Stellan Skarsgård comments on Alexander Skarsgård’s decision to serve in the Armed Forces

Stellan Skarsgård questions his son Alexander about giving up his acting career to serve in the Army
Photos: Wikimedia Commons

Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård questioned fellow actor Alexander Skarsgård, his eldest son, about his decision to join the Armed Forces. Father and son shared details about their professional choices in an interview with Variety.

+ Rowan Atkinson reveals in a new interview how the name “Mr. Bean” came about

Stellan asked his son whether he had done it to provoke him. Alexander said that, in retrospect, it was not an act of rebellion.

“But coming from a bohemian family, I thought, ‘I want to find my own path.’ The most extreme contrast would be joining the Army. So it wasn’t a conscious ‘f…, dad,’” the actor commented.

“I felt f…,” said Stellan Skarsgård, but soon after his son replied, “You’re a tremendous actor, dad, because I never felt that.”

The Andor star prides himself on being a father who does not interfere in the decisions of his eight children.

“I also knew that all of you, eight children, have different ways of seeing everything. Maybe I’m lazy, but I think the best thing is to let you do things on your own,” he commented.

Stellan Skarsgård questions his son Alexander about giving up his acting career to serve in the Army
Photos: Wikimedia Commons

Alexander said in the interview that he landed his first role thanks to “blatant nepotism” when Allan Edwall, a Swedish actor and director, visited the Skarsgård home and met him when he was still young.

“He probably just asked you… I don’t think I even auditioned,” Alexander recalled. “I didn’t want to be an actor. I’m still trying to figure out what I do when I grow up,” he said.

He admits that he wished his family were “normal,” even while stating that he loved his family of artists.

“But at the beginning of my teens, bringing friends home was always like, ‘Oh my God,’ because I wanted it to be like everyone else’s house,” Skarsgård recalls.

Photos: Wikimedia Commons. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.

Back to top