Did that reverence for 1970s films likeThe French Connectionprovide an enjoyable aspect to playing the character?
Its really interesting to play those characters that are not allowed to show.
Where doesWazfit into those categories?
Was it a commercial project for you?
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No!
It doesnt pay my bills [laughs].
This was because it was an interesting role.
It was Shankland that made me do it.
Hes a first-time director, and Ive done quite a few of them.
I meet them and I talk to them and I feel Is there something going on there?
I hoped that he would be able to create a universe of his own, and he did.
Especially with first-time directors.
I can say yes to some directors without even reading a script.
You work on a script and you discuss it, and eventually, hopefully, you get somewhere.
You mean whats going on in the United States?
Of course I feel very strongly about it.
No, I havent seenSaw.
Se7enI have seen, but that is not so bad.
I just read a book by a man calledGoldhagen, Hitlers Willing Executioners.
Shankland and I come from different corners of the ring, shall we say, into this project.
We discussed it a lot.
I think that the violence in it and its probably the most violent film Ive made serves a purpose.
It is this absolutely horrible violence that stands against the idea of love.
Were you particularly attracted to the Bergman-esque pondering on love inWaz?
Not just to understand the mechanisms of our brains, but to be aware.
To confirm that we dont get into those situations again.
The first time I saw Istvan SzabosMephisto, I came out and I was in shock.
I couldnt swear what I would have done.
And then the friend that I saw the film with said Oh, that traitor Grundgens collaborator!.
He didnt question, and that is what we have to do constantly.
Im interested in moral questions.
Im interested in the human condition in general.
And of course Im interested in love is there empathy?
Personally I think there is love, and its a fantastic and beautiful thing.
Besides your professional ability to assume a character, what defines the Stellan-ness that draws people to cast you?
And I function socially very well on a set.
I hope thats not why Im hired, though.
Milos Forman said that he liked me because I had no face of my own.
Actors say that youre very generous with them, never playing the star.
Is that down to the many years of theatre that you did?
Its not concerned with the theatre necessarily.
The scene is never better than the weakest link, so I dont have to be brilliant.
I can be a little less good if it makes the other person good.
Then the scene becomes better and everybodys happier.
I hate doing monologues.
I want to see what happens between people.
Thats the most interesting thing.
Which of the twoExorcistprequel-versions that you shot remains the more effective for you?
Theyre two totally different films.
Of course, Paul Schraders film is closer to me.
And of course, they didnt want that.
I thought Those producers theyre either really really smart or they have no clue!.
With him…it would never become a horror movie.
Renny wanted to make his own film, and I was with him on that tract.
I like Renny sometimes better than his films!
[laughs] He s a nice Finnish guy and we have fun together.
I changed my make-up so they couldnt use anything from the first film for the second film.
Like those hyenas theyre terrible.
[laughs]
You and Peter Stormare are amongst the most prolific actors listed in the IMDB.
Is this evidence of a strong Scandinavian work ethic?
Yeah, we like to work.
Were good work-horses.The journey you made inWazlooked very gruelling.
But it was very very hard work.
Is that level hard to sustain between takes, when theyre re-setting the camera, and so forth?
You say that you feel a lot of fear when acting is that a useful tool for you?
Its just a by-product that you have to put up with, then?
Fear shrinks you, and I see nothing good in it.
The only good thing is that it might scare you to prepare a little better [laughs].
Did something happen in the theatre or a previous production that you dont want to happen again?
Well I had camera fright.
I didnt film for a couple of years.
I couldnt stand in front of the camera.
The camera was threatening, and my enemy.
Yeah, thats very possible, that I need to feel that Im amongst friends.
That they want me to be good and that they forgive me when Im not.
Is this insecurity restricted to the stage and set?
Im not very insecure in my own life.
I trust people and I like people…but its something about this acting thing.
So it better fuckingbesomething, you know!
[laughs] Its scary.
Fucking up your own performance deliberately, though what comes out of that?
Life is erratic and full of flaws.
And the hardest thing to produce on-screen is life.
Its a two-dimensional picture, and youve got to make it vibrate beyond that.
and one wrote Stellan fills me with the desire to go out and do wrong.
[Stellan laughs] What do you feel about that kind of adulation?
Yes, my first musical.
Oh, that was scary!
Its very weird because I didnt have the tools for that.
Ive never done anything like it.
When I came and started rehearsing it, I thought How does this work?.
Is it some kind of alienation, as Brecht said?
And Phyllida Law just looked at me and laughed.
Would you like to do more lighter things…comedies, maybe?
Some comedy would be fun, yeah.
Do you get offered many?
No, probably because Ive done too many dark things.
But no, I dont get offered comedy.
Have you done much comedy in the theatre?
I did some stuff in the theatre, yeah.
ButBoogie Woogiethats coming out now, or soon; that might be fun.
I hope its fun.
If its not funny, Ill never get into a comedy!
Do you think youll get round to directing movies?
But Im interested in everything.
So youre ready for the role?
Its strange, because I never encouraged them.
Fortunately, theyve done very well.
Theres no clonings of me, and they dont attempt to imitate me or anything.
Both have gone slightly different ways than I have.
Alexanders gone into film and hasnt done my theatre thing.
Its very hard to say.
Youre formed by your life but youre also formed very strongly by your first years.
A humanistic, egalitarian view of things.
So you would never have moved to the USA, out to Hollywood?
No, I dont think so.
And I also need to have a normal life.
Thats a silly thing.
You have one life and its surprisingly short!
Waz is on general release from today.
Check out our reviewhere; and our interview with director Tom Shanklandhere.
