Stellan Skarsgard
Stellan Skarsgard
Stellan John Skarsgård; born 13 June 1951) is a Swedish actor. He is known for his roles as Jan Nyman in Breaking the Waves, Prof. Gerald Lambeau in Good Will Hunting, Bootstrap Bill in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chestand Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Bill Anderson in Mamma Mia!, Martin Vanger in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and Dr. Erik Selvig in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Thor, The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, and...
NationalitySwedish
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth13 June 1951
CityGothenburg, Sweden
CountrySweden
I started acting long before I decided to pursue it. I started acting as an amateur when I was a kid, but I wanted to become a diplomat. It was self-centered and weird, but I had this idea of going out in the world and solving conflicts and making the world a better place.
I'm not religious or anything, but to me it's great fun and it's nice to have a lot of kids. They take care of each other.
In Hollywood you got work around you all the time. You can't get a taxi without that the driver hand you a script.
Actors are different. Some actors play themselves very successfully, but I come from the theater. Having done Shakespeare, we sometimes did three or four characters in the same play.
I love having 30 shots of every scene.
I never help my kids and I never encourage them and I never give them any advice.
I treat everyone as equals. I can't work if I'm not having fun, and I can't have fun if not everyone is happy.
One of the beauties of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is the very delicate and strange relationship between the two main characters.
People don't want to read subtitles.
All directors are control freaks and very obsessive. I get the feeling that directors as kids, they all have had a childhood with not too much contact with other kids. They constructed their own reality and they continue to do it. It's a funny breed, directors.
I'm not always happy when Hollywood does remakes of films, but that's usually, when they have a very, very, very good film and they take away anything controversial from it and make flatter.
There was a Russian director named Elem Klimov, who did his films during the communist days. They were constantly struggling with the authorities and to be allowed to express themselves. But he did one of the best war movies I've ever seen - it's called 'Come and See.
The way I look at humanity, I don't think there's good guys or bad guys. We're all potentially bad and potentially good.
Theres nothing more reassuring than a world thats crazier than you are.