NEWS: FEBRUARY/MARCH 2018

03.22.18

The film page for THE PAINTED BIRD has been posted along with several new production photos, some featuring co-stars Harvey Keitel and Julian Sands. The black & white WW II drama will be released next year. Here's a photo of Stellan taken last year in the Czech Republic outside the Lowenstein Hotel where he stayed.      

Son Bill has just been cast in "Villains", a darkly comedic thriller, written and to be directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen. The film follows a pair of amateur criminals who, after breaking into a suburban home, stumble upon a dark secret and two sadistic homeowners who will do anything to keep it from getting out. The cast also includes Maika Monroe. No release date has been announced.

03.20.18

Stellan and Emily Watson have been cast in HBO’s miniseries CHERNOBYL, a co-production between HBO and Sky to be directed by Johan Renck. Written by Craig Mazin, the five-part miniseries dramatizes the true story of one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history — the April 26, 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in then-Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic — and tells of the brave men and women who sacrificed to save Europe from unimaginable disaster.

Skarsgård will play Boris Shcherbina, the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and head of the Bureau for Fuel and Energy of the USSR. A relatively minor figure in the Kremlin, he is assigned to lead the government commission on Chernobyl in the early hours following the accident, when the government was still unaware the reactor had exploded. As the ranking official in charge of the effort to confront an unprecedented disaster, Shcherbina finds himself trapped between the realities of the political system he serves… and the brutal human costs of battling an escalating nuclear nightmare.

Watson will portray Ulana Khomyuk, a Soviet nuclear physicist committed to solving the scientific mystery of what led to the disaster at Chernobyl, so that it can be prevented from ever happening again. Her efforts put her on a collision course with those who have buried a terrible secret, and she must risk her freedom… and her life… to see that the truth is told, and justice is done.

Jared Harris plays Valery Legasov, the Soviet scientist chosen by the Kremlin to investigate the accident.

The series will reunite Stellan and Emma who starred together in "Breaking the Waves". Stellan told the press, "Nobody would see it as a privilege to spend five months in a dilapidated nuclear plant, unless it was to play in a script like this by Craig Mazin, work with a director like Johan Renck, collaborate with a producer like Jane Featherstone, jam with an actor like Jared Harris and finally be at the feet of Emily Watson whom I have been missing for some twenty years."

Emma said, "This is a significant piece of work and I’m honored to be part of it. I can’t wait to get started with this amazing group of people, and am especially excited to be working with Stellan again."

Filming will begin in Lithuania this spring. It will air on HBO in the US, on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK and Ireland, and on Sky Atlantic in Italy, Germany and Austria.

03.13.18

A Berlinale interview just appeared online with Stellan discussing several subjects - the importance of taking children to the cinema,  the positive messages in "Gordon & Paddy", why he never looks back across his illustrious career and why he doesn't like America. Of course, he continues to show how naive he is when he rejects the idea of good guys and bad guys. I'm not talking about the fictional bad guys in Hollywood movies. The real bad guys live among us and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to recognize evil. But Stellan is an actor so we'll give him some slack.

There's a second interview from Filmink in Australia where "Return to Montauk" is playing. We, in the States, are still awaiting its arrival either at the cinema or on DVD. Stellan says he often gets the question - "Are there any films you made that you regret?" He responds, "I made quite a few really, really bad films, but I do not regret them, because…I’m the sum of all the mistakes I’ve made, as well as I’m the sum of all the good decisions I’ve made. Looking over his filmography for bad films, I would certainly point to Waz, Dogville, Time Code, Passion of Mind, Deep Blue Sea, Frankie and Alice and Boogie Woogie. At the top of the list for best films, I would select Oxen, Zero Kelvin, Kongen av Bastøy, Breaking the Waves, Aberdeen, God afton, Herr Wallenberg and Den Enfaldige mördaren. As a rule, I much prefer Stellan in foreign films and rarely in American films except for Ronin.

02.22.18

Stellan was back at the Berlinale, the 68th edition, as the voice of a frog in the children’s animation film GORDON & PADDY, screening in the Generation Section. In this podcast, Stellan describes how different and more natural it is to go back to acting in his mother-tongue. Giving his voice to Gordon the detective frog gave him the opportunity of working with two women he had successfully and happily worked with before: director Linda Hamback and actress Melinda Kinnaman. Stellan also talks about how it was to go back to the "Mamma Mia!" set after 10 years and the fun they all had in continuing this film’s journey. He ends with comments on the #Metoo movement, its positive effects and its negative sides.

02.18.18

TrustNordisk have acquired sales rights to OUT STEALING HORSES  from writer/director Hans Petter Moland with Stellan in the lead role. Bjørn Floberg  and Anders Baasmo  have also been cast.  Based on Per Petterson’s novel of the same name, the film has Stellan playing 67-year-old Trond, who must recall difficult experiences affter meeting a face from the past. Petterson’s book was named one of the New York Times’ Five Best Fiction Books" in 2007. Shooting begins on February 19th, with the final shooting phase in June or July.

02.01.18

Stellan, along with actress Alicia Vikander,  joined Swedish and English royalty on Tuesday evening at a black-tie dinner at the home of the British Ambassador. This marked the first day of a four-day tour of Sweden and Norway by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Joined by Swedish politicians, businessmen and a television host, the guests dined on a starter of Scottish smoked salmon with quail egg, horseradish cream on a bed of salad, followed by guinea fowl with stir-fried vegetables and mashed potatoes. For dessert, they enjoyed blackberry soufflé with chocolate ganache, before a selection of British cheeses.

At the table, the Duchess was placed between the ambassador, David Cairns, and Stellan while the Duke was entertained by Alicia and the ambassador's wife, Sharon Cairns.

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The Skarsgård family was well represented at the Sundance Film Festival last week with both Bill and Valter in attendance for their respective premieres. Bill was in the cast of  "Assassination Nation" and Valter for "Lords of Chaos".