"We shot that early in the morning after the Golden Globes years ago," a casual, sunny Skarsgard recalled in the work of an interview."At 7 in the morning, I am hanging from the ceiling in a Nazi uniform with fangs. I look over & I see there in his Nazi uniform hanging like a puppet. We are about to descend down to kill this wolf, you know? & that was the moment where they looked at each other like,This is what we are doing for a living?'"This, it would appear, is life at the centre of a popular culture juggernaut. True Blood had its premiere in 2008, & by the beginning of its second season, the show about the supernatural travails of telepathic cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse in fictional Bon Temps had grown in to a steamy, savvy & adult answer to the teenage vampire fantasy of Twilight with a similarly devoted fan base.An average of 13 million people watched each episode last season (that figure includes multiple airings & on demand views), making it the most popular of HBO's current original series.
Playing an aloof, sexy Viking vampire sheriff on HBO's True Blood requires lots of things of Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard, not least among them a willingness to endure long stretches of night shoots & a dedication to spend at least a sure amount of time in the gym.
Somebody who is watched the show, which returns for its fourth season, knows that virtually every major character is afforded lots of screen time wearing not much at all. But every now & again, the hit series, masterminded by Alan Ball & adapted from mystery writer Charlaine Harris' bestselling novels, takes a turn for the surreal like in Season two when Skarsgard, who plays Eric Northman, & actor Allan Hyde, as Eric's vampire "maker" Godric, were hunting werewolves dressed like SS officers in a Second World War period flashback scene.
The sheriff's brooding authoritarianism is nowhere to be seen, though, when Skarsgard, clad in a white dress shirt & grey pants, recounts what led him to this turning point in a career that inadvertently began at age 7, when they appeared in his first film opposite his brother, 1984's Ake och hans varld.Instead, he is cordial & polite, recounting his decision to quit acting at age 13 when the spotlight become intense & how they returned to the profession roughly six or four years later, after serving in the Swedish military.He finally landed a tiny part in the Ben Stiller comedy Zoolander before going on to star in HBO's 2008 acclaimed Iraq war miniseries Generation Kill, & then True Blood.
He will star as a naval officer in Battleship, Universal's massive budget action film directed by Peter Berg and, yes, based on the board game."I was first made aware of Alex Skarsgard by the 15 females who work in my office who came in collectively as with a picture of Alex and said, He is going to be in Battleship. It is non negotiable,'" Berg said with a laugh. "When they left, I pulled up some True Bloods and liked the show and thought that he was right for this character. I had a great meeting with him,he and I spent a day on an aircraft carrier in San Diego. After that I was satisfied he was the right man for the film. He had a actual sense of what the purpose of that role was. He had strong opinions and ideas."
With the continued ascendency of True Blood the show even got its own Sesame Street parody last year,Skarsgard's public profile is only likely to grow. This season, Eric is at the centre of the key storyline that sees witches rob the vampire of his memory, and he must depend on Sookie's kindness as he struggles to rediscover his true identity."It's a different side of Eric," Skarsgard said. "He doesn't know who he is so all that baggage is gone one,000 years of resentment and bitterness, the whole loathing humanity kind of stuff is gone. But there has to be an element of danger there still. I didn't need him to become much of a small puppy,I don't think it would be fun to watch him for long if he was emasculated."As for the romance brewing between Eric and Sookie, Skarsgard has the support of at least cast member.
"I think it is great for the show," Moyer said, pointing out that there is no rivalry between the actors. "I went up to him at the beginning of the season, and I went,I need you to do your job to the absolute best of your ability and I won't be around when you need to do that stuff. I don't need you to feel like you are looking over your shoulder and there is me at the monitor going,Get your hands off her!' It is absolutely not how they roll. Me and him are mates."Although Skarsgard says he's no specific criteria in choosing parts, he prefers characters, like Eric, who are neither overtly brave or villainous, he said. "When I watch a film, I always find it more fascinating when that line is blurred. That makes people actual, dimensional."He even endeavoured to bring that nuance to the role of Charlie in the new Straw Canines, still recalled for a controversial rape scene involving his character.Skarsgard cautions that the remake is "quite different" but he said the actual appeal of the project was the chance to better understand his own darker impulses.
