Blast- Skarsgård Takes on Hollywood
Alexander Skarsgård
10-2-2008
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 hardly 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 theater’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 am definitely 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.
SOURCE: Frihet (Tack J…Kram Kram!!!!)
