Some actors ply their trade in little indie films. Others stick to the big blockbusters. But only a lucky few get to frequently flit between both worlds. Legendary Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård has mastered that delicate dance over his five decades in movies, winning accolades for smaller-scale Lars von Trier dramas (“Breaking the Waves,” “Dancer in the Dark”) and giant tentpoles (the “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Dune” series and “Thor” and “Avengers” movies) alike. (He’s also spawned an entire cottage industry of li’l Skarsgårds — well, large Skarsgårds, as his sons Alexander,Bill, Gustaf, and Valter are all performers in their own right.)
Now he’s starring in the newest offering from one of today’s most exciting directors, Joachim Trier (“The Worst Person in the World”). In “Sentimental Value,” which scored the Grand Prix at Cannes and screened at TIFF last week, Skarsgård plays an aging director who wants to use an autobiographical script to work his way back into the industry and mend his relationship with his grown kids.
During his time in ɫɫ, he appeared as a guest in the 14th instalment of the Audi Innovation Series, a program that spotlights those who have made a real difference in their field. We spoke to the veteran actor about creativity: what drives it, what stymies it and what creative skills he wishes he had.
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What gets your creativity going the most?
Being on the set and working with the other actors and the director and inventing things. That is where my creativity bubbles over sometimes, and it’s not even the planned thing that is good. I don’t design my roles; I don’t design in detail my character. My characters happen because of the other actors.
What blocks your creativity?
Fear.
You’re mainly known as an actor. In what other ways do you express your creativity?
Cooking.
What’s your signature dish?
I don’t have a signature dish. I cook food from all over the world, from Italian to French.
What creative endeavour did you act in that you wish had gotten more attention?
Pretty much most of my independent films. If I could take some of the attention that has been given to my blockbuster films and give it to the independent films I’ve done, it would be good.
How does it feel to have children that have followed you into the profession?
I don’t know how it feels not to have children (in the profession)! But I never had any ambition on their behalf; I let them choose themselves what they wanted to do. I haven’t guided them; they found out themselves that they wanted to do it, but probably because they saw me very happily going on in acting.
What creative skill do you wish you had?
Oh, I wish I could paint. I wish I could write. I wish I could play music.
What kind of music would you want to make?
Anything. Anything, please! (Laughs.)
Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning star in Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value.”
Courtesy of TIFF
What new creative muscles were you excited to flex in “Sentimental Value”?
I had a director that was really good at, first of all, creating this atmosphere on the set that was without fear and that was really, really fertile for innovation.
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And he also saw everything I did. He was watching my eyes when I wasn’t even speaking. He saw what happened there all the time and he used it. And that is something, since I think that most of my acting I do between the lines, because I don’t really enjoy delivering — first of all, I don’t like monologues. I don’t like to tell people anything about what they should think.
I like the vagueness, the mystery of human beings that lies in all the things that are not said, all the things that you see. You read another person, his whole body is full of expressions that you can’t put (a name to). There’s many, many things that you can’t express with words even, and that’s the fun thing.
Were there any moments on “Sentimental Value” where you were especially impressed by your co-stars’ creativity?
They’re bubbling with life. And all the actors that I worked with on this had the freedom to express themselves totally. That is the very core of being innovative or creative: to abandon fear from the set and let them be free.
Final lightning-round questions. What makes you happiest these days?
My family. I know it’s a boring answer, but it just lets me be happy. And really good food. It’s hard to find.
How do you spend your time these days?
Cook. Read books. Reading books is really good because it takes you away from the phone.
In the 1998 Japanese film “After Life,” when you die, you go to a bureaucratic way station where they ask for your most precious memory, and they “build” it for you and you get to live in the memory forever. What memory or moment would you choose to live in forever?
The thing is, joy is not worth anything without the sorrow. And happiness is not worth anything without the sadness.
Briony Smith writes about culture, entertainment and
lifestyle for the Star.
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