“I have the phone number to Kevin Feige” – Stellan Skarsgård on the MCU and Our Kind of Traitor

1

 

There are few interview subjects quite an enjoyable as Stellan Skarsgård. Having been fortunate to meet the Swedish actor several times before, our latest discussion was surrounding Our Kind of Traitor, where he plays Dima, a Russian gangster seeking asylum in Britain, in exchange for vital information.

Skarsgård discusses the line between good and evil and what mankind can be capable of. He also speaks about shooting (yet another) nude scene, while also explaining how proud he is of his son Alexander. Finally he speaks about his work in the MCU, and why having Kevin Feige’s personal number makes such a big difference…

So what was it that attracted you to this project?

There were several things. One was Ewan McGregor, who I worked with on Angels and Demons, and I really liked him and we had fun together and we wanted to work together again. So when he was attached I really wanted to do it, and I’m a big fan of John le Carré’s writing. Susanna White directed my son, Alexander, on Generation Kill and I like her. And of course it’s a fantastic role. Normally I underplay my roles, and here I got the chance to be extremely expansive and over the top, larger than life. It was great fun.

So when first reading the screenplay, did you trust Dima at first? Because I didn’t.

[Laughs] Well you shouldn’t! You shouldn’t trust him. He’s not a bad guy, he’s not a good guy, he’s everything. He comes from a very poor background, he was a petty criminal, spent probably half his life in jail, he’s a killer – a life is nothing to him, not even his own life has much worth. But his family mean something to him. He is manipulating Perry at the beginning, but he, and to his own surprise, starts to like this man. He probably doesn’t have any friends he can trust. Then he meets a man he doesn’t know, who is prepared to go through hell for him and he cannot even imagine that. That is the beginning of a friendship that opens him up and allows for him to even be vulnerable, which is not natural to him.

You’ve touched upon this dark history he has – do you use his past experiences to inform the role at hand, or do you prefer to just treat the character based on what’s on the page in front of you?

It varies. Normally I base everything on the script but sometimes, like with Dima, he talks about his past. I had to invent how he thinks and that is based on what his life was like, and that tough life he had means that a lot of things we deem important, are not important to him.

When playing characters like this, who have done reprehensible things in the past that people like me and you can’t relate to, do you find that by embodying them and getting in to their head you’ve grown more of an understanding for those who do live in this way, and will do things like kill?

I think that acting makes you understand almost anybody, because that’s what we do – we try to figure out how people work, what makes them tick. But we have a view of humanity that is so stupidly based on good and evil and it’s not true. I think that most of us could have contributed to the holocaust, and we should not think that the people who were a part of those horrifying things were any different from us. If we’re not aware that we can be those monsters, then we can’t protect ourselves from becoming them. You see it all the time, every war going on, man can be a monster, and that is not just some men, it’s all of us.

So part of the fear comes from knowing not just what they were capable of, but what we’re capable of?

Exactly – and it’s so important to nourish. That’s why it’s difficult, and dangerous to divide the world into good guys and bad guys. You can’t talk like Bush, “they’re the bad guys and we’re the good guys”. The moment you say that you exclude yourself from the possibility of being a bad guy, which means that even when you kill a lot of people you’re a good guy and God is on your side.

In regards to research though, is there such thing as too much research? There’s that famous Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier story where the latter told Dustin to “try acting”. Where do you stand on that front?

I don’t think you can have too much research, or too little. I don’t care what you do because it’s a very lucid profession and hard to say how you do it right. You can’t explain it to anybody, it’s production of real life in the moment, and how do you do that? I don’t know. I’m doing it all the time and I still don’t know. If it makes you feel better and makes it easier for you to do method acting, that’s fine, do it. But if you want to try another method, that’s fine too. But I don’t think there’s any method that can make a bad actor good.

But is there a method that can make a good actor bad?

Probably. It’s easier to fuck up a good performance than to create a good one out of a bad actor.

The film is very tense and suspenseful – are you able to feel that suspense when watching the film back, or is that almost impossible when starring in the film?

It’s impossible. I can smell it, but I can’t really feel it. I’m too preoccupied with regretting things.

stellan-skarsgard-thorWhich brings me to my next question… There is a scene when you take your kit off. As an actor you don’t seem to mind letting it all hang out.

Honestly, we’re not that different [Laughs]. 50% of humanity has between their legs what I have between my legs. Some much bigger. But I grew up with my parents walking around naked at home, and I walk around naked at home. My kids do it too. Alexander was interviewed on the Conan show and he was asked about being naked in something, and whether it was embarrassing and difficult to take off your clothes in front of the camera, and he said that when he grew up his father was naked all the time. He told him that I even cooked naked. Conan asked if that was dangerous, and my son said, ‘no no no, it’s too small’. To me it’s really strange that people are afraid of showing a certain part of their body. All that comes from religion.

Well for me, it’s more because I’m English. We’re prudish.

If it wasn’t for the church you would never have discovered that this part of your body should not be exposed.

 

Talking of Alexander, you must be so incredibly proud of him at the moment? His career is going from strength to strength and he’s making some great stuff. Does he ever speak to you about scripts and what he takes on, or is doing his own thing?

He’s doing his own thing, yeah. Four of my kids are actors now and they’re all doing their own thing. We talk a lot, but like with any actor’s meeting it becomes gossip about that asshole of a director, that stupid fucker, stuff like that.

Were you very encouraging to your kids to get involved in acting, or were they naturally drawn to it having got a sense for your enthusiasm for the craft?

I think they sensed my enthusiasm. But I didn’t encourage or discourage them. I just encouraged them to do whatever they felt like. I think it’s better they create their own lives, and as a parent you should step back as early as you can.

You were saying before you struggle to invest emotionally in films you star in – but are you able to invest in characters your kids play? Can you detach the role from the person?

Of course I’m sitting there thinking, ‘oh they could’ve done that differently’. I can’t say that I can be neutral when I watch them act. But I can tell when it’s good. I saw The Diary of a Teenage Girl recently and I think Alexander does a lovely job in that, and it’s a wonderful film. Really nice.

So, back to Our Kind of Traitor, what do you think it is about le Carré’s novels that just translate so remarkably to screen?

Of course they are always good stories, but what I like about his books that is such an important ingredient, is the sorrow. Just in the way the world ticks and how people’s lives are in it. When I was 13 years old I was given The Spy That Came in From the Cold by my father and it was the first adult book I read, and this enormous sadness hit me right in the gut. The sadness he has is almost romantic in a way, like the smell of decaying flowers. I don’t know how to express it really. But then of course he’s extremely knowledgable about everything and he’s so contemporary, he knows what is going on in the world today. He’s not an old man in a tower. His stories are morally ambiguous, which I like a lot.

In regards to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you play an integral role – can we expect to see you back in that world anytime soon?

I don’t know. They still have one option left on me and I know I won’t be in Thor 3, but I might be in the next Avengers film, but nothing has been said yet. We’ll see it. I really like working with them.

I’ve interviewed a few of those involved, and everybody associated with the MCU has got this infectious spirit, and I know it’s a cliché to say it, but there does seem to be a real family feel amongst those involved. Is that the case?

Yes, it is. Even if it’s the most successful franchise ever, it’s a handful of people, four or five nerds that are running the show. They are not producers flying in every second week just to show off on set, they’re always on set. I have the phone number to Kevin Feige, I can call him if I’m not pleased with something. Normally on a big studio film there is no way you can reach even halfway to the top. That makes a big difference.

Our Kind of Traitor is released on May 13th. You can also read our interview with director Susanna White, here.