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LONDON – In Alexander Skarsgard’s narrative, the idea for his final film, “North Man,” has its roots in a long, slender island called Öland, off the coast of Sweden, where his great-great-grandfather built a wooden house. hundred years ago.
“Some of my earliest memories are of walking around Öland with my grandfather and showing me these big sizes. rune stones and the inscriptions,” he explained as they ate lunch at a hidden hotel in central London one last rainy Monday. “To tell stories of Vikings who went down rivers all the way to Constantinople.
“So, in a way,” he continued, “you could say the dream of making or being a part of a Viking movie someday was born at that moment.”
He was centuries away from the bloody, muddy crazy actor he played in the highly anticipated action-adventure movie “The Northman,” which showed director Robert Eggers’ leap into big-budget filmmaking, wearing a gray crew-neck sweater and dark jeans.
Six-four, blond, and unquestionably handsome, Skarsgard seemed a no-brainer to start a Viking movie, but it took a while to shoot. Skarsgard said he worked with the Danish filmmaker for years. Lars Knudsen trying to determine what shape the project will take. Then in 2017, she met up with Eggers, who fell in love with Iceland during a visit two years ago, to talk about another project.
Both Skarsgard and Eggers describe this meeting as “destiny,” and it eventually led to Eggers and the Icelandic poet and writer. Sjon, to write “Northern”. Saying that he had $70 million to make the movie, Eggers took his inspiration from the 1982 movie “Conan the Barbarian”, which he watched as a child.
Skarsgard’s character is Amleth, a Viking prince determined to take revenge after his father is killed. Skarsgard is the producer of the new movie, which was released on April 22 and also stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicole Kidman and Björk.
“As an actor, it was a real pleasure to be a part of the project,” Skarsgard said. “Being a part of this journey and being able to have these conversations with the writers as we shape the story, talking about Amleth’s arc, the story, the essence – it was very inspiring for me.”
The 45-year-old and unfailingly kind star had played a Viking before. He actually played a Northman before: Eric Northman, the super-sexy Viking vampire who didn’t die proudly in the HBO series “True Blood.” But the “North Man” protagonist is a Viking who runs through Skarsgard’s own heart – someone true to the medieval lore of Icelandic epics, unquestioning of fate or faith. And someone who by design doesn’t have much to say.
The epics the movie is based on are “very concise,” he said. And the characters “don’t really talk unless absolutely necessary.”
Skarsgard himself is with an open, easy smile. He is aware of the world around him, including keeping up to date with the latest news from Ukraine and knowing that asparagus season is approaching. He gave his full attention to the questions, pausing to collect his thoughts before answering, and didn’t even look at his cell phone once.
Although Skarsgard grew up hearing Viking stories, he read books and watched lectures to prepare for the role. He said the most interesting thing he learned was that the Vikings believed that each person had a female spirit guiding them.
“I thought it was pretty fascinating, juxtaposed between that and the brutality you saw when you first met Amleth,” Skarsgard said. “I really like the idea that he’ll believe there is a female spirit in him guiding him,” she added.
Preparations were completed, everything seemed to come together in the movie. Just as filming was about to begin, the pandemic struck.
“We were still moving forward for about 48 hours but everybody was like, ‘Is this happening? Are you doing this? What’s going on?’ Eventually they pulled the plug and said we had to break it up and go home.”
Although Skarsgard saw New York as his base, going home meant going to his hometown of Stockholm.
He hid with his large family in his mother’s country house. He is the eldest son and first wife of actor Stellan Skarsgard, My, and is one of eight siblings. His three brothers are also actors. Bill SkarsgardPlaying the creepy clown Pennywise in the “It” movies; another brother is a doctor who kept them informed of developments in the Covid crisis. Skarsgard said he enjoyed spending time with his family despite the frightening conditions.
“We cooked dinner, hung out, worked in the garden,” he said, adding that it can be difficult to get the whole family together as work gets in the way. “I really liked that. Then I almost felt guilty because it was an epidemic and people were dying.”
Family and Sweden, where Skarsgard grew up and spent some time in the army, are important themes in his life.
“We’re all a very tight group,” he said. “In southern Stockholm, everyone lives two blocks from each other and we see each other all the time when I’m home.” (He is not married, but when asked if he is single, he replied with a resounding “no”.)
She started out as a child actress but took a hiatus in her early teens before fully embracing her acting career in her 20s. She has said in the past that she didn’t like the attention that acting brought her in her youth.
His path to “North Man” traverses dozens of roles in film and TV, seemingly different sides of the same coin. She portrayed an Israeli spy (“The Little Drummer Girl”) and a German man (“The Aftermath”) who is used to life after WWII. A young Marine Inspector (“Generation Kill”) who helps the United States invade Iraq, and a sadistic Army sergeant (“The Kill Team”) who lead young soldiers astray in Afghanistan. An abusive husband (“Big Little Lies”) and a painfully sweet stepfather (“What Maisie Knows”) who steps in to care for her neglected stepdaughter.
He also had a small but important role as Swedish tech billionaire Lukas Matsson in HBO’s prestigious drama “Succession.”
Series executive producer Mark Mylod, who directed Skarsgard in two of its three episodes, said that the actor “was really the only choice for the character because of the acumen of his job.”
The makers of “Succession” designed a character with “that sort of Elon Musk” charisma, but it wasn’t necessarily based on the Tesla CEO. Mylod said that the character of Matsson must have dignity to be a real competitor to the family behind Waystar Royco, the fictional company at the heart of “Succession.”
“He found a way to make that character so fantastic, watchable and totally believable,” Mylod said. “It made such an impact with a small number of scenes.” (Mylod doesn’t say if Matsson will return in Season 4.)
Rebecca Hall is an actor who has worked with Skarsgard. “Godzilla vs. Kong” he said he was having trouble finding funding for his passion project, “Last,” Last year’s adaptation of the 1929 Nella Larsen novel about the friendship between two Black women in New York, one of whom is white.
While working on “Kong,” Hall mustered up his courage and asked Skarsgard to read his script. He played the role of a racist husband and agreed to play. “I feel like he cares about the existence of good art in the world and will do whatever he can to support it,” Hall said in an interview, adding that the character is the kind that plays well. “He is no stranger to complex characters who do bad things.”
For Skarsgard, there is “zero strategy or plan” in his career. “The sweet spot is that the character interests me and I understand his traits and he makes me curious to learn more,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun because then that probably means I’m going to enjoy diving in and exploring it a little bit deeper.”
Diving in “The Northman” meant bloating. She also reunites with Kidman, who played her husband in “Big Little Lies,” for which she won an Emmy, SAG Award, and Golden Globe. This time her mother.
The two actors traveled with the rest of the crew to Northern Ireland, Ireland and Iceland for the tough shoot of “Northman.” Skarsgard described it as “seven months in the mud.”
Eggers, a meticulous and meticulous director, said he wasn’t “sadistic enough to be sadistic” but was extremely serious about detail and accuracy, and this wouldn’t surprise viewers of his previous films like “The Witch.” ” and “Lighthouse”.
Skarsgard has spoken about the presence in interviews. chained and dragged through the mud. However, Eggers said that like himself, Skarsgard wants the best. “When we started this business together, he was looking for nothing but perfection.”
Eggers said, “Alex mentioned that I somehow dragged him into the abyss, but I can remember many times that he asked for another try because he’s just as much of a perfectionist as I am.”
The director admitted that the working conditions were difficult. “I’m not trying to complicate things for us,” he explained, “but as you tell the story of the Viking Age in Northern Europe, you’ll seek out punishing places with extreme weather and terrain. And that’s what it takes to tell this story.”
Eggers said that working with such a big budget and a cast is an advantage, but it also means a lot of pressure. “If this movie doesn’t perform, that’s going to be a problem,” he said.
After all the work, Skarsgard added, “I want people to watch the movie, that’s all,” preferably on the big screen.
Pretty standard fare for a Skarsgard project, and she’s naked in some parts of “North Man”, including a fight scene at the volcano.
Does he ever say no to taking off his clothes? He said he did so after being asked to take off his shirt at a photo shoot recently, adding, “I think there’s enough nudity in the movie.”
Skarsgard, who spent the morning doing press on Zoom and had traveled across Europe to promote in the days before our talk, had slipped down from the banquet at the end of the interview, his head resting on the pillow. He said he’s noticed that his movies tend to be heavy. “I may have to do a comedy soon,” he said, adding that he wanted to work with satirist Armando Iannucci or British comic actor Steve Coogan.
“Northern,” he said, “it was so violent. It was the greatest experience of my career, but my God, it was so intense.”
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