Marching to a new beat:
Alexander Skarsgard’s debt to Big Little Lies.
Like the 2016 series The Night Manager, the new drama The Little
Drummer Girl is also based on one of John le Carre’s compelling spy novels with an equally compelling cast. The story is set in the late 1970s and follows Charlie (Florence Pugh), a fiery actress and idealist whose resolve is tested after she meets the mysterious Becker (Alexander Skarsgard, right) while on holiday in Greece. He recruits her to take on the role of a lifetime as a double agent to help catch a terrorist but she’s never sure if she can trust their feelings for each other. The Swedish son of Stellan Skarsgard (Mamma Mia!) and brother of Bill Skarsgard (It) has also made his own mark in Hollywood, as vampire Eric in the drama series
True Blood and as the ill-fated husband of Celeste (Nicole Kidman) in Big Little Lies, a role he credits with changing his career. Jenny Cooney Carrillo reports. What was your first reaction when you heard about this series?
Skarsgard: I had read some of John’s other books like A Most Wanted Man and The Spy Who Came In From The Cold but I’d never read this one before I was sent the script. I was sent six episodes while I was in Spain shooting something else and I had to get up early the next morning but I ended up staying up till 3am reading all of them and couldn’t put it down. I thought it was such an incredible story and a truly fascinating
character so when you read close to 400 pages and can’t put it down, that’s an indication you probably should do the job.
Why were you so fascinated with this guy?
I was really drawn to the tone and the complexity and the fact that it’s fiction within fiction. My character is a Mossad agent who recruits this young actress to infiltrate a terrorist network and places her as a mole in the heart of that network to capture an elusive terrorist he’s been chasing for years. Becker was retired but he’s been pulled back in for this mission and although he’s very professional, when he finds Florence and they build this fictional love story to go undercover, certain lines get blurred because they have a real connection so it’s both a thrilling spy story and a complicated love story.
What did the critical and popular success of Big Little Lies mean to you?
I would have been thrilled if someone told me years ago I would be able to make a living as an actor when I moved out here, because I wasn’t. So the fact that I am so fortunate that I not only get to make a living as an actor but I get to work on extraordinarily interesting scripts with extraordinarily talented people makes me feel very blessed. The success of Big Little Lies has absolutely helped my career, in terms of getting access to quality material and working with filmmakers that I have been dreaming of working with. But I just wrapped Big Little Lies 2 – as a zombie, of course (laughs) – and now I need a break so I’m going to Iceland for a hike and looking forward to being out in the wilderness with no connection to civilisation.
How much did your famous father influence you to become an actor?
My father has always taken a very kind of hands-off approach to his kids and their choices in life – professional and private. He was incredibly loving and supportive, so we knew he was always there for us no matter what, but he never tried to direct us or steer us either way. To him, it doesn’t matter how much fame or fortune you might have. He’s only happy as long as you’re happy and have become a decent human being.
Do you live near your family in Sweden?
I left Sweden 15 years ago but I go back all the time because I’m so close to my parents and my many siblings in Stockholm. It actually feels like my home, even though I have been in the US for many years, so I bought an apartment there recently and am excited to spend more time there again, just hanging out with all my family.