The first season of the NRK series “Lykkeland” took us back to the start of the oil adventure in 1969. In January, eight new episodes of the series will come, which received good reviews when it was shown on screen in 2018.
– I am very little stopped on the street
Five years have passed when we meet the four young main characters again. This time we also get to see everything that has to be sacrificed for oil, money and status.
See and Hear had a chat with some of the actors before the premiere of season two of “Lykkeland”, which can be seen on NRK from Sunday 2 January.
– It feels close
Several of the actors are from Stavanger and have known how the oil has affected the city. One of them is Ole Christoffer Ertvaag (34). In the “Lykkeland” universe, he plays the brother of the main role Anna, Rein Hellevik.
view more
–
Ertvaag describes Rein’s journey as a picture of the educational journey many young men from Stavanger had at that time.
– You have to take it seriously, because it was serious, says Ertvaag who has had in mind that it is actually real people who have experienced what they recreate in the series.
Photo: Helge Skodvin / Maipo Film / NRK
view more
The actor, who himself has had a father who has worked in the oil industry, has noticed how the oil has affected the cityscape. There were many who had parents who were far away from the family.
– What surprised me most was the sacrifice many made, says the 34-year-old who was not aware of how much was behind the oil money.
What you see are the nice watches and cars, not how little security there was on the oil platforms where you stood with oil up to your knees, he adds.
Vegar Hoel is dead
– It has been challenging
Ertvaag describes the second season as more dirty, which is in stark contrast to the title of the series.
The 34-year-old says that Rein is more happy about getting his hands dirty than he is. Ertvaag is struggling with health anxiety and through the character Rein he has this season been exposed to a lot of exposure therapy.
– It worked very well, says Ertvaag and adds that even though it has not improved the situation privately, he managed to go into the character and handle the oil spill on the set.
view more
–
The pandemic has also affected the actor’s life both on and off the film set, which he admits has not been easy. In private, Ertvaag can tell that there will be many unnecessary hours in CT machines and in doctors’ offices.
– I just need to know that I’m not sick, he says and knocks on the table twice.
Get drunk at the audition
Rein’s sister and the main role in the series Anna Hellevik, is played by Stavanger girl Anne Regine Ellingsæter (26). Anna goes from being a secretary to becoming a confident and energetic graduate economist.
Her relationship with Christian Nyman also ends, and as many of the fans may have hoped, she is now married to the American lawyer Jonathan.
Photo: Agnete Brun / Maipo Film / NRK
view more
Back in 2019, Ellingsæter won an award for best actor during the Golden Route for his role in the series. She can tell that it was actually quite coincidental that she ended up auditioning for Anna in “Lykkeland”.
– I lived in Copenhagen when they auditioned, I also happened to be in Stavanger that weekend. It was a friend who sent me a message that it was an open audition I had to go to, says the 26-year-old who had just woken up after a night on the town when she received the message.
view more
–
She still jumped out of bed and auditioned. Despite being hungover, she hijacked the role that made her fully pursue her acting dream.
Ellingsæter can reveal that she is quite different from the character Anna, but that Anna is someone she looks up to.
– I can sometimes think: “why am I not more like her?”, Says the 26-year-old, who occasionally draws inspiration from the character’s drive.
Corona judgment ready
– The dialect was challenging
One who is not from Stavanger, but who has practiced a lot in the Stavanger dialect, is the northerner Per Kjerstad (44). He plays Fredrik Nyman who now enjoys the choices he made in the first season of the series, where he went from being a shipowner to entering the oil industry.
Photo: Maipo / NRK
view more
The biggest challenge for Kjerstad has been the dialect. An advantage for the northerner has been that he actually lives in Stavanger and that his children speak the dialect.
– I had to force myself to speak Stavanger all the time. After three or four weeks, people stopped getting annoyed about it, and when I finally let go of the shame, it went well.
This is how the “Lykkeland” star is completely private
Even after much practice, Kjerstad encountered words that he simply could not utter.
– We were going to film a big stage, where everyone was dependent on each other. Then I would say the word “Norwegian Petroleum Directorate”, but it just knotted in my mouth, says Kjerstad.
Finally, he asked the props to get a couch so he could have food in his mouth and mumble the line.
view more
–
Kjerstad has also received reactions the other way around, where people at the store have thought he is a sophisticated man from Stavanger, but then they rather meet a rough northerner.
– They are not so different
In “Lykkeland”, Fredrik Nyman is married to Ingrid Nyman, who is played by Kjerstad’s good friend Pia Tjelta (44).
– I love playing Ingrid Nyman, says Tjelta, who can reveal that it is actually her favorite character to play.
– Lost the feeling in half the face
She would actually have been happy if she could play Ingrid for the rest of her life.
– It is a character who pulls strings with an enormous overview at the same time as she has a rich inner life herself, says Tjelta.
Director Petter Næss (61) adds that Tjelta and Ingrid are not so different.
Photo: Agnete Brun / Maipo Film / NRK.
view more
– There are few women who can stand better with a glass of champagne in hand like Pia Tjelta and Ingrid Nyman, he laughs.
Tjelta adds that the biggest difference between herself and the character is that Ingrid is much richer than her.
– But there will be a change, she laughs.
– Extreme sports in planning
In the second season of “Lykkeland”, Ingrid discovers that her time is over. Even though her life project is successful in that the family and the company are on the right track, she is still looking for a private with the rest of her life.
ALSO READ: Ina Wroldsen: Reveals new plans
–
