Alexander Skarsgard likes to push the limit with the characters he chooses to play. Recently, the roles he has chosen appear to be unlikeable characters. Such as in the roles as Lady Gaga's crazed boyfriend in her "Paparazzi" music video, the
vampire Eric Northman on
HBO's hit TV series,
True Blood, and his next project as Charlie in Rod Lurie's remake of Straw Dogs, Sam Peckinpah's 1971 film. In an article for
THE LAST MAGAZINE,
Alex was quoted as saying about his roles:
"When I step into a project, I need to feel that there's a challenge, something new, something fresh about it. That being said, I'm kind of attracted to characters with a darkness or a sadness that they carry with them. " He is drawn to their faults. "It's been important to find my own way, make my own mistakes, and learn from them."
Back in Sweden,
Alexander gave up acting at age 13 after becoming famous. He couldn't handle people looking at him, talking about him, seeing himself on television, or reading about himself in magazines. It was too difficult becoming a teenager to deal with this added stress. Fortunately, his already famous father, actor Stellan Skarsgard, did not push him in one direction or another.
"Not once did my parents try to push me or say, 'You get all these offers now, and you keep working, a year from now or two years from now, you might enjoy it again. ' I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be an actor today. I might've worked for a few more years, but I'd have eventually crashed and burned and been so turned off by the whole profession. I might never have turned back."
His fans and
HBO are very happy he did come back to acting. At 33,
Alex is able to cope with more media attention than he had in Sweden as a child. He can now handle his world-wide fame as a formerly powerful Viking warrior who, mortally wounded in battle, was turned into a
vampire as a reward for his bravery. Based on the
Sookie Stackhouse books by
Charlaine Harris,
Alex's role as
Eric was initially viewed as the bad
vamp or villain. But devoted followers are coming to see him differently - see all of him - as a character displaying a sense of humor and compassion. Unlike other
vampire shows,
True Blood allows these (previously thought of) mythical creatures to come out of the closet. Due to
synthetic blood manufactured by a Japanese firm,
vampires no longer need to feed on mortals and now try to fit into human society. However, for mortals, drinking
vampire blood is highly addictive and acts as a very potent drug. Looking at his next role in Straw Dogs,
Alexander sees the good in his character, Charlie, who is the former boyfriend of Amy, played by Kate Bosworth. While the role involves explosive tension, violence and sexual carnage,
Alex said, "On some weird level, you kind of understand why Charlie and Amy were together, once upon a time, and why it didn't really work out." He added, "Straw Dogs is about defending what you believe is right." Watch for
Alexander as
Eric Northman in
Season 3 of
True Blood, starting June 13, 2010. SOURCE:
thelast-magazine.com (Photo Credit - AP Photo/Andy Kropa)
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As excitement builds for the Season 3 premiere, a casting call reveals a new character and an intriguing episode title. The Internet Movie Database, IMDb.com, has posted a casting notice for Episode 3.09 of True Blood Season 3. The episode, titled "Everything is Broken," is directed by Scott Winant and written by Alexander Woo. It is set to start shooting April 22 in L.A. The parts of Hunter, Hadley's 4-year-old son and Sookie's nephew, and an unnamed famous newscaster will be cast. Hunter is described as a distressed, scared little boy who has a telepathic conversation with Sookie at an aquarium. The part has seven lines, one scene. The famous newscaster is described as male, aged 40-50, and has one speech in one scene. Source: IMDB.com Photo credit: HBO Inc. 
