“Alexander Skarsgård on Playing Dark and Disturbing Roles in Hollywood: From True Blood to Infinity Pool”

Alexander Skarsgård isn’t afraid to be naked and if you see him on the big screen there’s a pretty good chance he’s been bathed in bodily fluids at some point. In case of doubt – but not exclusively! – in blood. The infinity pool is no exception. The Horror film about cloned super rich in a nightmarish holiday resort has been in German cinemas since April 20, 2023 and shows the Swedish actor in his usual animalistic way. But also in his prime role as an asshole, behind whose attractive appearance a monster hides.

When I – along with a handful of other journalists – meet Alexander Skarsgård in Berlin, he seems even taller than he did in front of the camera. But also a lot nicer. Like a completely normal guy in a jumper and jeans, who sometimes allows himself to be shown through the picture naked and on a dog leash as part of a film (James Foster in Infinity Pool). When he’s not playing a tech genius sending women gallons of frozen blood to prove his love (as Lukas Matsson in Succession).

Of course you have to talk to someone like that what exactly fascinates him so much about the dark and fucked up. In the interview, Alexander Skarsgård also reveals what felt like a real first time in his latest film, despite a 15-year Hollywood career.

“Never have I ever sucked a bloody nipple”, says Skarsgård as sincerely and seriously as one can say such a sentence. Then he grins and adds: “in front of the camera at least”.

From True Blood to Infinity Pool: Alexander Skarsgård on his penchant for dark roles and a film orgy

I first heard about Alexander Skarsgård years ago, from a friend. I absolutely have to watch the HBO series True Blood, he says. I don’t find vampires that interesting, I say. Then you haven’t seen Eric Northman yet, he says, and he’s not the only one who thinks so. Skarsgård made his international breakthrough in 2009 with the role of a blood-sucking strip club owner with a penchant for jogging suits becomes an animal sex symbol all those who find classic Hollywood beauties too boring.

A wide variety of roles followed, from the arthouse apocalypse in Lars von Trier’s Melancholia, to the classic muscle lead in Legend of Tarzan, wacky comedy excursions like the Zoolander series and dark sci-fi visions like Mute, to the ultimate Viking Transformation into The Northman. However, Skarsgård really shines when he plays a charismatic asshole – like in True Blood, Big Little Lies, Succession or Infinity Pool. The kind of character you don’t realize how dangerous he really is until it’s too late.

“It’s not like I have to do stuff that’s crazy or completely wacky.”, says Alexander Skarsgård when we meet him in Berlin. But:

If I’m reading something that doesn’t excite me, or disturb me, or do anything at all, why waste three, four, five months on it? I prefer to look for projects where the psychological journey at least has the potential to be memorable.

Infinity Pool delivers that kind of psychological journey. Skarsgård’s character James runs over the inhabitant of a holiday island, but does not have to serve the death penalty himself. Instead, he can have himself cloned and sacrifice his likeness, but has to watch the execution. The moment triggers an unexpected fascination in James, which he then lives out with a group of morally corrupt holidaymakers.

“Es enjoyed exploring this darkness further“, says Skarsgard. One of the highlights? A Psychedelic Orgy:

“We’ve been messing around with prosthetics. A 6-foot penis, a vagina that gives birth to a penis, nipples that have brown juice coming out of them…”

Alexander Skarsgård has to draw a clear line between horror roles and private life: “Otherwise I would have gone crazy”

In Infinity Pool, James kills and, as a clone, is executed over and over again. Sometimes he urinates on someone, sometimes he’s humiliated himself to the point of a nervous breakdown. I want to know from Skarsgård how do you deal with such extreme situations during filming, how do you protect yourself psychologically?

“It’s not that difficult for me”, says the actor hesitantly. And asks after a short pause: “Maybe this is disturbing now?”

Check out the second trailer of Infinity Pool here:

Other Hollywood stars like Jared Leto are known for their method acting. So for living in their role even when the cameras are no longer rolling. Skarsgård takes a different approach:

Of course sometimes you have to stand up for a scene [in eine gewisse Emotion] boost. If you need to have a lot of energy at the beginning of a scene, you’re probably not going to sit down comfortably and have a cup of tea beforehand. But that’s like a light switch. I’ll go in, let it all out and see where that goes. And when they ‘Wrap!’ call out, it’s not difficult for me to put that behind me.

The reason for this? The Swede had to learn the hard way that he needs a clear cut between his role and his private person and that’s why he prefers to talk about weekend plans between takes instead of delving deeper into the abysses of his character:

When I was young I acted in the play Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf in Stockholm. If you know that, you know: It’s pretty dark. It was a three-hour production that we performed eight times a week. In total there were 130, 140 performances. […] In those six to eight months I had to learn to leave this darkness behind and have a normal life. Visiting my family, eating out. Otherwise I would have gone nuts. […] I have learned that this is the best way for me to stay sane.

Alexander Skarsgård is thinking about his retirement – and now he has at least one “creepy” memento of his acting days

Universal Pictures International Germany GmbH

Alexander Skarsgård’s character James undergoes a cloning ceremony

However, Alexander Skarsgård could take home at least one disturbing thing from the Infinity Pool shoot: a lifelike 3D print of his face, which was offered to him by the production company. The recreation is from a scene in which James is cloned for the first time and is enclosed in a viscous red liquid. A keepsake that seems to send goosebumps down even blood and horror experts Skarsgård:

I’m not sure I want it. Where the hell do I put this? Its scary. It looks like me, incredibly lifelike but very dead. Having that in the kitchen would be like seeing your own dead body every day.

In contrast to many of his film characters, the 46-year-old does not seem to have to actively deal with his own death. At least in terms of acting career, it seems as if Skarsgård is thinking about the end. The subject comes up again and again in the half hour that we sit across from the actor in Berlin.

Be it in the discussion about why he prefers making extreme films than doing the same thing over and over again. After all, he doesn’t know “how many more films or projects I will do”. Or the question of how many Hollywood stars the Skarsgård clan around father Stellan Skarsgård actually still wants to produce.

“My youngest brothers are teenagers and have also started acting now,” concludes Alexander Skarsgård. “But that’s good. Feels like I could retire now.“

Infinity Pool has been running in German cinemas since April 20, 2023.

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