If you don’t know who the Swedish-born actor Stellan Skarsgård is at this point, I’m not sure there’s much I can do to help you. In fact, it might be easier for me to list the films (and occasional television series) he hasn’t been in in the last 40-plus years. It seems appropriate that the first film I ever remember seeing him in was a 1995 Norwegian-Swedish co-production called ZERO KELVIN, from writer-director Hans Petter Moland, who just happens to have directed the film that got me on the phone with Skarsgård in the first place, the devastating and darkly humorous revenge tale IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE (the two also made two of Skarsgård other finest works, ABERDEEN and A SOMEWHAT GENTLE MAN). More on DISAPPEARANCE in a second.
Skarsgård is one of those rare actors who can easily hold his own as both a lead actor (often in European-made films) and a character actor (often in American-made ones). He has became a favorite of everyone from Lars von Trier (BREAKING THE WAVES, DANCER IN THE DARK, DOGVILLE, MELANCHOLIA, and most recently, the two-part NYMPHOMANIAC) to Marvel Studios (the first two THOR movies, an both AVENGERS films). In between these works, he also worked in such films as the original INSOMNIA; MY SON THE FANATIC; GOOD WILL HUNTING (probably the film where most American viewers first spotted him); AMISTAD; RONIN; TIMECODE; KING ARTHUR; two EXORCIST prequels (DOMINION and EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING) that were meant to be one; two PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN films as Bootstrap Bill; MAMMA MIA!; ANGELS AND DEMONS; the remake of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO; CINDERELLA, and earlier this year in OUR KIND OF TRAITOR. He also starred late last year in the BBC/Netflix series “River.”
Hopefully in the next few months, we’ll also see Skarsgård is already-shot works by Volker Schlöndorff (RETURN TO MONTAUK) and Martha Coolidge (MUSIC, WAR AND LOVE). With IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE, Skarsgård plays a emotionally withdrawn man living in Norway running a snowplow business, who is seeking the parties who killed his troubled son. The remarkable film manages to be both shockingly brutal and wickedly humorous, as Skarsgård run roughshod through this isolated community killing so many deserving parties. The film is worth the price of admission is only for a scene that puts Skarsgård in a one-on-one scene with the great German actor Bruno Ganz. The film was actually released well over two years ago throughout Europe, and is finally getting a limited release stateside. Please enjoy the talented Stellan Skarsgård, with whom I had a great time chatting…
Stellan Skarsgård: Hi, Steve.
Capone: Hello, sir. How are you?
SS: I’m good. How are you doing?
Capone: I’m good. Is it strange to be promoting a film that premiered two-and-a-half years ago?
SS: I think it’s always strange to promote films, because usually whenever I promote a film, I’ve done two or three after that film, and I usually don't remember much, so I have to invent really good answers [laughs].
Capone: Fine by me. The first question isn’t specifically about this film, but working with your director, Hanz, again, you two have made a series of films together that are all really exceptional. Would you say he pushes you a little harder as an actor than maybe some of the other directors you’ve worked with? Lars von Trier perhaps being the exception.
SS: I would say it’s not that he pushes. He just gives me better roles than anyone else. He gives me much better roles than Lars von Trier does. And Lars doesn’t push me either. Both of them have to do pretty much what I want. Our first film was ZERO KELVIN, and we found a way to enjoy being in each other company. I’m much faster than he is, and he’s much smarter than me [laughs], so we help each other out in a very good way. He’s given me four really good roles, and maybe four of the best roles in my career. It’s wonderful material. He doesn’t have to push me. I gladly run myself there.
Even when he does a film like this, where some of the characters really are over the top and they’re almost farcical, he cares about every character. They’re not just functions. So his films are always populated with real human beings one way or another. That is a great quality. When we were supposed to do this film, I was hesitant, because when I read the script, I didn’t know what kind of film it was going to be because it’s such a mixture of genres and styles, and I couldn’t see the film for the first time. So I was worried. He just said trust me, and I did trust him and I was right. I didn't know it was going to work until I saw the first cut of it.
Capone: You’re right, it is a mixture of tones. The biggest shock for me in this film was how much I laughed at some really dark moments. He did that with the last film you two made—put humor in places that were unexpected. Is that something like what you’re talking about?
SS: Yeah, and I really like that. I like that kind of humor. Maybe it’s Scandinavian to a certain extent. When you live through the dark winters, you have to be able to laugh at mystery in a way [laughs]. Sometimes I find tragedy very comical.
Capone: One of the interesting things about this particular character is, I didn’t time out how many lines you have, but it doesn’t seem like you speak that much, and that’s partly a product of the fact that he’s not able to express himself on a good day, but all the pain and all the rage is on your face, and in your eyes, and the way you carry yourself. Was that a fulfilling challenge?
SS: I love it. I try to cut out as much of the dialogue as I can in most films. A lot of films still suffer from the heritage from theater, which is literature, where everything is expressed in dialogue, while I find it far more interesting to say as little as possible and show instead of telling. So every film I do, I cut down the dialogue and say “I can show that, I can show that, I can show that.” But of course you need a director who understands that and also actually photographs you when you show it and not only photographs you when you talk.
Capone: One of the things that permeates this film is this idea of fathers and sons, and the three main characters—you, Bruno Ganz’s character, and then the actor that play the Count—they either have their sons killed or they’re threatened with being killed. This is the opposite of a lot of films where it’s all about business and it’s not personal. This is very personal.
SS: Yeah. Hans Petter and I, together we have 14 kids. I have eight and he has six, so fatherhood is not something exotic or strange to us.
Capone: I’ve actually interviewed a couple of your sons in the past. I just talked to Bill earlier this year; I think he’s going to make a great killer clown [in IT], by the way.
SS: Oh, yeah. He showed me some pictures. I think it’s going to be horrifying [laughs].
Capone: I love that Nils is in the snowplow business, because I imagine that in a place like this, he would be very well known and very successful in his job, but he’s an outsider. If I remember correctly, he’s not supposed to be from Norway.
SS: Yeah, but that’s why the problem is that I’m not Norwegian. But there’s one funny line about it, when they talk about immigrants and somebody says he’s an immigrant too, because to Norwegians, we [the Swedish] are not really immigrants. Immigrants come from third-world countries something. But of course, he’s an immigrant. It’s like in America, everybody’s an immigrant. Whatever Trump says, if you want to make America great again, you should have built the wall in 1492.
Capone: But Nils has these blunt instruments that push away the snow, but he becomes a blunt instrument to find out to kill his son, to a certain degree. Would you agree with that?
SS: Yeah, he becomes a very blunt instrument. But the thing is, he has a very important job in that remote community. He’s a very nice man. He’s very respected. He never breaks the law and can’t even imagine himself breaking the law. But he’s a man, as you said, who doesn’t say much. He’s a man that doesn’t have the language or the tools or the knowledge to handle the situation and the frustration that he is in. And then suddenly, another part of him that he didn’t know existed shows its ugly face you might say, and he becomes this vigilante. I think that morally, I do not agree with what he’s doing, because I don’t believe in lynching, I don’t believe in vigilantes, and I don’t even believe in capital punishment. But you do understand him, and I find that interesting, because of course we can understand him. If something happened to my children, if I was more stupid, I would just go kill.
Capone: So you think it’s a matter of intelligence as to whether someone choses that?
SS: It’s a matter of having or not having the tools to deal with the situation, or a society that’s capable of dealing with. I believe every film should end with the police arresting the bad guy, and he should have a fair trial and go to jail instead of being mutilated.
Capone: You have a scene near the end of the film with Bruno Ganz. You share a plow ride together. There are no words spoken, but that scene is magnificent because there’s so much communicated between them. Tell me what you remember about shooting that scene.
SS: I wasn’t sure I wanted to do the film, because I didn’t quiet understand it, and Hans Petter said trust me, and I trusted him. He said, “And I always wanted to see you and Bruno Ganz together.” And I said, “Yeah. I’ve always love Bruno Ganz and I would love to do something with him.” And then we had the final scene, and at first there was a lot of dialogue there. We were sitting there talking, and we decided to just take away the dialogue. I said we could show that. That’s much more fun, much more interesting, and we can convey what is happening between them without a lot of words that would just dilute what was happening.
Capone: I didn’t know I wanted to see the two of you in a scene together until I saw the scene, then I realized I needed very badly.
SS: [laughs] Oh, Steve. Thank you.
Capone: It sounds like Hans is re-making this film in English, and it’s not the first time one of your films have been remade, with INSOMNIA being the most obvious one. What do you feel about that?
SS: I’ve got my version. I’m absolutely fine with it. Liam Neeson is supposed to play my part. That’s what I’ve heard, and I like him a lot. But I hope Hans Petter does it, because you want a good director so you just don’t get a diluted version that becomes just a revenge movie.
Capone: It’s funny, because I think I read somewhere that you said, in the past, that some people used to mistake you for Liam Neeson. So this isn’t going to help that cause.
SS: No, it’s not going to help. Not anymore. It’s been a couple of years when it happened a couple of times. But it hasn’t happened for a while now.
Capone: Over the years, you’ve cultivated these relationships with different directors—with Hans, with Lars von Trier. You made a couple things with Kenneth Branagh over the years. Do you enjoy having that language with directors, so you don’t have to start from scratch with each one?
SS: Yeah, I love it. I love it. It saves so much time and energy. You know what they’re good at, and you know their weaknesses, and they know what you’re good at and your weaknesses. And you can cover for each other. There’s so much you don’t need to talk about. You don't have to court each other every time. It’s much more relaxing, and you feel freer. I love it.
Capone: You recently did a series for the BBC a year or two ago, which landed on Netflix here. How was that experience for you, and do you think you’d ever return to television?
SS: It’s called “River,” and it was written by Abi Morgan. It’s a fantastic script. And it’s so different from everything else, and I love ddoing it. It was hard work, but I think it’s a very beautiful series. What’s happening is that so many talented writers and directors and actors that used to do the mid-budget films, under $100 million but over $3 million budgets. Those films don't exist anymore, so most of that talent is now in television and doing very beautiful work.
Hopefully I will end up doing more television, but good television. The problem with television is sometimes, a lot of the storytelling in many shows is in the dialogue. They write so it doesn’t matter who plays it, it doesn’t matter who directs it, it’s going to work anyway. The information is going to come through. My kind of acting, I don’t like to work in the dialogue. I love to work between the lines, like the final scene in the film, which has no lines at all. That’s the kind of acting I like to do.
Capone: I have to ask real quick: I have not seen your name listed in the cast list for the new THOR movie that’s being shot right now. I know you probably can’t say if you’re in it or not, but it doesn't appear that you are.
SS: No I’m not. I’m not in it.
Capone: So you’re not going to show up in it and make me look like a liar?
SS: [laughs] I’m not going to make you a liar. But you never know, sometimes when they’re cutting, they get desperate and say, “People don't understand this. Let’s call in Dr. Selvig and explain it.”
Capone: Back to this film. What was the toughest logistical aspect of shooting in all that snow and cold?
SS: The cold, the cold. I’m not an outdoor man. I don’t even have proper winter clothes. But someone gave me some really nice winter clothes for this film and also wardrobe provided me with good clothes. It was like 40 below, and you can see in some scenes that the face can barely move because of the cold.
Capone: Well, that’s good because you don’t talk very much anyway, so that helps.
SS: [laughs] I’m so happy that Noel Coward didn’t write it, because then it would have been a six-hour-long film.
Capone: In terms of some things you’ve got coming up, you made a movie with Volker Schlondorff recently [RETURN TO MONTAUK]. Can you talk to me about what do you do in that?
SS: I’ve always wanted to work with Volker. I mean, he was one of the big heroes in German cinema in the 1970s, and he’s such a talented director, and then he calls me and says he has this script that he’s done with Colm Toibin, the Irish writer who wrote BROOKLYN. And it is against all my principals, because there are tons of words, and it’s literature. So I have to say yes, of course. But it’s inspired by Max Frisch’s book “Montauk,” but it’s a new take on it by Colm Toibin. I don’t know who’s going to see it, or what’s going to happen to it, but it’s a beautiful piece, and there were two great German actresses I got to work with as well. We shot in in Montauk in New York in the beginning of the summer.
Capone: Stellan, thank you so much for taking the time to talk and best of luck with this and everything else down the line.
