The role that saved Alexander Skarsgård’s career: “I was auditioning for a lot of terrible things”
In the era of Hollywood shining a light on nepotism and coining the term “nepo baby”, one family has somewhat avoided that label: the Skarsgård family. Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård has some descendants of his bloodline who have done well for themselves in show business, namely his sons, Bill, Gustaf, and Alexander, who have provided some brilliant performance work in front of the camera.
Many know Bill as the actor who donned the terrifying clown suit in the reboot franchise of Stephen King’s It, and recently appeared in other intriguing horror films such as Barbarian and Nosferatu. As for Gustaf Skarsgård, his fame comes from shows like Vikings and, more recently, the espionage thriller Black Bag.
Then there’s the oldest brother, Alexander Skarsgård, who was the first to break through over 20 years ago; his journey was not as smooth as many outside the Hollywood machine would think. One of his earliest major appearances was in the 2001 Ben Stiller-led comedy Zoolander, where he played a male model named Meekus, who is hilariously blown up at a gas station. As it turns out, after the film’s release, it wasn’t a smooth road up the ladder to where he is now. Skarsgård sat down with Empire magazine and spoke about those years of limbo, trying to find the proper role, and how, when he did, it was a breath of fresh air.
The oldest Skarsgård’s run on television has been incredible over the last decade and a half. His work on HBO shows like True Blood, Big Little Lies, and Succession has stood out massively, but it was his work on the network’s 2008 series Generation Kill that did his career wonders.
The Swedish actor recalled, “I hadn’t really worked between Zoolander and Generation Kill. I was auditioning for a lot of terrible things. And so Generation Kill was just such an incredible opportunity. I was very fortunate that David Simon and Ed Burns, who had done The Wire, wanted a kind of documentary take on it, so we were intentionally going out to quite unknown actors, faces that weren’t recognisable. And yeah, there’s a lot of adrenaline and testosterone in that character [Brad Colbert] and in Generation Kill, but I liked that it wasn’t a cliché of a recon Marine.”
The interview raises a valid point about the actor and the type of roles he has played. Most of his work is a commentary on masculinity, such as in films like Tarzan, Infinity Pool, and The Northman. He also provides an example of what toxic masculinity can look like in a show like Big Little Lies, where he played Nicole Kidman’s abusive husband. All of this seemingly goes back to Generation Kill.
“I didn’t choose Generation Kill. Generation Kill chose me,” Skarsgård admitted, “I was not, at the time in my career, in a position to choose at all.” Despite the show being cancelled after one season due to production costs, the war in Afghanistan, and the glaring realism of the dangers and traumas associated with being on the battle front lines, it’s clear that Skarsgård benefited greatly from the show.
Over 15 years later, he has appeared on multiple shows across different networks, and most recently, you can catch him on Apple TV+’s action comedy series Murderbot.
