The Sunday Times - UK (2022-04-03)

depressing? “Absolutely,” he says. “I

was questioning why I was in the indus-

try.” It was not until 2008 that things

changed, when The Wire’s creator

David Simon cast him in his Iraq war

HBO series Generation Kill.

Charlize Theron once said that it is

hard for an actor to be hot. “When

meaty roles come through,” she

explained, “pretty people get turned

away first.” Did Skarsgard have that

experience? “As a good looking blonde

woman,” he jokes, “I can relate.” He

pauses and tries out a few answers.

“I don’t really know if that was the

reason I wasn’t getting roles,” he

explains eventually. “Starting out in

Sweden, there was stuff about being

tall and blond ...” He laughs. “But most

people here are tall and blond. Still,

after my first job I was on a stupid ‘sexy

hunky hot list’ and then people didn’t

take me seriously. If you want charac-

ters with depth but have been labelled

‘a dude who takes his shirt off ’, you’re

not going to get those offers.”

He finds much of his Hollywood life

bizarre. He’s dated a string of famous

women including Alexa Chung and is a

fixture on the gossip websites. But he’s

not on social media, will never google

his name. “This industry is incredibly

ridiculous,” he says. “In meetings peo-

ple are really insecure and eager to

please. But it’s a strict hierarchy. If peo-

ple at the top say something is good,

people fall in line. Also, menial trivial

bullshit stuff becomes very important to

people. As an actor the value placed on

how important something is can

become laughable to me.” His real ambi-

tion is to have lots of kids. His twice-

married father has eight. He wants nine.

Does he know people similar to his

billionaire character on Succes-

sion? “A little — Stockholm’s a

hub for people who start ridicu-

lously successful companies. A

lot are programmers, not dudes

who got the girl. They sit in the base-

ment and drink Dr Pepper then, sud-

denly, like the Minecraft guy, outbid

Beyoncé on a house in the Hollywood

Hills. I like the idea of Matsson being in

that rat race of the ultra-wealthy,

because it never ends. I’ve been on

yachts and seen owners glance at the

yacht next door, because it’s 5ft longer.

It never ends, does it?”

Sure, but Skarsgard is an A-lister

with access to great riches like his Suc-

cession role? “I live an incredibly privi-

leged life,” he admits. At 45 he has a

reported worth of $15 million. “I don’t

really have to work — I’ve made

enough. I could retire, which is extraor-

dinary. But I don’t feel the need to

broadcast that with expensive clothes

or cars. That radiates insecurity. When

you see somebody with a $1 million

watch? That’s peacocking. It can feel

like they’re overcompensating.”

We wrap up. He has a meeting, but

then texts me to go out for a beer.

When he turns up, he arrives on a bike

with a practical handlebar basket and

we talk town planning until a couple of

friends turn up, one with a tiny baby. It

couldn’t be more Swedish. He is wear-

ing normcore chic like he has just

walked out of a slightly more expensive

H&M. He gets a few looks, sure, but he

is at home here — and it is where he will

end up. c

The Northman opens on Apr 15

Greta is like a modern-

day Viking — and, like

Greta, the Vikings

refused to fly

Mads Mikkelsen

The prince of

Denmark –

Mikkelsen’s finest

role came last year,

as the actor and

his sad eyes tested

how much alcohol

he could drink in Another Round. This

month we can see him in Fantastic

Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

Renate Reinsve

Scandi of the hour

— the Norwegian

Reinsve is the lead

in the fantastic,

Oscar-nominated

romantic drama

The Worst Person

in the World. Her character is

complicated. Her cool allows us

to empathise with her more

questionable decisions.

Claes Bang

From the television

series The Bridge

and The Affair to

his hilarious lead in

Ruben Ostlund’s

mad film The

Square, the Dane

is an irreverent force. He is also in

The Northman, wild and occasionally

unclothed, as Skarsgard’s nemesis.

Noomi Rapace

It feels like a long

time since the

Swedish actress

Rapace brought

Scandi noir to the

big screen in The

Girl with the Dragon

Tattoo. An edgy, tough actress — for

her latest, Lamb, she can be found

in a farm with a story so singular you

have to see it yourself.

THE SCANDI STARS

GOING GLOBAL

AIDAN MONAGHAN/FOCUS FEATURES 2021

HO TOOK HIS SHIRT OFF’

3 April 2022 7