the media, but that is easily recognized when you meet him: the polite, well read and curious guy that is keen on having all names correctly spelled and of not getting misinterpreted.
Vladimir Nabokov said that curiosity is insubordination in its purest form. Curiosity is one of our most important qualities, it should never be smothered, says Alexander.
It is also evident that Alexander has something to envy, great driving force and ambition. The life as an actor in Hollywood is not as glamorous as one would imagine. Workdays of 16 hours are not unusual with heavy stress and non-existent work security.
It is really hard to get a break through. You have to be very determined and work extremely hard, says Alexander.
We are often recording at night now in True Blood which means that I am at work between 16.00 and 07.00, six days a week. In the morning I go home to sleep some hours and then I go up to read new scenes before I go back to the next recording session.
In the series I play the oldest vampire that also becomes interested in the female lead, Sookie, played by Anna Paquin. True blood is a vampire story, but there are also many parallels to current events and phenomena’s in society.
The series is a mix between action, sensuality, horror and comedy. It has succeeded in being both approachable and smart, says Alexander.
When he is not recording or studying lines to ongoing projects, he is reading new manuscripts and is having meeting with his agent or going to castings. He also played Lady Gaga’s mean, Swedish boyfriend in her video to the song Paparazzi directed by Jonas Åkerlund. Since he is playing a vampire he is not allowed to be out in the Californian sun; i.e. he is not allowed to be tanned. However, Alexander points out that he is not complaining.
I have the greatest job in the world! It is so fun, I love every moment. And sometimes I am free for 3 days in a row, he says with a smile.
There is not so much time for partying though and that is why it is good to have friends with the same profession. Alexander has become good friend with his coworkers in generation kill, the celebrated tv-series about American soldiers in Iraq.
They are as brothers to me. It is great to have them around, we are experience the same things and are having the same goals, says Alexander.
The recordings brought the actors close together.
We spent 7 month in Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa. It was the most intense experience I have ever had. I worked 142 of 145 recording days. We were recording Monday to Saturday and on Sundays I was reading the scenes for the next week and working with my dialect coach, tells Alexander that gotten a lot of praise for his now perfect American English.
I am very proud of Generation Kill. The recordings were extreme. I have never sacrificed that much, but never gotten so much in return either. The series gives an insight into the real life of the soldiers which differs from the directed version we see through the media, he says.
After 5 months Alexander got a long weekend. He chose to fly home to Stockholm from southern Africa, so a big part of the time was spent on airplanes and airports. One single dinner with family and friends was what he got.
It was the best night of my life! I enjoyed every single bite of food and it was so fantastic to be with my friends and my family. Then it was time to return to two additional months of nonstop work.
The first time Alexander got recognized on the street he was 13 year old. He hated it.
At that time Sweden only had two TV-channels (TV1 and TV2). If you were on a TV-show each and everyone had seen you. It made me extremely uncomfortable, says Alexander.
So Alexander decided to focus on other things than acting. He did military service and had plans on becoming an architect. Then he started to long for acting again. When he once again got into the profession he had an emotional distance to the job. It was now on his terms. For example, Alexander does not, as most other Hollywood actors, have his own personal trainer and pr-agent.
I don’t need anyone to hold my hand or speak for me. It feels unnecessary. I can take the subway to work and chose my own clothes, he says.
Despite his busy working schedule, he is still taking care of his own interview bookings and everything else surrounding the acting. If he himself has to pick his own favorite celebrity spotting it would be Gary Oldman.
I saw him on the subway in Brooklyn. All alone, no diva manners. And very cool, of course.
A big difference between working with movies in Sweden and the states is the number of people around you that are telling you what to do.
It is a whole crew of people around with opinions if you want to change the color of your T-shirt. And then you need a signed approval. But I have had the luxury to get my own opinion listened to in most projects I have been involved in. They trust my view points and have given me freedom to develop the characters.
After two HBO TV-series, Alexander is now also recognized in the States.
In Sweden people whisper and point at you. Here they start to talk to and give you credit. It was a lot of guys that came up to me after Generation Kill to discuss war.
Also the patriarch of the Skarsgård clan, Stellan, is recognized in the States. But Alexander does not feel any pressure of being compared to his dad.
That is something only journalists bring up. People I work with know my potential. I don’t have to prove myself anymore.
When Alexander isn’t working he is traveling. During the last year he has been on a skiing holiday in Aspen, spent new year’s on the island Mustique, had a long weekend in San Francisco and been to the music festival Coachella outside Palm Springs.
I enjoy travelling and have learned to pack lightly. The only thing I always bring is my ipod.
Alexander’s nomadic lifestyle is also reflected in his private life. He doesn’t feel any stress in settling down and has not dated many American women.
Children will come when they come. I am already 7 years after my dad, he says laughing.
He doesn’t have a steady housing in LA either, instead he lives with friends.
I come from a large family and I am a “social pet”. Where I live and how is not so important, just as long as I am surrounded by people I like.
But Alexander calls Stockholm home.
I will always do that, says Alexander, smiling, before he takes the book under his arm and travels out to this nights working session.
*****
7 quick Qs with Alexander:
I get angry at: narrow-minded people
I laugh at: comedian Mitch Hedberg
This is how you make me dance: Simple, get me drunk.
Best advice I have gotten from my parents: “Do what you want”.
Favorite designer: Rick Owens.
Favorite spots in LA: Simple hangouts like rock bars and places with jukeboxes.
A perfect Friday night: I go down to The Smell in Downtown and listen to obscure industry rock. Then I go home, take a nightly bath in the pool with my surrogate family.
In Alexanders ipod:
The Chameleons: “A British band from the early 80s, somewhere between The Smiths and Joy Division”.
Marianne Faithfull: Her older music, like “Broken English”. You can hear that she has had a rough life.
Jussi Björling: What a fucking hero! He has such an incredible voice with a unique force, feeling and compassion.
Translated by: Skarsgardfans.wordpress
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Philippine Daily InquirerJuly 1, 2009
Ex-child actor plays vampire and soldier
MANILA, Philippines - At 13, Alexander Skarsgard was a child actor in Sweden who wasn’t comfortable with the limelight. So the son of veteran character actor Stellan Skarsgard quit and spent seven years as a “normal” youngster. But he missed acting, so he eventually moved to New York for theater studies.
Alexander recently appeared as Sgt. Brad “Iceman” Colbert in the HBO miniseries “Generation Kill” and as enigmatic vampire Eric Northman in HBO’s ongoing series “True Blood.” Following are excerpts from a roundtable phone interview with the actor, arranged by HBO Asia.
How open to interpretation is your vampire character? Did you look at screen vampires for inspiration?
Yeah, when I did my research, I re-watched movies that I’ve seen, like the old “Nosferatu” with Max Schreck from the ’20s, Bela Lugosi’s “Dracula,” and Werner Herzog’s “Nosferatu” from the ’70s. Obviously, Eric Northman’s quite a different character. But diving into that old culture of vampirism was to get my creativity and inspiration going, basically. When you create a world with vampires, it’s up to you if you wanna do the whole thing with crosses or garlic or what happens when a vampire meets the sun. We hung on to a couple of those, but some of them we just dismissed. So it’s very open to interpretation …
How much did playing “Iceman” Colbert affect the way you looked at war and the US Marines?
My take on the war in general didn’t change much. My opinion was, it was a mistake to go into Iraq. That has not changed at all. What you see in the media is very polarized, very censored in a way, what’s going on in Iraq or Afghanistan. So for me at least, this was the first experience where I actually got to see it from the perspective of the boots on the ground, what the soldiers went through on a daily basis out there.
But some of them are just kids, with dreams and hopes, and families back home. Also, a guy like Colbert, one of the senior guys, he really believes in what he’s doing and coming into Iraq. He has a mission, he knows how to execute it … and he really believes this is a good cause. Being Colbert the leader, he had to stay focused and keep his guys motivated. And for me, as an actor, it’s a very interesting thing to play on.
Describe your bond with your “Generation Kill” costars, and how it developed.
We were so isolated. Being out in the Namibian desert was so surreal. It felt like you’re stuck on a different planet … Suddenly, you embark on this journey; you’re gonna be out there for seven months with people that you’ve never met before. You’ve got a huge script in your hands with tons of words that you don’t even understand and you have two days to make them your own and be this character. Then you see all these big Marine guys, “All right, get ready for boot camp!” Then you’re out running and, “What’s going on?” It was scary and you felt like a little kid. People would really open up when they’re bored. In just a few weeks, I knew more about these guys’ family lives than I knew some of my friends’ that I’ve known for years!
And that made acting much easier?
It really did. In a way, I think it was good that we were that isolated because the guys we portrayed were also isolated and in an environment that was new to them. If we had shot this in California, in the desert outside of Los Angeles, they could just drive back to their families. It would have been a completely different experience.
“Generation Kill” is currently airing every Sunday on Max. The first season of “True Blood” recently aired on Max, and reruns will air starting July 11. |
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IESB.net
June 21, 2009
Alexander Skarsgård is out for TRUE BLOOD
As Eric Northman, the 1,000-year-old Viking vampire who is also the owner of the local vampire bar, Fangtasia, on the acclaimed HBO television series True Blood, Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard has quickly become a fan favorite. Even though he called himself a glorified extra in Season 1, the actor/director is much more involved in Season 2, partaking in the action going on in Dallas with Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her vampire boyfriend, Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer).
In this exclusive interview, Alexander Skarsgard talked about how fans will be getting to see much more of him this season.
IESB: What can viewers expect from Season 2 of True Blood?
Alex: They can expect a lot. A lot is going on. In Season 1, we had to create the world, invite the audience into that world, establish all the characters and tell the audience a little bit about that. Now, in Season 2, we can hit the ground running because the audience is already on board and is already a part of this world.Its going to get pretty crazy, from the get-go. A bunch of us go to Dallas to find an old, missing friend of Erics. At the same time, crazy stuff is going on in Bon Temps. Major mayhem is going on there. Its going to be a wild season. From Erics point of view, its much more personal than Season 1. In Season 1, Eric was the entrepreneur, doing his thing, and walking around and being the bad-ass vampire. In Season 2, youll hopefully understand him a little bit better and see more than just the evil vampire that people sometimes think he is.
IESB: Do you think he enjoys the mayhem and craziness?
Alex: He enjoys it. He enjoys the attention and he enjoys being in the midst of it because hes very confident and he knows how skillful and strong he is. He likes adventure, for sure, but hes not thrilled about what he has to do in Dallas. It is very personal and its something that means very much to him. So, its not a vacation, where hes just going out to play. Its definitely a matter of life and death for him.
IESB: Are you enjoying the fact that Eric has a much bigger role this season? Will viewers get to learn more about what his motivations are?
Alex: Absolutely! After Season 1, people came up to me and were like, Oh, youre the evil vampire leader on True Blood. I understand why people would think that, but I would always have to defend Eric because I think theres so much more to the character than that. There is actually a more sensitive, vulnerable and loyal side to him as well.
IESB: This season has more gore and is more gruesome than Season 1 was. Do you enjoy doing those scenes?
Alex: Yeah, I love it. Eric didnt do anything in Season 1. You can sense that he is violent, strong and powerful, but he didnt have to show it, at all, in Season 1. I think the audience wants to see a little example of that, and we give it to them.
IESB: Can you talk about the relationship between Eric and Bill, and how that will be developing this season? And, what has it been like to work with Stephen Moyer?
Alex: I love Stephen. Hes a fantastic guy and were having a lot of fun on set, which is good because we spend a lot of time on set, just hanging out. Eric sees Bill as pathetic. Hes a kid. Hes not even 200 years old, and hes naive. Eric is much more jaded and hes seen so much more than Bill has. Bill is old school and he believes in humanity, in a way that Eric doesnt anymore.
IESB: Were you at all surprised by the huge acclaim that the show has received, and the devoted fan following that it has? Could you have ever expected your character to get such a huge following, even though he wasnt featured much, in the first season?
Alex: Yeah, I was shocked. Im pretty much a glorified extra in Season 1. I didnt do much. I didnt expect anything, and I was overwhelmed when it started airing and I got all the reactions. It was very flattering, of course.
IESB: Because Eric can be so brutal, do you worry about also making him likeable? Or, does he even need to be a likeable character?
Alex: No, I want people to like him and understand him, but at the same time, know that hes super-aggressive, ruthless and a killer. I think its that duality, with both sides of him, that makes him very interesting, as a character.
IESB: Why do you think Eric is so interested in Sookie?
Alex: Eric doesnt really know what it is that intrigues him. Hes been around for a thousand years and hes quite jaded. He doesnt think much of humanity anymore. And then, she comes along and theres something there, but he cant really put his finger on what it is. He cant really read her, and that definitely intrigues him.
IESB: How has it been to work with Anna Paquin?
Alex: It sounds so cheesy and people always say it, but I have a blast on set with Anna and Stephen. I really, really love the cast. It is a pleasure going to work, every morning. Hopefully, people will see that we actually really do enjoy being on set and working together, in the dynamics of the relationships between us.
IESB: Whats been the most enjoyable thing about working on the show, and whats been the most challenging thing about it for you?
Alex: I enjoy everything. Every single part of it is great -- just going to work, every day, and working on this show. Its HBO and its Alan Ball. Just look at the cast, and the writing is phenomenal. I couldnt ask for a better job. Im so happy to have the job. And, it was challenging, definitely in the beginning, when I was trying to find the character. I was reading the books and trying to figure out who this guy was, and also trying to find that balance of making him likeable, but menacing. I wanted people to be intimidated by him, but intrigued, at the same time.
IESB: Did you find it difficult to get used to talking with the fangs, or did that come naturally for you?
Alex: In the beginning, it was definitely tricky. It was really hard. They come out when youre aroused or aggressive, and it doesnt really fit, if you cant talk with them.It definitely took some practice.
IESB: Now that youve been on the show for a little while, do you feel that you have more of an understanding for why people are so intrigued by vampires and the whole genre?
Alex: Yeah. First of all, sex and violence are always something that attracts an audience, and vampire stories usually have a lot of both. And, vampires symbolize consistency and something thats permanent, in a world where everything is constantly changing, humans, animals, nature and even mountains will change over time. To have something that will just stand the test of time is attractive. Eric has been around for a thousand years, and he hasnt changed one bit. That intrigues people. What makes good drama is that people are intrigued by that and drawn towards it, but at the same time, that comfort they feel in something that is consistent, is also lethal and can kill them in a second. That creates a good platform for drama.
IESB: Are there any characteristics of Erics that you wish that you had or could apply to your own life?
Alex: Yeah, all of them. As an actor, I believe the character has to be born within you, and come from within you. It has to be that organic. Obviously, you have to dig deeper to find some things than others. Some things just come naturally, and some things you really have to dig within you to find. But, as human beings, we have all those characteristics within us. I dont believe in good people and evil people. I think were all a combination of both.
IESB: How did you get involved with doing the Lady Gaga music video for Paparazzi? What was that experience like?
Alex: The director, Jonas Akerlund, is a very good friend of mine. He called me and told me about the project and said, Does that sound like a fun thing? And, it did. I liked the story and his pitch of it. I just thought it was a fun thing to do.
IESB: Are you hoping to continue working in both Sweden and America, or is your career focused solely in America now?
Alex: I live in the States and my career is based here, but Im going back in August, for a week or two, to complete a movie that I started last year. Even though I dont live there, Stockholm will always be my home. My friends and my family are there, and I grew up there. I hope to be able to go back regularly and work on Swedish projects as well.
IESB: Are there types of roles or specific genres that youre hoping to do, that you havent gotten the chance to do yet?
Alex: Id like to jump from one character to another, that are different, and from one genre to another, that are quite different. What keeps me motivation and going and on my toes is to find new challenges and find projects that are different from what Ive just done. Going from Generation Kill, two years ago, to True Blood was a completely different project and a completely different character. That triggers my creativity. Hopefully, after Season 2, Ill do a movie or two, where I can find characters that are different from Eric. |
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New York Post: PopWrapJune 15, 2009
Alexander Skarsgård: ‘There’s More to Eric Than Being A Badass Vampire’
In just a few short appearances during season one, Alexander Skarsgård proved why he makes such a convincing vampire.
The 6′ 4″ star possess all of the mysterious magnetism that makes Bon Temps’ creatures of the night so dang alluring.
With season two devoting quite a lot of time towards discovering who Eric is, besides owner of the show’s best bar, Fangtasia (sorry Sam), fans are going to learn that there’s more to this “man” than meets the eye. In fact, according to Alexander, we’ll see the softer side of Eric.
Now that last night’s premiere has finally revealed Lafayette’s fate (yay!), I was able to chat with Alexander about his role in the abduction, what is in store for Eric this year and how Alexander plans to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with fans in rioting should HBO not renew “True Blood” for a third season!
PopWrap: The reveal of Eric last night with tinfoil in his hair was amazing. How did that come about?
Alexander Skarsgård: We had a lot of fun with that scene. I worked on that with the costume designer, wanting to find something weird or disturbing and flip flops was probably the weirdest outfit we could come up with for a badass vampire to wear while killing a guy.
PW: Was it hard looking scary in that outfit?
Alexander: That’s what I loved about the scene; I could have come down in a long black leather cape, looking tough. But I came down with foil wrapped tips. Look, Eric’s beauty session with Pam was interrupted. What can I say?
PW: And after a whole summer of wondering Lafayette was dead, you actually had him chained up in the basement!
Alexander: Nelsan [Ellis] who plays Lafayette is so amazing. He’s created such an incredible character. I mean, you can not kill that guy! He’s too good. We need him on the show!
PW: Going into season two, it’s clear that Eric is going to have a much bigger role. Did you know that coming in?
Alexander: Well, before I started filming season one, I read the first five books, so I had a vague idea that season one would just be an introducing to Eric and he’d develop more in further seasons. I love that we’re starting to show other sides of Eric besides being the badass vampire. There’s so much more to him and he’s got a lot at stake, personally, in season two.
PW: Although Eric wasn’t in season one that much, he came away being a fan favorite. Why do you think people responded to him so strongly?
Alexander: That’s a good question because I was quite overwhelmed with the response last year. I know that Eric has a lot of fans from the books, but I was a glorified extra in season one, so I was very surprised that I got so much attention. But even though he’s not always there, when he does come in, there is a mystery about him. I don’t know, something resonated about Eric and I’m still not sure what it is.
PW: Eric and Sookie’s relationship becomes a focus in season two, what does he think of her?
Alexander: Eric is intrigued by Sookie. When you’ve been around for 1,000 years, you become jaded, you’re not easily impressed. Especially by a human! Then Sookie comes along and surprises him. So when that happens, you’re obviously going to try and figure out what makes them tick.
PW: How does Eric and Sookie’s relationship grow?
Alexander: A bunch of us go to Dallas because a friend of mine has gone missing, which is why season two is so personal for Eric. We’ll actually see another side of him, see that Eric is loyal and caring and sensitive. I mean, he’s still the same old Eric, don’t get me wrong, there’s just more to him than being an evil vampire.
PW: Sounds like Dallas is a bit of bedlam?
Alexander: Yeah, there’s a lot of mayhem in Dallas, but at the same time in Bon Temps, the shit really hits the fan. So it’s chaos on both fronts. It’s an action packed season.
PW: The writing this year really is impressive as well.
Alexander: That’s the thing, reading the scripts, every one reads like the season finale. It just keeps getting crazier and crazier.
PW: Have you read the season finale?
Alexander: I have.
PW: Does it end with another cliffhanger to keep fans talking until season three … should there be one?
Alexander: The season two finale will not be a conclusion of “True Blood.” Of course we’re all hoping to continue this journey, keep telling these stories. But there are no guarantees in life, so I’m not taking anything for granted.
PW: If there is no season three, fans will riot!
Alexander: Oh trust me, I’ll be part of that riot too! |
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Sci-Fi WireJune 15, 2009
What secrets does True Blood's 1,000 year old vampire reveal this season?
Alexander Skarsgard, who plays the thousand-year-old vampire elder Eric Northman in HBO's supernatural drama True Blood, told SCI FI Wire that he's excited to finally get to explore more of his enigmatic character in the show's recently premiered second season.
"Season one was an introduction to Eric," Skarsgard said in an exclusive phone interview last week. "You didn't see much more than the one side, which is him being the bad-ass vampire leader. In season two we go deeper, and you'll understand that he is more complex than that and has a sensitive side and a very loyal side. He can be a great friend. He doesn't like a lot of people, but if he likes you, then he's extremely loyal. For an actor, it's something I love to do, to go deeper and play more. I felt that after season one, people were always like, 'Eric is the evil vampire,' and I always defended Eric, because I don't see him as evil at all."
Overall, True Blood is based on Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire novels, and in particular this sophomore season loosely follows the plot of the book Living Dead in Dallas. Both have Eric, as the vampire sheriff of Area 5 [i.e. the Deep South], charging telepath waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and her vampire lover, Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), to travel to Dallas, where she can use her powers to seek out the whereabouts of a dangerous vampire named Godric. Only it turns out that their harmless field trip exposes them to some potent evil that ignites a complicated triangle among the three that will unfold over the season (and more if HBO continues to pick up the show).
The following is an edited version of our interview with Skarsgard, in which he talks about what fans can expect from Eric's arc. True Blood's second season is now airing Sundays nights on HBO at 9 p.m. ET/PT. (Possible spoilers ahead!)
Did you find it helpful to read Charlaine's novels to build a backstory for Eric, or did show runner Alan Ball discourage that, since the show isn't a literal adaptation?
Skarsgard: No. Before we started season one, I read the first five books just to give me some backstory and to help me dive into the world and understand the world that Charlaine created and my character of Eric. But once we started shooting season one, it was a little confusing reading the books and the scripts at the same time, because they are a little bit different. Actually, it was quite confusing to try and figure out what was from the books and the series. But it was great to have them as a backstory in creating the character.
Has Alan given you a lot of notes and direction for how he wants you to interpret Eric?
Skarsgard: Alan has given me a tremendous amount of freedom, and he really lets us go and explore our characters. It's given me a lot of confidence and energy and enthusiasm as an actor to have that from a show runner.
There's a sort of hilarious too-cool-to-exist vanity about Eric, with his foil highlights in the season premiere and his casual track suits. Do you invest a lot of your own time in creating Eric's look?
Skarsgard: Yes, it's a collaboration I have with Audrey Fisher, the costume designer. She's amazing. We have a fantastic relationship. We have fittings every week where we get together and talk to bounce around ideas. It's something we play around with and come up with together.
Anything you are particularly proud of in Eric's repertoire?
Skarsgard: The stuff I wear on the show is always stuff that I'm happy with, because I pick it with Audrey. But in season one, it was my idea to come out in sweatpants and flip-flops. I thought it would be kind of a weird and disturbing image to see a vampire guy kill and rip a guy apart in flip-flops.
Eric speaks fluent Swedish, which is your native tongue and country. How did that come to be his private conversation language with his right-hand woman, Pam?
Skarsgard: We talked about it before we started season one, because we really wanted to establish that he was a very old vampire. We talked about him having a stronger, European accent at first. But I felt that he's a thousand years old, so he's probably fluent in different languages. My thought was that it was more interesting if he speaks English but he also flips into Swedish here and there and maybe some other languages too. But it's been tough for Kristin Bauer, who plays Pam, because she doesn't speak a word of Swedish. I work with her before we shoot the scene just to make sure that she gets it. [Chuckles.]
It's become a great power trip for Eric to keep others in the dark and on their guard.
Skarsgard: It also establishes Pam and Eric's relationship and that they have something in common. I think it's interesting and something we can play around with a lot when we are in a room with a lot of people, so I can say something in Swedish that only Pam will understand. There will be more of that in season two. We actually have a couple of scenes coming up that are all in Swedish.
In season two you've been able to create a balance of the sinister married with the sardonic for Eric. It helps distinguish him from Bill as two sides of the vampiric coin. How does Eric see Bill?
Skarsgard: Compared to Bill, I think Eric is so old. He's been around for a thousand years, so he kind of sees Bill as this naive little kid. He's not even two hundred years old. I think he sees him as kind of pathetic sometimes. In a way, Eric's jaded, because he's been around for a long time. It's hard to impress a guy like him, and it's hard to intrigue a guy like him. So there lies the attraction to Sookie, because he picks up on something that he doesn't really understand [about her]. He's doesn't know what that is, and it intrigues him.
Speaking of Sookie, readers of the books know that Sookie and Eric become involved as the series continues. Is Alan taking a similar path with the characters?
Skarsgard: Without revealing too much of what's going to happen, you can definitely say that Eric is intrigued by Sookie. Especially in the beginning, he used her and her ability to read minds. But as the story will progress, his interest becomes more personal, and of course it creates drama and conflict, because Bill is very territorial.
Considering he's a millennium old, do you see Eric as an old-school or progressive vampire?
Skarsgard: Eric is definitely progressive, and he adapts. I mean, vampires came out of the coffin three years [ago], and he's already an entrepreneur. He's running Fangtasia and making tons of money with merchandising. He's not going to hide in a cave somewhere in Transylvania.
Last season we got flashbacks of Bill's pre-vampire life. Will we get the same for Eric this year?
Skarsgard: Yeah. We'll definitely see moments of Eric's past where you will understand more of where he came from.
What's been the highlight of season two for you?
Skarsgard: I think the entire season now has been so much fun. But we shot two scenes in episode five ["Hard-Hearted Hannah"] in Swedish with other Swedish actors, and I had a lot of fun shooting those scenes.
With season two wrapping shortly, do you have plans for new projects over the summer?
Skarsgard: Hopefully I'm going to do a movie in August, and then I'm going back to Sweden to finish a movie that I started there last year.
Anything you can share?
Skarsgard: Soon. We're working on the details for the contract, so it will be announced in a few days. |
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Today OnlineJune 12, 2009
He's Skarsgård For Life
Swede Alexander Skarsgård has acting in his blood
For anyone else, it would be a challenge to switch from playing a hedonistic vampire to Marine-with-a-mission, and then back to vampire. But Alexander Skarsgard has Viking blood coursing through his veins.
The 33-year-old Swede stars as Recon Marine Sgt Brad “Iceman” Colbert in the HBO mini-series Generation Kill, which is based on the non-fiction book by Evan Wright about the 2003 Iraq war. It was a role that seemed made for him, since the actor was a former sergeant in the Swedish Marines.
“I think having that experience helped me a lot. How you handle your equipment, the weapon systems, the hierarchy within the unit - all that was very helpful,” Skarsgard said.
Speaking from Stockholm, where he was vacationing in between shooting the second season of True Blood, he sounded like a serious dude, giving long, elaborate answers to every question.
But maybe that’s because he is the son of accomplished thespian Stellan Skarsgard, who has appeared in a plethora of films such as Angels and Demons, Breaking Waves, Dogville, Mamma Mia! and Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End.
“His guidance is basically just follow your heart and follow your passion,” said Skarsgard, of his father. “I was a child actor in Sweden when I was 13. I was not comfortable with the attention I got. I told my dad I didn’t want to do this any more and he was very supportive.
“So I spent seven years of just being a teenager, hanging out, playing football. I went to college and joined the Swedish Marines, and I lived in England for a while. I needed those years to find my way back into really missing acting. I’m very grateful ... because I’m pretty convinced that I wouldn’t be acting today if he did push me.”
Generation Kill could not be more different from Skarsgard’s other starring vehicle, True Blood, where he plays head vampire Eric Northam.
“Generation Kill is a very gritty, down-to-earth kind of show with a very documentary feeling to it,” he said. “True Blood is much more over-the-top; much more crazy-out-there. Brad is much more low-key than Eric. He is a leader, but he doesn’t like being in the limelight. He has this internal struggle of not knowing if what they’re doing is right or wrong.”
Even though shooting for seven months in the Kalahari desert was no picnic (“It was so intense and we were so isolated ... It definitely changed me,” he said), Skarsgard apparently lives up to the adage: Work hard, play hard. His Generation Kill co-star James Ransone called him “the wildest party animal I have ever seen. The two occasions we went out, Alex sang the Swedish football anthem and tried to fight an entire town”.
“Well, I think James exaggerated a bit,” countered Skarsgard. “I think we had one or two nights during the shoot when I left my hotel room and went out. It was just a way of relaxing for a few hours, because it was so intense. Just to drink a couple of beers and hang out with all the guys and sing.
“I’m a Swedish Viking, so when we party, we go pretty much all in. I don’t go out very often, but when I go out I’m very happy. And I’m, you know, yeah.” |
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EricNorthman.netJune 11, 2009
DEEDEE: Hi, Alex.
ALEX: Hello?
DEEDEE: Hi!
ALEX: Hi, DeeDee. How are you?
DEEDEE: I'm good. Is it okay if I call you Alex?
ALEX: Sure, of course.
DEEDEE: Okay, well, thanks so much for being here. I know you're busy.
ALEX: No, no, my pleasure.
DEEDEE: Well, we're interviewing you for EricNorthman.net, so we're some of those crazy fans that you've been warned about. All of our questions have to do with Eric.
ALEX: Alright, cool. Are you calling all the way from Australia, I heard?
DEEDEE: I'm not in Australia. I'm in Mississippi. The girl who runs the website with me, she's the one in Australia, and she's sick, and she couldn't be here. So... By the way, I'm sorry about that weed-eater outside. Could you say hi to RJ before we get started, and just tell her you hope she feels better? I feel so bad for her.
ALEX: Oh, yeah. Hi, RJ. I'm so sorry to hear you're sick. I hope you feel better soon.
DEEDEE: I think that'll help her.
ALEX: Oh, good.
DEEDEE: Can you hear me ok over that weed-eater?
ALEX: Yeah, yeah, I hear you.
DEEDEE: Ok, good. Well, the first question is pretty quick and easy. Are we going to see Eric in the first episode?
ALEX: Yeah.
DEEDEE: Oh, great! 'Cause we were hearing that we might not, so we were all wondering about that.
ALEX: I'm definitely in the first episode, yeah.
DEEDEE: Yay! Well, that's great news. This is already off to a good start.
ALEX: Yeah, Eric will be in all 12 episodes this season.
DEEDEE: Oh, great! That's awesome.
ALEX: Yeah.
DEEDEE: There's a video clip that is a brief shot of Eric and Lorena, Bill's maker, in a scene together, and a lot of us have been wondering, you know, if you can tell us sort of what that's about. 'Cause there's nothing about them knowing each other in the books, and...
ALEX: Well, unfortunately, you know, I don't want to reveal too much, but...
DEEDEE: Sure.
ALEX: [hesitates and laughs] Yeah, I guess you'll just have to wait and see. But they do know meet.
DEEDEE: Ok, so there's nothing you can tell us about that. Oh well.
ALEX: No, not without, you know, spoiling the moment.
DEEDEE: I understand. We've also heard about a "homoerotic encounter" between Eric and another character. Is there anything you can tell us about that, like at least whether it's a flashback or in the present?
ALEX: [pauses and laughs again] No...
DEEDEE: Ok.
ALEX: No, that's all...
DEEDEE: Just another "wait and see"?
ALEX: Yeah, another wait and see, I guess.
DEEDEE: Ok, well, here's one hopefully that you can talk a little bit about. I don't know if you know about this, but there has been a TON of discussion about how Eric's hair is short now. We care about the important things! Is that... is it gonna be explained or mentioned on the show, or is he just gonna kind of show up with short hair?
ALEX: No. I mean, we knew that it was very... you know, it was a big thing to get rid of the wig that I wore in season one, the long hair. We knew that we couldn't just, like, have Eric walk in with that way-short hair and not explaining himself.
DEEDEE: Ok, so it...
ALEX: There will definitely be an explanation in the first 2 episodes...
DEEDEE: Ok.
ALEX: ...of what's going on, what happened to his long hair.
DEEDEE: Does it have anything to do with the clips we've seen of Eric with foil in his hair? 'Cause there's been some speculation...
ALEX: Maybe. Maybe, yeah.
DEEDEE: ...that he's getting highlights...
ALEX: Yeah, there might be some truth in that. Yeah.
DEEDEE: Well, that's great.
ALEX: Yeah.
DEEDEE: 85Hardy wants to know if we're ever gonna see Eric fly like he does in the books.
ALEX: Yeah.
DEEDEE: Yeah? Ok. There're some quotes that people are hoping to be able to hear: "Sookie, my little bullet sucker" and "yield to me," and things like that. Do you know if we're gonna get to hear any of those? Or can you tell us?
ALEX: Maybe eventually. I know there are a couple of, like, legendary lines, but they're not... Yeah. Maybe eventually. Not early on, no.
DEEDEE: Well, we'll hold out hope.
ALEX: Yeah.
DEEDEE: Most of us are big fans of the romantic relationship between Eric and Sookie, like especially in the later books. Are we gonna see more hints of that in season two?
ALEX: Yeah, a little bit. I mean, there's no doubt about it. I mean, Eric is intrigued by Sookie. There is... You know, in general, he's not very interested in humans, but there's something different about Sookie. There's something that he can't really put his finger on what it is...
DEEDEE: Yeah.
ALEX: And that definitely intrigues him. And he's not gonna be stopped because a little baby vampire like Bill Compton is in his way, you know? So... he will definitely pursue that.
DEEDEE: Great. We'll look forward to that.
ALEX: Yeah.
DEEDEE: This question is from Kate. She wants to know if you've ever met or spoken with Charlaine Harris, and if so, did she give you any insights into Eric's character?
ALEX: I met her briefly at the premiere of season one, but I unfortunately didn't have a chance to sit down and talk to her. It was just more, we just met and said hi and talked a few minutes. But no, I would love to do that. Of course.
DEEDEE: Ok. Are we going to see a Viking battle scene in one of the flashbacks, and if so, what kind of training did you have to do for that?
ALEX: I don't wanna reveal too much. There... Yeah, I wanna keep it fresh, and I wanna keep it a surprise when the episodes air. But what I can say is that you'll see more of Eric in season two than in season one. Like I said, I'm in all the episodes, and you'll... It's more personal this year because of the trip to Dallas, you know, it's - trying to find a missing friend - more personal than it was in season one, where it was more like Eric the entrepreneur, the bad-ass vampire leader, you know. You will definitely see a more sensitive and more vulnerable side in a way. I mean, he's still good old, the same old, you know, bad-ass Eric the vampire, but you'll see that there's more to the character than just that, you know? And yeah, there will be some... you'll see some... you'll understand more where he comes from, I can say that much.
DEEDEE: Ok. The last we heard, you had read up to book four in the series. Have you had a chance to read any more of them since then?
ALEX: No, I read the five first books.
DEEDEE: The five? Ok.
ALEX: Yeah. But when we're shooting, it's so confusing because the books are quite different from the scripts. So I just found it very... I was just, like, very confused when I read the books and the scripts at the same time, because then I didn't know if something I read was from the scripts or stuff from the book, or, you know, if characters were in the books or in the scripts.
DEEDEE: That makes sense.
ALEX: So as long as we're shooting, I just focus on the scripts and Alan Ball and the other writers' material. But now that we go on hiatus, you know, I'll have some time to read more of the books.
DEEDEE: Ok. Genevieve wants to know, what does the TruBlood taste like? Have you tasted it?
ALEX: Yeah. It's sweet, very sugary and sticky and quite nasty.
DEEDEE: Oh, really?
ALEX: Yeah.
DEEDEE: You're like your character in your hatred of it, then, I guess.
ALEX: Yeah, exactly. I mean... Well, when they drink... Sometimes when they drink TruBlood on the show, they use like a, just like some pomegranate juice or something like that. And that's always delicious. But the blood we use when... for, like, blood-sucking scenes and all that - the blood that's supposed to be real blood - that's what I'm talking about.
DEEDEE: Ohhh, ok.
ALEX: That's very sweet and sticky and...
DEEDEE: Nasty.
ALEX: Yeah. Well, TruBlood I wouldn't know. I just find it metallic and vile, so I don't drink that stuff.
DEEDEE: Right. Lori wants to know what part of Eric's personality do you like the most.
ALEX: His loyalty.
DEEDEE: Yeah.
ALEX: For people out there who've only seen season one, it might be hard to believe, but they'll understand what I'm talking about later on.
DEEDEE: Oh, well, we've read the books, so we know already. But it's good to know that there's gonna be stuff in season two to reinforce that. [Okay, I was trying to show Eric some love here, but instead it comes across... snooty or something. Yikes.]
ALEX: Yeah.
DEEDEE: And I just have one more quick question, and it's probably one that you can't answer, but it's one that we all wanna know. Are we going to see Eric in the pink lycra? The pants?
ALEX: [laughs] I'm not gonna answer that, but I can say that you will see Eric in women's clothes this season.
DEEDEE: Ok. And before I let you go, could you just say, like, "Hello, this is Alexander Skarsgard, welcome to Eric Northman dot net"?
ALEX: Sure. You just want me to say it right now?
DEEDEE: Yeah!
ALEX: Hello, this is Alexander Skarsgard, and welcome to Eric Northman dot net.
DEEDEE: Ok. Alex, thank you so much for being so generous.
ALEX: My pleasure.
DEEDEE: It's been a lot of fun talking to you.
ALEX: Absolutely my pleasure. Alright, have a very good day.
DEEDEE: You, too. Thank you.
ALEX: Thanks, bye.
DEEDEE: Bye-bye. |
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The Manila TimesPart 1 June 8, 2009
From Marine Sergeant To Viking Vampire
Three months ago, I was kidding around with the idea of interviewing Mr. Alexander Skarsgard. I envisioned myself doing the interview at Red Pirates’ pub in Boracay, over a piña colada at happy hour. Of course, bringing along with me my two friends who likewise enjoy his work.
When I got a text message last week saying he may indeed be up for an interview, I could just hear that Journey song in my head going “Don’t stop believing . . .”
Alexander was taking a break from shooting season two of True Blood where he plays a thousand year old vampire when he took the “phoner” at the Skarsgard family country house in the gorgeous Stockholm Archipelago.
Salon.com listed him as one of 2008s Sexiest Men and called him HBO’s “It Boy.” HBO has recently submitted his name to the Emmys for consideration in the categories Best Actor in a Miniseries (Generation Kill) and Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (True Blood).
Listening to the 32-year-old actor talk, you could tell he absolutely loves being with his family (he has six other siblings, his father is actor Stellan), he’s very polite and he’s quite dedicated to his craft.
Sgt. Brad “Iceman” Colbert and Eric Northman are like day and night.And that’s just how Alexander likes it:“I enjoy challenges in my work.”He loves stepping into projects that offer something different from those he’s done previously, projects where “you’re not necessarily super confident when you embark on the journey where it’s going to end or where it’s going to take you.” He adds, “I thrive in situations like that, I really love that. I’m in a state of where I’m very creative and I enjoy exploring my characters.I would not want to play the exact same character in 15 movies back to back.”He finds the initial uncertainty of dealing with new situation and a new character then eventually taking control of it, “one of the biggest kicks I get out of this job.”
“Generation Kill is a very gritty, down-to-earth kind of show, with a very documentary feel to it, with no soundtrack and very real in the way it’s portrayed. True Blood is much more over the top, much more crazy . . . as a show it’s much more colorful in a way and much more inviting.
Alexander has done a considerable amount of films in Sweden like Exit, Om Sara, Hundtricket (The Dog Trick) and the US (including Zoolander).He was a child star who started out in the industry at age seven but opted out at 13 when he became uncomfortable with the attention he got after shooting a particular film. He then spent seven years of “just being a teenager, hanging out with my friends, playing football, and I went to college, I went to join the Swedish Marines for a while and I would be in England for a while just hanging out.I needed those years to find my way back into really missing acting.”
When it comes to selecting projects, he says “There’s no real plan when I’m looking for a project or characters, it’s just a gut feeling and it starts with the material and the script:if I feel something when I read the script, if there’s a connection to a character, to the idea of the script and then obviously the circumstances, who’s going to direct it, who are the other actors.” It has to be something that “gets me inspired and creative and excited. If there’s none of that, it’s really hard for me to create a character and make him real.”
On Thursday find out what it was like to work on Generation Kill for seven months in the Namibian Desert.
Part 2
June 11, 2009
Alexander Skarsgard spent seven months in the Kalahari Desert working on “Generation Kill” a seven part HBO miniseries currently airing locally on Max. It’s based on the book of the same title written by Evan Wright, a journalist embedded among the First Recon Marines at the spearhead of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
Along with other members of the cast, Skarsgard touched down in Namibia, and the next day he began a two week boot camp, followed by one week of rehearsals and half a year of shooting six days a week.
He describes the project as “intense” and “unlike any other I ever worked on.”
The guys on board were “isolated” without families, friends or partners to come home to at the end of the day. The uniqueness of the project, the rigid training, and long hours spent between takes on the set produced an incredibly tight bond between the actors.
“We basically had to create our own family out there, in many ways similar to what happens in a war situation where you’re stuck in an environment and all you have is each other.”
And that bond continues to be strong two years down the line. “We’re so tight today, all the guys from Generation Kill . . . we hang out all the time, we talk all the time. It’s always great when you meet with friends from projects you’ve worked on before but I’ve never had this intense feeling I get every time I see the guys from Generation Kill. It definitely changed me. Suddenly, I have 32 brothers for life.”
Skarsgard did not meet the character he played, Sgt. Brad Colbert, until after the shoot, allowing him a degree of creative space to create his own Colbert. “He [Colbert] has a mission, he knows how to execute it and he knows he’s the best at it and he really believes this is a good cause.” Like everyone else, however, Colbert eventually has to deal with wrong equipment, civilians getting caught in the crossfire, shifty rules of engagement and muddled strategies.
“For me, dramatically as an actor, it’s a very interesting thing to play on, someone who has to be strong, who has to be a leader, who has to motivate his guys, because if they’re not motivated, they’re all the more likely to make mistakes and kill civilians and also get killed themselves if they’re not sharp. At the same time, [he has] this internal struggle of not knowing if what they’re doing is right or wrong. It’s something very fascinating to me.”
He also acknowledges the contributions of the real First Recon Marines Rudy Reyes (actor playing himself), Jeff Carisalez and Eric Kocher (consultants) to the project. “It was tough for me to come back to the States after seven months in desert, just trying to readjust to everyday American life, but I would never compare that to what these guys had to go through when they came home seeing what they saw out there.”
“What we did was fiction. It was all fake at the end of the day. It was a very humbling experience to have our military advisers behind the camera.” Several times during the interview, Skarsgard who was also a sergeant himself in the Swedish Marines mentions the “tremendous amount of respect” he has for these men.
What is his opinion on this war? “It was a mistake to go into Iraq, and that has not changed at all.”
That said, he goes back to that incredible bond that was built, day by day out there in Africa: “I can’t even describe how much that means to me, that’s something I’ll have with me for the rest of my life and I know these guys are going to be part of my life forever.” |
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Oslopuls FilmJune 3, 2009
How to Get Success in Hollywood
What is it with Swedes that makes them increasingly successful internationally? We asked Alexander Skarsgård, who is seen in no less than two critically acclaimed HBO series'. He plays the lead role in Generation Kill, which is made by the producers of The Wire. In addition, he will play head vampire with roots in the Viking period in Allan Balls sexy vampire series, True Blood.
Ball is the man behind Six Feet Under, which Aftenpostens DVD reviewer described as “the world’s best television series.” How does a blond, Swede at 1.93 star in the main role in an American series about the invasion of Iraq, created by some of the TV world’s hottest people?
"I was in LA two years ago, when my agent told me that they lacked an actor to a new HBO series that David Simon and Ed Burns worked with. The Wire was great, so I ran and bought the book it is based on, which made a big impression. I was naturally very motivated and had a terrible light on the role. So I went to New York for the reading auditions. I was very nervous! After five days of intense waiting, I knew that the role was mine. Three days later, I was sitting on a plane to Namibia and was gone for seven months!
You make it to sound very simple, but now it's not exactly a free-for anyone to do an audition for HBO?
"Well, no it is perhaps not so. Ten years ago I was on holiday with my dad in LA, where he worked on a film. One day I visited him on set, it was an agent who saw me and thought I should take this opportunity to go on an audition. So I did it, and had a small role in Ben Stiller comedy Zoolander. On the basis of that I got both the agent and manager in LA, which is crucial to get a few jobs there."
Aha! Is there such a success, by having a famous father?
"No, I do not just sell the movie tickets by having the name Alexander Skarsgård on the poster", he laughs.
"But dad’s name opened the door for 10 years, and got me my first audition in Hollywood, it's clear. I had to find my own way, and through hard work, I’ve proven that I am more than a name."
“Dad” is quite correct, Stellan Skarsgård (57), who right now can be seen in the cinema in one of summer’s biggest popcorn movies; Angels and Demons, which so far has been seen by 194 586. This is Ron Howard's sequel to the Da Vinci code.
Last year, Skarsgård ravaged cinemas worldwide with the hit movie Mamma Mia.
Alexander debuted in film at eight years old, in the film Åke och hans värld.
"I was a child actor and was in both movies, theater and TV Shows. At the beginning of 2000-century the Swedish film industry wasn't very exciting, the offers I got were either series or bad comedies, so I did not know I had nothing to lose by going to LA", says Skarsgård.
"Norwegian and Danish film was definitely much more interesting than the Swedish at the time"
"Dad was included in several of them, Insomnia, and Aberdeen, for example, and in Denmark he made Breaking The Waves, by Lars von Trier. Dad was just in Oslo, where he is working on a new film by Hans Petter Moland. Now, fortunately, things are going to happen in Sweden again, with a new generation of filmmakers."
Has there been an advantage or a disadvantage to have such a famous actor father?
"It was difficult to be a little boy when my Dad was ever gone. When I was thirteen I stopped acting for several years, I could not bear the thought of being a celebrity. When I was 20 I longed for “something”, and was lured back to the sloping shores."
You are the oldest of six children, and two of your brothers, Gustaf and Bill, are also actors. Was it obvious that you should be there?
"If you really want it, then do it, if not let it weather, ” said Dad. Acting is very tough, and requires great sacrifices. Dad has never neither encouraged or discouraged me to become an actor. In Hollywood you often see parents who push their children forward to meet their own broken dreams. Do what the hell you want, “said Dad."
So what are you doing? Do you run around and bite people in the neck? Alan Ball’s last series was an unusually deep series, which took up all kinds of unpleasant issues which one can't or will never see on TV. In True Blood vampires have come out of the closet and are about to get civil rights?
"Yes, a little biting will be there! True Blood is a real popcorn series, which I think is both smart and well-written, in addition to being readily available and quite magnificent. The NOK is not as profound as Six Feet Under, but it is clear that the theme has references both to the civil rights movement and the struggle for gay rights."
What are your plans next? The rumors were for a long time that you were playing super hero Thor with his hammer, in a new Marvel adaption?
"No, I can deny. Right now I am reading the script. I have no strategy for career. I hope to find more exciting projects to work with. I have no desire to be “the next big thing”. I hope to go back and forth between LA and Sweden. I got very homesick, and I'm really looking forward to going home to Stockholm. Where I should play in Johan Kling's upcoming film, Puss. He is one of the exciting new Swedish filmmakers."
What kind of movies do you like to see?
"Popcorn Movies can be fun, but I prefer the NOK most character-driven dramas. There you see Philip Seymore Hoffman and Meryl Streep in a movie, Dobut, aah, it’s just fantastic. Of the films I’ve seen this year Waltz with Bashir is perhaps the best - a very original and powerful film." |
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About.com: Hollywood MoviesFebruary 21, 2009
Independent Spirit Awards
Huge fan of Generation Kill and True Blood. Tell me what I can expect next year.
Alexander Skarsgard: "On True Blood? Well I don't know what I can say without revealing too much…"
Does it follow the second book?
Alexander Skarsgard: "Yeah, but kind of loosely. It's absolutely based on the second book so we are going to Dallas. But then… We just started three weeks ago, but there's some fun stuff going on."
So you're actually playing my favorite character from the series, Eric. I read the books and he's my favorite. Do you like playing him? Is a fun character to get into?
Alexander Skarsgard: "Yeah, I'm having a blast. It's an amazing character to play. It gives me a lot of freedom. I can do whatever I want because who's going to tell me what a 1,000 year old vampire Viking is like? So, it's great. It's a great character to play. And the whole cast, it's so much fun. It really is. I know people always say that but I honestly mean it."
What's it like on an Alan Ball set?
Alexander Skarsgard: "It's very laidback. We're just having a great time. The crew is amazing. I'm just so happy to be back working with the cast again. And we've got some really nice sets now, I'm very excited about that."
Really?
Alexander Skarsgard: "Yeah, some crazy cool sets so that's very exciting to me."
You're not changing the Fangtasia set, right?
Alexander Skarsgard: "No. We still have that but you get to explore more of Fangtasia, like the basement and stuff and some other rooms. Yeah, I'm not going to say too much but there's some amazing sets."
This has a huge fanbase. Were you aware of that before you took it in?
Alexander Skarsgard: "No, not at all. No. I didn't expect this at all. I really didn't. I read the books when I got the part, you know, so I wasn't aware of them before. I did not realize how big the fanbase was."
Do you go online and look at what they say about you?
Alexander Skarsgard: "No, never. "
You ignore that?
Alexander Skarsgard: "Well, yeah, because I'd get very self-conscious if I did that I think. Even if, hopefully -I don't know but even if you read nine good things and then one bad, I know that's the one that's going to get stuck up here and I'm going to think about it when I… I think in a way it was good when we shot season one that I didn't know about the fanbase and I didn't feel that responsibility because it gave me…"
No weight on your shoulders.
Alexander Skarsgard: "Exactly, and kind of liberating in a way. It's flattering, obviously. I'm glad that people like it. And now I definitely feel responsibility and hope that they'll like what we're doing."
Any chance you're going to grow your hair out like Eric or are you just going to keep doing wigs?
Alexander Skarsgard: "There might be some changes..."
Generation Kill, you guys actually filmed that in Africa. What was it like to stay on that set and get into those characters? That must have been tough.
Alexander Skarsgard: "Yeah. We were gone for seven months. I mean, my family – they're all in Stockholm, Sweden – so I was actually gone for almost a year because I was out here for four months and then I didn't even have time to go home for a weekend when I booked Generation Kill . It was like really once I got it, it was basically like, 'Well, boot camp starts tomorrow so you have to fly to Namibia now." So I didn't even have time to go back home to say goodbye to my mom and my dad and my siblings so it was tough to be away for that long. But it was also good in a way because it's about this platoon and in a way they're very isolated. So I think it helped that us, as actors, lived together and spent 24/7 together for seven months because we got to know each other I mean inside and out. The bonding was amazing and hopefully that affected the show and you can see that we really care about each other. Because we really did spend seven months in those Hummers sitting next to each other talking about everything and nothing. It was an interesting experience. Seven months in the desert is a long time, but it was also like the most amazing experience I've ever had. I mean I made some friends for life, for sure."
Did you ever meet Brad, the real Sgt. Brad Colbert?
Alexander Skarsgard: "Yeah."
What was he like?
Alexander Skarsgard: "I didn't have a chance… Obviously I didn't meet him before because when I got it, it was like 24 hours later I was on a plane on my way to Namibia. And then I got his email address like three weeks into shooting. At that point I decided not to email him because I don't think it would help me. At that point I'd kind of created my own Brad Colbert based on what his friends said. We had a couple of the guys from 1st Recon with us and obviously Evan, the writer, spent three weeks in the Hummer with him. He knows him very well. That's how I prepared and created the character, through talking to them and reading the book, obviously. And once we started I kind of made my choices already and found my path so I didn't want to… That would kind of throw me off I think. But then as soon as we were done, this was back in the States, Evan Wright - the writer of the book - had a barbeque at his house just so my and Brad could meet."
Really?
Alexander Skarsgard: "Yeah. Because he knew that we would meet on the red carpet for the big event, but he also knew that it would be kind of awkward for us to meet for the first time like that. So it was very sweet of him that he threw this little barbeque at this house. Me and Brad just got to sit down and have a beer and talk for like hours about everything. And he's such a great guy. Really, really great guy. Amazing and so supportive and helpful. So I went down, his wife and his family – or his girlfriend and his family – had a surprise birthday for him a couple of months ago down in San Diego so I went down for that as well. He's a great guy. I'm very happy I got to play him."
And he's happy with the series?
Alexander Skarsgard: "I'm still alive so I guess that's a good sign."
And you're working on some movies too, right?
Alexander Skarsgard: "Yeah. I did an animated movie called Metropia with Juliette Lewis and Vincent Gallo. It's coming out later this year. And when we were on hiatus I did a movie called 13 up in New York. It's a remake of a French movie called Tzameti 13, and the same director's making it, basically a remake of his own movie that he made three years ago. It's about Russian roulette. Very violent."
That sounds interesting.
Alexander Skarsgard: "Yeah, it's a very intense script, very dark and extremely intense, obviously. It's about this underground club where people…it's like people bet on like they bet on horses but they bet on people playing Russian roulette instead. Yeah, so I was up in Yonkers north of Manhattan for a month and half doing that, and now we just started back on True Blood three weeks ago so I'll be here for a couple months now."
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True-Blood.net
February 6, 2009
This is Mel and Liz from True-Blood.net Radio and today we are chatting with none other than Alexander Skarsgard, who plays Eric Northman on True Blood. Welcome to our show!
Alex: Thank you very much. Thank you.
Mel: We’re so excited to get a chance to talk to you!
Alex: Well, I’m happy to be here.
Mel: Well, we have a lot of questions for you. We wanted to know first how far along in the book series have you read?
Alex: I’ve read the first 5 books.
Mel: Was that before – had you read them before you even got the part?
Alex: No, I read a couple when I was doing research, when I got the part right before we started season one, and then, once we started, I found that it was kind of hard to read the books simultaneously, as we were shooting, because you’re reading one book and your working on season one, which is, obviously, book one, so I found, when I’m on hiatus, I read. But now, we started season two just a couple weeks ago, so I’m not going to read anything until we’re done in June or July because it confuses me a lot.
Mel: I’m sure!
Alex: Yeah, ‘cuz we have all these scripts and this story line, and we’re working on Living Dead in Dallas right now, and reading another book is just – it’s complicated enough to know just where we are on the storyline in the script.
Mel: I’ll bet. Well also, at that point, you should have the next book ready to read too. Book 9 comes out in May.
Alex: Oh really? Oh, I didn’t know that. Well then I have four books to read over the next hiatus.
Mel: That’s your homework right?
Alex: Exactly.
Liz: Will he do it? There’s the challenge.
Alex: (laughs) Yeah.
Mel: There will be a pop quiz later on.
Alex: Ok, well let’s do that after the next hiatus and we’ll see.
Mel: All right. So, you started reading them after you got the role. How has that informed your portrayal of Eric, because, of course, in the first book, he’s there, but he’s not a really major player. But then as we move in – and I’m trying to stay away from the spoilers here – as we move through the series, Eric becomes a bigger and bigger part of the books. I think that’s safe to say. So did it help you to have read ahead?
Alex: Yeah, I mean, of course it did, because when I read the first book, I mean, he’s barely in the first book. But it helped a lot to read a couple of the others. And then as an actor, you have to make the character your own. You have to pay respect to Eric and who he is in the books, but also he had to become a part of me so at a certain point you need to, kind of, step away from the books and make the character your own, and make your own decisions, and your own choices, based on what you already have, and not stay too true to the books and not let that confine you in any way.
Mel: Well I think your doing a good job so far.
Alex: Thank you. Well, Eric is not a very… he’s not heavily featured in season one, so I didn’t do very much.
Mel: Well, but he was memorable. There are a lot of fans who haven’t read the books, but they are eager for more of Eric, when are we going to find out more about Eric, and I think that’s a testament to how you portrayed him.
Alex: Well that’s very flattering. I didn’t know that. That’s interesting.
Mel: Yeah, there’s a huge Eric Northman fan base out there.
Alex: Oh really?
Mel: Oh yeah!
Alex: (laughs)
Liz: I bet your scared now. (laughs)
Alex: I’m terrified. ( laughs) I don’t know, it feels weird. I’m terrified and flattered at the same time.
Mel: You better get used to it.
Alex: Yeah.
Mel: So, how do you feel about, you’re on the edge of a cultural phenomenon, I think?
Alex: I don’t know…
Mel: Speechless?
Alex: Yeah, really? Honestly, I don’t read those blogs on the internet about True Blood, or those forums they have, because I don’t think it’s going to be good for me. We’re shooting season two right now and I know that I’m gonna read stuff that I don’t wanna read, and that’s going to get stuck in my head, and I’m going to get self conscious and worry about that. So I’m trying to stay away from that.
Mel: Ok, well, we’ll quit flattering you then. From now on it’s nothing but criticism.
Alex: (laughs)
Mel: Whatever we can do to help.
Alex: Yeah, no, I mean, obviously, I realize that the show is doing very well and that there’s tons of fans out there, and that means a lot. Without that we wouldn’t be able to do a second season, you know. So I’m very grateful about that and I know that comes with a tremendous responsibility to all the fans out there. But that being said, I’m just saying that I know some actors are very comfortable spending hours online, Googling their own names, while reading the blogs and forums where they’re about True Blood and their characters. It’s just, I don’t know, I’d get very self conscious if I did that. And I would read something bad and I would be like, “Oh really… maybe… oh shit, is that true?” So, I think it’s better for me to stay away from that.
Mel: So you don’t second guess yourself?
Alex: Exactly.
Mel: Well, with that in mind, what do you see ahead for Eric? I mean, obviously, there are things being written for you, and they’re being guided by the books, but as you are deciding how to play Eric, what direction are you taking him in as we move into season two?
Alex: Well, I don’t want to talk too much about the direction. I can say, I know that some people that I’ve talked to feel that Eric… they’re like, “Oh, he’s the bad guy”, and I’m trying to make sure that people realize that he’s more complex than that. He’s not a bad guy. So that’s important for me this season to show more sides to his personality and a bit more depth than just the bad guy, you know. Because that’s not how I see him.
Mel: I wouldn’t have called him a bad guy from season one, just mysterious.
Because you never really know what his true motives are.
Alex: Exactly, and hopefully maybe you’ll know a little bit more of that when season two goes on.
Mel: We spoke with Kristin Bauer last month, and we asked her this question and it was really quite an interesting story, and we’re wondering if you would have the same answer. What was your most memorable scene to shoot in season one?
Alex: Well to me, it was the one in episode 4, my first scene, and Kristin’s first scene as well. I mean obviously, this was my very first scene, the first time I met the rest of the cast and the crew and my first scene playing Eric. It was a pretty big scene. An important moment for me. So that was very memorable.
Mel: Which scene was it that you were filming first?
Alex: It’s the one when Stephen and Anna comes to Fangtasia for the first time. It’s in episode 4. She comes to question me about these girls that have died or got killed, and I’m up on my little throne there, and she shows me pictures and stuff. And I realize that there’s something quite interesting about this girl, the first time I meet her, so, that was a very memorable scene to shoot for me.
Mel: It was a pretty iconic image really the first time we see Eric up there on his throne, surrounded by the very stoic Pam, and then all there’s people trying to get his attention, and he’s just so…
Liz: Stuck on himself?
Mel: …and uninterested in anything else.
Alex: Yeah, he’s kinda like, “Been there, done that.” You know, he’s been around for over a millennium so it’s kind of hard to impress a guy like that. I would guess that Kristin said that the most memorable scene was when we were flying. I don’t know, is that the one?
Mel: Yeah, that was it. (laughs) That was a pretty funny story there.
Alex: Yeah, it… (laughs) We had a lot of fun.
Mel: Skateboards and ropes and…
Alex: Yeah.
Mel: Pretty glamorous life you got there.
Alex: It didn’t look very cool. In a back lot in Long Beach.
Liz: Well it transferred well. We got it.
Alex: I think it took a lot of work in post production to make that look ok. Because our balance, I mean, my balance is terrible and I had to deliver these lines and look kinda of mysterious and cool and it was just – it was not easy, I tell you that.
Mel: Well, it came off cool.
Alex: Well thank you.
Mel: So which scene would you like to forget filming – that one?
Alex: No, I mean it felt ridiculous. It was hard to do it, but I mean, we’re still talking about it and that was more than 6 months ago, so I guess it was kind of a you know, it was a fun experience. I honestly don’t have a scene that I feel like, “Oh I really want to forget this.” I mean, knock on wood, so far so good. I don’t have a terrible experience like that. Yet.
Mel: That’s probably because you weren’t laced into a leather corset.
Alex: Probably, yeah that might be – I’ll get back to you guys when I have a scene where I have to wear a corset.
Mel: You had the easy part of the job, I think.
Alex: Yeah, definitely. When it comes to costumes, definitely.
Mel: Yeah, so far, Eric’s just been jeans and t shirts basically.
Alex: Yeah, that’s it. Like flip flops and sweat pants and stuff like that. He’s very casual in a way.
Mel: He is, he’s quite laid back.
Alex: Yeah.
Mel: Does that hark back to that he’s not that impressed by much, therefore, he doesn’t need to impress?
Alex: Yeah, well I talked to Audrey, the costume designer, a lot about that. I kinda like the idea, especially when he’s, like, roaming around his office – chillin’ back there. I kinda like the idea of having him in just sweat pants and flip flops even though he’s the most powerful vampire in Louisiana. I just wanted to get away from him walking around in big leather coats and being all menacing all the time. I thought it would be more interesting if he’s kind of casual. He doesn’t have to, you know – he knows he’s powerful, he knows he’s got all the attention and people will obey him. He knows that, and he doesn’t have to try too hard, you know.
Mel: Well that’s the innate coolness, I guess.
Alex: Yeah, you know, he doesn’t care.
Liz: Well, that being said, how are you and Eric similar? Or different?
Alex: Well, I think we’re both quite stubborn. Well, I know we are. (laughs) And different? Hopefully, I’m a little bit more compassionate than he is.
Liz: What do you like most about Eric? What do you think is his coolest feature?
Alex: I think his honesty and his loyalty are (garbled) yea he’s very honest and loyal.
Mel: Loyalty, that’s an interesting word. Loyal. How are, mmm, I don’t know how you can answer my question there. I was going to say how are we going to see that come out? What are you referring to when you say loyal?
Alex: (laughs)
Mel: Or is that a wait and see?
Alex: Yeah. Well he is, he stands by his word. Yeah, I think loyal is a good word for Eric. And he expects loyalty in return as well.
Liz: Well, he certainly has a loyal, um, subject? Friend? Follower? in Pam, I think. What are your thoughts about Eric’s relationship with Pam? Have you guys talked about it, the two of you?
Alex: Oh yeah, we talk a lot about it, and Kristin is a very good friend of mine, so we hang out a lot and we have fun together and hopefully that will… I mean I think Pam is like his spoiled daughter. And she gets away with more than anyone else around Eric. It’s kinda like, Eric, you know if you had a big CEO of a huge company and people around him all day, they’re all like, “Yes sir, yes sir,” When he talks they nod and when he tells a bad joke they laugh and then he comes home to his little daughter and she’s like, “Dad you bought the standard version of the little mermaid!” and he’s like, “Oh I’m sorry, honey! I’m sorry! I’ll get the right one!” I think it’s a little like that, you know. He’s bossing people around all day, and you… he… when it’s important she’ll do whatever he tells her to do. But she definitely gets away with way more than anyone else, and he respects her a lot. She’s very important to him. More important than anyone else.
Liz: Whereas Bill, he kinda likes to treat as the kid brother that he likes to push around.
Alex: Yeah, because Bill is doing his own thing and mainstreaming and hanging out and he’s more like a renegade. Pam’s more by my side. I’m definitely not as tight with Bill as I am with Pam.
Liz: Ok I wanted to go someplace else with that but I know you’ll probably have to kill us so. You have experience in writing and directing, but it seems you do more acting than anything else. Do you… would you want that to change in your future? Would you like to do more writing and directing?
Alex: Yeah I think. So I’ve been… I did that back in Scandinavia a bit. I went to Africa two years ago to do another HBO show, and before I got that job I was working on something that I wrote in Sweden and I was about to direct there. So it’s just been kind of hectic the last two years. With Generation Kill, the show we did in Africa, and True Blood, but as soon as I get a break, I’d love to go back and continue working on that project for sure.
Liz: It’s on the back burner for now, though, huh?
Alex: Yeah well, right now I’m too busy, but it’s definitely something I want to explore more, and I’m curious to work more behind the camera definitely.
Liz: Do you prefer working on movies or television shows?
Alex: My last two jobs were both television shows and both of them are like, I mean the people I work with on both Generation Kill and now True Blood are, I mean they’re amazing. So I think the quality of television today with HBO and Showtime are… it’s so good. So it doesn’t really matter. I don’t care if it’s movies or television, what’s important is the quality of the script and the people you work with.
Liz: You were mentioning Generation Kill. We’d love to hear you talk about your experience with shooting that. It was a fantastic series.
Alex: Thank you. Yeah we spent, for those who haven’t seen it, it’s a mini series about a platoon of recon Marines in Iraq in ‘03. You follow these guys throughout the first five weeks of the invasion in the spring of 2003. We shot that in Africa last year, or in 07 actually. We spent seven months out there, shooting that in the desserts of Namibia, So. Africa, Mozambique. So it was, I mean, it was a very intense job. It was tough because you spent so much time away from friends and family, and you’re very isolated. But at the same time, the show was created by Ed Burns and David Simon, who created The Wire and the cast was amazing so to me. It was definitely the experience of a life time. It was an amazing job.
Liz: I had to, when I was watching it, I had to watch it with my husband, he’s an ex-Marine, and he had to translate a lot of the terminology being used because it’s, just some of the terminology that Marines use. It’s Marine-talk and you don’t understand it.
Alex: I know. Believe me, the first time I read the script, I was like, “Whoa, what’s going on here?” I didn’t understand half the words. So it took a lot of… I had to work a lot on understanding what I was talking about… the lingo there. But that’s what I really liked about the script as well. It’s not so accessible, it’s not, you know, sometimes it think they explain too much. You know, they do a movie about Marines but they kind of cater to a broader audience, so they always explain every single word. Which takes away from the authenticity of the project. I kind of like when you don’t understand every thing. I’m a big fan of The Wire and it’s the same thing. Sometimes you don’t really understand what they’re talking about, or you don’t understand some of the words, but you kind of feel like you’re a small fly on the wall. Because you’re not supposed to understand every single word, because you’re not used to that environment, that kind of language.
Liz: That’s what appealed to him, my husband, speaking of, when he was watching. He tends to, we both do, we tend to shy away from movies that deal with the military, war, things like that, but this one was so real and it was so, it was true to the story and how things really are in the Marines, and that’s what appealed to him. He was petty proud, actually.
Alex: Well that means a lot. We obviously made the show for guys like your husband, the people who are out there. And it was important for us to tell their story. Because it’s not really being told, you don’t see much about what’s going on over there. And you know, it’s very censored, what you see in the media, and you don’t really hear much about ‘going on from the boots on the ground. So it was very important to make it real, make it legit, and hopefully make those guys proud, yeah.
Liz: Well it worked, and there were some elements of fun it looked like. Of course, I saw some of the behind the scenes stuff and there was some stuff that was there, the part where you guys were singing songs. Did you have, did you know those songs? Did you have to learn those songs or did you already, did you guys…some of those songs were like really old, like, older than you.
Alex: Yeah, it was I mean we sang a lot. Some of it was kind of improvised, us coming up with stuff. Some of it was scripted. Some of the scripted songs I knew and some of them we had to work on, or I had to work on the lyrics. You know, quite often we were, you know, when you do stuff like that, when you drive around, it’s kind of like a road trip, in a way, and there is boredom, you know. They spent hours and hours just driving and they’re not supposed to know the lyrics. You know what it is, you’re in you’re car and you just sing along and someone starts, and you just, you know… if you know every 10th word that’s it, you know. That’s good enough. You just hum, you know?
Mel: That’s how I sing.
Alex: Exactly.
Mel: It’s lalalalaaa!
Alex: Yeah. So we kind of helped each other and we just had fun with that. Liz: Road trips – we know road trips. Try doing it with children. Small children. Alex: Well it kind of felt like that. We kind of talk about that when we shot it, it kind of felt like we were family, with me and PJ up front and Lee and Billy in the back seat, like the kids, always going, “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?” Yeah I was the stern father and PJ was the sensitive mother.
(laughing) Liz: So can we expect to hear, or can we expect to see an “Alexander Skarsgard’s Greatest Hits of 2008″ anytime soon?
Alex: Um, I don’t even know what that means. (chuckles)
Mel: The CD compilation?
Alex: Oh, you mean like songs from Generation Kill?
Liz: yeah, that’s probably what I should have called it.
Alex: Yeah, you’re right! That’s actually a great idea, I should talk to the guys. We should tour the country and play live.
Mel: You should!
Alex: I’ll do that!
Mel: That reminds me, there’s a scene in True Blood where you are hijacking Bill’s bathroom, taking yourself a bath, and listening to some old Swedish music on the radio, or is it a cd? Must be a cd.
Alex: On the iPod there.
Mel: On the iPod. We know that that was an original composition for the show. Were you involved in that at all, in composing it, or was that just Nathan Barr coming up with it?
Alex: I was not involved in that. I was talking to Alexander Woo, who wrote the episode, a lot about trying to find something in Swedish that’s very old, but it’s obviously hard to try and find something from 10 or 11 hundred years ago.
Mel: Right, from Eric’s childhood.
Alex: Exactly, so I wasn’t involved. We actually, when we shot the scene, we hadn’t found anything yet. So that was done in post, you know, they added the soundtrack afterwards.
Mel: We got so many emails people requesting that tune. They were hoping for an iTunes version of it.
Alex: Oh yeah?
Mel: Oh yeah. But then Nathan said…
Alex: I don’t know, then, maybe he’s working on it, I don’t know.
Mel: Yeah he’s going to work on getting it available for release, so, we’re still waiting on that, Nathan.
Alex: Is he really? That’d be great.
Mel: The music in True Blood is incredibly popular. We always get emails about that after a new episode airs. We have all the songs listed on our website, but we get lots of questions about what song was this, and… it’s interesting how they mesh, the music and the songs with the storyline.
Question was, who inspires you? who is your inspiration?
Alex: Oh, for getting into acting?
Liz: Getting into acting, or do you have anybody who inspires you right now?
Alex: Well I think everything, it sounds kind of pretentious, but everything in life, everything around you everything you experience and see and do is helpful in your acting. I mean my father is an actor, so getting into acting, I don’t know, that might have played a part. I mean he was working on stage and I was sleeping, when I was a kid, so I spent most of my childhood running around backstage. So I kind of grew up on theater so.. I get inspired every time I see a good movie or performance, I’m inspired. It’s not like I had one I had a poster of someone all in my ,and I light a candle for every time I go to bed.
Liz: Ok, I’ll take those off of my wall as soon as I can. Sheesh! Gosh!
(laughing)
Alex: I’m definitely inspired every time I see a good movie with quality acting in it.
Mel: If you weren’t in the business, what would you be doing?
Alex: Well when I was a teenager, I didn’t want to act at all. I was a child actor in Sweden, but I quit when I was 13 and then I spent 7 years not acting at all. And I kind of wanted to be an architect.
Mel: Oh. Does that still interest you? Architecture?
Alex: Yeah, yeah!
Liz: So maybe we’ll see you building some of the sets around True Blood, hmm?
Alex: I don’t know about building, I’m not very good at that.
Mel: Designing?
Alex: I might make the drawings or something.
Mel: There you go. What profession would you not like to do?
Alex: Accounting. I would be a terrible accountant.
Liz: Ok we’ll cross that off my list too! Gee, you’re killin’ me, here!
Mel: I guess that means we shouldn’t send you our tax info.
Alex: No, no. I get a headache when I see that stuff. I’m a terrible accountant.
Liz: Do you have a creed or a motto that you live by? We’re getting into the ‘getting to know Alexander Skarsgard’ area.
Alex: Yeah, to always be curious. Because curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.
Mel: That is an interesting quote. “Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form”.
Alex: mmhmm
Mel: A bit of a rebel then?
Alex: I wouldn’t say that. I don’t know. (laughs) Just because of insubordination?
Mel: Uh-huh.
Alex: Well I don’t know how much of a rebel I am because I’m curious. I just think that’s important.
Mel: I agree, curiosity is vital to have an interesting and full life.
Alex: Yeah because if you lose that, I think, you lose everything.
Mel: Well next in our James Lipton Inside the Actor’s Studio list is what’s your favorite word?
Alex: This really is like Inside the actor’s Studio! (laughs)
Liz: Now you don’t have to go and do his show.
Alex: Exactly.
Mel: Or you could count this as a rehearsal.
Alex: Yeah, I’ll call James after this and tell him no thank you.
(laughing)
Mel: Sorry, done it!
Alex: Um, mun . I like that. It’s the Swedish word for mouth. It’s spelled m-u-n but it’s pronounced moon.
Mel: And what’s your least favorite word?
Alex: Greed.
Mel: Deep thoughts from Alexander Skarsgard.
Alex: Wow! (laughs)
Mel: You had no idea what was going on here, did ya.
Alex: (laughs) No!
Liz: And we just learned how to say something in Swedish.
Alex: Yeah!
Liz: I wonder what we, you know, if we sounded like, what we would sound like if we were to repeat something in Swedish. Would we…Kristin Bauer had an interesting comment to say about that.
Mel: Yes she did. When you were teaching her how to speak Swedish, and you told her she sounded like a Russian prostitute. And we just wanted to know how you knew that.
Alex: (laughing) – Oh, I’m busted!
Liz: See, now, she told us you would say that! She didn’t really.
Alex: (still laughing) – Ah, sweet Kristin. In Swedish crime series’, the victim is always a Russian prostitute. And Kristin, she was perfect…her accent sounded very much like those actresses.
Mel: Oh ok. I think we can accept that.
Liz: As far as we know. I think we just got Kristin in trouble.
Mel: We did, sorry Kristin.
Alex :Yeah. (laughing) You did!
Liz: No she really had nice things to say about you. She did. As far as you know.
Alex: Yeah, ok.
Mel: It seems like you guys have a really good off screen friendship and it translates so well on screen.
Alex: I’m glad to hear that. Kristin is one of my best friends. She’s so much fun. I’m very fortunate to work almost every day with her. It’s fantastic, it really is.
Mel: Are you able to discuss the length of your commitment to the series?
Alex: Well I don’t know, so much can happen, I guess. Who knows. We never know. We shoot a season at a time and then in the summer, when season two airs, we’ll find out if it’s going to go into a 3rd season, and if my character is still in it. I don’t know, I kind of focus on one season at a time. I know that we’re going to try to do 12 episodes now, and I’ll be working on that, and who knows what’s going to happen in the future.
Mel: Well we’re crossing our fingers for 9 seasons. Or however many books Charlaine Harris writes.
Alex: Yeah, well, so do I right now because I’m having a blast.
Mel: What other projects have you been working on? I know you’ve been, boy, setting up this interview you were here there and everywhere working on things.
Alex: Yeah, I was, during the hiatus, I was in NY shooting a movie called “Thirteen”. It’s a remake of a French movie called “Tzameti -13″ by the same director, Gela Babluan. It’s a movie about Russian Roulette.
Mel: Oh, interesting!
Alex: Yeah.
Mel: Does it involve Russian prostitutes?
Alex: (laughs) No, no Russian prostitutes, just roulette. Not a lot of female parts in it at all, actually. So I did that, and then I did an animated movie called Metropia. It’s kind of like a distopia about Europe in the future. A Europe not run by governments but by big corporations. And they manipulate their citizens. So it’s kind of a dark animated movie for, definitely for grown ups. And then I did another, well we started, we were going to finish it this year. Also a French movie called Trust Me. I’m going to finish that as soon as I’m done with True Blood over the summer.
Mel: Wow! So you are a busy guy!
Alex: Yeah, yeah, it’s been a busy year.
Mel: Well that’s awesome. I know you have so many people who are being introduced to your work thanks to Generation Kill and to True Blood, so, I think they’re going to look forward to seeing these other projects that you’re working on.
Alex: Well I’m glad to hear that.
Mel: Well we want to thank you for taking the time to talk with us today. We kept you longer than we intended.
Alex: It was my pleasure. Have a good day!
TB.net: You too! |
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TV InsiderNovember 20, 2008
True Blood's Hunky Alex Skarsgård
Alexander Skarsgard knew he might be on to something special when he joined the team on Alan Ball's HBO vampire series, "True Blood." But, he didn't know just how successful the show had become until recently.
"I was in Europe for a month-and-a-half and it hadn't started airing when I left. When I came back, the buzz was amazing. People were coming up to me on the street. It's been kind of overwhelming," admits the handsome, 6-foot-5, 32-year-old actor from Stockholm, Sweden.
The son of esteemed actor Stellan Skarsgard (as in Bootstrap Bill Turner of "Pirates of the Caribbean" fame, "Mamma Mia," "Good Will Hunting" and dozens of other films), Alex has been a star in Sweden since childhood. He's reportedly been named the Sexiest Man in Sweden five times by media there. He has grown in the North American public consciousness in the past year, thanks to his memorable portrayal of Sgt Brad Colbert in HBO's "Generation Kill." And now, "True Blood," which concludes its first season with a bang Sunday (11/23). Only through a quirk of fate was he able to take on the series.
"I had met with Alan Ball two years ago and he told me about it," Alex recounts. "Then, I went to Africa to do 'Generation Kill' for seven months, in Maputo, Mozambique. It looked like I wouldn't be able to do 'True Blood.' But then, the writers' strike happened, and it pushed back the production. I was able to finish 'Generation Kill,' because all of our scripts had already been done, and then come back in time to start 'True Blood.' Ironically, the writers' strike helped me."
In fact, he had a little time to visit his mother, father and siblings last New Year's while prepping for "True Blood."
"As an actor, you can't ask for better than going from 'Generation Kill' to 'True Blood,'" he says. "I was inspired because the guy I played in 'Generation Kill' was entirely different from Eric in 'True Blood.'"
As for the challenges of playing a vampire king? "I wanted to find a level where he could be confident and a strong leader, without being too confident, or arrogant," says Alex. "He's too old to play games." Having been around for a thousand years, that's for sure.
Skarsgard started reading Charlaine Harris' Suthern Vampire Mysteries, from which the series is drawn, after landing the role of Eric Northman -- the bar owner, sheriff and possible former Viking who shares a blood bond with Anna Paquin's character, telepath waitress Sookie Stackhouse. He considers Harris' world, wherein vampires can dwell amongst humans day and night thanks to the invention of synthetic blood, "fascinating. The idea of vampires in mainstream society opens up so many possibilities."
Skarsgard keeps homes in Stockholm and L.A., working in his homeland between Hollywood assignments. He especially likes working on low-budget projects with talented up-and-comers anxious to make their names in the film business. "I'm really glad to be able to do that. There are a lot of young, hungry filmmakers over there," he notes.
Skarsgard himself has directed. His film, "To Kill a Child," won the Grand Prix and Press Awards at the 2003 Danish Film Festival. He moves between continents with ease, a facility that is probably attributable to the fact, "We lived like a traveling circus when I was a kid," he says. Skarsgard began acting professionally at age seven, and became a child star in Scandinavia -- but he opted out of the business for a spell when he hit his teens. He credits a stint in an American school in Budapest -- and another in New York, for helping him perfect his American accent.
Then, too, he notes, "Growing up in Sweden, we don't dub anything, unlike other countries like France and Italy. We'd watch Cartoon Network shows and other things and hear the English. Only nine million people in the world speak Swedish -- 0.1 per cent. We almost have no choice but to learn other languages."
Still, Skarsgard has put extra effort into his vocal intonation, including work with a dialect coach. He notes, "When I made the decision to move out here and take meetings to get work, I knew that European actors who have strong accents tend to either get cast as Russian bomb-makers or evil Nazis. I'm not saying I'd never play an evil Nazi, it might be fun, but I wanted to be able to be cast as an all-American football player." |
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EOnlineOctober 2, 2008
True Blood's Hot New Vampire Answers You
He's finally here...Alexander Skarsgård made his vampiric debut as Eric on the latest episode of HBO's True Blood. And apparently, as our email inbox indicates, some of you are a teensy bit excited (shall we say, giddy?) about this hot new addition. So we caught up with Alex himself to bask in the general gorgeousness and get answers to a few of your burning questions about Sookie's (Anna Paquin) new 1,000-year-old friend...
Marilee in Detroit: I loved, loved, loved Alexander Skarsgård in Generation Kill. Can you tell me more about his part on True Blood?
According to Alexander himself: "Eric is the sheriff of Louisiana. That means he's the oldest vampire there, and he's the boss of all the vampires, including Bill (Stephen Moyer). Eric's also a businessman, he runs a club in Shreveport called Fangtasia, and he makes a lot of money by inviting tourists to his club. They get to drink and watch live vampires, and he gets to take their money."
Beatrix Kiddo in Sacramento, Calif.: Gah! I am obsessed with Sookie and Bill on True Blood, but someone told me that Eric and Sookie get involved!
I can tell you that there is a spark between Eric and Sookie in Alan Ball's version of the story. According to Alex: "I think when Eric meets Sookie, there is something about her that catches his attention, there's something different about her. He can sense it, but he doesn't know what it is. He wants her to come back and then when he finds out she's telepathic, he realizes that's something he can use to his advantage because she's with Bill and he's Bill's boss, so he can basically tell Bill, bring her over." Mmmm...I smell a long-running love triangle. Sorry, Kiddo.
Sarah in Buffalo, N.Y.: Any scoop on True Blood? I am obsessed!
Pretty sure that Eric is going to put Sookie to work. According to Alex: "Let's say something gets stolen from Fangtasia, money stolen from the bar or something like that, Sookie can read minds, and that might help..." Psychic detectives are very popular on TV these days. |
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FrihetOctober 2, 2008
Now He Takes On Hollywood
He plays an American killer-machine in Iraq with such conviction that he blows you away through the TV-screen. But the person that is Alexander Skarsgård doesn’t think the invasion was right. ”There is no doubt in my mind that it was based on lies” he says.
Never give up and you will be rewarded. Alexander Skarsgård, 32, was fed up with playing the hunk in Swedish teen-movies and moved to Los Angeles. That was four years ago. And now he is getting his big international break-through
This coming fall he is seen in no less than two celebrated TV-shows produced by the American network HBO. First out is ”Generation Kill”, a drama of seven episodes about the USA invasion of Iraq in 2003. It’s based on a book by journalist Evan Wright.
"I was in L.A. last spring when my agent in London called me and told me to run out and get the book because HBO was about to make a TV show based on it. I did as I was told and spent the whole night reading it, completely fascinated by the story. The next day I called her and told her I just had to be in it", says Alexander.
HE TALKS ABOUT HOW HE WAS TRAVELING BETWEEN auditions in New York, London and Baltimore before he was casted to play one of the leading parts, sergeant Brad Colbert.
"Brad has been in the Marines for many years and is one of the more experienced soldiers. His nick-name is ”The Iceman” because he always keeps his calm in combat. He often keeps to himself but is not late to say something crushing when the other guys get too talkative", says Alexander. Filming the Series took place in Namibia. For seven months, Alexander and the rest of the crew worked in the heat in the Namibian desert
"Needless to say it was straining to be away from friends and family for that long. But in a way I think it was good for the project that we lived together in isolation", he continues.
Ten of the days on the job were extra gruesome.
"We had a "boot camp" with physical training, radio communication, weapon training and more. It was like a crash course in becoming a fake marine soldier."
ALEXANDER HAD A LOT OF TIME TO GET TO KNOW HIS FELLOW ACTORS while filming in Namibia. Naturally there were a lot of discussions about the storyline.
"There is no doubt that the invasion was based on lies. And thousands of lives and billions of dollar later, the world is harldy a better place. And the USA’s enemies have doubled more than twice", he says when asked about his personal believes in the events.
Alexander wasn’t the only one who felt that way about the American invasion in Iraq, despite the fact that the majority of the other actors were Americans.
"No, we weren’t very different that way", he says, about how personal opinions were shared during the shooting.
”Generation Kill” premiered in USA this summer. In Sweden it’s shown on Canal+, the first episode aired on September 3. In October it’s time for the next Skarsgård-opening on Canal+, the vampire drama ”True Blood”. Alexander plays Eric, a viking who became a bloodsucker one thousand years ago.
"He lives in Louisiana since a long time and there he owns a night- club for vampires and tourists. Eric has a huge self-confidence. He knows what he wants and how to get it", says Alexander.
From shaved toughie to long-haired diva with fangs. Alexander shows that he manages to play a lot of different characters. What’s next has yet to be decided.
"Right now I live kind of like a nomad; I will be where the job requires. I like living like this but of course, there will come a time when I will get a family and then the situation will change", he says.
THAT MIGHT TAKE SOME TIME THOUGH, because the movie star is still single. But he has a big family in his parents and siblings of course. Alexander’s father Stellan and younger brother Gustaf are also well-known actors. But it has not always been like that. The family has some tough years before Stellan’s break-through on the Silver Screen.
"When I was young my Dad earned a pathetic theattr’s wage and Mom was a housewife with toddlers", says Alexander.
"I’m not going to paint a picture of how we sat huddling in a tiny apartment without a roof, eating lint for dinner. We might not have had a lot, but we had everything we needed."
Götgatsbacken on Söder in Stockholm was the address.
"But it was long before the lattes and the designer stores came. When I was growing up there was just an antique shop and angry Finnish alcoholics on Götgatan", Alexander tells us.
His up-bringing has rubbed off on his political views.
"I definitely lean more to the left than the right, he says.
"It’s our responsibility to at least have some personal opinions if we want to have a functioning democracy. What the most important question for the moment…? That Sweden takes the lead and starts the ecological revolution that needs to happen if us human want to have a future on planet Earth." |
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Media BlvdSeptember 25, 2008
Currently making a name for himself in Hollywood, 32-year-old Alexander Skarsgard went straight from a leading role in the HBO war mini-series Generation Kill to a regular role in the cable network's latest hit drama series True Blood, in which he plays the mysterious vampire Eric. Mostly unknown to American audiences, Skarsgard, who quit acting for eight years before renewing his love for the craft, was five times voted the sexiest man in Sweden, and is one of their most beloved stage and screen actors.
Skarsgard recently spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about working with Academy Award-winner Anna Paquin and playing such a fun character.
MediaBlvd Magazine: Had you been familiar with Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire books that True Blood is adapted from, or did you catch up after you were cast?
Alexander Skarsgard: No, I wasn't familiar with them. I read them when I got the part.
MediaBlvd: How does your character, Eric, end up in this Southern town?
Alexander: For business, basically. He opened this nightclub, Fangtasia, and he makes a lot of money because human tourists come there to see vampires. They go there and buy drinks, and he sits on his throne and they take pictures of him, and he makes a lot of money.
MediaBlvd: What is your look going to be for Eric, and how is it wearing the fangs?
Alexander: It was amazing! I did this right after I did Generation Kill, which was very dirty and sweaty, so it was amazing to do something so flamboyant and extravagant as Eric. He's the complete polar opposite of my character in that, Brad Colbert. He wears sleek European suits and expensive shirts. I have a long blonde wig, and I'm obviously pale. And, he loves to be the center of attention. He's got his nightclub, and he roams around there like a king. It's very different.
MediaBlvd: What's it like to play a character that's so old? Do you create a backstory for that, or do you just try to play him in the present?
Alexander: He's been around for a millennium, so there's much to do. I play a lot with the thought of a guy who's seen everything. He's been around for 1,000 years, so he's seen everything, and he doesn't waste his time. He doesn't play any games. He's very straight-forward. He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it, basically. So, I just try to have fun with that directness to him. He's very grounded and very confident, and he knows what he wants, all the time, and he doesn't waste his time. Falling in love with humans, and all that kind of stuff -- some of the other vampires do that -- is just a waste of time to him.
MediaBlvd: What has it been like to work with Anna Paquin?
Alexander: She's amazing! We've had so much fun. Most of my stuff is with her and Steve Moyer, who plays Bill, the other vampire. Eric is Bill's boss, so he brings them there, all the time. And, I work a lot with Kristin Bauer, who plays Pam, Eric's right-arm and sidekick. Eric turned Pam and made her a vampire, 200 years ago, so she's always by his side. We're having so much fun. We really are. And, Anna is very humble, down-to-earth, fun to work with and a very generous actor.
MediaBlvd: What is Alan Ball like?
Alexander: Oh, he's great. He's very much hands-on. He's there all the time, and he's got this great enthusiasm. He's very excited about the project. Even if he doesn't direct the episode, he's often on set. He's very hands-on. That generates a great vibe on set, when you know the creator is not just walking around, trying to make money. He's really there because he loves the project. He's crazy about this, and he loves every single detail of it. He'll come up and talk about just some little thing that he's been thinking about. He really lives for this project right now. |
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Metro BostonAugust 10, 2008
From Soldier to Bloodsucker
HBO star Skarsgård isn't likely to be pigeonholed in Hollywood
Brad Pitt, twice named sexiest man alive, can't make a Starbucks run without setting off a paparazzi frenzy. So what's a fivetime winner to do? Get his own damn coffee and the chance to enjoy it, actually.
"The celebrity culture is very different in America," says actor Alexander Skarsgård, named the most superfine Swede in his homeland five times over.
"There are no paparazzi in Sweden, so I'm not harassed," he says. "It's a socialist country, so you shouldn't think you're special. It's not like L.A., where people drive around in their pimped-out Bentleys. In Sweden you're supposed to drive your Volvo and shop at Ikea."
Skarsgård may have mega-celebrity (or some approximation thereof) back home, but in the States he's becoming known for his serious acting skill. Critics hailed his quiet, intense portrayal of real-life U.S. Marine Sgt. Brad Colbert in HBO's honest and fascinating "Generation Kill." The must-see miniseries is based on the book by Evan Wright, a Rolling Stone correspondent embedded with an elite unit leading the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Skarsgård, who lives mostly in Los Angeles but keeps a place in Stockholm, admits he was "terrified" to step into the role. But it wasn't the controversial material that made the former Swedish Marine apprehensive.
"It's a big part with tons of dialogue," says the 32-year-old, who studied intently with a dialect coach to become "Americanized." "I've seen lots of European guys coming over here, and with accents, you tend to play the evil Nazi or the Russian bad guy making the bomb. That's fun for a while, but I wanted to be able to show I was able to play other parts."
Skarsgård's convincing embodiment of a red-blooded Yankee is unwaveringly stoic in "Generation Kill." So it's a bit surprising to watch the actor morph into the suave, 1,000-year-old Viking vampire Eric Northman in HBO's "True Blood," airing Sundays at 9 p.m. "It's not like he's been asleep for 1,000 years and just now woke up and he's still wearing his Viking helmet," Skarsgård says, laughing (He does throw a line of Swedish into the dialogue in homage to Eric's heritage, though). "True Blood" imagines vampires coexisting with humans since the invention of a synthetic blood substitute. Eric is owner of a vampire bar and sheriff of the Louisiana-area undead.
"I played with the idea of being around for a millennium," Skarsgård says. "Eric has a tremendous amount of confidence. He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it."
Kind of like being able to score fame and your own Frappuccino. |
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Los Angeles TimesJuly 19, 2008
Alexander Skarsgård: Ready For Success
Waiting in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton, the lanky, laid-back Alexander Skarsgård bears little resemblance to the stoic, super-efficient U.S. Marine he plays in HBO's miniseries "Generation Kill," airing on Sundays. In his loose-fitting clothes, sandy blond pageboy and one-day stubble, the reported five-time Sexiest Man in Sweden honoree looks more likely to hit the beach than the enemy.
Perhaps the authenticity he brings to his role as real-life Sgt. Bradley Colbert comes in part from his stint in his homeland's military but, he says, "It's . . . Sweden. We shoot flowers. I mean, we haven't been in a war in almost 200 years. I was training for something I knew would never happen. Who's going to invade Sweden?"
If Skarsgård's name rings a bell, it should: His father, Stellan, is one of Sweden's most famous actors ("Ronin" and "Mamma Mia!" among about 100 others).
Starting himself as a child actor, Alex took a break from the craft for schooling and military service. When he returned to the screen at 20, he amassed nearly 30 credits in 10 years. But he admits his steely performance as Colbert, nicknamed "Iceman" for his cool under fire, was his greatest challenge so far.
"Colbert's such a confident guy, he knows that he's good. I had to bring that into the audition room; if I didn't feel that, how were they supposed to feel that?" Skarsgard says. "So I convinced myself I could do it. But then when I got the part, I got terrified. Suddenly, I was sitting there with 400 pages of script and the book and reading all these long monologues and the language was so difficult, all these words I didn't understand: 'Oscar Mike,' 'RTO,' what is this?"
For Colbert in particular, Skarsgård says he carries a "tremendous amount of respect. I wanted him to be proud of the project. But I also realized I had to make 'Brad Colbert' in the show my own," he says. "I was extremely flattered when Colbert said he liked it. That meant so much to me."
It's heady stuff, making a painstakingly accurate drama about events so current the smoke is still rising from the barrel. "I hope that people will realize that hundreds of thousands of men and women are over there and this is what they go through on a daily basis," Skarsgård says. "The good stuff and the bad stuff, the collateral damage and just the . . . feeling of being shot at."
Now that he's back from seven months of camo in the desert, Skarsgård will don Dolce & Gabbana as a suave, 1,000-year-old Viking vampire for Alan Ball's upcoming HBO series, "True Blood."
In theaters next year are the animated fantasy "Metropia" and the British comedy "Beyond the Pole," about "two morons walking to the North Pole." Skarsgård liked the script but the biggest draw was shooting in Greenland:
"I wanted to experience silence. I've never experienced that. In my country, there's the wind in the trees, you hear animals, birds somewhere. It's so . . . amazing how compact the silence was. It's like your ears are going to start bleeding, almost. It's so intense." |
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CafeJune 17, 2008
It is hell trying to find pork knuckle with mashed turnips at restaurants in Los Angeles. That's why Alexander Skarsgård has been circulating in his not-so-eco-friendly city jeep (for sale) around the restaurant Pelikan in the south of Stockholm around 40 minutes.
He can't find a parking spot, so we keep going round along Blekingegatan, Götgatan, Östgötagatan like a greaser round [loosely translated]. I suggest other places - cafés, pubs, restaurants, park benches - but Skarsgård only wants to go to Pelikan.
He has a Bajen [nickname for the Swedish football team Hammarby] scarf in a perfect Stockholm knot and red sneakers. He's 194 centimeters tall and he's well trained, like a marine soldier. You feel like a fat dwarf next to him. It would be easy to hate it, if only he wasn't so nice. He's on time. He offers bubblegum. He tells about when his life took a whole new turn.
In May last year Skarsgård was on his way from Los Angeles to Stockholm. He was to spend the summer in Sweden, with his family, at their country side place at Ljusterö in the archipelago of Stockholm and at the bleachers at Söderstadion. He was looking forward to following Hammarby's triumphal procession against yet another gold. (Skarsgård is always convinced Bajen will take gold at this point in the season. He was even convinced when the club played in division one)
His agent Alex Irwing called and told him about a production that was about to start in two weeks in Namibia. A prestigious project: HBO's Generation Kill - produced by Ed Burns and David Simon, the men behind the successful TV show The Wire. The cost for the reality based story, about a group of American soldiers during the first weeks of the 2003 Iraq invasion, was calculated to 500 million kronor. When HBO, with shows like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under, decides to venture, they mean business.
"They want to meet you in New York next week. Read the book. This is worth fighting for. You would fit the part so well," Alex Irwing explained.
It turned out Skarsgård would audition for the leading part, Sgt. Brad Colbert, called The Iceman for his ability to keep calm while under fire. Skarsgård went through quite a metamorphosis. In one week he was transformed from a Swedish pacifist to an American killer machine.
He auditioned for three scenes. Afterwards the casting director Alexa Fogel asked him about his plans for the summer. That felt good. Many times Skarsgård had only gotten a "Thank you! Next!" and then he knew that it was no use.
Now he was ordered to wait in New York. Two days later they called again. They wanted him to go to London for the day and audition for Susanna White, one of the directors. The same three scenes.
Back to New York. Wait for another phone call. After three days they called and asked him to perform for David Simon and Ed Burns in Baltimore, where The Wire was being filmed.
After a few days they called again. Fourth audition, in New York with Simon, Burns, Susanna White, and Alexa Fogel.
Later they got in touch again: "In two days you'll be on an airplane to Namibia. You'll be home again in seven months."
How did you react?
I was terrified. It was such a weird feeling. It felt like I had somehow conned them during the casting process. Now that they believed in me, it was like the emperor's new clothes, like they caught me nude. I thought: "Shit, can I really do this?" This was it: showtime!
Why where you so nervous?
I had been trying to convince myself that I was the only one that could play this part. I had to approach it with that level of confidence, that I was awesome. I couldn't afford to doubt myself, 'cause then they would never believe I was the right choice.
What happened when you got to Namibia?
We went to boot camp for ten days with American Marine soldiers. It was combat training, man to man, wrestling, running, shooting, weapon technique. We learned to march, radio communication, maps. There were a lot of sprains and vomiting. It's pretty hot in the Namibian desert.
Did you ever feel like the other actors questioned you not being an American?
I felt it was a disadvantage that I had a great deal of dialogue and that it wasn't my native language. But a few days before we started shooting, I was out jogging on the Namibian beach at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning, when I met Ed Burns. He looked at me and said: "You are Brad Colbert." Then I thought, now I don't have any more reason to doubt myself. It was immensely important to me to feel that security, because I was so damn insecure.
Why did they have such a hard time finding someone for the part?
Because they hadn't met me yet.
Alexander Skarsgård had been waiting for a challenge. For months he went to auditions in Los Angeles for parts that he actually didn't even want.
"I had begun to despair. For a long time my agent only sent me bad projects. Teenage horror movies with storylines that my twelve year old brother could have thought of. Things like: 'Five teenagers in a house in the woods. 200 years ago a man lived in the house and now he's killing the teenagers because they are wearing blue clothes and he doesn't like blue, because he was a sailor and hated the ocean.' I was supposed to read these kinds of scripts and I just came to a point where I had to make up my mind. Either tell my agent that I didn't want to make these kinds of movies or start to prostitute myself and go to shoot and yell, 'Oh my God!'"
Skarsgård howls this with a high-pitched horror movie voice that makes the conversations at the surrounding tables go quiet.
He's gotten his pork knuckles (bodybuilder portion).
He's satisfied.
Why didn't you just tell them no?
It's a tough position when you're signed to a big agency and not working. You're not making any money for them, and if you start turning parts down when you go to auditions, then it soon becomes unsustainable. You can hear when the agent calls that it's pretty ice cold, but he says it might be good to go because the producer is there, and even if I don't like the script it might be good because they have good stuff coming up later in the summer. Sometimes it's like that.
So what have you done?
I have gone ill prepared, because I wasn't very motivated when I read the script.
And you didn't get the part?
No, and I didn't deserve it. At times the parts have been crap and I haven't cared, but there have been some smaller indie movies that I've really liked. Out of the larger movies, I was close to the part of Angel, the guy with wings in X-men. It's a pretty silly movie, but it would have been fun to do. If I'd been a crybaby about all the times I've gotten a 'no' in Hollywood I wouldn't have lasted for long.
Have you ever been close to giving up?
For several months I kept wondering what the hell to do if better stuff didn't start turning up. I couldn't give up everything at home and rent a house and car in Los Angeles and audition for crap parts. The thing that gave me back my motivation was when I joined Actors Studio. There are many phony, half-phony and real actor schools in LA. But Actors Studio is a society that you get chosen into. They have classes four times a week, where the actor gets to set up scenes like Othello and then you discuss the scene afterwards. Nothing prestigious, just intelligent, creative people that want to evolve. One day Martin Landau would be the moderator. Cool old veterans. It was inspiring to come there, when everything else was feeling down.
Have you ever felt pressured from not getting good parts?
Yes, of course. Every time that I've been to Los Angeles and gone back to Sweden without having got any part, I've been pissed.
What made you stay in LA?
That I never got the parts that I wanted in Sweden. I was about to turn 30 and all the scripts I got were about teenage boys with love trouble. Romantic comedies in high school settings. Definitely not what I wanted to do as an actor.
Can you call that revenge? Or an international breakthrough?
You can call it whatever you like. One thing is for sure:
After Generation Kill, Alexander Skarsgård will never again be offered the parts of the highschool hunk.
He was born in Råcksta, a suburb between Blackeberg and Vällingby, on the 25th of August 1976. When he was six months old his family moved to an apartment on Blekingegatan.
There is no doubt that Skarsgård has been characterized by the neighborhood in which he grew up. Not only because kids in school would threaten to beat him up if he cheered for any other football team than Bajen, but mostly because his friends came from households with modest conditions.
"No one had successful parents. There were a lot of single mothers. A lot of kids had parents that were alcoholics. We rarely had any money. My mother didn't work and my father had a low income from the theater. We had tin cans with tea that I used as drums. It was my favorite toy for many years. I thought they were hilarious. As long as your neighbours don't have radio controlled cars you enjoy the little things you have. It's when envy comes in that you despair."
But he remembers that one friend had a dad that was a white collar worker and drove a Saab.
"He went to work at eight in the morning and came home at 17:30. I used to envy my friend. I thought it seemed so nice to have a dad that spent the evenings at home and had a suit. My dad was like always nude and drank red wine with weird art people. He'd rehearse during the days and perform in the evenings. When he got back home he was exhausted. It was not the optimal family situation."
Alexander Skarsgård's mobile phone rings.
"Sorry. Hello! Hey! I'm being interviewed. Did you land in New York or...? Damn that's cool. Talk to you later. Bye!"
It turns out it was his dad Stellan, who's in New York to do PR for the movie Mamma Mia.
Did you revolt against your parents?
Gurra and I (his brother Gustav) revolted in different ways. He was more of a rebel; he would scream and fight and confront them. I just shut them out. My room was close to one of the entrances to the apartment. My parents' room was in the other end. I sat in my room with my friends, drank homemade beer, listened to punk, went to town, came home at night and went to bed. In the morning I would take a sandwich in the kitchen and leave again. We didn't have a close relationship at all when I was a teenager.
How long did it last?
Four, five years, until I moved away from home when I was 19 years old. I wanted to live my life, I found them a burden.
How did they handle that?
They were probably a bit worried. I was out a lot and could be quite rowdy. They couldn't get close to me. They tried, but it's damn hard as a parent if your teenager decides to shut you out. The more they tried, the more I turned my back and walked away. Every time they would start with "Do you have a girlfriend?" I would just say, "See you." It was none of their business. I lived my own life, I just happened to be in the same apartment.
Did they have reason to worry?
(Silence) No, I don't think so. I was pretty rowdy, but it turned out ok.
Rowdy like thrown into a sobering cell? [jail cell for drunk people]
Yes, a little like that. My dad had to come get me at Solna custody one morning. I was 17 years old. At first he didn't say a thing. He just looked at me. Then he said: "You're an intelligent person. You know what you did tonight and how damn stupid it is, so I don't have to yell at you." And he was right. I had such anguish. He knew how bad I felt over that.
Do you get aggressive when you drink?
I have good alcohol awareness, but I often found myself in places where it became rowdy. I get kind of defensive if a friend gets in trouble. My mood could change fast. I was never aggressive, but if there already was testosterone in the air, I would often get involved. But that was a long time ago. I don't put myself in those situations anymore, no weird parties with Solna gangs that are Gnagare [people that root for the AIK football team].
Did you ever try drugs?
Yes.
What did you try?
I don't want to talk about it, but I have tried.
How is your relationship with Gustaf?
Today I have a good relationship with all of my siblings. I'm four years older than Gurra. When he was 14, 15 years old he was the world's most annoying individual. Obstinate. We had nothing in common. He was a hip hopper and I was a rock dude. Then the family bought an apartment in Mosebacke and Gurra and I moved there. Then it got even worse. We had totally different lives and social life. It became much too intimate, we came too close to each other. But as soon as he moved out it was ok. It wasn't until we got a little distance from each other that we could start to see the things that we have in common.
Skarsgård has to run. He's going to the Southern Theater to see his friend Fares Onözz Nûjen's talkshow.
"I'm going to stand in the back and yell foul words," he says and laughs before he jumps into his monster jeep.
A month later I see him at Gondolen. A first-class restaurant eleven floors above Slussen in Stockholm. "A place to be seen, meet and be seen," according to its website.
Alexander Skarsgård gets seen immediately.
"Oh, you're here to get in the mood for the derby?" our waitor asks.
"Exactly, this is where Bajen's fans get ready. The other 3000 will be here soon," Alexander answers.
He's probably one of few that can stroll in wearing a t-shirt among all the suits at Gondolen and order "a beer" without it feeling weird.
He looks back at his career and doesn't regret any of his parts. Not Marcus in Vita Lögner, not Micke in Hundtricket, not Ingmar in Dykaren, not Anders in Järngänget, not Johan in Vingar av glas, not Kalle in Om Sara, not Geert in Kill your Darlings or Meekus in Zoolander, even though Ben Stiller blew him up after only a few minutes. It's how he's handled his fame that he's thinking about.
"I told too many people yes. I could see myself on ten covers at Pressbyrån [shop that sells magazines]. No one was curious to see that guy on the big screen. I was all over the place with the same puppy eyes. I'm so damn tired of the hunk thing. I'm much more selective now."
The actors that Skarsgård admires - Sean Penn, Daniel Day-Lewis, Philip Seymour Hoffman - all keep their distance to the media.
Personal? To some extent. Private? Never.
"You don't know jack about them. It's easy to let the fame overtake the acting. To not be seen everywhere can create an interest and an air of mystery. I'm terrified of being overexposed again."
Your father has had a good relationship with the media.
He's always tried to be a good guy, straightforward, honest and give as much as he could.
But one year ago Stellen Skarsgård reacted strongly to an article in Aftonbladet, with the headline: "The Skarsgårds recipe for a long marriage: we wait out the crisis."
The trouble was that My and Stellan Skarsgård had already separated. According to Stellan, several co-workers at Aftonbladet knew this. He wrote an open letter where he questioned the newspaper's intent with painting a picture of him as the "ideal husband and dream father." He ended his letter with: "I'm writing this so that I don't have to speak out in the tabloids and I will continue to keep my private life private. Have a nice summer, Stellan."
"I wasn't in Sweden then and had to hear everything over the phone, but he handled it well."
When Alexander is in Stockholm in between shoots, he's currently staying in the computer room at his mother My. He's single since a year and a half back. "I have a hard time falling in love," he says.
Why is that?
Because I'm scared.
Because you've been hurt?
Partly, but also because I'm running from everything that ties me down. But I'm running slower and slower.
What would it take for you to fall in love?
An attractive girl with self-distance [self-deprecating; ironic humor; ability to see yourself as others see you], there's nothing sexier. I don't get turned on by wasted girls that come up to you at four in the morning.
He looks out the window.
"Fuck! It's starting to rain."
Dark clouds are gathering over Riddarfjärden. It might get wet at Råsunda [football stadium] tonight.
Alexander Skarsgård was only 8 years old when he made his debut as Kalle Nubb in åke och hans värld, but when he was on his way to becoming a teenager he decided that the publicity was not for him. He hated media's attention. Didn't like it when people stared at him on the streets. Wanted them to like him because he was a nice guy, not because they had read about him in a magazine. He wanted to become an architect.
As the oldest child out of six siblings, he rarely followed his father's shoots on set and had already moved out before that morning that Robert De Niro ate breakfast at the Skarsgårds.
In the military service (marines, 15 months) Skarsgård had a lot of time to ponder. 280 days in a tent gives perspective on life and he made up his mind. He missed being an actor. He was 20 years old and better prepared to handle the attention. He moved to Leeds with a friend after he was done with his military service. They lived in a basement store without windows or heat.
"We were pretty much broke and what little money we had went to buying beers. It was a damn weird place. We shared a toilet with the others in the house. A guy with long grey hair looked like the killer in Twin Peaks. He would sit in his room and have loud arguments with himself. One floor up lived a guy named David, who had built a prayer corner with a Swedish flag and a framed picture of Silvia [the queen]. He had been smuggling drugs to Sweden for 20 years and was nuts about Silvia."
From Leeds he applied to the theater school Marymount in New York. He lived with a 55 year old Filipino designer named René.
"He rented out several rooms, and I noticed that only 20 year old guys moved in. When I came home to study, he thought I looked tense and wanted to give me a massage. I just laughed. He knew I was straight, but refused to give up his hopes. Every day he would come crawling on all fours, trying to get something to happen. I told him: 'René, cut it out. I'm not going to suck your dick, you know that.'"
After half a year Alexander Skarsgård moved back to Sweden. He had met a girl in Stockholm. He was passionately in love and decided to give love a go. Two days after he landed at the airport, she broke up with him.
"Damn ironic. I had quit school and couldn't move back. New York is a tricky town to be in when you're a poor student and while being unhappily in love. You get eaten up. I was so damn miserable. That spring was so tough."
At least one love survived.
He was now convinced he wanted to be an actor.
A decade later he's about to finish his most important part so far. He's flying back and forth to New York to do something they call ADR.
"Automated Dialogue Replacement. Basically you sit in a studio and read lines to scenes that have already been shot but where the sound wasn't good enough. You sit on a chair, read lines and drink sparkly water. I feel a little divided about it. It's hard to recreate a scene that you did six months ago."
During Generation Kill, Alexander didn't take one day off out of seven months. When the others in the team went out to have a beer, he stayed in his hotel to prepare the next day's scenes or to fit in an hour with his dialect coach. He was so focused on his part that he even talked English with the Swedish movie photographer Ulf Brantås that also worked on the shoot.
"I scarcely called home, even if I missed people there. I had to live in this bubble. For me it was not a hard decision. I couldn't allow myself to be bad in one single scene. It would create such self loathing."
What did Generation Kill mean economically?
Hardly any money at all. All the actors had minimal pay. Why? Because it's HBO, they don't have to pay more. And because they wanted unknown actors. I didn't get rich, but I would have paid to get to play that part.
During the shooting he was informed about another part, in a new Alan Ball series called True Blood. It's based on the Southern Vampire Mysteries books. The plot centers around a waitress that falls in love with one of the vampires.
"It draws parallels to the race conflicts in the USA in the 1960s. I think that's what got Alan Ball going," Skarsgård says.
Skarsgård plays Eric, a Viking that became a vampire a thousand years ago and accordingly has experienced quite a lot.
What makes him different from Brad Colbert?
Other than the fact that Brad doesn't have fangs? Eric is flamboyant, has a flashy suit, runs a club, drives sports cars. Brad Colbert is the guy that can sit in a corner for five hours just fiddling with something. Eric sits on a throne and enjoys attention.
The part in True Blood pays a little better.
Before Generation Kill, it was a little hard for my agent to say: "He should have a shitload of money, because he was in Hundtricket." Now she can ask for a little more.
What do you think this means to your career?
I don't want to make assumptions. Even if it is HBO and two big series, you never know. It might not happen in the way I'm hoping for. But on the other hand I don't want to be a pessimist either. This is the utmost important work of my life; I got that in two seconds.
He orders: "Another beer!"
Three hours to kick off and it's stopped raining. |
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Aftonbladet2000
The Skarsgård Clan In Front of the Camera
A family - a profession
The Skarsgård clan is comfortable in front of the camera.
"We’ve grown up with film so it is natural that we also want to keep on with it", says Alexander Skarsgård.
They may feel comfortable in front of the camera but to get them all in a group picture is not the easiest. Ask anyone who has tried over the years.
"Sam was sitting there in the corner just now. And where is Bill?" Dad Stellan says and looks around.
With the family at gala premiere
It is the premiere of Alexander Skarsgård’s latest film “Wings of Glass” and the whole family has signed up. Yes, except youngest son Valter, 5, who had to stay home with the babysitter.
"You can imagine how it is for mom every time she’ll try to get us all together", said Alexander, laughing.
"This is how it always is", says Stellan.
Of the family’s eight members, six appeared on the big screen. For my mom and the son, Sam, 18, was long ago and the relatively modest scale. Specifically, as mother and son in “Jim & piraterna Blom” AKA “Jim and the Pirates” from 1987.
Second-youngest son Bill, 10, debuted as late as last summer in the thriller “Iron Gang”. Where he played, appropriately, the brother of Alexander’s character.
"Of course I am proud of them all. Now I can lie down and die", says Stellan.
Alexander was the evening's main character
Second-eldest son, Gustaf, 20, is currently performing school in Stockholm. But he made his screen debut already eleven years ago in “Cover Name Coq Rouge” with none other than - yes - Stellan Skarsgård.
But of the sons who had time to go furthest in dad’s footsteps, of course, Alexander, 24, one of strongest protagonists. He’s just returned from the USA and recording of the Ben Stiller movie “Zoolander”.
"He is better looking than I am", Stellan responds with a laugh at the question of what the eldest son has as he himself lacks.
But when he is describing Alexander’s strength as an actor, he becomes serious.
"He has presence. He is not afraid to show himself weak. And then, he has damn good social skills on the set."
Alexander countered that with a little praise for dad.
"He is experienced and comfortable in all situations. Incredibly talented and versatile."
What does Dad have that you lack?
"A high hairline. But I know that over time I’ll have one too, whether I like it or not!" |
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Aftonbladet1998
Alexander Skarsgård: Just a Regular Guy
He is the son of one of the country’s most famous actors. He plays Markus in ”White lies” and gets naughty fan-letters from middle aged women. Pulse Malin Hendriksen has met Sweden’s sexiest guy: Alexander Skarsgård , 22.
You would think that you are Sweden's sexiest man because you are photogenic and muscular.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Pulse has made a completely unscientific survey about what makes someone gorgeous. And found the following to be the truth: Sweden’s most sexy man needs to be cuddly, blonde and on TV.
As if you mixed all Swedish men and come out with Mr. Average. Only a Mr. Average who is visible on TV. Claes Åkesson, Samuel Fröler and Anders Lundin are all nice guys. But they aren’t precisely men who make you want to rip their clothes off. They have other qualities that obviously are very sexy.
They are common.
And this is where Alexander Skarsgård fits in. He is a nice, well-behaved pretty common 22 year-old guy who temporarily moved back in with his parents. Not exotic but more like the boy next door.
Lives on the couch at his parents'
But hold it right there. To sleep on the floor in the computer room at your parents’ is NOT sexy.
"I’m without my own place but it doesn’t feel like I moved back home. I just have my back pack and my stuff there. The plan is that me and my brother Gustaf will buy an apartment together. If we can find one. For the moment I have all my belongings stored in boxes in the attic. It’s pretty hard", he says.
There is really just one place they are interested in living in. In Södermalm in Stockholm. This is where the Skarsgård family has it’s heart. This is where the parents live, this is where Alexander grew up. He is the oldest of six siblings. Younger siblings are Gustaf, Sam, Bill, Eija and Valter. And then there is also Mom and Dad, My and Stellan Skarsgård.
"We’re a very big family. My cousins live upstairs from us and my Grandmother lives around the block. There’s always lots of people coming and going and big dinner parties, often family gatherings of 50 people. Dad’s best friends are his siblings and my Mom spends a lot of time with her family."
"It’s great to have this many siblings. The youngest one is 4, so I don’t think I will rush into getting my own kids anytime soon. I mean, I could be his Dad."
Isn’t it hard to get a good relationship when the age-gap is that wide?
"I don’t sit and talk work or chicks with my youngest brother who is 4, but they all mean a lot to me anyway."
To have a Dad who is a famous movie star did have it’s advantages. Such as getting his first part in a movie at 7. The movie was “Åke and his world”. Daddy got him the part.
Acting became too much
"But it was my pre-school teacher that made me start acting. She took the whole class to "Our Theatre" when we were 4 yrs old."
Dad added something completely different…
"I’ve never worked with Dad, but the attitude towards the job is something I’m almost been brain-washed with. He’s got a huge distance to what he does, but is incredibly focused and engaged and ambitious about work. He’s got a great attitude and that is what he taught me."
The movie career was moving along smoothly. But one day it became too much. The commotion made him feel uncomfortable.
"I was playing a part in the TV-show "Hunden som log". After that came out I just felt that everyone everywhere was staring at me. It was obnoxious and very uncomfortable. As soon as I was out and heard someone laugh, I thought it was at me. I didn’t feel good at all. I was thirteen years old, and that is a very sensitive age."
Gave up his career
Alexander completely gave up acting. He decided to do something different with his life. He finished school, did his military service and left for Leeds to study languages. And it wasn’t until then he started to change his mind. After all, it was so much fun being on a stage performing.
"I started to think that I might be able to handle the commotion in a better way since I was older and wiser. So I decided to give the whole acting thing a second try and applied to an acting school in New York, and was accepted. I went there for half a year in 1997. And then I was lucky enough to get a job."
What did your parents say? Didn’t they want you to be a doctor or a lawyer or something like that?
"They’ve always supported me. When I was younger it was all just a game to me. And they kept it like that. This time Dad is paying for the education in New York, so he has helped me a lot both financially and mentally."
"I will continue doing this for as long as it’s fun and as long as I keep getting offers. But if either of that changes I will quit."
Did the commotion surrounding your Dad ever make you think twice?
"No, it was probably mostly the commotion surrounding myself that made me quit. Of course I could relate to Dad. I saw that compared to my Dad, the commotion surrounding me was nothing, but it made me realize what things would be like if you were to become a celebrity."
Is recognized out in the streets
Now Alexander Skarsgård is famous for something other than his Dad. He’s playing Markus in “White Lies” until fall. After that his character will be written out of the story. How is still a secret. And now people really do recognize him out in the streets.
"Sometimes people come up to me and say something. I like it much better if they say “I saw you on TV” rather than just standing and pointing at me or giggling behind my back. And I get a lot of fan mail. I’ve gotten letters from guys, young kids, old ladies, if you are allowed to say that. They, the old ladies I mean, write to tell me what they want to do to me beneath exotic waterfalls. It’s a bit absurd."
I felt as if everyone was just staring at me
Do you watch when you’re on TV?
"Sometimes I’ll watch ”White lies”. At the beginning it was good to do that, because it helps you spot things you are doing wrong. But it’s also fun to re-live the actual shooting. Kind of like watching your own home-movie. And since the episodes shown now was shot before Christmas, it wakes old memories."
A Skarsgård is a Skarsgård
Alexander shares his father’s last name. This fact makes it easy to think that he got his parts because of it.
"I can’t think like that. If I did I wouldn’t function as an actor. My self-confidence would disappear completely. I have to believe in myself and feel secure knowing that I can do this. If I start to think that I got the part just because of who is my Dad, despite thinking I suck, then all of it would fall apart."
"It’s really very important to not have that attitude. I often get that exact question from journalists, but when I work I don’t feel my name got me the part. Of course people will ask me about Dad, a lot of them have worked with him, but it’s just cool to work with people who remember when I was younger. They never ask me to get a reaction out of me."
Alexander isn’t vain. He only works out five times a week.
 In acting looks are important. And it doesn't hurt to be named Sweden's sexiest.
"Yes, even if you don’t want it to – looks are important. But there are also disadvantages sometimes. Sometimes they are looking for someone with strong features rather than a pretty face. If you have that you often get to do stronger characters, but if you’re a pretty face you just get to do mainstream characters. You get to play the nice guy or girl that everyone feels sorry for."
So you are the pretty face?
"Well, not really. But a little. It’s just so fucking boring to be type-casted because of the way you look. So far I’ve just played harmless, feel-sorry-for guys. You have to always strive against that and remember to not choose parts like that. And if I do accept to play such a part I’ll have to make the most out of it and try to get the character into a different direction as much as possible."
Do you think you are good-looking?
"I don’t feel sexy. But that varies. Sometimes you feel like you’re a hunk. If you’ve got a tan, just got out of the shower and put your best clothes on, you feel pretty content with your looks. But if you wake up on a Sunday morning with a hang-over, it’s not quite the same feeling."
"I had a huge hang-up on being so skinny. I’ve always been skinny and thought it sucked when I was younger. But I’ve learned to live with it. It fades away as you grow older."
"I do care what I’m wearing, but it’s more that I’m interested in clothes rather than it being a hobby. I don’t think twice about going to the grocery store with a hangover, without combing my hair or taking a shower. I don’t go to the gym because I’m vain. When I’m not working and when in Stockholm, I will work out five times a week. Maybe it all begun because I didn’t like being so skinny, but now it’s definitely because it makes me feel good. It’s kind of like therapy. When you run you get away from the city, it’s just you and nature and you get a lot of time to think."
Alexander’s nearest future contains work, work, work and more work. Right now he’s in ”Judith”, a three episode TV-show for Swedish Television. Simultaneously he is shooting a movie “The diver” Izabella Scorupco and Stefan Sauk in Bohuslän. And further towards summer it might be time for another movie. Not much free time for anything else. As in having a relationship for example.
"I am not in love. But I’ve never had any good relationships. Only once in my whole life did I have a relationship that lasted more than a few of weeks. And it was bad from the start. I just haven’t met anyone where I felt “this is the one”."
Are you easy to live with?
"I suppose not. But yeah, I want to believe I am. I’ve just not met anyone I fell head over heels in love with. Sure, I’ve fallen in love, but there’s always been huge obstacles involved everytime. Like they were living far away so we haven’t been able to see each other or stuff like that. Of course there are times when you might miss it, but it’s pretty ok anyway. When I was in school it was more important to go out partying and meet with friends. It’s just recently that I actually started to miss it."
What makes you fall in love?
"Charming, smart girls."
Isn’t that a cliché that every guy uses?
"Yes, that might be the case. But it really is great with smart, funny girls that you can bring along to do stuff with. It’s probably exciting to be with a gorgeous girl who just sits there and smiles. For about 15 minutes or so."
The future is still a bit unclear. Alexander can’t see any plans after the end of summer. But as things are looking now there will be more movies, preferable some theatre and most likely no application to acting school. And further in the future there will most definitely be to start his own family.
"Of course you want kids. I know I do. But I haven’t started looking for a place to settle down yet. And I won’t be buying a family car anytime soon. My parent’s Volvo is all I need right now, and I can use it anytime I want."
Are you the best-looking one in the family now?
"No, Eija is. She’s a girl. She will grow up to be beautiful." |
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