What to stream: Take a walk on the wild side with Alexander Skarsgård's indie roles
Published in Entertainment News
Alexander Skarsgård is the moment. Not only does he co-star in the Charli XCX vehicle “The Moment,” a music industry mockumentary that just premiered at Sundance and is in theaters now, but he’s co-starring in the edgy romance “Pillion,” in theaters this month, and just turned in a very respectable first-time hosting gig at “Saturday Night Live” on Jan. 31 (streaming on Peacock).
The Swedish superstar, who is the son of Stellan Skarsgård (Oscar-nominated for “Sentimental Value”), and the brother of actors Bill, Valter and Gustaf, has been acting in Sweden since the age of 8. While he burst onto the scene in the United States in the HBO series “Generation Kill,” and then later in the sexy vampire series “True Blood” as vampire Eric Northman, and won an Emmy for his portrayal of an abusive husband on “Big Little Lies,” Skarsgård is far more interesting an actor than just these leading man roles.
Sure, he’s been in blockbusters like “The Legend of Tarzan” and “Godzilla vs. Kong,” but in recent years, he’s lent his considerable star power to up-and-coming young filmmakers, helping to get their films made with his presence (both “The Moment” and “Pillion” are directorial debuts). It makes him far more complex as an actor and star, showing new sides to his talent and persona. Skarsgård could just rest on action spectacle and leading man roles, but instead, he allows himself to experiment with genre and dismantling his own star persona — or at least complicating it.
Here are some of his best and most interesting indies of the past decade or so, films that are worthy of your attention, and likely got made because Skarsgård signed on.
Back in 2015, Skarsgård co-starred in Marielle Heller’s incredible directorial debut, “The Diary of a Teenage Girl.” Based on a graphic novel by Phoebe Gloeckner about a young girl in 1970s San Francisco who starts to experiment with her sexuality — with her mother’s boyfriend. The film launched star Bel Powley, and Heller’s directorial career (she’s since directed “Can You Ever Forgive Me?," “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" and “Nightbitch”). Skarsgård is excellent in this strange love triangle. Stream it on Prime Video, Roku Channel or Tubi.
He also appeared in actress Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut, “Passing,” a daring adaptation of Nella Larsen’s book, starring Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga and André Holland, about two women in the early 20th century that explores the world of race and what it means to be white-passing. Both Thompson and Negga turn in fantastic performances, and Skarsgård is an integral part of the supporting cast. Stream it on Netflix.
While Robert Eggers' bombastic Viking epic “The Northman” seems written for Skarsgård with his size, background and Nordic looks, that doesn’t mean the film wasn’t a risky endeavor. While it was Eggers' third film, the ambition of scope and wild imagery and mythology on screen — not to mention the violence — made “The Northman” a wildly bold independent film. It’s not often a Viking epic is made as an indie, but Skarsgård is mesmerizing in the film that co-stars Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy and Ethan Hawke. Stream it on Netflix or rent elsewhere.
Finally, take a dip in the waters of “Infinity Pool,” Skarsgård’s most outré outing yet. The third film of Canadian horror scion Brandon Cronenberg, “Infinity Pool” stars Skarsgård as a struggling novelist who finds himself caught up in a wild, wealthy death cult at a remote resort. He stars opposite Mia Goth, whose character walks him like a dog, so to speak. While he takes the dominant role in “Pillion,” in “Infinity Pool,” Skarsgård is all sub. Stream it on Kanopy or rent it elsewhere.
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