Episode 1658 - Alexander Skarsgård

Look, you heard me say it before.

I don't know how much time I have left.

There are a lot of things that pass me by, especially when it comes to books, and I worry about having enough time to get to them.

But another thing I always say is there's no late to the party anymore.

And the Foxed Page is a great way to get back in the loop of great literature.

The Foxted Page is a podcast and YouTube channel that dives deep into the best books.

It's basically your favorite college English class, but very relaxed and way more fun.

No exams, no participation, and only books you really want to read.

Your host is Kimberly Ford, a best-selling author, a one-time professor, and PhD in literature.

She offers up entertaining, often funny lectures that will leave you feeling inspired and a little bit smarter.

in a nice literary way.

She digs into everything from J.D.

Salinger to Yellowface, from Stephen King to Madam Bovary, from Pride and Prejudice to Trust.

Want to get the most out of what you read?

The Foxt page is for you.

thefoxtpage.com or find it on YouTube and all podcast platforms.

Lock the gate.

All right, let's do this.

How are you, what the fuckers?

What the fuck, buddies?

What the fuck, Nicks?

What's happening?

I'm Mark Maron.

This is my podcast.

Welcome to it.

How's it going?

How are your hands?

Did you keep all your fingers over the blasting over the weekend?

Everybody okay?

Nobody blew up any snakes or frogs or anything horrible?

What'd you do?

What'd you do out there?

How did it all go?

Have good food?

Did you have good food?

Did it all work out?

Was there any sense of celebration?

I don't know.

It all seems a little contrary in terms of freedom and independence to what a lot of people are experiencing right now in the world, in this country.

But

let's not get sad.

I don't know.

I have been, yeah, I mentioned, I think last week, the

on the show that I was going to listen to

the

Del Shannon record.

Didn't I mention that?

It was,

I didn't even know the name of it, but I knew it was a record that I was supposed to have in my collection, and I got a reissue.

I knew it was.

It's called The Further Adventures of Charles Westover.

It was a 1968 Del Shannon release, years after the

runaway.

Guy trying to hold on, trying to make the shift from the

early 60s.

To the late 60s.

Big jump for some of those guys, right?

Bobby Darren did a couple of hippie records.

It's always interesting, the hippie records from the

kind of late 50s, early crooners.

What am I running a record podcast now?

What the fuck is happening?

I guess after last week and after the conversation I had, I must have made myself feel a little guilty because now I'm kind of re-engaged with the records.

I'm taking the time when I have it, which is rare.

For some reason, I'm still very busy.

And, you know, I'm listening to the records.

It's very nice.

It's time travel, man.

It's time travel, mystical, magical stuff.

And it was weird because I've said on this show a lot of times that the difference between music and comedy is that music is magic.

I'll stand by that, but I had a conversation with Adam Pally

on his show, and he kind of shifted my thinking a little bit, which isn't always, I mean,

I'm open-minded, but he made me look at it a different way, a little bit,

But nonetheless, it landed.

But before I get into that, today I'm talking to Alexander Skarsgaard.

You know, he's a lot of stuff, this guy.

True Blood, Big Little Lies, Robert Edgar's The Northman, Brandon Cronenberg's Infinity Pool.

He played Lucas Mattson on Succession brilliantly.

And now he's in this science fiction series called Murderbot.

But I think calling it a science fiction series kind of undermines it.

It's a comedy and

it's pretty funny.

I watched a bunch of episodes in order to talk to him and I'm still watching them.

I think he's amazing at it.

It's a very interesting character.

He plays, I guess it would be

some sort of cyborg.

It's kind of a robot, but it's like a flesh one.

You know, I don't know.

I'm not up on the sci-fi lingo, but yeah, it's a flesh robot.

The ones that are kind of mostly people, but also programmed.

And he sort of is one that's been refurbished.

And he did some, he might, in his robot brain, kind of remember bits and pieces of an erased event that he was probably at the center of, which

I don't know for sure, but it looks like

he might have had a glitch and killed a lot of humans at his last job.

And he also sort of stacks his

memory up with kind of garbage space sitcoms, which kind of eventually make him learn how to be a human in a way.

And he's stationed on this somewhat of a progressive, almost hippie mission with

this crew of researchers.

But

it's funny.

I will be back at Largo for a comedy and music show on Wednesday, July 23rd.

Tickets are at Largo-LA.com.

And I'm playing with some new people this time.

And we're doing like a few of the songs I've done before, a couple of new ones.

And

look, man, I know that some of you sit through my guitar at the end.

I don't expect a lot of people to do that, but it keeps me engaged.

It keeps me playing.

I think I've gotten better.

Sometimes I sound better than others.

Also, it's like with the weekly update that I think you can still sign up for at wtfpod.com because it looks like, yeah, I'm going to try to keep that going after the podcast ends, but that keeps me writing.

But there is this part of me that thinks, like, well, I got to focus more on music.

And then I spend time with real musicians trying to work out songs.

And one of the reasons I'm playing with these different people is because I wanted more, more practice time.

I wanted to really, you know, feel the vibe of playing with people because I don't do it enough.

And when we do do it, it's only for like a day, a couple of rehearsals before the actual performance.

And I don't feel like I've fully acclimated to playing with other individuals.

I don't feel like I'm good at that or know how to do it that well.

And then I play with them, and then, like, I,

you know, I want to have fun, but I'm so fucking hard on myself and ultimately so insecure, it's a nightmare.

Not a nightmare.

I mean, I did have some fun, but I just, I wish I was more proficient.

I've been playing a long time.

I think I'm good at something.

I think I'm good at how I play,

but it's just, I'm not, it's, I choke, man, and I'm tired of it.

So there goes that hobby in terms of really kind of leaning into it

Yeah, I mean like yeah, I'm just gonna I'm gonna probably do a lot more music.

It's like it's like oh my god every time I do it.

I'm like Jesus.

I kind of suck What the fuck man?

I know I know these songs that I when I sing I get like I choke up I like I get nervous or vulnerable or whatever my throat kind of closes up.

I just maybe if I keep doing it, I'll let go.

I'll let go and I'll ease into it.

Because I have had moments where I feel like I'm, I'm pretty good at it in my own way, which is all that's important.

I think

I can do it.

But Jesus, any creative endeavor, the main thing you're up against is just that wall inside yourself.

Geez, man.

We are playing some

interesting songs.

I mean, I kind of teased it.

For those of you who are listening to the guitar at the end.

I'm going to cover a Taylor Swift song.

Maybe I told you that, but it's the one that kind of blew my mind and broke my heart.

And I don't want to talk about it too much.

Maybe some of you will come and maybe it'll be part of my repertoire.

I don't know.

But we figured it out.

It's four chords, but it's,

yeah, well, I guess I can tell you.

We're going to cover Bigger Than the Whole Sky.

And, you know,

that's the kind of risk I'm taking.

I'm not just up there playing some dirty blues, not doing some white guy barroom blues shtick.

We're doing solid numbers, man.

We're doing Buddy Holly.

We're doing Velvet Underground.

We're doing the band.

All right, there's a Jimmy Reed song in there.

But, you know, for the most part,

I'm trying to work a lot of muscles on the music thing, but it makes me very raw.

Not raw.

It makes me vulnerable.

It makes me me insecure.

I've been in a war against embarrassment my entire life.

But you know what?

You will be humbled.

You will be humbled by age.

And hopefully at that point, you won't give a fuck anymore.

Hopefully.

So this observation that Adam had

about,

because he brought it up.

Adam Pally, about music and comedy.

And he was trying to tell me that they were similar.

And I stuck by my old kind of rule, which is like, not really.

But he was talking about crafting a bid, making it work, taking it out on the road, making it like a song, making it sing, making it, you know, do what it's supposed to do.

It's like music.

And my argument with that is always, but music is magic, and a piece of music can live with you forever.

And you can return to it.

And every time you listen to it, you might have a different experience.

It might trigger memories.

It might take on a whole new meaning.

You might hear hear things you didn't hear before.

You might

realize that

it doesn't hold what it used to.

But either way,

it's ethereal.

And even bad music,

even catchy music.

There's nothing more consistent than locking into a song.

And jokes just aren't like that.

Because he was talking about when you put a joke on a record.

I'm like, yeah, but who the fuck listens to a joke more than once or twice, really?

I think with the internet, yes, the internet.

I think with YouTube and stuff and everything that's available, you can poke around in the history of everything and find something funny from the old days that you can watch a few times.

I've definitely done that.

But generally speaking, a joke kind of, you know, it's one and done.

My argument is that music can change you and it can change with you.

And his argument is that, yeah, but some jokes stay with you forever and they change the way you think.

Or they provide you a certain amount of relief in moments that you need it, or they make you look at things in a different way, or you can tell a joke in relation to something that somebody's talking about or you're talking about, and it kind of

heightens that conversation or buttons it or is the last word on it.

There's something about jokes that are kind of designed to be the last word on things.

That's the nature of a punchline, I guess.

But I don't think I'd quite thought about it like that.

And that was a kind of an exciting little revelation there that there are so many many jokes that represent a way of understanding or of showing me how to understand something or see something in a different way.

I've always felt that.

That's why I like comedy, but I didn't really put it together that you hold those in your mind or you can go find them again, or you can paraphrase them badly, or you can kind of remember them.

And they give you that same sort of like, you know, not necessarily an out loud laugh or anything, but that moment that you had with that joke at another time kind of, you know, kind of reignites.

So they stay with you in a different way.

It's kind of in your mind.

And songs can do that too.

But when you hear a song outside of you, it's always like, holy shit.

When you hear a joke outside of you, it's like, oh yeah, yeah,

I know this one.

Yeah.

No, that's a good joke.

Yes.

Yes.

I'm going to sing some Taylor Swift.

That's something I never thought I'd do in my life.

That is something I never thought I'd do.

And it's happening.

See?

See,

there's no limits, folks.

There's no limits to what you can do when you wanna.

I'm gonna play a Taylor Swift song.

So,

okay, look, you guys, this guy I'm gonna talk to right now is really,

really one of the great actors working today.

Totally.

Alexander Skarsgård.

And this show, this show, Murderbot, is funny.

It's streaming on Apple TV Plus.

The season finale premieres this Friday, July 11th.

And this is me talking to Alexander Skarsgaard.

So Sweden, dude.

Yeah.

You know, Sweden

has changed the world with snus.

You know that, right?

Have you tried snus?

Yeah.

Really?

Dude, I'm on it right now.

Are you?

Which one?

Well, Philip Morris, I guess,

bought Zinn.

So Zinn's like a non-tobacco.

The white snus.

But back when I first got into snooze, like when I

found out about Swedish snooze, I had to go on a website.

I was ordering all these different kinds from Sweden.

They'd come in the international packaging.

It was very exciting.

Jenner, General.

General, sure.

But then there was another one.

Oh, I think the, man, there were some ones that were so so strong.

There's General.

That's the one that was sort of over here a bit in smoke shops.

But there's like a hundred different kinds here.

Yeah, there's one very popular in Sweden.

And I think for marketing reasons, they should probably change the name because it's called in Swedish, it's Yotabolserapia.

Oh, what?

But it's spelled Gothenburg Rape.

R-E-P.

R-Y-Y-Y-Y.

R-E-P-E.

Yeah.

So that's the market.

That's not great marketing.

Not great marketing here in the States.

There was one that I was on that was like, you know, it had so much nicotine.

I just remember it like, I'd be sweating.

But I was on the tobacco snooze for a long time.

And now this is American product.

But it's Swedish in origin.

How many, they have different dots, right?

Right,

this one's just three, three milligrams.

So like when you get up to six for me, it's a little sweaty.

And then some people are doing 12s, and I'm fucking days over.

Three fucks me up.

Yeah.

Like I was never a smoker and I didn't really do snooze growing up either.

Yeah.

And then I started to party snooze when I was in my 20s.

Yeah.

And I just like put one little guy up.

Yeah.

And when I was like drinking,

it would give me a little buzz because I wasn't, you know, used to nicotine.

So I'd get a little bit of a course.

And I still do occasionally.

Like I'll have a little

snooze here and there.

But those guys,

are they stronger than non-tobacco nicotine ones?

I don't think so.

Maybe they are.

I don't know because I remember doing like some tobacco ones that were like 22 or 21 milligrams, you know, and it was different.

Because these things, like three, gets me.

I feel nauseous if I have to leave that in for like 10, 15 minutes.

With the white snooze?

The white snooze, yeah.

But the other one didn't do the same thing?

Not really.

Yeah, I think it might be a little different.

Yeah, because it's just pure nicotine.

You don't have to get it out of the leaves.

Yeah.

It's just this white powder soaked in nicotine.

So it's probably a little more efficient in terms of the delivery.

But I didn't know that they,

because I remember like

years ago,

you would have to ship it from Sweden to get it out here.

And then a couple of delis in New York started selling it.

I remember that was a big thing when.

In general, probably.

In general, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I remember like Sweden Friends in New York, like was a big day when you could actually buy it there.

But now I think it's like everywhere, right?

Well, these are.

The White Snooze is now an American phenomenon.

But what about the...

Because I know that Camille started doing like a similar thing, like a tin can that looked kind of like.

I don't think that's around anymore.

That's true.

That was a tobacco snus, but it was an American.

But you can't get the

Swedish brands aren't.

You can see them in smoke shops sometimes.

They only have a couple.

Okay.

But not the white snus.

But now there's like 10 different kinds of this white snus.

But you're not on tobacco at all?

No, no, man.

I'll have a cigar.

I smoked.

I used to smoke all the fucking time.

It's been a long time.

I've been on nicotine on and up for most of my life.

Sometimes I do the, I thought I had them with me.

Now I'm going to panic.

What happened to those?

Well, you had them in your hand just like a minute ago.

Yeah, I had those, but I also do these nicotine lozenges.

God damn it.

I'll be all right.

I'll get through this.

Which are just, they're actually

a smoking cessation thing, like a nicotine gum.

Okay.

And they make them, you know, Walgreens makes them.

They're like they're for to quit smoking.

Okay.

But they're good.

Yeah, they get the cinnamon ones.

What about the vapor?

No, I don't do no vapes.

No.

No, what the fuck is in vapes?

I mean, I'd rather, whatever I'm going to.

Whatever you want.

Yeah, I know it's all kinds of flavors.

No, but I don't know what the smoke is.

I don't know how it generates.

I don't know the chemicals.

I'd rather just deal with something kind of in my mouth and going into my stomach than filling my lungs with some sort of weird fake

steam.

Yeah, yeah.

No, I stay away from those as well.

Yeah.

A little snooze here and there.

That's that's about it for me.

Right?

Yeah.

But like, I love Sweden.

I was there for like a few days once.

Do you stand up?

Yeah.

Yeah.

In Stockholm.

I went to see that ship that they have preserved.

Vlosa.

Yeah.

Vossa shit.

It's kind of wild, man.

Yeah.

Because it's sort of like they got to keep it moist.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like it's this giant ship that didn't even go anywhere.

It sunk on its maiden voyage after about five minutes in Stockholm Harbor.

But it's not even a Viking ship.

No, no, no.

It's like, no it's from the 1600s yeah and it was like the crown jewel of the swedish royal navy right and it was a big big thing when they're gonna you know and it just went right down went right down and then they uh um well they picked it up and it was i think it was in the 60s um they pulled it up pulled it up yeah in the 60s and now it's a a very moist museum yeah it's so well preserved it's kind of crazy yeah the whole thing's eerie yeah i went to a few museums there i went to some i saw some of those viking ships too yeah they have a viking museum right next to the Vossa Museum.

Yeah, not as in good a shape.

No, slightly older as well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, did you grow up?

And also, there's a beautiful art museum there, right down the street, too, right?

Right on the water there.

Yeah, they got the Modanimus here at the Modern Museum.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, that was it.

Well, no, they also have the Naturus Duruska and Nuriska, like the one that looks like a big castle almost.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, that's the Nordic Museum, Nuriska.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, I found it to be quite a nice place.

It felt very comfortable.

Yeah, not too stressed.

I just moved back like two years ago.

Where were you?

I was, well, out here in L.A.

for many years and then, well, first New York and then out here and then moved back to New York.

Yeah.

And then about two years ago, I moved back to Stockholm.

Did you grow up there?

I grew up there.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Wow.

So how does it feel to be back?

It feels pretty good.

Yeah.

I was here for 20 years.

But my family were always based in Stockholm.

All of them?

All of them, yeah.

The acting dynasty?

Yeah, the 57 siblings and my parents, and everyone was in Stockholm.

I was the only one out here.

Obviously, my dad and my brothers, who are actors, come out here a lot for work, but everyone was based in Stockholm.

That's fucking crazy that

they're all actors.

Yeah.

I mean,

I mean, yes, it is crazy.

We're not all actors.

We have.

How many siblings are there?

I have no idea.

We're eight,

six

full siblings, and then two half-brothers on my dad's side.

Six full siblings, and out of them, like four act.

Yeah.

Wow.

Yeah, that's right.

Four.

And the kids,

my brothers,

they're teenagers, and they're also kind of.

You mean your nephews?

No, no, no.

My brothers, but the young ones on my dad's side, the teenagers that...

Oh, he's got some young kids.

Yeah, well, they're 12 and 15.

Oh, my God.

How old is he?

He's 74.

Yeah.

Keeps doing it.

So I was born in the 70s.

And dad had kids in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, and 10s.

So over five decades.

So there's really a lot of them.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And more might be popping up down the road.

And all the other kids, you're the oldest one.

And then you have, there's four of you, right, with with in the first batch.

Four, five total.

Six total.

Six total.

total, and you're the oldest.

I'm the oldest, yeah.

And so, yeah, I'm the oldest than Gus, who's an actor, Sam who's a doctor, he followed like mom's uh path, and then um, Bill, who's an actor, yeah, and our the one girl, Aya, she's an actor, she's not an actor, and then Walter, the young one, also an actor, yeah, yeah, which was the one who played uh in uh

um

Knox for Out to uh that was Bill, yeah, yeah, that's crazy, yeah.

So, you both played vampires.

Yeah.

We did.

Yeah.

What did you think of that performance?

It's incredible.

And it was also, it was directed by Robert Edgar's.

He's the best.

I've talked to him.

Yeah.

I did a movie with him, The Northman, a couple years ago.

That fucking crazy movie, dude.

Yeah.

That guy Edgar's a fucking genius.

I adore that guy.

He's incredible.

It's like a visionary.

Yeah.

Very unique style of type of filmmaking.

It's

because, like, the Northman, after I talked to him, he's such a like a meticulous about history and about how he wants things to look and about the way he shoots yeah so by the time like i finished talking to him he you know it must have been for the northman and i watched that in the theater that thing is fucking crazy well it was

It was hard, my friend.

Because the thing is, both The Witch and The Lighthouse are a bit more contained in terms of the scope.

I'm not going to say character-driven, but it revolves.

It's a smaller story, a smaller cast.

The Northman is an

epic Viking film.

And the way that Rob and Jaron is DP, the way they shoot, is very meticulous and very planned and very detailed.

And Rob doesn't like cuts.

So most scenes are shot as a one-er with just one long camera take that he plans six months in advance.

But when you have a scene with 40 berserkers and 300 extras and horses, and it and but to do that as a onener with no cuts is um

it's hard but we all came to realize that it was really uh it yeah it was um daunting and to get one take could take a week yeah and and also kind of um

demoralizing sometimes because

if you you do a long

basically a long fight scene, a big battle scene, and

everything

works.

And you're like, everyone, all the, you know, all the corporations, everyone's just like, yeah, we got it, we got it.

And then Jerry on the DP is like,

this chicken in the background, like 45 minutes into this long shot, just flew in the wrong direction.

Or something, like, then you got to go.

It's not like

because you can't cheat it.

Normally on a normal movie, you'll have like, oh, but, you know, B camera, I got that.

Or we'll just focus on this one little jump or this one stunt.

Yes.

But this was like, then you're like, okay, back to one.

And how mad can you get at a chicken?

Yeah.

Poor chicken.

You can't yell at me.

So we ended up doing those long, long fight scenes.

And you're wearing armor.

Yeah.

I mean, Orb Naked in the middle of the night, freezing.

Oh, those ones, yeah.

Yeah.

But it was,

so it was hard, but I also knew that going into it because we'd been prepping and planning for the movie for many years.

And I obviously knew Rob's style and his way of work.

And so, it wasn't a surprise to me.

It was a very different way of working from how I'm normally working.

What do you mean?

Like, why?

Well, you know, usually

you're a bit more liberated and free, and you can move around.

That's okay.

No, it's not as specific.

And

I think that can feel creatively claustrophobic.

Yeah.

If you're like, wait, I got to walk up here, turn, hit the light, and then slowly move, and the camera will come around, And then you feel like a robot.

Right.

But again, going into it, I knew that that was going to be, that's Rob's process.

So then I was like, well, my job is to try to instill some life into that, I guess, and try to make that

feel organic in some way.

Wow.

So how long was that shoot?

It was seven months

during the pandemic before the vaccine was out.

It was one of the first productions of the market.

Well, yeah, we weren't, but

obviously when we were shooting the film, but yeah, whenever the camera wasn't rolling, we were masked.

Were they testing every day?

Every day.

Because we were kind of like a guinea pig production because we were in March, beginning of March, we were in Belfast.

We were going to shoot the film

six days from principal photography.

And as everything was starting to shut down in Italy, you know, in Milan, all that, like

the hospitals and everything, the chaos out there.

Yeah.

And we were like, are we still starting this film in six days?

And we never, we didn't really know.

We were just like, okay, well, I guess we continue with this prep.

Yeah.

And then finally, they pulled the plug.

So everyone went home for a couple of months.

And then we came back in June, end of June,

to start again.

And that was one of the first productions to be up and running.

So there was no real protocol of how to do this during the pandemic.

So it was a little, yeah, trial and error, I guess.

And like

trying to figure out how to do that.

And on top of it being such a

strenuous production.

Yeah.

Fucking crazy.

It was.

But again, like

in a, in a, in a sadistic way, I enjoyed every second of it as well because I was so excited about the working with Rob on that movie and playing the character.

And so it looks so good.

It looks so good.

Like, you know, it's one of these movies where I get excited because a guy like him, like Eggers, you know, you're dealing with like a real genius here who has a vision.

And it's so fucking rare that like he's not going to bend to expectation.

No, he's going to make exactly the movie he wants to make.

Yeah.

And it must be pretty exciting to work with a guy like that, especially if you trust him.

Oh, very much so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And because Nasseratu, that that fucking movie is great.

Well, he does so much research.

Like it's in the just the attention to details and everything.

Like, you know, that we had 400 fittings and he would be like, well, this seam looks a bit more like the 11th century, the 10th century.

And can we try this?

And the stitching here is a little like more,

you know, 1145, and that's like a far away or a slightly regional difference.

Who's going to catch that?

Like, who gives a fuck on some level?

But it's in there, yeah.

You know, and Edgar's like, you know, that's that stitching's got to be in there.

Yeah.

For one nerd, like, he really nailed this.

It was definitely 1100.

But then, you know, like, in a way, and I'm not, I'm too lazy for that kind of

preparation, but but personally, but there's something about because Rob makes 2,000 decisions like that with the stitching.

And combined, it will make,

I think, like watching his films,

it feels authentic.

You may not know that the stitching is perfect, but it's not.

But it all adds up.

It gives it a richness.

And it just feels like you're transported into a different time and a different place.

Yeah.

So what was it?

Now, in terms of the family business.

Yeah.

I mean,

dynasty.

Yeah.

But I mean, like, do you grow up knowing that you're going to do that?

No, no.

I, I was, uh, my brother Gus always knew from a very early age.

You're your younger brother.

You're my younger brother.

He always knew.

He was like, I'm going to be

an actor like that.

Yeah.

I was.

I went the opposite direction.

I was like, no, no, no, this is not for me.

I wanted to.

What?

I I don't know.

I didn't want to rebel, but I guess like

I wanted to, my family is and was very bohemian.

It was all obviously dad and actor, but like the extended family was, it was all like composers, artists.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Painters, writers, poets.

That's so funny.

It was a very,

in hindsight, like incredible household to grow up in because it was like a huge family.

What did your mom do?

She's a doctor.

Hell yeah.

But she was kind of the only academic of the bunch.

So in hindsight, it was, again, like big open door.

Everyone was there.

Everyone lived in the same neighborhood in South Stockholm.

So

grandma and grandpa across the street and cousins above us in the apartment above.

They were all like

artists and weirdos.

Yeah, a lot of artists and eccentric weirdos.

But as a 13-year-old, I just wanted to be normal.

I just wanted to have a normal family.

This was like, you know,

people walking around like dudes, walking around in calf dance and like reciting poetry.

I was like, this is no.

You want a little more control,

a little less

creative chaos.

Well, I mean, I don't think that's very uncommon for a teenager who's trying to figure out

who he or she is.

Sure.

But it's just a funny thing.

You want normalcy, you know, like you want just to blend in.

You don't want to stick out or stay, like, be like.

Yeah.

You don't want your parents to be like, well, I saw your uncle down on the street wearing a hat the other day.

Exactly.

Exactly.

And she's like, my dream was to have a dad who wore like a gray suit and drove a Saab 9000 to his office.

Right.

You know,

yeah, just a little, like, you know, it's not all about them.

Exactly.

And I think I was very much

because people kind of assumed that I was going to become an actor.

I did a couple of things when I was young, like very young, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.

How'd you get dragged in?

What, your dad was like, I got a friend?

No.

Dad's friend, Alani Adval, who's

a legendary Swedish actor,

director.

It was Infanny and Alexander Bergen

and tons of other fantastic films.

He was going to direct the film

when I was like eight, and he needed an eight-year-old kid for the movie.

And he was over at our house with all the other eccentric artists.

And he was just like, I guess he saw me in a corner.

He's like, hey.

Can I have that kid?

Can I have that kid?

I need an eight-year-old kid.

So then, yeah, that's how I kind of ended up doing that.

And then,

like, you know, it wasn't like I was a Hollywood, in the Hollywood sense of like a

child actor.

I didn't have like headshots or

I didn't know how to tap dance or something.

Didn't have a full resume of skills.

But it was kind of like that.

Dad's friend would be like, hey,

Alex, do you want to jump in and do this thing?

And I did, you know, for here and there till I was 13.

And then I kind of stopped and was just like, I'm going to do something completely different.

And that's when you rebelled.

It's so funny.

Most people choose acting to rebel.

Yeah, yeah.

You were going to like, what would you choose?

My way to rebel?

Go buy a gray suit and study engineering.

Did you?

No.

No, but I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do.

I studied political science and

then I went into the military in Sweden, which is, I guess, a way to rebel against my pacifist hippie family.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What were the requirements of the military in Sweden?

What did you end up having to do?

What branch of the military?

I joined a unit called Sak Yacht, which is

technically part of the Royal Navy.

But we were land-based on the small islands in the archipelago outside of Stockholm.

And our job was to

basically secure, protect the islands from any kind of sabotage or terrorism.

And did you see a lot of action?

Well, it was during the

late 90s.

So it was like

the tail end of the Cold War.

Okay.

When everyone was saying, like, you know, Russia's going to take over?

No, the opposite.

Everyone was just like, all right, we're done with the Cold War.

Russia will never again be a threat to anyone.

Yeah.

It's like eternal peace now.

Because

I didn't join for any like patriotic reasons or because I love guns or anything like that.

I just, again, I think it was just like

a uniform.

I just wanted to wear a sexy uniform.

I was 19.

I didn't know what I wanted to do.

I knew that I didn't want to go to drama school.

So I was just like, I don't know, I'll do this.

And I was walking through this park or square in Stockholm where recruiters were out there handing out pamphlets for this unit.

And obviously they made it look like super cool.

Exciting.

Yeah, yeah.

Because you're like, you know, the pictures were all like, you know, you're diving and kayaking on the islands and just like, you know,

jumping off boats and like helicopters.

And so for a 19-year-old, I was like, all right, that sounds fun.

Did you learn how to scuba dive or anything?

Yeah, I did.

Yeah.

Oh, that's good.

So, like, what, but what your old man, was he like, what are you doing?

No, no, I think he saw what I was up to.

Yeah.

Because, again, he, and again, like,

there was also, like, I think it's a bigger decision.

The last time Sweden was at war was like in 1812.

So it's been like 200 years.

So there wasn't a big threat of 2015.

So, and again, this was like late 90s.

It was a very stable time in Europe.

It was like, you know, it was like the, it was post the war in Yugoslavia.

And it was just, again, an era of like, all right, eternal peace now.

Yeah.

So he knew that it was very, just kind of like selfish endeavor for me, just like, or a way for me to grow up and become independent.

So he

knew that I wasn't going to get shipped overseas or deployment somewhere.

You know, how long were you in?

A year and a half.

And did you learn anything?

Nothing.

Zero.

Yeah.

You learned how to be on an island.

I learned how to fall off.

I'll

just fall off a boat without hurting myself as it's going 40 knots.

And so, like, all right, but your other siblings were there like, what the fuck are you doing?

I think

maybe a little bit.

Yeah.

Again, Gus was very, he was like already like getting ready to go to drama school and was like, why?

But they also knew that I was not interested in acting at the time.

I was very adamant

about doing something else

and just kind of finding my own path.

And so

I think they weren't that surprised.

Did your dad know Bergman?

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, he worked with him on stage.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

So was he one of the people that was around?

He, nah, not really.

They didn't socialize as much outside of the theater.

Yeah.

But

yeah, we would, because dad did repertoire theater when I was a kid.

So he rehearsed during the day, perform at night,

new place constantly.

And, you know, it's, it's, you're, you spend several hours there.

Yeah.

And so a way to kind of hang out with dad was to go to the theater and hang out there because, again, he was there all day and then at night.

Watching him repeat things.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So,

and technically,

I have worked with Amber Bergman.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because he,

I can't

remember which play it was, but he directed something with my dad.

Yeah.

And the backdrop was going to be a photo of my dad, of three kids.

So they shot, took a photo of myself, Gus, and Sam dressed up in like a sailor outfit.

Yeah.

That was going to be projected as the backdrop of that play.

Yeah.

So

it was?

Well, I don't know.

You tell me.

Can I say that I've worked with Americ Bergman?

Like, I was eight years old.

They took a photo of me, and it was the backdrop of.

Absolutely.

So I guess I wasn't really directed by him.

No.

I don't even know if he was there when they took the photo.

But it was in the show.

It was in the show, a still photo of me.

So I wasn't really on stage.

No, I think that counts.

All right, I'm going to put that on the top of my resume right now.

It appeared in an Ingmar Bergman play.

Yeah.

I did a horror show where, you know, they cut me up into pieces and

they did the molds, right?

So

part of my head and like my arm was hanging in a meat locker.

I got paid for that.

Did you get to keep it?

No.

No, but I have a picture of it.

I just thought it was funny that because it was me,

it's carved out as a paying acting job.

Just like my head hanging on a meat hook.

I was like, that's a pretty good kick.

But it's similar.

Yeah.

I got two heads at home.

You do?

On my own, yeah.

From what?

One from Infinity Pool.

Oh, yeah.

Brandon Cronenberg fell.

Yeah.

And one from

Martebot, the Apple TV Plus show.

Oh, the one you're on now.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, you got ahead from that?

Yeah.

Oh, I don't know what happens.

I only watched the ones that were available.

They didn't send me the whole thing.

I've seen four of them.

Before we get to that, though, where do you end up training?

Well, after the military, I moved to Leeds in England.

Oh.

To just, I don't know what I did there, but, well, I know exactly what I did but I didn't study for that sure like I was was that what you were supposed to be doing yeah I enrolled at a university in Leeds but it was mostly just like going to pubs and yeah

and while I was out there

I kind of started thinking about acting again and it was like

and I resisted it I tried yeah to find something else to do considering a bunch of other things like I was into architecture for a while and considering that.

But then I was like, all right, well,

because I did remember like having fun when I was young on those jobs.

Yeah.

When I worked with Aymer Bergman.

In the still work.

When I worked with Agmar Bergman, when I was Bergman's Muse, I remember being creatively fulfilled as an eight-year-old.

That would have a big impact, sure.

Yeah.

No, but

I remember that, like

I had a, being on set,

I had no creative process.

It wasn't anything like pretentious like that.

But like, I just remember like that sense of camaraderie, family on set was really fun and exciting.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I was,

so I quit when I was 13,

partly because I did a

TV movie in Sweden.

That got a little bit of attention.

And that, that freaked me out because people started recognizing me.

And I was, again, 13.

You didn't love it.

Well, that, no, because I wanted just to blend in.

Oh, right.

And the whole point of like my bohemian family.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Weirdos.

Oh, now I'm one of them.

Now I'm one of them.

So like that's, you know,

I took a 180 turn and just went in a different direction.

But then when I was living in Leeds, I was

trying to figure out, like most people and I guess when they're 20, 21, like,

what do I want to do?

And then I remember thinking back, like, well,

it wasn't so much about the job itself that I didn't like.

It was everything around it.

So before I kind of dismiss it for good, maybe I should just go to drama school and just feel it out and see what it's like.

So I don't end up like 30 years from now being bitter for not trying.

Are you having conversations with your dad about it?

Yeah, because someone had to pay for that drama school.

And it sure as hell wasn't going to be me.

So I did have a conversation.

But like, was he, you know, like

excited or did you feel like, you know, all right, go give it a try?

Or like, I think you'd be like, no, he's, he's always been,

he doesn't care about us.

He's not excited.

Is that a Swedish?

He's selfish.

Yeah.

No, but he's been very, I've kind of admired his approach.

He's always been

incredibly supportive no matter what we do

or our choices in life.

And he just wants

eight happy kids.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And he doesn't care if we're, what, you know, what we do or if it's a prestigious job or not.

He's just like, well, do what makes you happy.

Yes.

If you feel this, then so he's been very hands-off in his approach to like getting us into the industry or keeping us out of the industry.

He's always been like, you'll find your own way.

What about your mom?

Very much the same.

Yeah.

Because they weren't together for most of your life?

They were together till I was, well, 30.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, yeah.

And then they split up, but remain close friends.

Like, is she down the street kind of deal?

Well, to the point where she moved out to our summer home permanently on one of the islands in the archipelago.

That's called Protect?

That I used to protect with my wife.

So she's very safe out there.

Yeah, yeah, good.

Yeah, crawling around in the bushes.

And then dad and Megan, his wife,

were going to build a house on the same property, just like 50 yards from mom's house.

And they were all really excited about it.

But it was like for topographical reasons, they couldn't do it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

In Wakes End.

Wow, that's true.

It was like rocky.

They really are Bohemians.

Yeah, but then they ended up buying a cottage like 100 yards down the down the road.

Your dad's in his new wife.

So they're on the same island.

We're like, yeah, they're very, you know, and we go on vacation.

Wild.

It's a nice story.

And did she remarry?

No.

No, she didn't.

But they, yeah, I'm very fortunate.

They all remained friends.

It was very, very, very civilized in a way.

But she was also very,

yeah, kind of hands-off.

And again, like the approach was like, we're here if you need us,

but find your own way.

It's also good that like you didn't have this

because it seems like I meet people who like who act and they have a very sort of reasonable approach.

Like they like working and they do the work and they're not like, you know, hung up on,

you know, necessarily doing the right thing all the time.

Yeah.

Do you feel that way?

Like when you were starting out?

You were just working?

Well, when I was starting out, so

what I did was basically from Leeds,

I

applied to a theater school in New York, a college,

Marymount, Manhattan.

Okay.

Yeah.

So that's when, yeah,

I was like, dad, I'm going to try this now if you're cool with it.

Yeah.

Can you pay my tuition?

Yeah.

And so I moved from Leeds to New York.

Yeah.

And it was incredible.

And then I dropped out.

Yeah.

How long?

I lasted about four days.

Four days?

No, I didn't.

No, it was six months.

Okay.

At the acting school.

At the acting school.

And he bailed.

A bail.

Why?

A girl.

Oh, where was she?

Stockholm.

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

So then you go back home?

Yeah.

I mean, it.

So I met a girl three weeks before moving to New York.

So I was home and I was in Sweden over the summer between Leeds and New York and

fell in love with her.

And this was like, you know, in the 1900s.

Yeah.

So this was communication was tougher.

Plus, I didn't have money to like fly home over Thanksgiving or anything like that.

It was like, you know, so I was in New York.

Phones and snail mail?

Pretty much, yeah.

Like we would, I would call from, um, I couldn't afford calling from the cell phone.

So I would go down to like a phone booth.

Yeah, yeah.

And we had some like.

Like international phone booths?

Yeah, it's like an international phone booth because it was cheaper.

Buy a card.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And call like, so we talked once a week.

But then

don't know what's going on once a week.

I think she went back to her ex-boyfriend.

During that time?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you went back to save it?

You went back to

make your standard.

And I don't blame her because, again, like I was, I was going to be there for four years.

Yeah.

So

that kind of

broke my heart a little bit.

And then

the school was fantastic.

I really liked it.

It had nothing to do with the school.

And

I really felt excited about

being in that kind of creative environment and

doing plays

with the other students.

But you went back heartbroken and you got your ass handed to you?

I was like, you know what?

I got to go back

and salvage this

because she's the one.

I'd known her for three weeks, but I was like, this is it.

Felt good.

Sorry, guys.

So I went back to Sweden.

And then, yeah, we got back together.

Oh, so it worked out?

For two weeks.

And you'd already dropped out of school?

I'd already dropped out of school.

Went back.

We reunited.

And it didn't last very long.

But then I was in Stockholm and I'd already dropped out.

So then I'd, yeah, kind of.

So you started working?

Started working, yeah.

You had a few chops.

You did six months.

Yeah.

Solid drama school work.

Well, I felt like I've learned everything I need to know.

Yeah.

Did you?

No.

No, God, no.

Yeah.

So then I started doing like odd jobs in Stockholm.

I was working in a coffee shop and a clothing store.

I was a non-acting bus boy.

No.

Just doing like odd jobs.

So when do you like, when do you make your break?

A couple of years

later, I didn't really have a big break, but I started getting like small parts in Swedish films.

Swedish films.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Television, smaller things.

And then I was out here in LA.

Dad was shooting something.

I was on vacation.

I think it was in 2000.

Yeah.

And his manager knew that I had just started in Sweden doing like the little, you know, smaller jobs.

So like I was

definitely not like a star in Sweden, but I was like a

young

working actor, like occasionally working actor.

And she asked if I wanted to go to an audition and uh it was for zoolander ben stiller comedy yeah um to play one of his roommates and it's like only two three scenes but um

but yeah i did and i ended up getting the job and um yeah which was obviously surreal and kind of a dream it's a funny movie It was incredible.

It was incredible.

And again, like I was a kid on vacation here.

I didn't have a representation or anything and then ended up getting that.

Well, you kind of fit.

They needed the, it's almost exotic.

It made sense, right?

Yeah.

Swedish guy.

Well, yeah, exactly, because there was going to be three roommates.

It was going to be like one of those, like, we live together, but like models from around different parts of the world.

Right.

And I remember.

I remember.

It was Owen, too, right?

Yeah.

Owen Wilson.

Yeah.

I just did a show with him.

He's a funny guy.

Oh, did you?

I didn't get to work with him, unfortunately.

Oh, yeah, because he was the competition.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think I auditioned for that role.

Yeah.

I think the first audition was

Hansel.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And obviously didn't get that.

But then they called me back to do audition for one of the roommates.

Well, that's what's the funny thing about you is like, you know, even on the this Murderbot show, and I'm not like, I'm not, comedy isn't, you know, it's rare that I like them, you know, because a lot of them are not great.

Yeah.

But this one is pretty funny.

Like, it's funny.

Murderbot is funny.

I was excited when I read it.

I thought it was like a funny character.

Very different.

It wasn't what I expected when I heard the title

of sci-fi called Murderbot.

I was expecting something way more kind of classic tough guy protagonist.

And then instead, it's like this socially awkward.

Socially awkward guy who's kind of half trying to learn how to be human from watching old science fiction TV shows.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, I found it quite endearing, and that's kind of what drew me to it.

But it's a real comedy.

I mean, it's not like, because I didn't know what I was getting into, Murderbot.

I'm like, well, it's like a satire of a sci-fi thing.

Yeah.

And

a mix of that and like workplace comedy.

Yeah.

It's just so funny that like once again, you know, as this guy, as Murderbot, as a security robot who has overridden his

main panel,

and then you're surrounded by bohemians again.

Exactly, again.

Like you're in the one sort of interstellar exploratory crew that's just a bunch of bohemians.

Who just want to like tactile, want to hug me.

It's just like, and it freaks Murderbot out because it's not used to that kind of treatment how many episodes are there t ten oh see like because i'm just at the end of four where you know you've pulled the thing off the back of your neck but you're already wired to kill yeah so i have no idea what happens i imagine you learn how to become a human kind of well it's it's again murder about is is finds itself and surrounded by these press aux people that are very like space hippies yeah and they treat and it freaks murder about in a in a way it's like like you mentioned, Murdabot has hacked its governor module, so it's gained free will autonomy, but and it calls itself Murdabot.

And it has all these plans of going out into a distant galaxy and going on these epic adventures.

But then it's kind of like waiting for the right moment to take off

and starts to kind of procrastinate and watch a space of soap opera.

But

while it's doing that, it's kind of reluctantly forming relationships with these humans

around it.

And yeah, like you mentioned, a way to learn about, because it's an android, so it has organic components.

Yeah.

But a way to learn about

who it is is by watching this space soap opera.

Yeah.

Because then it's like, yeah,

it feels safe to watch that and learn about like as an anthropological study, because then you can pause whenever you want.

It's way more uncomfortable when you actually have to deal with humans

yourself.

But yeah, so it's

over the course of these 10 episodes, it's like they get thrown into a lot of crazy stuff, but Murdoch Bot is just constantly trying to kind of

distance itself from them emotionally.

But then, obviously, it's hard and it starts to kind of

care about them in a way.

Yeah, yeah.

It's very funny because the space soap opera is so over the top.

Oh, that was a dream.

It was a dream.

And my buddy, do you know Jack McBrar?

I've never, I met him once, I've never interviewed him.

So, Jack is

an old friend of mine.

Oh, he is.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

How do you know that guy?

He did a show

a movie called,

I want to say movie 42.

Yeah.

My girlfriend, 15, 14 years ago,

was doing a show with Jack.

Yeah.

One of the skits for that movie.

It was like the movie was like a bunch of short films, basically.

And another buddy of mine, actually, from back home in Stockholm, had written that sketch.

Oh, okay.

So, and they were shooting in New York.

And, you know, my old childhood friend wrote it, and my girlfriend was in it.

So

I went went to set and

just fell in love with Jack.

So I lost a girlfriend, but I gained a Jack.

There you go.

That's probably a longer relationship to gain a Jack.

It is.

It's a lifetime.

He's a funny guy, right?

Oh, he's incredible.

So he was kind enough to come up.

We shot it in Toronto.

So he came up to play one of the crew members there.

It's so funny because you got this range where, like, I can tell you really like doing comedy.

I loved it.

It was also kind of when it landed in my lap, I think it was totally something I was so ready for and excited to do because I'd done

the Northmen that we just talked about.

Yeah, and you'd done succession.

And also like

Infinity Pool, which was also quite intense and dark.

I mean, Succession was definitely more comedic, but I think

after the Northmen and Infinity Pool, two great experiences, but

pretty intense, dark subject matters.

Sure.

This felt felt just like a little palette cleanser.

It was fun.

Yeah, I just wanted to do something a bit lighter and funny.

But it's crazy how you came up, though.

I mean, you were in these, like, like that Generation Kill thing.

I mean, that was kind of this big, menacing, kind of real historical war thing, right?

Yeah.

How'd you get cast in that?

I got lucky, man.

But I mean, like, you got to be real American to do that thing.

Well, it was.

The thing was,

I'd been out here.

So after Zoolander, I,

because zoolander was my first audition yeah out here and you just stayed here you're right well i i went back to sweden because i was doing a play yeah in stockholm so i went back but i remember going back and telling and then after zoolander i um because again i didn't have representation i didn't have an agent yeah when we did that but then after that i got an agent yeah um

and and and she said well if you you know, when you're done with the play, you should come out here.

Yeah.

And I, because I was like, I'd done one audition, I booked the job.

I remember coming in Sweden.

I was like,

it's easy in Hollywood.

It's still, you just like roll up and Ben Siller's in the room and then, you know, you book the job.

Yeah.

So I came back here

very naive.

Yeah.

And, and then I didn't book a job for until 2007.

Oh my god.

Nothing.

I was here auditioning for a lot, a lot of really.

How many years is that?

Six years.

Oh my God.

Yeah.

I mean, I went back and forth.

I was in Sweden a little bit and then I would do these like smaller things in Sweden to try to and save up a little bit of money, come out here, rent an apartment somewhere and do all these, like, pilot seasons and

audition for the whole thing.

Yeah.

Did the whole thing.

And then when Generation Kill came up,

because I found that often anything that I got excited about,

in the end, they would always hire someone who was a bit more established.

But when this came up,

they wanted not unknown actors, but quite most of the guys, it's about a platoon of Marines during the first five weeks of the invasion of Iraq.

And they intentionally wanted a lot of

unknown faith because it's like their style of shooting was also kind of documentary and

to create an ensemble that wasn't distracted by star power.

Yeah, yeah.

And it was a bunch of young guys, and they so had been out here and was slightly disillusioned and was like auditioning for everything.

And then that came up and it was just so phenomenal.

The writing was just so good.

And I was like, there's no way I'm going to get this because it was like a great role and a great piece by David Simon and Ed Burns.

And

but then, yeah, and it was like a grueling month of auditions, callbacks.

I was in London auditioning for the director.

I was in New York.

I went down to Baltimore because they were shooting the wire at the time, auditioned there.

And then it was one of those where it's like,

it's between you and another guy.

And I'm like, oh, God.

And then four days of just like waiting for that phone call.

And it was, you know, again, like at the time, I hadn't basically worked in six years.

And I was going to go back home to Sweden to like unemployment.

And it was either going to be that or like go to Namibia and do your dream job for seven months like with incredibly talented people.

And then, and then I got a call for after four days.

Yeah.

And then they're like,

it's between you and two other guys now.

Oh, Christ.

I was like, what?

It was just me and it was down to me and one other guy.

And now it's like a third guy comes in.

Are you freaking out?

Yeah, because then I was like, oh, now some like established dude is coming in.

And you're like, I'll take that one.

Thank you very much.

And then I think it was four rounds of more callbacks.

I went down

here to LA for another callback and then up to the next one.

And are they reading you with the other guys that are already cast and that kind of shit?

No.

No.

Just you.

Yeah, just me.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Did you know how to, like, were you still speaking with Swedish accent?

Not really.

Because I'd spent quite a few.

I also went to, when I was 13, we lived in

Budapest in Hungary.

Yeah.

My dad was shooting a movie there.

So I went to an American school there.

Okay.

A little bit, but still, like, they knew that I was Swedish.

And I think

some studio people

were probably a bit like, well,

it's a very American role.

So I'm like, or is this kid?

Yeah.

I mean, the Swedish kid, is he the right guy?

But I didn't think I was going to get it.

And then

they call and then they're like, all right, well, you're flying to Namibia tomorrow.

Wow.

And then

how long were you there?

Seven.

We were there for seven months.

We started in Namibia and then northern South Africa and then we ended in Maputo.

Wow.

And I was so certain that I was going to get fired, replaced.

Because it was, it was a, you know,

to this day, it's like one of the best scripts I've ever worked on.

Like, it was so good.

Yeah.

And I was like, there's no way I get to play Iceman

on this show.

Like, it's, of course, they're going to bring in

a big, you know,

someone established.

But you were there already.

You still thought you were going to lose your gig.

It took me three months.

So like,

I would calculate how much it would cost HBO to replace me.

As it kept going on?

Because I knew that they were going to replace me.

I was like, they are definitely going to bring in

the real actor.

Yeah, right.

It's like the real guy is going to do this.

So the first couple of weeks, I was just waiting for someone to come knock on my charlie door and be like, all right, you can pack up and go.

And then we did a couple of big battle scenes that I knew would cost a lot of money to reshoot.

So I think we were like probably two months into production

when I started like calming down a bit and be like, you know what?

I think right now, at this point, it's crazy expensive to replace me.

So maybe I get to finish this.

So you were able to enjoy it for at least a month or two?

I was still really nervous and really stressed about everything.

It was an incredible group of guys.

And again, like creatively super fun.

But I was,

I did enjoy it, but

I never really relaxed, even though I didn't think they're going to replace me.

I was still a bit stressed out about the whole whole situation.

Well, that's probably good.

You were in a war.

Yeah, yeah.

Maybe they added something.

But then, like, and then the huge break was the vampire thing, right?

Yeah.

And that was after February.

Well, it kind of coincided, and I wasn't going to be able to do it initially.

Yeah.

Because.

True blood.

True blood, yeah.

So I had auditioned for Bill, the other vampire in the love triangle

a year before this.

Yeah.

and didn't hear back which i never did after any audition so i was like all right that's another one that i don't have to think about you know worst yeah and um

and then they call me when i'm in maputo shooting

like the we're like five months into yeah generation kill and they're like well we are now shooting and they'd shot the pilot already because Eric Northman doesn't show up till episode four.

So they're like,

so you remember that show, True Blood, that you auditioned for a year ago?

They are in production, and there's another role they want to see you for.

And it's like this

Viking vampire.

That's me.

That's me.

But they were supposed to go in the fall

of 2007.

And I had two months left on Generation Kill, so I wasn't going to be able to do it.

And then the writer strike happened.

And we, because we were in production, we already had all the scripts.

We could finish shooting, but True Blood ended up pushing in 2008.

Yeah.

Which enabled me to finish Generation Kill,

come back to L.A.,

audition for True Blood.

Yeah.

And

so thank you, all you writers out there for striking.

For me.

I know you did it just for me.

Yeah.

It was fortuitous.

I hope you got what you wanted in the strike.

Yeah.

But you gave me a big opportunity

because that was fucking huge, man.

That's a lot of episodes yeah kind of i mean you were what were you employed for four or five years we did seven seasons that's crazy yeah but it was it was

it was a really nice job because it was also like we shot it here in la and i lived in la at the time and the best it was the stuff i got to do on the show was just so fun and crazy and over the top.

It never felt like procedural.

It wasn't ever, it never didn't feel repetitive.

It was just like,

you know, what am I doing today?

I'm ripping a heart out of a guy's chest and then I'm drinking his blood through the aorta.

You know, that's a lot of

fun day.

It was.

It was so much fun.

And

we had about five, six months off every year so I could go off and do a movie or go see my family in Sweden.

And like,

so it really was,

you know, in hindsight, when you hear seven years, I don't know how many episodes, like 80, 90 episodes, like it's a lot, but

I loved it.

Yeah, it was a huge show.

And now you've got like, you know, all of the sort of young vampire freaks.

When we started out,

it was before Twilight had come out.

So it was like,

yeah, it was kind of before the vampire craze.

So it was a bit like, well, like, I obviously knew that Alan Ball was very talented and

six feet under and American Beauty.

But I was still a bit like, this long-haired Viking vampire.

Are people going to like this?

I don't care about this.

But didn't it put you on the map?

Yeah, I mean, it definitely hit the zeitgeist in a way that Generation Kill was a limited series.

Sure.

But when do you become this global sex symbol?

Was that from the

I was probably born a global sex symbol, my friend.

Yeah.

I noticed a difference

when season two of True Blood started because the first season

had this like

because in the books it's a book series that it's based on Eric has long blonde hair yeah like a Viking mane like a Viking Fabio yeah

so I wore a wig the first season

so I never got recognized after the first season right it was and it was also like a kind of a smaller more antagonistic character the first season and then the second season It's my own hair.

We

cut the wig.

And

and yeah so i remember it was like when season two started airing that's when i started to get the attention yeah yeah it all had to do with your own hair that was the big changer these beautiful locks yeah golden locks yeah

but it's like it's wild though you've had you've been it it's like to be somebody who is you know seen that way yet still have a career where you're you're like a character actor in a lot of ways which i i've said to actors before and they take that offensive but I don't mean it that way.

But to go from that and still be able to kind of lose yourself in roles that don't require you just to be like some hunk.

Yeah, but where's the fun in just being the hunk over and over again?

I agree, but I think that's like the interesting thing about you is that you can do all these different things and you didn't let yourself be kind of put in a box.

But I think I was just...

When I, after all those years of not

being in a position where I had the privilege of choosing projects,

I would just be like, all right, I got auditioned for this jock, boyfriend number four,

in this movie.

And I did it.

I was like, I just want to work.

I need to find a job.

So when I

several years later, got to a place where I had options where I could choose to play the jock or boyfriend number four or something

a bit weirder or a bit psychologically more interesting then of course I'm gonna gravitate towards that you know so in entering these roles I mean did you do any other acting training outside of the six months at the

um no but I mentioned that I work with Ingmer Bergman right yeah so I have that

you know but you just sort of picked it up you just put your own craft together and put your own shit together yeah on your own from working yeah yeah Igmer said you're ready to fly my friend yeah yeah go go soar and he rolled up the picture of you and he gave it to you

Never forget this work we did together.

No, I didn't.

It was just those six months at Marymount Manhattan.

And then when I was out here and not getting any jobs, I would go sit in at the actor's studio in West Hollywood.

Oh, really?

And just, yeah, I'd do a little stuff, some

work there and stuff.

Did that have an impact?

It did.

It did.

I was just soaking it all in.

And then I got to, then when they had the

writers from Actor Studio, they would do little scene work

as they were writing.

Then I got to participate and be in those scenes as the writers.

And then they would get notes from the other writers.

And then they go home and rewrite stuff.

A little place.

And

so I was never

a member.

Right.

But they were kind enough to let me.

You were around.

I was like a hangaround.

Yeah, and they knew you were doing things.

Yeah.

Kind of.

Well, they knew I did nothing because I had all the time in the world.

I was was there a lot.

But it was really,

I was inspired by it for sure.

Because

going to all these auditions for projects that I didn't really believe in anyways, but doing it because I just had to audition.

Sure.

Was

a bit soul-crushing sometimes.

So it was really nice to go and sit there and just watch.

great actors do scene work or do the acting.

Yeah, and just like through osmosis, just like feel that even though i wasn't yeah

well i mean i think that the audition process is humiliating and a lot of times it's like two lines that you're like trying to get yeah but it's it's hard it's really hard when you know that you're not right for the role yeah yeah because you're just like you're volunteering to go get humiliated but you're also in a position where you're like i haven't had an audition an audition in in three months it wouldn't be that long but like it had been several weeks of nothing and now my agent that I'm worried, constantly worried, that she's going to fire me or drop me, you know,

calls me and's like, all right, I have this audition for you.

And then you read the material and you don't like it.

Yeah.

And you're completely wrong for the role.

Yeah.

But you're in no position to be like, you know what?

I don't respond to this.

So I'm not going to do it.

Because then I'm like,

she's going to drop me tomorrow.

I'm not booking any job.

I guess it toughens you up.

But then that's hard because you step into the room and you don't believe in yourself.

And then, but you're like, I got to do this.

So

yeah, then

it was nice to have to be able to drop it.

Go to the actor studio, watch people pursuing the truth.

And hang out with my best friend, Martin Landau.

Martin Landau, the guy.

I interviewed him years ago.

Did you?

Yeah.

Well, you know, it's great to that because there's none of those old cats around anymore.

No.

You know, that really kind of believed in the thing.

Yeah.

And the actor studio was a real thing.

It was really, did you ever go there?

No.

No, but it was, it was really in I was inspired by it.

Yeah.

but what when you did uh big little eyes it's it's interesting to you know that you know you have this image and then you get to be that guy who's still like the good-looking guy but to be a monster yeah I assume that some of these roles you're sort of like well now this will put to rest that other thing well that was just such an incredible character so that operating and again to explore that relationship with Nicole Kidman yeah come on what a dream you know

because he was also not just a monster.

It didn't feel like a cartoonish villain.

No, no, no, no.

Because it was, you know,

a character who had

a lot of love for his sons and a lot of love for his wife as well.

And just

there's an incredible deep darkness there, but there's also light and playfulness.

And so there was a complexity there that was just like, just extraordinary.

It was a monster role, man.

I mean, in terms of like what was available to explore and play.

Well, and I felt I don't want to say be lazy, but yeah, I have to be lazy through it because I didn't really have to work that hard.

It was so well written.

Yeah.

And Jean-Marc Valley, the late Jean-Mark who directed it,

was just extraordinary to work with.

And again, to kind of work on such fantastic material

with someone like him and Nicole Kidman was just like,

I mean, it was soul-crushing at times because, again, it was really, really dark and intense.

Yeah.

But I didn't really, I mean, it was when

you could have writing and collaborators that are so extraordinary, it makes it quite easy.

Yeah, I get it.

Well, yeah, because you don't have to worry about that.

No.

You know, everything's in place for you to just do the thing.

And I just, from reading it, I could see

who the character was.

And I was intrigued by him.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

So what happens now like after you do this are you gonna do you got a movie in the hopper

well um where this is like the tail end of I've been bouncing around yeah these past two months uh

promotion for Murdabot yeah and then this movie called Pillion we went to Cannes with oh you were just in Cannes yeah well that that did well right yeah it's a it's a little kinky gay biker movie.

Yeah, I think I saw some reel of you with Pedro.

Did you like hug him or something?

Yeah, yeah.

I gave him a sloppy kiss.

Yeah.

Yeah, he's

better than a friend, and he was at our premiere.

Yeah, sweet.

It was an extraordinary experience.

The only time I had a film at Cannes was,

was it 2012 maybe with Melancholia, Larson Treer?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

And I was shooting True Blood at the time here in LA, so I couldn't go.

So this was the first time I was there with a film.

Oh, that's exciting.

It was extraordinary.

And also, like,

I was there with a film that I

actors always say that they love their project.

But this was a special one because it was also like

a first time, very young, first-time filmmaker.

We did it on a shoestring budget.

No one got paid, but it was just like an incredible experience.

What was it about?

It's a sub-dom story set in the world of gay bikers.

Oh, wow.

So I play a biker who takes on a submissive.

So it's like

I guess a love story.

But yeah, and it's about basically their relationship.

Oh, wow.

I didn't know there was a gay biker community.

Oh, yeah.

We have a bunch of GBMCC, Gay Biker Motorcycle Club in England.

They are, so the other bikers are members of GBMCC.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

So it was and they came down to Cannes as well.

So they were there.

That must have been a party.

It was one of the best nights of my life.

Like to have them there,

one guy in a pup mask.

Yeah.

It, you know, on the red carpet, Cannon, and then just to celebrate with it.

It was phenomenal night.

Oh, that's exciting.

Yeah.

I love that little film.

So, but, but we're not, that was, um, it's not coming out anytime soon, so I'm not on.

No, I get it.

So like it's.

But the experience was great.

the experience was great and then we'll see when they it's 824 so it might be end of the year or maybe

yeah but just a because con looks like it looks like a very you know it's the thing it's like the prestige it's con right it's can yeah can or con yeah yeah i don't know what they call it no it can the can yeah the can

yeah i don't know why i always uh mispronounce words my entire life can it's can i don't think you're fair enough no i've heard a lot of people say con.

Okay.

Yeah.

I like can.

I wasn't trying to correct you.

Sorry, if I came across as that, no, I get what you're doing.

Just because I'm European, I'm trying to be like, no, no, sir.

It's calm.

Yeah.

Le can.

But it always looks like that.

You've arrived at something important.

Yeah.

I mean, it definitely felt

incredible to be at the most prestigious film festival in the world.

That's it.

With a kinky gay biker movie.

Yeah.

Well, I'm looking forward to seeing that.

It was good talking to you, pal.

I really enjoyed this.

Yeah, yeah.

It was fun.

And congratulations on your

retirement from.

Well, we're going this show is coming to an end, and it's been a long time.

I'm not retiring, but.

I think you are.

I think you are.

You're retiring.

Really?

Am I out?

Is it time?

Is it time to just.

I'm here to tell you that.

It's done.

You're done.

It's over.

Yeah.

I'm doing other stuff.

Of course you are.

But congratulations.

16 years, right?

Yeah.

How many guests?

Well, there's been like over 1,600 episodes.

Oh, my.

So, yeah.

Wow.

There's been a lot of guests, dude.

Like, it's at the point now where I'm not sure who's been on and who hasn't.

Yeah.

Like, I always think, like, oh, I know you haven't because you're here.

Yeah.

But a lot of times, like, did I interview him?

Did I, like, because Martin Landau, that's a great example of, yeah, who would know that I did that?

But I got him, you know, and he was very lucid.

And, and as I became more interested in acting, I was able to talk to all these people.

Yeah.

Like, you know, I have masterclasses.

Yeah, yeah.

Like, I had Pacino in here.

I had Landau in here.

Alexander Scarsguard.

Yeah.

All the big ones.

Yeah, you.

Then the SARS guard, not the Scars Guard, that guy.

Oh, everyone thinks we're brothers.

Yeah, you're not.

What's his first name?

Peter.

Peter, yeah, he's great.

But, you know, I can pick brains.

Paul Dano was in here, and he's pretty good.

A lot of big actors who I talk to.

But not to be presumptuous, but the timing of it all, like when we confirmed this

that I was going to be

on your show, the next day you announced that

the show's coming to an end.

Who else is there to talk to?

Who is it?

I mean, it might be a bit presumptuous, but was it like 1,600 episodes of leading towards finally getting me on the show?

And then you were like, now that I have the pinnacle of my career.

We've been talking about it since

you were in Zoolander.

We're like, if we ever do a podcast, when they're invented, we've got to get this guy on.

So finally, our mission is complete.

Well, Mark, you're welcome.

Really appreciate it, Alex.

And best of luck with your retirement.

Thank you.

There you go.

The season finale of Murder Boss premieres this Friday, July 11th on Apple TV ⁇ .

Hang out for a minute.

Folks, for you full Marin subscribers, you can hear me and Chris and Brendan on last Friday's bonus episode talk to a real deal Mount Everest climber.

It's AEW wrestler Darby Allen who made it to the highest point on earth last month.

A lot of people say it's not about stomaching Mount Everest.

It's about conquering like yourself and your inside and pulling stuff out.

So, okay.

All right.

Well, I got some questions then.

Let's start with the dead people.

Now, how many dead people did you walk by?

I believe there's like a total of eight.

But you know,

the crazy thing is when I went up and then I instantly, when I did the summon, I was coming back down.

You see all these new dead bodies that you didn't see within the last 12 hours.

That were, that just got there?

Yeah, like new ones that died in 12 hours.

Yeah.

You're just dropping dead up there like every day?

Oh, I don't know about every day, but it was literally I went up.

I when I did the summit and then I was coming down, all of a sudden you see a new dead body that wasn't there on the trail 12 hours ago.

Different jacket.

Yeah,

no, dude, it was, it was pretty crazy.

Cause then you start thinking about your own situation.

And obviously they don't go there with the death wish.

They go there thinking, oh shit, like I'm going to do this motherfucking mountain.

And then it just doesn't work out and it's just like you're like oh my god did how the sherpas they just like leave it's just like a whole thing yeah i don't know what i don't know why they leave there but maybe the guy's like you know i'm gonna climb this mountain if it's the last thing i do and it turns out it was yeah there is a thing called summit fever where people just don't know when to turn around and i felt that I felt that 100%.

We'll have some more of that talk on this Thursday's WTF episode, but Fulmarin subscribers can hear the whole thing right now.

To sign up, go to the link in the episode description or go to WTFPod.com and click on WTF Plus.

And a reminder before we go, this podcast is hosted by ACAST.

Boomer lives Monkey and the Fonda Cat Angels Everywhere.