Stellan Skarsgård opens up about children, death and Oscar movie

NEW YORK — Last May, Stellan Skarsgård premiered his aching family drama “Sentimental Value” at France’s Cannes Film Festival.

Since then, it’s been roughly nine months of red carpets, Q&As and awards shows, all leading to Skarsgård’s first Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. He even managed to squeeze in a quick trip to New York to join his eldest son, actor Alexander Skarsgård, on “Saturday Night Live” in January.

The Swedish icon admittedly gets “restless, but I’m also pretty good at not working,” Skarsgård, 74, says over coffee on a recent morning. For him, “the energy kicks in on the set. I don’t sit – I still stand up or pace around for 12-hour days. It’s an endorphin kick that you thrive on.”

“His stamina is crazy; he’s an energy vampire,” Alexander tells us in a separate interview. “I was really happy and moved that Dad flew all the way from Stockholm to do ‘SNL.’ He came straight from the airport and partied all night – I had to shove him into a car at 6 in the morning.”

“At the after-after-party,” his father says now, flashing a mischievous grin.

More: Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas is the beating heart of ‘Sentimental Value’

Stellan Skarsgård hopes being an actor has ‘enriched’ his kids

Nominated for nine Academy Awards including best picture, “Sentimental Value” follows the fractured relationship between a guarded young actress, Nora (Renate Reinsve), and her absent filmmaker dad, Gustav (Skarsgård), who attempts to reconnect with her about a personal new project. Costarring Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning, the film rips open the emotional wounds that are often left by one’s parents.

Skarsgård won a Golden Globe for his subtly heartbreaking performance, “which is quite daring in its lack of vanity,” director and cowriter Joachim Trier says. “Stellan is very different from Gustav. He even urged me, ‘Don’t idealize Gustav! Make him narcissistic!’ And then ultimately, we peel back the layers and see a man who is craving contact.”

Despite the surface-level parallels of being working artists, Skarsgård doesn’t recognize himself in the distant, estranged Gustav. The actor has eight children, ages 13 through 49, with his screenwriter wife Megan Everett and ex-spouse, physician My Skarsgård. His whole family lives in the same neighborhood, so he sees all of his kids regularly.

For more than three decades, “I spent four months a year filming and eight months a year at home changing diapers,” Skarsgård says. “I’ve learned an important lesson that each child is different from the next. Some need more attention and some don’t want any attention. There are eight different characters there.”

He acknowledges that no parent is perfect: “Even when I’m home, I might be thinking about my job and I may not be present enough. I have guilt for certain things I’ve done, but in general, I don’t feel guilty towards my kids,” many of whom have followed in his footsteps as actors.

“I don’t think my job has hurt them,” Skarsgård adds. In fact, “I think it has enriched them. I’ve brought them along many times and taken them out of school to be on set with me. But it’s an interesting subject: How much can you ask from a parent who’s an artist to give up his art? You’re giving up a part of yourself.”

More: Renate Reinsve nearly became a carpenter. Now she’s Oscar-bound

Why the ‘Sentimental Value’ star turned to more ‘lighthearted’ movies

Skarsgård was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, as the oldest of five siblings. His parents laid a foundation built on respect and equality: “I knew I was smarter than some kids and stupider than others,” he recalls with a chuckle. “But that didn’t affect the value of me as a human being.”

His father, in particular, fostered an early interest in civil rights and politics, and Skarsgård aspired to one day be a Swedish diplomat in the vein of Dag Hammarskjöld.

“When I grew up, I realized that most diplomats don’t have a voice of their own,” Skarsgård says. “They’re megaphones for their government, and they’re also contributing to a lot of mess in the world.” Regardless, “diplomacy is still much better than aggression,” and the actor finds it “essential” to speak up about social injustice.

“You can’t ignore the world,” he says. “The threats to democracy, the widening gap between the rich and poor ‒ it’s a lot to think about.”

Skarsgård stumbled into acting as a teenager, and primarily worked with European directors including Bo Widerberg and Lars von Trier until his Hollywood breakthrough in 1997’s “Good Will Hunting.”

But it was a 1990 Holocaust drama, “Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg,” that changed how Skarsgård approached his career. The horrifying subject matter was “unbearable,” and he felt enormous responsibility to honor the people who lived through it.

“I didn’t sleep at night; I had a personal crisis,” Skarsgård recalls. “After that film, everything felt worthless to me. But after a while, I became more lighthearted in my choices.”

He eventually stepped into the Marvel and “Star Wars” franchises, and even belted out ABBA tunes in the “Mamma Mia!” movies. He likes playing the villain, as he’s done in “Dune” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

“It’s fun to make them more complicated than they are, and to give the audience a feeling of danger,” Skarsgård says. Through the years, “I realized that not everything is so damn important, and you can also get too pretentious. ‘Mamma Mia!’ is not worth any less – it’s just entertainment.”

After a stroke, Skarsgård is grateful for his ‘rich and wonderful’ life

In 2022, Skarsgård suffered a stroke that impacted his short-term memory. As a result, he was prompted dialogue through an earpiece while making “Sentimental Value.”

“I can’t remember lines, which is a pity, of course,” he says. “The rhythm of a scene is very important to me: how you talk and what pauses you make.” Now, “it’s very complicated.”

The “Chernobyl” star is ready for “some time to detox” after the rigors of awards season, but he is also eager for another “juicy” part like Gustav.

“I don’t think I have more than a certain amount of time left to do what I want,” Skarsgård says ruefully. “I’ve become a little greedier, in that sense. On the other hand, I’m 74 years old, and there are not many roles out there.”

The actor turns 75 this summer, but he has no plans for a blowout bash of any sort.

“What are you going to do: celebrate that you’re closer to death?” Skarsgård says. It’s a milestone year, sure, but “it’s just numbers and numbers are an invention.” More than anything, “I hope that I won’t lose my faculties too long before I die. That’s my only fear. I’ve lost some already, but I can handle those.”

He says he “can’t live” without books, “but I’m having trouble reading because of the stroke. I lose my train of thought; I can’t have political discussions; I’m not that funny anymore.

“But I’m not sad about it,” Skarsgård adds with a smile. “I feel that my life has been so rich and wonderful: eight good kids, two good wives, and an enormous amount of fun.

“When I was 50, I thought, ‘I might as well die now. I still would have had a better life than most people.’ So it’s not unfair.”