SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
In Joachim Trier's new film, "Sentimental Value," Gustav Borg, an esteemed Norwegian director, offers a popular actress the starring role in a rich family drama. But she says, no. We can't work together, she tells him. We don't communicate. The director, played by Stellan Skarsgard, is her father. "Sentimental Value" is Norway's entry for best feature film at the next Academy Awards. It also stars Renate Reinsve and Elle Fanning. And a caution, this conversation includes mention of suicide.
Stellan Skarsgard, one of the world's most revered actors, joins us now from Los Angeles. Thanks so much for being with us.
STELLAN SKARSGARD: Thank you.
SIMON: Gustav, the father and director, doesn't know his two daughters very well, does he?
SKARSGARD: (Laughter) No. He doesn't. I mean, he was a bit of a absent father due to divorce, among other things. He wants to reach them and he wants to have contact with them again, but he does not know how to do it. He's extremely clumsy. He's fumbling his way through it, and it becomes very - it becomes comic, but it also becomes very sad.
SIMON: Is there a part of him that hopes that making a film will not only make a good film, but repair a relationship?
SKARSGARD: I don't think so. I don't think so. I think it's - the fun thing with playing a character is often to play him as unconscious of most important things in life. It might be so, but he does not know it because he is desperate to do the film. And he goes to another actress and tries to make it with her.
SIMON: Well, and I want to ask you about that because when his daughter says no, he winds up offering the role to a famous American actress, Rachel Kemp, played by Elle Fanning. There are unexpected flashes of what I'll just call tough humor. The footstool thing - can I get you to recount that for us?
SKARSGARD: He is showing her around in the house, which has a very important role in the film, by the way. And he shows the room where his mother committed suicide by hanging herself. And he puts a stool there. And she's going to play the mother, and she's going to put the stool and climb up and hang herself. And he says that the stool is the actual stool that his mother used. And she goes, oh, no, oh, God, and all that kind of stuff. And then, later, he reveals that, no, it wasn't old. It's just an Ikea stool, and it wasn't that one at all. Of course, it's a joke. It's a joke at her expense, in a way, but not so bad.
SIMON: Is it OK for people to laugh at that in the film?
SKARSGARD: It's OK for them to laugh at everything.
SIMON: In her own way, is Nora as engrossed in her theater career as her father was in his movie career?
SKARSGARD: Yes. She is. I mean, they're both artists. That's why this conflict is, in a way, that can artists - do they all have problems coping with and compromising with real life and family life and children and stuff? Yeah. Probably they do because their work is not only their work. It's their identity. And if you have to compromise with your identity, you don't become yourself anymore, and it's an unsolvable problem.
SIMON: And you have several children in the film business, don't you?
SKARSGARD: Yeah. I got six in the business, I think, and two not in the business.
SIMON: Any of this remind you of anything personal?
SKARSGARD: That's exactly what my son said, my second son said when he'd seen the film. Anything remind you of something personal? And I said, no, of course not.
SIMON: (Laughter).
SKARSGARD: But I had to rethink that. Of course, it does remind me of things. I have been a present father much more than Gustav Borg has. And basically, since 1989, when I stopped working at The Royal Dramatic Theatre, I've been spending eight out of 12 months at home and only been shooting for four months a year. So I've been changing diapers for eight months a year. You can say that I've been present, in that sense. But you don't know how much you've been present in mentally because you might have been distracted. And also, if you have eight children, you have eight different individuals. Some of them need more attention than others, and some of them need more encouragement than others. And so I understand what he was referring to, my son.
SIMON: And did you draw your portrayal of Gustav, the director, out of any of the directors with whom you've worked?
SKARSGARD: No. I didn't. The instinct was immediately, oh, who shall I choose? This is the moment for revenge, and I can make fun of a director like that. But I didn't because I needed him to be very sensible director, very smart director and capable of doing very refined and nuanced psychological work with an actress. Because he's good at it in his work, but he's not good at it with his daughters. That's a sort of not uncommon thing because your art is more controllable.
SIMON: I've read you had a stroke in recent years.
SKARSGARD: Yeah. I had it three years ago.
SIMON: Your performance in this film is so strong. May I ask, did you have to learn how to do anything differently?
SKARSGARD: I can't remember my lines anymore. That, and I have some language problems. But that was helped by having an earpiece and a prompter in my ear. And it's not as convenient as you think. That, oh, he says all the lines, so you just have to repeat them. It doesn't work like that. He or she has to say the lines very fast, very neutral and at the same time as your coactor is saying his lines. It's elaborate because to find the rhythm, to work out the rhythm of the scene.
SIMON: As we said, you're one of the most respected actors in the world, but I didn't know until reading up that you've never been nominated for an Oscar.
SKARSGARD: Well, actually, I think there's been one male Swede who has been nominated, and that's Max von Sydow. He's been nominated twice. And that's it.
SIMON: If you're nominated now, what would that mean to you?
SKARSGARD: I don't know. I guess I'll go on with my life as I've always done.
SIMON: (Laughter).
SKARSGARD: I'm about to reach the age of 74 without an Oscar, so I could probably go on. But it would be an enormous honor, of course, and I would be much more happy than I will admit.
SIMON: What's ahead for you?
SKARSGARD: Well, I got to do this Oscars campaign now. Then I'll wait and see. I haven't - you know, there's not that many really good scripts for old people. If a younger man writes about an old man, he writes them, like, with a cane. I got to wait for a role that's interesting, that is not sort of Alzheimer.
SIMON: Well, you know, I hope it comes soon 'cause you're a lot of fun to talk to.
SKARSGARD: (Laughter). Well, let's talk again then.
SIMON: I hope so. Stellan Skarsgard stars in the new film "Sentimental Value," in theaters now. Thank you so much for being with us.
SKARSGARD: Oh, thank you so much for calling.
SIMON: And if you or someone you know may be considering suicide or is in crisis, please call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
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