Why Alexander Skarsgård doesn’t mind taking risks: “It’s not scary”
The fact that Alexander Skarsgård was fathered by a man who has spent his whole career appearing in subversive movies, often under the direction of Lars von Trier, shows up when you look at the similarly transgressive tastes and sense of fearlessness that he nurtures to produce great performances.
Actors who stick to safe, undaring roles are the least interesting, because it shows a real lack of willingness to enter uncharted territory, which is why the Skarsgårds are so fascinating; they aren’t afraid to make themselves ugly to deliver a performance that is raw, unbound from convention, and utterly challenging.
One of the younger Skarsgård’s more recent movies saw him take on the role of a leather daddy in Pillion, the feature debut from Harry Lighton. As the mysterious motorcycle-riding Ray, he begins a relationship with a shy man named Colin, who still lives at home and sings in a barbershop quartet. It’s a bizarre premise for a romantic comedy, and one that takes the genre into completely new waters.
Gay rom-coms are few and far between, but what about one that features leather-clad men wearing dog masks and chains or the guy from the Scissor Sisters in a particularly erotic submissive scene? Pillion is a boundary-pushing look at uneasy power dynamics and self-discovery through kink, so naturally, it didn’t have a massive budget.
Made on less than £1million, it’s quite refreshing to see an established star like Skarsgård, who, among his many indie projects, has also starred in massive movies like The Legend of Tarzan and Godzilla vs Kong, take on the role. Many stars of that calibre wouldn’t be interested in appearing in the debut of a first-time British director about gay BDSM biker culture, but these are the sort of projects that appeal to Skarsgård the most.
Appearing alongside his father for Variety’s ‘Actors on Actors’ series, he revealed that there was absolutely no apprehension with going into such a role, stating that “a love story set in the world of BDSM intrigued me enough to open the script, at least. And then as soon as I did that, I was hooked, because I think it’s a phenomenal screenplay”.
The actor admitted that it was an easy decision because when you’re confident in a script, the supposed risks surrounding it don’t matter.
He explained, “In a couple interviews, journalists have been like, ‘Was it a scary decision to jump onboard? It’s like a kinky gay biker movie by a first-time filmmaker, and like this super low-budget movie. Like, why take that risk?’ I don’t know how you feel, but if a script is phenomenal, and you believe in the director, it’s not scary.”
Skarsgård would much rather be in a transgressive film like Pillion than a massive movie with a bad screenplay, concluding, “It doesn’t really matter if it’s a first-time filmmaker or if it’s a super low-budget movie. I’m scared if I’m not crazy about the script, or if I have reservations about the filmmaker. That’s scary to me.”
