I've got a lot of weaknesses. One of them is that I often get scared and tense when I'm working - and fear is one of the big threats to any good performance, because it closes you down and makes it harder for you to produce life in front of the camera.
— Stellan Skarsgard
Even if you're the President of the United States, you still act like a little child and think like a little child sometimes. Childish behavior is what I look for in all of my characters because that is what makes them human.
I don't feel ashamed or humiliated when I am naked, but I definitely feel it when I am playing games.
I still live in Sweden. That's my base. When I'm not working, I'm there.
When you work with someone you don't quite know, you have to figure the director out, and you can come up with ideas that are counter-productive.
I did a guest appearance on 'Entourage.' That was horrible, because I'm used to analysing the characters, working with all the details... and they said, 'No no no, walk and talk, walk and talk! It's energy energy energy!' - so it didn't quite suit me.
You don't know why you fall in love.
The countries where you have the most fear of immigrants are the countries where you have the least immigration.
When you work in Norway, you actually have to have a contract about lunches because Norwegians don't eat lunch normally, so they just throw out a loaf of bread and some coldcuts.
My father used to stress that he valued us all as individuals, but that no one in the world was worth more or less than anyone else. This was a good principle to establish in a large family.
I am not a nationalist in any way, and I hate flag waving, and I don't think much good has come out of nationalism. I am proud of Scandinavia in the sense that we have actually managed to create a very tolerant and human society, which is very livable.
Man is such an amazing animal, and the possibilities are infinite for each person.
When I had kids, I became a better actor. I just stole from them.
For 'Avengers,' in the Albuquerque desert, we shot New York there. And I was standing on a platform, nine feet high... and it was the rooftop of a skyscraper in New York. And it was all desert around me!
The first time I saw Istvan Szabo's 'Mephisto,' I came out and I was in shock. I was shaking.
I can say yes to some directors without even reading a script. But the first-time directors I've worked with, the scripts have not been perfect, but they had something that I liked.
All male roles are written in a way where you just hide what's going on inside you, and all female roles are written in a way where they expose everything.
All directors have their strengths and weaknesses, as all actors have, and all artists. What you try to do is complete the relationship and take care of the stuff that the director won't take care of.
My preparation for roles are less about the character's profession than who they are, what their dreams are, and in what way are they childish.
I don't do sports, really.
I started acting as an amateur when I was a kid, but I wanted to become a diplomat. It was self-centered and weird, but I had this idea of going out in the world and solving conflicts and making the world a better place. But I kept on acting, and eventually, I just dropped out of school and continued acting.
If you understand each other's way of thinking, you understand what kind of film someone is trying to make, and all the ideas that I come up with will fit into that film.
I've worked with Lars von Trier on many films, and there's always a female character that's like an open wound - everything just pours out of this person.
You could probably ask anyone who loves Fincher films, and they couldn't answer why.
Maybe there is something specifically Scandinavian that comes out of the long, dark winters - you have to learn to laugh at misery, in a way.
Everybody thinks I'm so serious and the dark side is very accessible to me, so of course it's a challenge to do something funny.
The ethical code of my upbringing was be good to people and try not to hurt them. You don't need a god to tell you that.
My life reads more like Proust than a tabloid.
A film doesn't exist until it meets its audience.
You learn a lot from kids.
There's so many films made out of bad books, and I don't have time for those.
I don't know - personally, I don't watch many films where the violence itself is the main entertainment, because I find them boring.
I grew up in a family where you were allowed to say anything; you were allowed to show weakness... I have no problems talking about anything, basically. But at the same time, I know I'm different than a woman.
I've been offered a lot of police series, but I'm very good at staying away from them. They're usually based on such a boring formula.
Because of ignorance, I wasn't a big fan of Marvel. I hadn't read the magazines. They were not as big in Europe as they are in the United States. They're more a part of modern American mythology. I know more about the original Thor than the Marvel Thor.
I don't know if I am a good cook, but I am a dedicated cook.
I'm not a signing or dancing man.
I'm not lazy on set. I'm lazy in the rest of my life.
If I ever lose a job because I've talked about being an atheist, then I don't want that job.
If you look at Kirsten Dunst's performance in 'Melancholia,' which I think is absolutely wonderful - it's not even in the text, because she doesn't say much; it's all in her eyes. She doesn't have to explain what she's feeling. You just feel it.
The core to what makes Fincher really interesting - all the technique and all that, that is not in the center even if it's a big big part - what is in the center is the characters, and he really is interested in that.
It's not in the tradition: not even the schoolkids have hot lunches in Norway. They bring a couple of sandwiches from home.
I was the eldest of five children, and although I never saw myself as any kind of leader, as the eldest, like it or not, you have some power inherent in that position.
My parents were rather unconventional and did not accept rules unless they thought they were defendable. They were atheists when Sweden was a very Christian country.
I am not only lucky to be an actor, but I am lucky to be one of the most privileged actors in the world because I can do all kinds of films and genres and everything.
From my second son Gustav, I bought one of his complaints for 200 kroner. He was complaining that he was a middle child - he wasn't the beloved first child, and he wasn't the cute little youngest child. So I said, can I use that same wording in a film? And he said yeah. So I bought it from him.
There will always be storytelling, whether it's on the big silver screen, or it's your television or your iPhone or whatever, people will keep on telling stories.
I'm almost sometimes too subtle in my acting.
I mean... mankind has for hundreds of years known that torture is not a very smart way to get information. It's horrible that we're going back to medieval times.
I wanted to get the opportunity to do what actresses do: play the inside of a person.
