Alexander Skarsgard did a weird boxing-themed photoshoot with Women’s Wear Daily. I’m not sure what to make of this, unless this is the reason why Alex looked kind of banged up back in March (although that seems like a long time ago for a photoshoot). I like the motorcycle pics and the one of Alex looking haunted and bruised. Meh. I’m not into boxers really. Maybe that’s why I’m not feeling this. Alex sat down for an interview too, although he didn’t have much to say:

Actors he admires: “I’ve learned to be genuinely happy if someone likes what I do,” he says. It helps that he’s a fan himself. “I love Spencer Tracy. And Marlon Brando was phenomenal—I’m a huge fan of his. Paul Newman, as well, with Hud. There was a darkness and also something very naturalistic about the way they acted that you didn’t see so much of before that. They weren’t theatrical. James Cagney had it, too. That intensity. For a leading man, to have that darkness, and to be able to explore that, back when a lot of them were just flashy leading men… Cagney was awesome. Awesome.”

Deciding to join the army: “My dad is an actor and all his friends are artists, painters, musicians, actors—so it was great, growing up with these super-creative, interesting people. There were big dinner parties, and my dad loves to cook. Tons of wine—it was a crazy household, but so much love, as well. So I come from a family of these super-left-wing pacifist bohemians and wanted to challenge myself and do something completely different from what I was used to.”

[From WWD]

Ha, I had never thought of Alex as trying to be “rebel” against his free-love, left-wing parents. His parents are like “Food, parties, ART, dancing, socialism!” And Alex is all, “I’m going to join the Army and move to a capitalist country. Rebellion!” Anyway, the most interesting part – for me – of this WWD piece was Alex’s Disconnect director Henry-Alex Rubin lovingly describing Alex in detail:

Henry-Alex Rubin, the director of Disconnect, on Alex: “He’s less like his father and more like Victor Sjöström in Wild Strawberries—a great Swedish actor who did a lot with very little. As opposed to a lot of Americans, who come from the Stella Adler school, Alex comes from the Swedish school of doing a lot with very little. There are a lot of shots [in Disconnect] where he does absolutely nothing on screen. Just a tiny shift in the eyes. And that’s his choice.”

“True Blood capitalizes on his brooding, mysterious quality, but in real life Alex is very sweet and thoughtful and even kind of boyish. At festivals or when we’re out socially, I watch as he spends his time taking pictures with these middle-aged housewives and grannies. It’s little things like him bending at the knees, not to dwarf them in pictures. It reminds me of what I’ve read about James Dean, how respectful he was around women, which is a contradiction, because he was such a handsome boy. In a similar way, Alex doesn’t act like a handsome lady-killer. He’s very respectful, and that’s something you wouldn’t expect, because women find him to be a sex symbol, and he’s got these screaming True Blood fans. But he doesn’t exploit or even take advantage of his looks, and I think that’s telling. He has never said this to me, but I imagine he is tired of playing a vampire and wants to explore different sides of himself. I think, in the past, he has been underestimated, which is a great place to be, because then you can blow people away.”

Rubin has been out on the town with Skarsgård as well and reports, “He’s a really loving drunk. I probably shouldn’t say that, but you know how people’s personalities come out when they’re drunk.”

The director also talked about the filming of a key scene in Disconnect, when Skarsgård’s character finally loses it: “When he broke down and cried like a baby, even the crew was shocked. He really cracked—and when he cried, it was real. It wasn’t fake crying. He reached inside. He went in deep and he found it and he cracked. It was very emotional to experience, watching him do that on set. I imagine that it is difficult for anyone in Swedish culture, because they are incredibly restrained people who don’t often wear their emotions on their sleeves.”

“He’s a good mover… The way an actor moves through space is essential to believing them. Alex moves like a soldier. More important, there’s a mystery to him. You don’t meet Alex and immediately think, ‘I understand him.’ It takes a long time. If I were to compare him to someone that he is going to grow into, he reminds me of Clint Eastwood.”

[From WWD]

Comparing Alex to Clint Eastwood and James Dean? Yeah. I can kind of get on board with that. We need someone to step up and be the “New Clint” anyway. So many of these young guys are trying to be the “New Jack Nicholson” (fail) or the “New Marlon Brando” (fail) or “New James Dean” (fail), just as much as young actresses try to be the next Marilyn Monroe or Audrey Hepburn. Why not go for Clint? Or Ava Gardner.

Photos courtesy of WWD.