Max von Sydow
Max von Sydow
Max von Sydowis a Swedish actor who became a French citizen in 2002. He has appeared in many films, in many languages, including Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, English, French, Italian and Spanish. He received the Royal Foundation of Sweden's Cultural Award in 1954, was made a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres in 2005, and was named a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur on 17 October 2012...
NationalitySwedish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth10 April 1929
CityLund, Sweden
CountrySweden
I've been the type of father who tries desperately to be perfect but doesn't succeed all the time.
Bergman was courageous in choosing people to do things that they themselves might not expect to play.
Between you and me, odd things happen always on set.
Sometimes you remember more about the location where you shot the film than the film itself.
Sometimes you become friends with the characters you portray.
I would like to do 'King Lear.' But I would like to do it in Swedish.
I would love to do parts I have never done before, but unfortunately, if you have had success in a particular type of character, the casting agents think, 'Oh! We'll have something exactly like that.' It's very boring.
Most screenplays I receive are boring, and some are straight-out bad.
When I know what the character I'm supposed to play wants in general terms, and when I know what did the other characters want to do, that's when all these wills collide and the emotions show up.
France is, for me, the country of happiness.
I don't have a philosophy for choosing roles. Sometimes, it's just, 'This might be interesting; that might be fun to do.' There might be interesting actors or directors in the project, even if the part is not important. And then sometimes, you need the money.
Nobody told me there was any idea for a sequel to 'The Exorcist.' But my agent called me to tell me they were going to do it, and there was a part for me. I said, 'But I died in the first film.' 'Well,' he told me, 'this is from the early days of Father Merrin's life.' I told him I just didn't want to do it again.
No doubt, the most important thing in my career was my time with Mr. Bergman, with whom I worked in so many films and also in so many stage productions, so it was a continuous working relationship and also a friendship, of course, that lasted for so many years.
Mr. Bergman was a man of great working discipline. He forced everyone to concentrate when it was important. No disturbing noise during rehearsal. A code of silence.