Stellan Skarsgård Didn't Intend to Become an Actor; Now He's an Oscar Nominee

16:02Rebecca Ford:He said it himself. Stela and I know what kind of films I'm making. Yes, Lars, what kind of films are you making? I'm making the films that hasn't been made. That's it. That's one of the reasons. I mean, every film, whether it's brilliant or half good or just weird, it has never been done before. And that is very refreshing.

16:27Stellan Skarsgård:What is the process like, though, with him? Is it different for every film? Because he does, you know, Dancer in the Dark is different than Dogville, is different than Breaking the Waves. He does something different each time.

16:40Rebecca Ford:But in essence, he does not do anything different because what he discovered after his first five films was that he experienced them as cold. They were cold. They were technically brilliant, but they didn't communicate any humanity. So he wrote the Dogma Manifest. He got rid of all his tools, and he let the actors be. And that's the same recipe as Joachim Trier. Yeah. He did Breaking the Waves, which was, as a script, fantastic. As a book, fantastic. You can read it and you have enough. But making a film out of it, if you had made a conventional film, it would have been unbearable because it would have been the, you remember the Raiders of the Lost Ark as an adventure film?

17:37Rebecca Ford:This would have been in melodrama. what the radius of the last arc was every scene is like a peak scene in a melodrama but he he let the actors be and he had wonderful emily watson of course uh that uh they sort of brought more life so you didn't see the construction behind it because you you can tolerate quite a construction if there's enough life to hide it. And I love melodrama, as long as you don't see it.

18:14John DeFore:You started acting quite young in Sweden. What made you feel like that was, you know, a possibility, that was something you could pursue?

18:24Rebecca Ford:I didn't intend to become an actor, even if, I mean, even if, when I, I became famous in Sweden when I was 16 years old, and I continued. I was still continuing my career as a diplomat. And I wanted to become a diplomat and save people and lives and the world and do good things. But I found out that, first of all, the theater, it took me over, and I became an addict in that way. But also I realized that a diplomat doesn't always do that, save the world.

19:02Stellan Skarsgård:What was your transition into getting into Hollywood and U.S. films? How different are the two industries?

19:12Rebecca Ford:Of course, the motives for making a film is different in America. In Europe, the motive is mainly to make something that is really interesting as art in America it's mainly that to make something that makes a lot of money but that doesn't mean that every individual has that kind of idea about it like the directors I worked with in big blockbusters is Denis Villeneuve that's an independent filmmaker for you it's Fincher that's an independent filmmaker for you and it's Gore Verbinski even that did the Pirates of the Caribbean. Very independent and absurd filmmaking. But the thing is, so when you work with those good directors, the work around the camera is very much the same.

20:11Rebecca Ford:Of course, the material is different, which means it asks different things of you. I mean, take Denis Villeneuve now, the Fat Baron that I did. And the thing that as an actor, what you had to do was not to make a human being. It was not to show his different side. It was just to make him fucking frightening. Right. And to make sure that he was not too much in the film so the audience can do the frightening job for you and remember him and remember him and remember him. And the scenes has to be a few scenes, but he has to dominate them. He can sort of hang around because then he's not frightening.

21:03Rebecca Ford:He cannot. The first idea they had, they had a lot of armor on him and this sort of futuristic armor that made him look like a marble guy. But that didn't make him dangerous. He was most dangerous when he was naked or in the black pyjama. So that is, when you do a role like that, there's some different considerations you have to deal with. And you have to play very minimalistic in a way.

21:33Stellan Skarsgård:How hard is it, though, to do, I mean, this scene that's so famous is you in that tub of oil. How hard is it to do something that is that physically demanding? plus the technicality of getting it to look the way Denis wants it to look?

21:52Rebecca Ford:Well, you have to be very precise, and you have to work to make it look like it that we want it. That is a lot of work from costume designer, special effects guys, from the cinematographer and lighting. Everybody has to be on top of the game. But it's not hard work in that sense. And for me, it was actually easier when I was in the bathtub because I only had half my body. Yeah.

22:26John DeFore:When you're saying yes to a bigger project like A Dune, are you feeling out the director to make sure they are the sort of artist you're looking for, that that experience is going to still be artistic in that way?

22:39Rebecca Ford:No. but I usually have noticed if they are artistic but the thing I what I'm feeling out is what does he want what kind of universe does he want to create because it has to be his film not anybody else I don't want to be a sort of the guy who sort of ruins his work his idea it should be his and my job is to to put my skills in his, as a job for him. And that's very important. I mean, I know actors who sort of goes on the set and they have an inexperienced director, they say, no, no, no, you don't do it like that, you should do it like this. And they take over. And they're not taking over the cutting.

23:29Rebecca Ford:They're not taking responsibility for the whole film. And it will be sort of destructive. An arthouse film has always a center that is one person, maybe two. And it's one subject. It's subjective. And that subjective you have to be careful with. You have to encourage an inexperienced director very much. Don't break them.

23:53John DeFore:You've spoken about how you had a stroke and that has changed the way you work. What was that time like for you when you were about to go back to work after that?

24:03Rebecca Ford:Well, it was in the middle of Dune. I mean, between one and two. And it was between and or one and two too. So when I had the stroke at a very unfortunate time, I don't have time for this. Yeah, I realized that I couldn't remember lines anymore. And as you notice here, sometimes I lose my trail of thought and language isn't as fluent as it was. So I called Denis and Tony Gelleroy and told them that I had a stroke. And they supported me very much and they said, come in and we'll work on it. And I have to have now an earpiece. And it's pretty difficult. is not someone who's telling you what to say because you can't say it when you want to anyway.

24:58Rebecca Ford:They should say the line that you shall say when your co-actor is saying his line. So at the same time, you get a line that you're reacting to and you get one line that you must not react to. Wow.

25:14Stellan Skarsgård:But that informs you about what you say next. Was that difficult on sentimental value? because it's so dialogue-rich and pacing-wise. It's a real ping-pong match between you and Renata. So how did that work out? I mean, well. Yeah. Yeah.

25:38Rebecca Ford:No, I mean, it takes a lot of preparation. It takes more than it takes to learn lines, actually. And rhythm, as you said, it's very important. It's important to me to have the rhythm with the other actors because it is like a jam session, as I said. It has to, when the ping pong ball lands on your part of the table, you have to hit it. You can't wait. So you have to be exact. But I come from theater, so in theater you always have a little Stalin sitting here on your shoulder and sort of he's holding the reins. He lets me go sometimes, and up, up, up, up, up, and he holds me back, and he turns me right, and, you know, and he turns me left.

26:27Rebecca Ford:And I could use him a lot for those things.

26:33John DeFore:We're going to take another break. When we get back, some listener questions and a rapid-fire round. Don't go away.

26:52Rebecca Ford:You come to the New Yorker Radio Hour for conversations that go deeper with people you really want to hear from, whether it's Bruce Springsteen or Questlove or Olivia Rodrigo, Liz Cheney, or the godfather of artificial intelligence, Jeffrey Hinton, or some of my extraordinarily well-informed colleagues at the New Yorker. So join us every week on the New Yorker Radio Hour, wherever you listen to podcasts.

27:23John DeFore:Welcome back to Little Gold Men. Now, we always like to close our interviews by putting actors on the spot with a lightning round, and Stellan was no exception.

27:34Stellan Skarsgård:I'm going to give you a list of directors, and you're going to tell me you're going to pick one. Director with the best sense of humor. David Fincher, Denis Villeneuve, Lars von Trier. Lars von Trier. Okay. Director who you think would make the best actor? Joaquin, Tony Gilroy, Lars von Trier. Lars von Trier.

27:59Rebecca Ford:But the thing is, he doesn't know how to direct actors. But he understood that his way of directing them when he said, look straight forward and then turn to the left and then to the right. I mean, that was that he had in his first five films. He was extremely controlled. He noticed that that didn't work. So he stepped back. And now he doesn't direct actors at all, basically. But the thing is that cast well and you're pretty good. The director that sort of forms you and forms your performance and molds you, they barely exist at all. Most directors are worse actors than you are. But also, there's Bergman in a way.

28:49Rebecca Ford:He could sit. He could sit with you while you were acting. He could say things while you were acting in the same rhythm. He could give you directions. And he was very good at sort of splitting up the scene into feelings and emotions and stuff. But the best director leaves the actors alone and casts well.

29:18Stellan Skarsgård:Okay. Sentimental value co-star who's best at a party. Renata Inga L. Fanning. I think Renata would. Okay. Why?

29:31Rebecca Ford:They seem all good. Yeah, but have you seen her taking five shots of tequila?

29:36Stellan Skarsgård:I've seen her in Worst Person in the World. Okay, best at karaoke. You, Pierce Brosnan, Meryl Streep. Probably Meryl Streep.

29:51Rebecca Ford:She's best at everything. That's true.

29:55John DeFore:All right, let's wrap it up with a couple audience questions I've got here. All right, from Molly. After 120-plus films and your years in the industry, is there anything that surprises you about filmmaking today or even with the film's sentimental value?

30:10Rebecca Ford:The reason I think it's fun still is because I get surprised all the time by my own performance, by other performers, by things that happen and how it happens. I get surprised by a film like Sentimental Value. I get surprised by the way it's done, and I'm surprised by the result, which is an extremely serious film, but light as a feather, made with a musicality that is fantastic and how the actors came together and started playing this game together. That surprises me. And I'm also surprised by the audience reaction on it. I mean, my 30-year-old boy loves it. And he didn't think it's slow, as he usually says.

31:08Rebecca Ford:He even thinks that TikTok is slow, you know. So it's good grades for sentimental value.

31:17Stellan Skarsgård:Okay, we have a question from Izzy. Is there a role you never got to play that you would still love to? Probably. Or is there a role even on stage that you'd like to try? Well, I would have tried it by now. Okay.

31:32Rebecca Ford:Because, I mean, if you're an actor, nobody can stop you from acting, right? Do Hamlet at the street corner. The only thing they can prevent you from is getting paid. Yeah. That's true.

31:46John DeFore:From Michelle, what's the most fun set you've ever worked on? And then she says, and why is it Mamma Mia?

31:55Rebecca Ford:Yeah, I mean, it is probably Mamma Mia, because we realized very quickly that it's not a film. It's something else. And then we realized after a while that it is a party. And we have to have fun, because otherwise the audience wouldn't have fun. So we had fun.

32:15Stellan Skarsgård:Were you surprised by the reception to that film? I mean, it became such a huge hit. but it's part of the sequel. It remains a hit, yeah. Yeah, it's still a movie that people must come up to you and talk about.

32:29Rebecca Ford:Yeah, well, I mean, it's, yeah, I'm pretty surprised. But I knew, I seen the theater version of it, and it had the same quality of people that are good at dancing and singing and people that are not good at dancing and singing. And they're equally energetic and equally generous with their flaws, you know. And I understood. So then I also understood, aha, that explains the three bimbos, the three men. So because we were supposed to be just funny, stupid and good looking.

33:09Stellan Skarsgård:We have one last question from Beth. And this is a good one. You act in multiple languages in this film. How do you find that experience? Does your brain think in those languages in each scene? Yeah. Is it a different experience?

33:25Rebecca Ford:I mean, Swedish is my mother tongue, but I work so much in English that I dream in English also.

33:33John DeFore:I was going to ask what you dream in. I always find that fascinating. You dream in English, even if you're home for a long time.

33:41Rebecca Ford:And then I also married an American, so my kids sort of are bilingual, so it's a mess.

33:53John DeFore:Well, I think we're sadly out of time. I have so many more questions, but I just want to thank everyone for joining us today for Little Goldman Live. And thank you again to the Four Seasons Park Lane.

34:05Stellan Skarsgård:And thank you, Stellan, for joining us.

34:07John DeFore:Yes, please help us give another round.

34:10Rebecca Ford:Thank you very much.

34:17John DeFore:And thanks so much to all the listeners who came out to see the show in person. and it was so nice to meet you all face to face. This episode of Little Gold Men was produced by Michelle O 'Brien and mixed by Mike Kutchman. We had live production support from Michael Toriello and Richie Otu. Our executive producer is Stephen Valentino. Thanks so much for listening.

34:49Stellan Skarsgård:If you're looking for some of the sharpest takes around on film and television, I hope you'll tune in to Critics at Large from The New Yorker. So over here, we like talking about what we love, but also crucially what we hated about what we're watching. But even more, we like making sense of what's happening in the culture right now and how we got here. So just join us, okay? As we make our way from Eddington to Moby Dick, from Ted Lasso to the rise in therapy speak, from the pit to Luigi Mangione, you have no clue where we're going to end up. It's Critics at Large from The New Yorker. Every Thursday, wherever you get your podcasts.

35:28Rebecca Ford:From PRX.