For Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value Offered a Chance at Revenge

In recent years, Stellan Skarsgård has become best known for his supporting roles in Hollywood’s biggest franchises (Pirates of the Caribbean, Dune, Marvel, Star Wars, and Mamma Mia!), but his most intriguing work has always been in Scandinavian cinema. So it’s apt that his collaboration with Danish-Norwegian auteur Joachim Trier on Sentimental Value has brought him some of the highest acclaim of his career. He’s received his first-ever Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards nominations for a film role, and may very well land his first Oscar nod at the age of 74, after nearly six decades in the industry. Skarsgård plays a cranky old art-house director who suddenly reappears in the lives of his adult daughters after their mother’s passing. Dealing with a stalled career, aging collaborators, and a broken family, he attempts to make it all right by offering his eldest daughter, now a somewhat successful theater and television actor played by Renate Reinsve, the lead role in what may be his last film. Skarsgård knows what it’s like to be the parent of actors (his sons Alexander, Gustaf, Bill, Valter, Ossian, and Kolbjörn are all in the business), but his first thought when it came to playing a director was simply getting even.

How did Sentimental Value come into your life?

Joachim Trier called me and said, "You want to be in my next film?" He had no problem convincing me. I loved The Worst Person in the World and all his films. I saw that he was becoming better and more mature. I didn't have to read the script to say yes, but I did.

You play a film director in Sentimental Value. Did you base the character on any of the many film directors that you have known in your career?

My instinct, immediately, when I knew I was going to play a director, was revenge. There was so much I could do to make fun of directors! But the film needed him to be more sensitive in his directing than in his personal life. That’s his problem.

Did you always want to be an actor?

I had no intention of becoming an actor. I wanted to be a diplomat. I wanted to travel the world and make peace everywhere. When I was 16, I did a television series, but I still wanted to be a diplomat. At 18, I gave up and started acting full-time. I still don’t know what to do when I grow up. I do this for fun.

Do you prefer acting in Europe to acting in America?

I like both. The difference isn't that big between America and Europe, except that the crews are bigger here.

When you watch Sentimental Value, do you get emotional? It’s very moving.

I can’t move myself to tears. What makes me cry is Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights. It’s such a melodrama: The poor man is in love with a blind girl, and he collects money to heal her. In the end, she sees again and realizes that Chaplin was not the rich guy she imagined. He was a poor tramp, and he saved her. It’s done with such elegance and heart, so I cry.

Have you ever crashed a party?

I’m 74 years old. I’ve crashed a lot of parties.

Do you ever get starstruck?

Sometimes. People impress you, not because they're stars, but because they've done something that is worth something to you. Then I can be in awe in some way.

Like a diplomat?

If I met the [former] Swedish Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld, and he was alive, I would be starstruck.

Do you have a pet peeve?

It bugs me when chefs destroy food. I order a simple pasta like cacio e pepe—just cheese, pasta, and pepper. Then in comes something green like arugula, and some balsamic vinegar. They think they have to add things, when they should subtract. That’s a metaphor in general: Subtraction and simplicity go for acting as well.

Grooming by Andrea Pezzillo at Tomlinson Management Group.

Style Director: Allia Alliata di Montereale. Codirector: Frank Lebon. Director of photography: André Chemetoff. Hair by Jawara for L’Oréal Professional at Art Partner; makeup by Lauren Parsons for Sisley Paris at Art Partner; manicure by Jolene Brodeur for Dazzle Dry at the Wall Group. Set design by David White at Streeters.