‘Good Will Hunting’ Actor Says He Got ‘Really Scared’ After Suffering Stroke

Stellan Skarsgård isn’t letting a stroke hold him back.

The Good Will Hunting and Amistad actor, 74, revealed in a new interview with Vulture that he’s embraced the challenges that come with surviving a stroke, even if it initially left him “really scared.”

“I feel a little more like I live under the sword now,” he told the outlet in a new interview published Wednesday. “Because I’ve lived a naughty life. And I’m 74, which is already on overtime.”

Skarsgård said his stroke happened “between one and two of Andor and one and two of Dune,” admitting that it made his language “weaker,” even as he returned to his role as Baron Harkonnen.

“I found a way,” Skarsgård explained of his return to set. “They have earpieces where you have a prompter that says the line. It’s not enough because I have my rhythm. They have to say their line on top of my line for me to be able to answer it. They have to say it very fast, very neutral. It takes a lot of training for that guy.”

“You might say, ‘Oh, you’re lucky. You don’t have to learn your lines.’ There’s more work now than there was before,” the actor continued. “Suddenly, I can’t come up with names. I can’t follow a thought or make an argument that spans several sentences that gets to the point — that, then bang! That is extremely frustrating. But on the other hand, I’m alive. I can work.”

Despite the health scare, Skarsgård has continued working and is set to release the drama Sentimental Value, in which he Skarsgård starred and executive-produced, on Nov. 7.

“I’m not afraid of dying,” the Swedish actor said, “but I am afraid of not being capable of living. That is a fear. And being boring.”