New Alex Interview with Vanity Fair España! ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD: “WHEN ‘BIG LITTLE LIES’ WAS RELEASED PEOPLE LOOKED AT ME DIFFERENTLY, ALMOST AS IF I WAS DANGEROUS” We interviewed the actor when he released his latest movie, 'Hold the Dark’ on Netflix. He has confessed that Malasaña is one of his favorite places in the world. BY DANIEL MARTÍNEZ MANTILLA We are in the city of Toronto, but for a moment it seems that Alexander Skarsgård only wants to talk about Madrid. In August and September of 2017, the impressive Swedish actor spent two months in the Spanish capital because of the filming of a movie, The Kill Team, which has not yet reached theaters. “The locations were one hour from the city, but I had never been to Madrid and I wanted to live the full experience. I rented a flat in Malasaña and now it’s one of my favorite places in the world. ” The same person who at one point in his career decided to retire due to his aversion to fame fell in love with the attitude of the people of Madrid. “There was something very special about these people. They are very warm, open, ask many questions and make you feel like you are one of them. I can not wait to go back,” he acknowledges, despite the fact that his presence in the city spread like wildfire through social networks. The actor who we fell in love with as the unpredictable vampire Eric Northman in True Blood is premiering his new film. Starting this Friday you can watch exclusively on Netflix the thriller Hold the Dark, an adaptation of a violent novel set in Alaska that unites the (icy) ways of a wolf expert and a woman who has lost her son and who does not dare to tell her husband, a soldier who is still on the front oblivious to his reality. The Swedish actor told us about what it means to be the son of one of the most popular Swedish actors, his difficult relationship with fame, the roles that have made him one of the most sought-after actors of the decade and his meeting (or not) with Meryl Streep in the highly anticipated second season of Big Little Lies. Vanity Fair España: What was it that attracted you to Hold the Dark? Alex: I had seen Jeremy Saulnier’s first film, Blue Ruin, when it premiered in 2013. It seemed extraordinary to me. I’ve followed his career since then and spoke with my agent. I told him I would love to work with him. Green Room I also loved it, so I did not doubt it when they told me that they wanted to work with me on their next movie. Hold the Dark had an extraordinary script. It seemed unique to me. I was fascinated by the world created by William Giraldi in the novel and Macon Blair knew how to transform it and adapt it in the script. It was not the typical story that confronts man with nature. Here the worst enemy of the human being is himself. It had many details and was very dense, but many more things happen than it seems at first glance. VF: Your character is defined by what he does, not by what he says. Alex: My big challenge here was not to build an evolutionary arc for Vernon. Usually when you face a story you look for turning points in your character’s journey, the conflict, the motivations behind … I wanted Vernon to go through the story as if it were an arrow. It was very tempting to go back to the idea that the war had caused his post-traumatic stress disorder, but I wanted to avoid that. I thought it would be more interesting if his existence were inside a vacuum. That was reinforced by the lack of dialogue. I had never played a character who was so focused in each scene. VF: In your adolescence you worked as an actor, but there came a time when you decided to stop and join the army. Why? Alex: The army taught me a discipline, a structure and a concentration that my life did not have then. When I was thirteen years old I made a film for television in Sweden (Hunden som log)(The Dog that Smiled), in which I played a child who had to deal with the death of his pet and that received a lot of attention. I did not like the feeling of being exposed and I did not go back to work for ten years. It made me uncomfortable when people recognized me. It is a complicated time and full of changes. Thirteen is hard for any child and fame made things more difficult. I was insecure and the attention made me even more insecure. I just wanted to be a teen again. VF: Your case is even more particular. You belong to a very important dynasty of actors in Sweden (His father, Stellan, is a legend of European cinema, his brother, Bill, has become one of the rising stars of Hollywood after playing the clown of “It”) What was it like growing up in a family with artistic tendencies? Alex: The truth is that it is something that I did not enjoy in adolescence. My father was very eccentric and very different from my parents’ friends who worked in an office. They were going to work in suits. My father was naked for life. Everything that I adore and admire about my father today was a conflict when I was younger. I did not want to stand out. I was not looking for anyone to notice me. VF: You started acting very young. You were 7 years when you made your first film. Alex: It was casual. It was never a personal choice. I did not want to be an actor. A friend of my father who was a director needed a seven-year-old boy for a movie. He was at our house in Stockholm, chatting with my father and suddenly he had the idea. “Maybe Alex wants to do it.” I liked the idea and that role lead me to other jobs. But I never saw myself as a child actor like those in Hollywood. “Here are my photos! I want to be an actor!”. It was never my dream. It just happened like that. VF: You live in New York. Is Los Angeles too hostile for a European? Alex: I’ve been living in New York for several years, but I just bought a house in Stockholm, which is where my family lives. My goal is to live halfway between the two cities. I love Los Angeles and I have lived there for ten years, but I felt that my life there depended too much on the industry. My friends in Stockholm and New York are dedicated to other things. When I’m not working, I prefer to be away from the business. I missed walking to places, talking to people, taking the subway and finding myself in my day to day with all kinds of people. VF: This month it’s been ten years since the release of True Blood. How do you remember your time on the series? Alex: You and I would not be talking here today if it were not for True Blood. It changed my career forever and gave me opportunities I had never dreamed of. It was an absolutely wonderful professional and personal experience. I really enjoyed playing Eric Northman. I think I’ll never create a character as fun as him. Receiving the scripts for the series was an adventure in itself. You never had a clue what was going to happen, especially at the beginning. I signed up for the series without knowing how long Eric would be in the series. They never told me that I would be there for 7 seasons. VF: Another key character in your career has been Perry in Big Little Lies. You won all the awards for that role, but … what has been the reaction of people to the role of an abuser? Alex: It’s curious. When Big Little Lies was released I was filming Hold the Dark, isolated and almost without communication in the middle of Canada. I was not watching the series and it took me several weeks to realize the cultural impact I was having. When I finished the film and stopped living in a forest for two months, I returned to the United States. It was palpable that something had changed. People looked at me differently, almost as if I were dangerous. I was surprised at how much I liked it even though I was optimistic. It was Jean-Marc Vallé, with a wonderful script and an incredible cast. I thought it was a great story, but you never know how it will connect with the public. VF: How did you react when you discovered that Meryl Streep will be your mother in the second season? Alex: It was surreal. We had Nicole (Kidman), Reese (Witherspoon), Laura (Dern), Zoe (Kravitz) and Shailene (Woodley), some of the best actresses on the planet. And then Meryl Streep arrives. VF: Did not you get mad that she was not in your season or is it that we’re going to see a flashback with you and Meryl? Alex: (He weighs a couple of seconds before answering) Maybe. We’ll see. VF: You retired from acting temporarily [when you were young] because of fame. How is your relationship with acting now? Alex: I have learned to see it in a different way. When I was young, I became paranoid. I love my work and I feel a true passion for interpretation. If I put blood, sweat and tears in my projects, it’s very nice that it means something to someone. You want people to see what you do and affect them in a personal way, for better or for worse. I prefer to stay with that. Sources: Article: Vanity Fair España (x, x), Translation: Google + some clean-up & interpretation by The Library, Photo credit: Ben Trivet for EW.com (x)
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