While Alexander Skarsgård has been away shooting his new film, “Tarzan,” there hasn’t been much news about him or interviews during True Blood’s run. But since his film, “The Giver” opens today, we have another interview with the actor who talks about the young-adult classic, hanging out with Taylor Swift (who has a small but vital role in the film) and what True Blood has in store for Eric Northman.
NOTE: This interview, although just released today, was obviously conducted prior to the start of True Blood’s last season airing on HBO, so that’s why Alex is more tight lipped about his True Blood scenes than you’d expect by this time in the season.
Is The Giver big in Sweden? I feel like everyone I know in America read it as a kid.
Alexander Skarsgård: Not really — it’s not part of the canon like it is in the States. I heard about it when I came to the States, but I only read it a year and a half ago.
What drew you to the project, then?
I’ve always been interested in those Orwellian dystopian novels, like Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World and obviously Orwell’s 1984. I thought, this — even though this caters to a younger audience — was really interesting and scary. It was a character I was fascinated by, someone who could do these horrible, horrible things but still be innocent in a weird way. What is morality? If you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t understand the concept of death, is what he’s doing wrong or not?
How do you play a character that, by nature, has no highs and lows without being flat?
To me, it was about potential. I wanted the audience to feel that there’s more potential. So when he’s interacting with other members of the family, you want to feel that he could have been a fantastic dad, a fantastic husband. Because of the circumstances, there’s no opportunity for that. That made it really sad. I found that interesting because if he’s just a robot, then there’s no life, there’s nothing interesting there. I wanted to feel that this was a human being, a real man who was obviously shaped by this society and the drugs he takes with his morning injections. He’s numb.
The Giver, like much of the YA fiction that eventually followed it — The Hunger Games, Divergent — is about making choices and deciding, as a reader, what kind of person you’d be in these situations. Would your 12-year-old self have been a Jonas or someone who follows the rules?
I think we’d all like to say we would have been like Jonas because we’re more comfortable saying that, but I’m afraid almost all of us wouldn’t be like Jonas. We’re all the heroes of our own lives, and when we put ourselves in those situations, we always think we’re going to be extremely heroic, but obviously most of us wouldn’t. How would that even be possible to do when you don’t understand what pain, suffering and love are?
Let’s talk about True Blood. That dream sequence between Eric and Jason got people very excited. Can you tease anything about their romantic-sexual futures as the final episodes approach? The people need to know.
I can’t say much about the plot, but that was a very memorable scene. Ryan [Kwanten] is so funny. It was a very tough night for me — I couldn’t stop laughing. He’s a hilarious guy. But we knew that scene was coming. We shot that scene where he drinks my blood in season six. There wasn’t a real plan to follow through, but then when we shot it, it was strangely sensual, and Ryan and I just looked at each other after shooting that scene last year like, “We’re definitely going to see that dream sequence.” Sure enough, a couple months later we got the script, and there it was.
What was your reaction when you saw how the series ends?
I’ve been really happy with this whole season. To me, that’s Eric at his best, when he’s got one clear objective: revenge. When he’s that focused and determined, it’s so much fun to play that and hopefully watch as well. The fact that I’ve gotten to work with Kristin Bauer [van Straten] so much this season — I always miss her when we shoot seasons and we don’t get to work that much. It’s been great finishing this series side by side with Kristin. I really liked how we leave Eric at the end of this show. I’m very happy with it. Hopefully fans will be as well.
Read the full interview here: time.com
