Actor Says He’s ‘Not Really Comfortable’ Playing a Righteous Character Due to His Morals

Alexander Skarsgård says playing his character in Wicker proved to be a challenge. The film made its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.

The premise tells the story of a fisherwoman who asks a basketmaker to weave her a husband. The man made of sticks is played by Skarsgård.

Skarsgård didn’t have an issue with the aesthetic. Instead, he says it was more so playing a “good guy.”

“I was quite intimidated when I read it because I tend to be drawn towards more conflicted characters with more internal turmoil and darkness,” Skarsgård said during the Saturday Q&A attended by Entertainment Weekly. “And to play this good-hearted, good natured, sweet, morally righteous character was scary to me. I’m not really comfortable doing that. I don’t have anything to tap into when it comes to that, so it was a stretch as an actor.”

Skarsgård leans toward darker characters. He’s known for playing Eric Northman on True Blood. Other roles for him include an abusive husband on Big Little Lies, a sociopathic tech mogul on Succession, and revenge seeking character in The Northman. Despite the change, Skarsgård was happy to accept something new.

“I thought it was an incredible script,” he said of Wicker. “It’s a fable, but it’s also an allegory. It’s a story about our society, but without being heavy-handed or didactic or preachy. It was so funny and sweet, and obviously a very interesting character to play.”

He said a huge challenge was also the character’s looks and having to control his face in scenes. “Rigidity was a big part of it, and that came naturally to me,” he joked of the physical challenge.  “And awkwardness, also easy. And then we played around a little bit with the evolution of the character. Watching it now was quite interesting, cause they clearly worked on it with the sound design as well and the creaking in the beginning when the wicker is all fresh and new. And then we wanted to play with the rigidity of that. As the wicker husband warms up and gets a bit comfortable.”

Because of the wicker glued to his face, he had to stretch himself further in the facial expression area, especially for “very emotionally vulnerable” scenes with Colman, while her face “just explodes on camera” his expression was rather still. 

“Nothing happened,” Skarsgård recalled. “I have exaggerated everything. And that kind of contradicts your instinct as an actor. So I felt ridiculous, but it was just about trusting these guys and when they came up and were like, ‘Can you just give us a bit more eyebrow action?’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’”