04.16.10:

It appears that the father and son team of Stellan and Alexander will be teamed up once more for Lars Von Trier's new film, MELANCHOLIA, a science-fiction disaster film. The name refers to Planet Melancholia, a huge planet hovering dangerously close to Earth and Von Trier warns us there are "no more happy endings!" Kirsten Dunst has been cast in the lead  with Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlotte Rampling and Udo Kier also attached to roles. The film will be shot July through September in Southern Sweden.  The film has a modest $7 million price tag, and will use only a moderate amount of effects. Stellan has previously worked with Von Trier on several films and has nothing but praise for the eccentric Danish director.

04.13.10:

Before Alexander Skarsgård shot to fame in HBO's "True Blood", it was much easier for me to circle in on Skarsgård news because the search engines only popped out one name "Stellan". In today's world, it's not so easy to track down the elder Swede when his son's career has skyrocketed, namely because Alexander plays this sexy vampire and female audiences across America are whispering the name "Eric...." Even my 35-year-old daughter has taken notice! When I created Stellanonline.com six years ago, Alexander had just closed down his own personal web site. Initially I included career news for him on his father's web site but thanks to his claim to fame, he has plenty of exposure on the Internet these days so there is no longer a need to post his news. The photo above shows this rising star on the cover of the May issue of Details magazine. He does indeed look hot!

And what is Stellan saying about his eldest son these days - "He's wiser, more beautiful and better than I was." Interesting... He continues, "At a certain age, my children thought it was so embarrassing that I was an actor. When Alexander was 7, he asked me, 'Why can't you be like a normal dad? Why can't you work with computers or drive a Saab?' They wanted me to be like all the other dads." And female attention is not that new to the 'True Blood' star. Stellan relates how Alexander was a preteen heartthrob - "He didn't like it at all. At the age of 12, he had girls standing outside the house. They would ask his younger brother Gustaf to let them in, and sometimes it worked."

Good news for EN GANSKE SNILL MANN (A Somewhat Gentle Man)! An American premiere is scheduled to take place in late autumn in New York and Los Angeles, and at least three other U.S. cities. The film will receive distribution in the U.S. through Strand Releasing, who will spend one million dollars on promoting the film. They are known for selecting quality films with commercial potential. The film has previously been sold to over 20 countries.

Stellan's appearance in the film is far from glamorous. The character is a thin-haired man with a ponytail and poor posture. Skarsgård says jokingly about his preparation for the role - "It's the way I really look like. It is now I do me. I worked for months to lose lots of hair. The role is very passive in the beginning, so I spent several months doing nothing. If one is working with Hans Petter, one cannot expect anything glamourous in any area."

03.30.10:

Filming wrapped up this month for the Norwegian blockbuster KING OF BASTØY without Stellan even setting foot on Bastøy. Production, which began November 2nd, actually took place in Estonia where the infamous school was recreated just outside Horten's coastline.  Producer Karin Julsrud admits filming was challenging and had become hectic at times, but ultimately, she feels confident with the result. This was the film production company's (called 4 1/2) biggest investment but, fortunately, the filmmakers kept within the budget. "I am convinced the movie will be dramatically upsetting and a commercially successful and artistically interesting film, "said film consultant Nikolaj Frobenius length of the Norwegian Film Institute.

03.22.10:

A press conference in Helsinki was held this week announcing that Stellan, his son Alexander plus Peter Stormare have signed on to voice the iconic Moomins characters in the animated family 3D feature, MOOMINS AND THE COMET CHASE. Finnish production company Oy Filmkompaniet is bringing the beloved animated creatures to the big screen in a way they have never been seen before – presenting the first Nordic stereoscopic 3D film ever produced. The real life father and son team will provide the voices of Momminpapa and son Moomintroll with Stormare lending his voice to the character Sunfkin. Stellan calls the Moomim universe a place "where dreams are looked at with love and care. And the attitude towards people and reality doesn’t have to be always so practical, but it has to be curious, friendly, and always feeling that something really good, really interesting could happen.” The film is scheduled to be released in the fall.

I've posted a recent interview in which Stellan likens himself to a castrated bull as he speculates on why he has a good reputation in the film industry - "I'm on time. That's really good! And I function socially very well on a set. Sometimes I feel like I’m brought onto the set like a…you know, when they run the bulls in Pamplona, they also have some castrated bulls to calm them down! [laughs]. Sometimes I feel like the castrated bull that is thrown in to calm down a set and create a good atmosphere! I hope that’s not why I’m hired, though. Milos Forman said that he liked me because I had no face of my own. He saw me in different roles that I’d done, but he didn’t see me as an actor bigger than my roles." How true!!

Evidently, it's no small matter that Stellan demands a good hot lunch while on location. Apparently the first time he worked in Norway, he was shocked by the Norwegian smorgasbord. He claims it was nothing but bread with a topping of brown cheese and ham, so when it came time to film EN GANSKE SNILL MANN  outside of Oslo last year, he put his foot down. During the press conference held in March 2009, producer Stein B. Kvae admitted he had promised Stellan good food!