00:00It's raunchy. It's raunchy, Stella.
00:03If this is worse, it has to just be okay.
00:06I had to do only bad guys. That was what it was.
00:10And prefer it be Russian.
00:13Elston, hello. Before we start, can we have a quick word on the great?
00:16Because it was pretty great. I loved that show.
00:19It was a perfect weight of a show, I would say.
00:22Where it was kind of like, it was clever and intellectual and wicked,
00:25but like silly and irreverent and like,
00:27they should have carried on making that show for a thousand years and won all the awards.
00:30I know. I did love, I loved doing it. It was very fun. Very fun.
00:35Did you catch it? If you haven't, check it out. It's streaming.
00:38It's raunchy. It's raunchy, Stella.
00:41It's so funny. It's so funny.
00:43Especially in recent years with all the like, crap going on in the world.
00:46Those kind of shows that really do just take you out.
00:49Yes. That was like perfect timing for me.
00:51Congratulations on the movie, Sentimental Vite.
00:53It's good, isn't it? It's always good when it's good.
00:55It's always good when it's good. That's how I feel doing these things.
00:58I remember the kind of the buzz around my friends
01:02when the worst person in the world came out
01:05and there was a lot of, oh, you need to watch this movie. It's so great.
01:08And I guess when you're coming back to work with Joachim for like maybe the third time,
01:14is it a no brainer at this point or is there ever a voice in your head going,
01:17well, how are we supposed to top the last one?
01:20Well, it is a no brainer, but it is also, it's impossible to do that again.
01:27To have, because that movie became so personal to people and really, I feel they,
01:33so many people we talked to identified with the world or the character or another character that I didn't play.
01:40But I feel we just had to like let it go and think this will be what it will be.
01:48And if this is worse, it has to just be okay.
01:53And then we were very open and very nervous for the premiere before,
01:59they're standing outside before the Cannes premiere.
02:02And it just, no, we never expected all of this.
02:07Yeah.
02:08That's been, yeah, it's been very well received.
02:11Well, that's, that's two and two in recent years.
02:14So I guess the next time you can expect it all and be like, well,
02:17well, now then it's definitely not going to go.
02:20No, no, don't be silly.
02:21Let's talk this movie.
02:22Stellan, first and foremost, give people a flavor of Norwegian cinema,
02:26because you've kind of come back to this.
02:28You're working with Joachim Troja for the first time, I think,
02:30an unbelievable director.
02:32But what are the kind of key differences between this kind of film,
02:36this kind of style, the Norwegian style,
02:38and the Hollywood fare that we're used to seeing you in?
02:42Well, the most, it's Joachim Troja is not a typical Norwegian director.
02:50He's not a typical director at all.
02:52He's one of a kind.
02:54And it's, and he, and it is film he's making.
03:01It really resonates of film and, and love for film.
03:07And he, he, he manages to make pretty light a film about suicide and,
03:13and without, without being superficial.
03:17And family trauma and stuff.
03:21With a kind of, a sense of humor that he's, is known for as well,
03:24which is quite, which is remarkable to be able to cover those kind of topics
03:27and skim along without feeling like you're, you're dragged into like the,
03:31the, the trenches, so to speak.
03:33Let's talk about kind of foreign language cinema, at least from our perspective.
03:36I remember years ago, when I was like an early teenager watching a movie,
03:39late one evening called 101 Reykjavik, an Icelandic movie.
03:43And I remember it being a formative moment for me because I remember what, thinking I love movies.
03:48Look at me, I'm watching this Icelandic movie.
03:49I must really love movies.
03:50And the, the thought I had was this was a very personal to watch a foreign language film,
03:55so to speak, was a very personal, almost like highbrow thing to do.
03:58Whereas in recent years, the world has opened up to so many different languages in cinema in a way that I've never experienced before.
04:06And I just wondered what your take on it is.
04:10Do you feel like kind of the world, there's a much bigger audience now that's so much more receptive to different stories?
04:17And do you feel less pressure in a way to just do kind of English language films?
04:21Well, absolutely.
04:23In the way that when I started out in America for the first time,
04:27with my accent, I, I was, I had to do only bad guys.
04:34That was what it was.
04:35And, and prefer be Russian.
04:39And they were really bad at the time.
04:41And, and the thing is, if you were English, you were also doing bad guys, but you were doing sort of,
04:47uh, snobbish and, uh, arrogant bad guys.
04:53The Alan Rickman effect.
04:54Yeah, Alan Rickman type.
04:55Yeah, so, but, but, uh, since the, unfortunately, unfortunately it's the market that, that, that, that, that rules.
05:02And, but fortunately it has ruled this way there because now a film doesn't make all the money in the United States anymore.
05:11Mm-hmm.
05:12It's all over the world.
05:14The, the, the, the foreign markets are, are just as big so they can have anyone there.
05:18Yeah, I, I really feel that they're merging in a way and you can, I can, I can be in a movie and
05:25they'll say that my character grew up in Norway and so that I, my accent is okay.
05:30Mm-hmm.
05:30But that it's possible for, uh, European actors to go to America or, uh, also directors from America coming to Europe to do their movies.
05:42Uh, I think it's, uh, I think it's a really good, um, merge.
05:47I, I feel there are some differences that are strengthening each other.
05:51Like it, uh, and European cinema is so raw in a way.
05:56The film itself, it kind of covers lots of interesting topics like, like reconnection and, uh, kind of holding onto our ghosts and trying to, uh, make something good of the past and all these kind of things.
06:06But as I alluded to at the start, I am a sucker for kind of the meta, uh, world and films about films.
06:13Yes.
06:13And I wondered your relationship in this, uh, how kind of accurate is it of a relationship between an actor and a director?
06:21Well, I think, yes, I mean, everything is honest. It's all, you know, it, there are experiences that you do have like this.
06:28I wouldn't say that it is completely like the one that you have with Joakim because he's very transparent.
06:33Mm-hmm.
06:33I think the, with, uh, Gustav and Rachel, the thing that Rachel's, uh, struggling with is that he's not letting her in to the character.
06:43And so she's left a bit confused and, because ultimately he knows she's miscast for the part.
06:48So I haven't personally ever been kind of in a situation where I've let it go maybe that far down the road.
06:54But I've definitely had times where you've read something and I'm like, oh, this isn't for me because I would be miscast.
07:01Like I'm not the right person to play this part.
07:03I did wonder, I did wonder, like, have you been in a situation, perhaps even both of you, where you've been involved in a project and you have that sense of,
07:10I'm not quite right for this and not to say that you've gone as far as being in the situation like in the theater when you're literally talking to the person who they wanted first.
07:19But maybe it's happened in post where you've, you knew someone was up for a role and then you've gone, oh, you were, I did that kind of thing.
07:25Right.
07:26How common is that?
07:27Yes, it's, I mean, again, maybe not as far down the road, but there have been times where you've attached, I don't know,
07:36you're kind of attached to something and you're waiting for it to get made.
07:39But then when it's time to get made, you feel like you've, you're like, ah, I've changed now.
07:45Like this isn't right.
07:46And you're like, I think someone else should, should do the part.
07:50And it's normally for the best, you know, it has to, I'm very like, I go from like instincts on all decision-making.
07:57Like it has to feel, it has to feel right.
07:59You know, you have to feel invested in, in the part that you're doing.
08:03And so, yeah.
08:05Well, I don't think, I don't think I've experienced that kind of sort of being miscast, but you could,
08:12you could read the script and you have an idea of the character that is, oh, that's, this is the character.
08:19And then you meet the director and he doesn't have that idea.
08:24Right.
08:25He doesn't even understand that idea.
08:27And that's sort of a big sorrow.
08:29That's a difficult thing in art, I guess, because everything's interpretive.
08:33So like, what I get from watching this film may be different from what you read the script,
08:37maybe different from what Joachim was doing when he like came up with it.
08:40And yeah, when you've invested all that time in reading and cultivating a character in your mind,
08:46it must be quite a pull kind of thing to realise it's not what they wanted in a nice place.
08:52And how's this experience been for you?
08:54Because this is, people calling this like a breakout role, so to speak.
08:58You're brilliant in this, but you are up against some like real heavyweights of the acting world at the moment.
09:04So was there, was there kind of a trepidation stepping onto set with these guys?
09:09And how, I don't know, how did you guys like find your characters together?
09:14Because your chemistry is so important to the core of this story.
09:17It feels like it, it couldn't have been as simple as just turning up and reading the words.
09:22No, but Joachim is really good at making everyone feel ownership of what we're making.
09:31And so, and we had rehearsals, so I got to meet everyone and try the scenes out in the locations, most of them.
09:38Which makes it, like it takes the, what do you say that?
09:43Edge off.
09:44It takes the edge off a little.
09:46Yeah.
09:47And you get to know each other and everyone's just people.
09:50So Elle and Stellan are really nice people, luckily.
09:55So it was really easy to work with them and to get to know them.
09:59And we know each other a little from before.
10:01And Inga also brought something very like grounding and authentic to like every shoot that we had.
10:09Like she, she, her way of working is, it's just so honest.
10:15So it would always pull the scene in that direction with her.
10:19And, and she really gave us something very valuable in, in the scenes.
10:25That was always, that was possible because how Joachim really welcomed that.
10:30And then, and because those actors are really easy to be truthful with, which was such a privilege.
10:38Anyway, guys, I really enjoyed it.
10:39You don't need me to tell you, this is a cracking piece of work.
10:42You guys are brilliant in it.
10:43So congratulations.
10:45Here's to more Norwegian movies.
10:46Yes.
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