The mighty Stellan Skarsgard needs no introduction.

Hes also starred inRiververy recently on the BBC.

We sat down with a very dapper Stellan Skarsgard in a swanky hotel room to talk about the movie…

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Dima feels like a perfect role for you.

Hes an eccentric guy, hes got a darker edge and a softer side to him as well.

What were your first impressions when you read the script?

Well, of course I saw that.

And I liked that.

But it was also that… most of the characters I play, I under play.

Almost to a fault, sometimes.

Its a… Im almost sometimes too subtle in my acting.

But this time, this was a character where I could definitely go full out.

And I of course had a lot of pleasure doing it.

But also it is the contradictions.

But at the same time hes like you and me, and hes human and hes vulnerable.

And were you familiar at all with the book beforehand?

Ive read most of John le Carres books.

Im familiar with the man.

When you didThe Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, David Fincher told you not to read that book.

I dont know… the reason I read it is because I knew it would be a good book.

If I had any fear that it would be a bad book, I wouldnt read it.

Because its not worth it.

Theres so many films made out of bad books, and I dont have time for those.

Well, its not that difficult.

And its not a mind-set, really.

And hes one of the richer guys in the world right now and hes handling enormous amounts of money.

So all those contradictions are interesting.

And what was it like working with Ewan McGregor to build up that rapport?

Weve worked together once before, onAngels & Demons, and we had a lot of fun.

We didnt do much acting together in that film, but we had much fun on the set.

And I wanted to work with him again and I was very happy that this project came up.

I have fun with that guy…

Did that help to bring the friendship of the characters together?

Of course, of course… that sort of growing intimacy between them, that is not scripted.

That is something that the actors do.

I dont know, maybe it did, but shooting is always such an intense and weird thing.

Even if youre in the same spot all the time, it is extremely intense.

So the change of location didnt add much to that, but its kind of cool.

There arent many films that are shot like that anymore.

Where you actually move between countries to shoot it.

ForAvengers, in the Albuquerque desert, we shot New York there.

And it was all desert around me!

A lot of the scenes inOur Kind Of Traitorare really tense.

One tennis match in particular comes to mind.

Whats it like on set when youre trying to build that kind of tense atmosphere?

Well, the tension is the easy part to act.

And then it is, of course, in the editing.

How they sort of cut it to create that tension.

The hard part is hitting the ball, because Im absolutely worthless as a tennis player.

And if you see, they have carefully cut around my playing.

Susanna White proves here that shes a really talented director.

What was her style of working, and how does it compare to the directors youve worked with before?

Shes a very good director.

Shes a very talented woman.

And I think she knows what film she wants to make.

And that is always comforting as an actor.

I really liked working with her.

So, I called him first and said how is she?, and he said she was great.

Have you ever thought about directing yourself?

In terms of just setting up the shots and getting the story told.

And if I cant do that its not worth anything.

And, its also, I dont think I have the patience.

I can make three films in a year, instead of making one film every five years.

And, I really enjoy acting.

But of course I interfere anyway.

Did you do much interfering on this one?

No, not much.

Recently, British viewers have seen you on TV inRiver.

Thats another quite complex character, isnt it?

Whats it like getting into a character thats so fractured, mentally?

Yeah, its… a lot of it is actually playing the moments.

The way its written becomes the fractured character.

And, so you play with a lid on.

And that is fantastic for me as an actor.

Whats the difference, from your perspective, between doing a TV series and a film?

I havent done that much television.

I mean, really, River is the first serious attempt to do television.

I did a couple of episodes of Entourage a couple of years ago, and stuff.

But it is… the big thing is, of course, the time.

You dont get as much time when you do television usually.

And the director is basically just a runner who puts up the camera.

Which is sort of creating a generation of TV directors that get their egos destroyed a little.

And all those people have now moved into television.

But I dont mind.

Two shows, in the evening.

Lars von Trier is of course a special case, who did five and half hours for cinema!

[Laughs]

And youre in all of the formats!

No, I had no idea.

I was also very unprepared.

I dont think they knew either.

And they looked at me as if I was an idiot, which I was of course.

I mean, theyve broken record after record.

Im now on the list of the most grossing actors box office grossing actors in America.

Im number 13… of all times!

And its not because Ive added so much to those films, but Ive been in pretty successful films.

And is that something that youre gonna keep coming back to?

IsThor 3on your slate?

Thor 3is not on my slate.

Err… but maybe the next Avengers.

I have a five-film deal with them, and they still have one option.

I was lucky enough to interview Joss Whedon onAge Of Ultron.

It cant have been great to find that your scenes were among the ones that had to be trimmed?

Yeah, they were.

But they were cut down, yeah…

No, its really difficult stuff, to do those.

But it is difficult of course.

So what have you got coming up next?

And with that were out of time.

Stellan Skarsgard, thank you very much!

Our Kind Of Traitor reaches UK cinemas on Friday 13th May.