OCTOBER-DECEMBER 2012:

12.30.12

ROUGE BRÉSIL will be televised in a two-part mini-series in France on January 22 & 23. Helmed by Quebec director, Sylvain Archambault, and shot in Rio de Janeiro in the fall of 2011, the film tells the story of the attempted colonization of Brazil by France in the sixteenth century. Based on the international bestseller by Jean-Christophe Ruffin, it stars Stellan and Portuguese actor Joaquim de Almeida. The DVD will be released in France on February 11, 2013. It will have a theatrical release in Brazil on September 6, 2013. You can view the trailer at this link.

12.15.12

Here are some new photos of Stellan's 17-year-old son, Valter. The first two show him with older brother Gustaf at Sweden's premiere of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" on December 12th.

Cute story - The Swedish media is reporting that about a week ago, Stockholm celebrated its subway system. Stellan, like all other dads, took three-year-old son Ossian underground to travel through the big city. A passenger in the subway car discovered that Ossian is incredibly inquisitive. He bombarded his father with question after question about the metro. Stellan patiently answered as best he could, but then would get a new question from his curious son.

A short trailer for the German film, DER MEDICUS (The Physician), can be viewed at this link. The photo below shows Stellan being directed by Philipp Stölzl.

11.23.12

THOR: THE DARK WORLD is set to release in just under a year on November 8, 2013. The film is being directed by Alan Taylor with return stars Chris Helmsworth, Natalie Portman,Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Kaat Dennis, Rene Russo, Idris Elba and Stellan. Actors Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Zachary Levi, have also joined the cast. Levi replaces Joshua Dallas as Frandral, one of the Warriors Three. The film's premise centers on Thor battling to protect the Nine Realms from the Dark Elves, who are led by Malekith the Accursed. The super villain is the ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim. The film has been filming in the UK. Here are a couple shots of Stellan with Natalie Portman.

11.03.12

Stellan has joined the cast of HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS, adapted from the novel by François Lelord published in 2002. The film revolves around Hector, an eccentric yet irresistible London psychiatrist in crisis: he’s going nowhere and his patients are just not getting any happier. Until one day, armed with buckets of courage and child-like curiosity, Hector breaks out of his sheltered vacuum of a life into a global quest to find out if happiness exists. More importantly, if it exists for Hector. And so begins an exotic, dangerous and hysterical journey. The film, directed by Peter Chelsom, is a German/Canadian production with principal photography due to begin in January 2013. Hector will be played by Simon Pegg. Stellan will take on the role of Edward, a rich and jaded banker. Co-stars include Rosaund Pike and Christopher Plummer.

10.19.12

From the 10/17/12 edition of The Telegraph, Stellan discusses those people who have inspired him:

Jan Skarsgård - My father was an extremely knowledgeable but also a very unconventional man, which made him fantastic to grow up around. He did not accept the bourgeois rules of society. The respect he showed us kids was uncommon. It still is really. You’ve got to respect kids’ opinions, their uniqueness.

Patti Smith - She’s a great all-rounder; a really talented writer and visual artist. Her songs are both poetic and thought-provoking and her memoir "Just Kids" was a brilliant evocation of the heyday of the American music scene and a touching love letter to Robert Mapplethorpe.

Thomas Jefferson - In a world where there was no freedom, no democracy, no tolerance, Jefferson and the other founding fathers of America created the first state where every individual was protected, in theory at least. What we take for granted today is actually relatively new.

Tony Judt - He was a historian and New York University professor whose work I just love. I admired his intellectual capacity, but also his refusal to adopt convenient ideas.

Raoul Wallenberg - He was a diplomat from one of the wealthiest families in Sweden and went to Hungary towards the end of the Second World War to help the Jews. He probably saved about 20,000, by giving them Swedish passports and negotiating with Adolf Eichmann.

10.13.12:

The Scottish war veteran whose experiences as a Burma Railway prisoner inspired the film, THE RAILWAY MAN, passed away last week. Eric Lomax, who wrote his memoir about his ordeal and reconciliation with his Japanese tormentor, was delighted to assist with the movie and had hoped to see the finished version. His death at the age of 93 came as the film, starring Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman and Stellan, was approaching completion. Firth made several trips to see Mr. Lomax to hear first-hand about the brutality that he endured at the hands of the Japanese. In an interview Firth had commented, "He's incredibly approachable. He is 93 and not really demonstrating that at all. He is mentally far more agile than I am... I found him nothing but a delight, and you do feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the story you're trying to tell." Nicole Kidman also met Mr. Lomax and his wife as part of her preparation for the film.

According to Moviehole, Stellan has signed up for a lead role in the feature film adaptation of the 2000 A.D. comic, STRONGHOLD. Three years after it was initially announced, production will begin principal photography in the next few months for an unspecified 2013 release.  The fantasy film is based on Paul Finch's medieval comic about a  group of British knights who must stand against a horde of Welsh zombies. The storyline reads - A team of heroic knights has just conquered the land of Wales. On their way back to the castle, they call home, they happen upon an unforeseen enemy - one they never fixed on battling, the undead! It seems that the Welsh have been conquered and killed, but the enemy has rin again as zombies! Video-game veteran Jason Kingsley is directing and Douglas Booth has signed on for another lead role.

NYMPHOMANIAC, now filming in Germany, has added another famous name to its cast. THR reports that Kill Bill star Uma Thurman has signed on though no details have been given concerning her role. It had been previously rumored that Nicole Kidman was to join the cast but that info was never confirmed. Perhaps that role has gone to Uma.

Marvel has released the first synopsis for the sequel, THOR: THE DARK WORLD, which reunites much of the original cast, including Stellan. The film is scheduled to arrive in theaters on November 8, 2013. The sequel continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel's "Thor" and Marvel's "The Avengers", Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos...but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

Son Alexander may be the new face of Calvin Klein’s new fragrance Encounter, but when recently asked about his favorite scent, he responded with sausages! And I totally understand why. He says, "I grew up in south Stockholm, and it used to be a working class neighborhood. It’s become trendy but not when I was growing up. There was this sausage factory a block away from my childhood apartment. It didn’t smell nice, like chorizo or something, it was pretty foul. Just nasty. But that smell reminds me so much of my childhood, because every morning when I was going to school I would smell that. So if I ever find myself near a sausage factory, I like it. It reminds me of my childhood." [The above photo is from UK's September edition of GQ]