{"id":312787,"date":"2025-12-12T21:50:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T21:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/312787\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T21:50:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T21:50:11","slug":"alexander-and-stellan-skarsgard-on-pillion-bdsm-and-awards-season-rivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/312787\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexander and Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd on Pillion BDSM and Awards Season Rivals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFor Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd<\/a>, art is imitating life this fall in one sense: In \u201cSentimental Value<\/a>,\u201d he plays a well-known artist with actor children. The difference may be in, well, sentiment \u2014 the real-life Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd has an affectionate bond with his son, Alexander (one of several Skarsg\u00e5rd offspring to work as actors), while Gustav Borg, the character he plays onscreen, is far more closed-off. It\u2019s a triumphant return to the screen for the actor, who suffered a stroke in 2022. Stellan and Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd<\/a> affectionately rib one another at only the latest of their awards-season stops together, as Alexander promotes his own knotty and complex film, \u201cPillion,\u201d in which he plays the forbidding, unknowable top in a gay BDSM relationship.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan Skarsg\u00e5rd: When did you first want to be an actor? Did you want to be an actor? The first film you did, you were seven or something, right?<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander Skarsg\u00e5rd: Allan Edwall, the iconic Swedish actor-director, was over at our place. You guys were drinking wine. He was going to direct a film, and he needed a seven-year-old kid. I happened to be around and I happened to be seven, so he probably just asked you. Straight-up nepotism: That\u2019s how I booked the job. I don\u2019t even think I auditioned for it. He cast me as the lead of the movie \u2014 it\u2019s about a bourgeoise family in the \u201830s, and it\u2019s quite an affluent neighborhood, but his friend is from a poor part of town and ends up dying in the movie. I was cast as a lead, and then Allan found another guy who looked way more bourgeoise.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: You weren\u2019t bourgeoise enough.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: Well, I was very skinny and looked malnourished. It made sense that I would be the dying buddy, rather than the lead.<\/p>\n

\n\tI didn\u2019t answer your question. I didn\u2019t want to be an actor. Your question was when did I know?<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: Maybe you don\u2019t know even now.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: I\u2019m still trying to figure it out, what do I do when I grow up.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: That\u2019s something you\u2019ve got to wait until you\u2019re mature enough to make a decision about, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: Have you landed comfortably in the decision?<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: As long as I make a lot of money and have fun with this, I will do this until I know what I will do.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: You still want to be a firefighter? Never give up on your dreams, Dad.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: You were playing consumption very well. You really looked dying. The smaller role that you did was a much better role, don\u2019t you agree? You got to die!<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: It was a very juicy part. But I did not walk away from that production thinking, \u201cThis is what I do for the rest of my life.\u201d I remember craft services was great. I got free Cinnabons, which was exciting. But that was the main thing I took away from that experience.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: It\u2019s about the same time you told me, \u201cWhy can\u2019t you have a normal job and work with data and drive a Saab, like everybody else does?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: And wear a suit, goddamit, instead of your weird hippie sarongs or nothing. My dream was for my family to be normal and fit in and be like everybody else\u2019s family. For you to have a briefcase, that would\u2019ve been fantastic, rather than a weird tote bag that you found in India. Most people in our family are artists \u2014 a lot of eccentric, big personalities that I loved. But the early teens, bringing friends over was always like, \u201cOh, God,\u201d because I wanted it to be like everyone else\u2019s household. I was very adamant \u2014 I was going to be in a cubicle, drive a Saab, and have that beautiful briefcase.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: You did some TV series when you were in the early teens, right? And that was a disaster because you got too popular.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlexi Lubomirski for Variety<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: I did a television film when I was 13. It got a little bit of attention \u2014 enough to make me freak out. Not that I had pursued acting up until that point, but after that, I was like, I don\u2019t want to do this at all. I didn\u2019t act for another eight years.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: If you work with data, you can afford to buy your own Cinnabons.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: That was what I pursued after that. But I failed.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: You failed trying to have a normal life?<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: I think I did. Clearly, we\u2019re sitting here with no briefcase.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: You went into the military \u2014 did you do that in opposition to me, to provoke me?<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: Looking back, I don\u2019t think it was an act of rebellion against you. But coming from a bohemian family, I was like, I want to find my own path. The most extreme contrast would be to go into the military. So it wasn\u2019t a conscious \u201cFuck you, Dad\u201d thing.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: I felt fucked.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: You\u2019re a tremendous actor, Father, because I never felt that.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: I am not the kind of father who says, \u201cNo, you shouldn\u2019t do that.\u201d I don\u2019t interfere with your decisions. But being a military evader like me, it felt like, \u201cOh, wow.\u201d I also knew that all you eight kids have different ways of approaching everything. Maybe I\u2019m lazy, but I think it\u2019s best to let you do it on your own.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: How did you get out of the military? When I joined, it was semi-mandatory. But when you were a teenager, it was mandatory.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: I went to a friend who worked at a drug rehabilitation institution. And I made him write a letter to the draft board saying, \u201cIf you feel that Skarsg\u00e5rd is fit for military service, keep him under special surveillance because he might influence other kids. He smokes hashish.\u201d Four hours later, I got a message from the draft: \u201cDon\u2019t come here. Don\u2019t go near us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: You were pursuing acting at that point.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: I was working as an actor in the theater. I quit school when I was 17 because I got a theater offer in another town.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: Are you ever going to be on stage again?<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: No, never. A couple of years ago, we had a reading of a play in London. The actors rehearse a little, and then you gather in the evening and read from the script to find out if it\u2019s a good play. I had not been working in the theater for years, and I found, \u201cMy God, this doesn\u2019t work.\u201d I couldn\u2019t reach the audience. I felt like I was just waiting for my close-up so I could do something. I ran out in the West End and went up and down the streets, doing voice exercises and physical exercises. I was so scared when I came back to the theater in the evening, I shook so much that I couldn\u2019t even read the lines from the script.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen my cue came, suddenly I felt something. The voice came, and the expression came, and the feeling came from years of theater work. And I knew that I could reach the furthest away in the audience.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: When you stepped out onstage and felt that, were you bitten by the bug again? Were you feeling like, maybe it\u2019d be fine to do something more than a reading?<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: Of course, I felt this was lovely. But it\u2019s too much work for me now \u2014 I can\u2019t remember a lot of lines like that. But when theater is good, it\u2019s better than anything else. But that doesn\u2019t happen that often. When you\u2019re working on a bad show, going down every night knowing it\u2019s bad, you have to struggle. I\u2019ve been enjoying learning film, learning more every day.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: That\u2019s interesting, because I have nothing more to learn.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlexi Lubomirski for Variety<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: When you suddenly decided to become an actor, you went to a university in New York and studied acting for a while. And then you did some small things in Sweden, but basically were going to auditions in L.A. for six years, right?<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: It was 2000 \u2014 you were shooting a movie in L.A. I came out to visit, and I had just finished drama school in New York and didn\u2019t have representation in Sweden. Your old manager was like, \u201cGee, I\u2019ll send you out to an audition. Wouldn\u2019t that be fun?\u201d And it was for \u201cZoolander,\u201d and I got a small part in the movie. Two weeks later, I\u2019m in Tribeca shooting with Ben Stiller.<\/p>\n

\n\tI was very naive, because I\u2019d only been to one audition, and I\u2019d booked it. I was like, it\u2019s a piece of cake. You just walk in and Ben Stiller\u2019s there and then they fly you business class to New York and you shoot. And then I realized it was a lot harder; it was many years of auditioning and not booking anything. It wasn\u2019t down to the wire, the last group of guys \u2014 I was often cut way earlier. But occasionally, almost getting stuff was enough to keep me going.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: I felt I was bleeding with you because of this constant rejection.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: I know you were nervous going into \u201cSentimental Value\u201d \u2014 about the weight of it, or your own capability of playing the part.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: You mean because of the stroke? I wasn\u2019t that nervous, because I\u2019d made the second season of \u201cAndor\u201d and the second part of \u201cDune\u201d after the stroke. The directors of both helped me a lot \u2014 I was in the hospital and called Tony Gilroy and Denis Villeneuve and said, \u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen.\u201d They were very supportive.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: Did you feel like, \u201cI know I can fix this\u201d?<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: I felt I could do it. I still had my voice. I didn\u2019t know how to handle this sort of earwig thing. But with the earwig \u2014 the guy talking in my ear \u2014 must not interrupt my rhythm; I have to hear the other person saying my cue, and he has to be very fast and clear, without emotion, say the line, and then I can create my rhythm. That was complicated. I thought, \u201cWell, maybe this is it. Maybe I won\u2019t get any more jobs.\u201d And then Joachim [Trier] called me.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: I remember before going into it, it was almost an existential crisis. You\u2019ve been acting for 60 years, and then it\u2019s like, \u201cIs that it? Am I never going to do this again?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: But also, I\u2019m 74 years old now. Most people writing are much younger. They rarely understand older people. They think old people can\u2019t handle a cellphone, walk funny and can\u2019t tie their shoelaces. Most of the scripts that I get are someone who\u2019s got dementia or Alzheimer\u2019s. With all respect for those people, I don\u2019t want to play that yet. Suddenly you\u2019re supposed to play a certain age, not a person.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen I got the offer to do Joachim\u2019s film, he knew that I would say yes, of course. I invited him to Stockholm to dinner. I insisted on paying, because I said, \u201cI don\u2019t want to owe you anything, you cocky fucker.\u201d I got the script and read it and it was fantastic, very sexy and beautiful. I knew I would say yes, but I still didn\u2019t say yes immediately.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: Why did you not commit?<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: He was being a little shy himself. We were dancing around each other like two dogs sniffing each other\u2019s asses. \u201cHow does your feces smell? Can I trust you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: Clearly his feces smelled pretty good.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: His process is brilliant, and he had written the role basically for me. Getting a role like that, one of the best roles I\u2019ve ever had, it was magic to me. The feeling on set is beautiful.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: Similar to [Lars] von Trier?<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: Yes, but the outcome is different. The Trier brothers have this similar thing that, for whatever is produced in front of the camera, you have to let go. It has to be spontaneous. And you have to allow accidents to happen \u2014 the weirdness that you can\u2019t plan.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen you got the script for \u201cPillion,\u201d did you know [writer-director Harry Lighton] before?<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: Not at all. It was kind of out of the blue.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: What was it that caught your eye?<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: Well, it was a love story set in the world of BDSM, which intrigued me enough to open the script, at least. As soon as I did that, I was hooked. I was really surprised \u2014 I didn\u2019t expect it to be so tender and sweet and funny and awkward. It was such a rich, beautiful script. I had a conversation with Harry and was incredibly impressed by his vision, how he wanted to tell this story.<\/p>\n

\n\tJournalists have been like, \u201cOh, it must have been such a scary decision to jump onboard. It\u2019s a kinky gay biker movie by a first-time filmmaker. Why take that risk?\u201d But if a script is phenomenal and you believe in the director, it\u2019s not scary. I am scared if I\u2019m not crazy about the script or if I have reservations about the filmmaker. I really believed in Harry.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe elephant in the room here, Dad, is that we\u2019re both nominated for a Gotham Award in the same category. [At this year\u2019s Gotham Awards, held on December 1, both Skarsg\u00e5rds lost their category to \u201cSinners\u201d actor Wunmi Mosaku.] <\/p>\n

\n\tAnd people believe that it\u2019s all going to be chummy and dad and son support each other. Which we are to a certain extent.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: There are limits.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: Now we\u2019re up against each other.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: Now it\u2019s gloves off.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: \u201cSentimental Value\u201d \u2014 a beautiful film. You play yourself, right? An absentee father?<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: That\u2019s an insult.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: The smear campaign has begun.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: You don\u2019t have to smear \u201cPillion.\u201d It smears itself.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: What do you think of my performance in \u201cPillion\u201d? Was it worthy of \u2014 I don\u2019t know \u2014 a Gotham Award?<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: It\u2019s very hard to predict whether it is worthy of a Gotham Award or not. But it was a very moving and beautiful film, and I had a lot of fun seeing it. You showed me sides of you that I had never seen before.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: Literally.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: Literally.<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: But it was a really incredible weekend we had at the Telluride Film Festival. Usually, you dip in for 48 hours and it\u2019s press junkets and screenings and then you\u2019re out. But this was lovely, because all we had to do was one Q & A each. So we had time to hang out, get drunk together, be hungover together, see each other\u2019s movies. Watching \u201cSentimental Value\u201d with you next to me was something I\u2019ll never forget. Because knowing what you went through in the years leading up to it \u2026 It was a 9 a.m. screening, so I was a little hungover, very fragile and emotionally open.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: It really gets to people when they\u2019re slightly fragile, right?<\/p>\n

\n\tAlexander: Yes.<\/p>\n

\n\tStellan: Like any film does.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is a conversation from Variety and CNN\u2019s Actors on Actors<\/a>. To watch the full video, go to\u00a0CNN\u2019s streaming platform<\/a>\u00a0now. Or check out Variety\u2019s YouTube page at 3 p.m. ET today.<\/p>\n

\t\tProduction: Emily Ullrich; Agency: Nevermind Agency\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd, art is imitating life this fall in one sense: In \u201cSentimental Value,\u201d he plays a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121794,124361,6491,96,86103,96111,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-312787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-actors-on-actors","tag-alexander-skarsgu00e5rd","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-sentimental-value","tag-stellan-skarsgu00e5rd","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}