The next episode of our series, 'Hit Me With Your Best Shot,' arrives tomorrow. It's focused on Alexander Skarsgård's Hollywood breakthrough. Specifically, we're looking at his first True Blood episode in 2008 and the following year's Lady Gaga music video Paparazzi. Here's Cláudio's entry.
Prince Amleth of Hrafnsey is far from the first Northman in Alexander Skarsgård's resume. From 2008 to 2014, the Swedish actor played another heir to a 10th-century Viking King in the HBO hit series True Blood. But of course, Eric Northman has long left his motherland when we meet him in the show's fourth episode, "Escape from Dragon House." Deep in the Louisiana backwoods, the former prince turned vampire has found himself playing the part of Sheriff in the region's undead community. Instead of an ancient castle, his domain's a seedy nightclub that goes by the name Fangtasia. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, from noble northern warrior to lowly vice peddler…
In True Blood's first year, Eric is more of a supporting player. Not only does he take four episodes to show up, but even his entrance is delayed until the chapter's later scenes. Indeed, "Escape from Dragon House" isn't really about the immortal Scandinavian, focusing more intently on Sookie Stackhouse's sleuthing the identity of a local serial killer. At the same time, her brother, Jason, deals with an overdose of vampire blood. That second storyline provides most of the hour's humor seeing as the Southern hunk is forced to suffer through a nasty case of priapism.
Truth be told, the prolonged erection drives the episode's best scenes, reminding me of just how funny True Blood could be at its best. Lewd and shameless, the gag starts in an interrogation room after Jason downed an entire bottle of the illegal substance to hide it from the cops. As he's questioned about his latest flame's mysterious death, the camera goes under the table to stare at the actor's denim-clad crotch. What could have been an erotic image is made absurd by the speed at which the hard-on swells up in those tight jeans. Pair that with Ryan Kwanten's pantomimed suffering, and you've got yourself one sadistically perfect shot.
Later on, another candidate for best shot comes up when the poor man's at the hospital. There, he's informed that the engorged member will have to be drained of blood via syringe, a painful process that director Michael Lehmann films as a parody of childbirth. Off-camera, we hear the needle pierce tumescent skin while Kwanten writhes in pain, his neck veins protruding as if to mimic the penile blood vessels being emptied by the good doctor. If this were another regular Hit Me With Your Best Shot, I'd have picked one of these two images. However, we're here to celebrate Skarsgård, so selecting an image without him feels wrong.
Initially, I considered highlighting some 'firsts' in the actor's journey through the series. There's his name popping up in the credits, for example. Another option was the first shot he appeared in, a blurry figure in the background, highlighted by a red background and cinematographer Matthew Jensen's lighting. Then, there's his introductory shot proper, framing as a king dislocated from his court, observing the scene before him with jaded indifference. And yet, none of those pictures felt special enough, drowned out, as they are, by the fangbanger ruckus going on around Eric. In the end, I chose a shot that nods towards the future.
;)
As True Blood unraveled across seven seasons, Eric's role became more central and complex. By the series' fourth year, he was as much a protagonist as Sookie and her vampiric paramour Bill Compton. Moreover, the trio's dynamic evolved into a love triangle full of superpowered carnality, forbidden desires, and messy melodrama. Though he's a dispassionate presence in his first episode, Eric came to develop emotionally, and so did Skarsgård's performance. Even when True Blood went off-the-rails, he could be counted on to deliver solid work. The actor elevated sloppy writing with his balance of horror stylization and underplayed complexity.
In this shot, we find the start of that arc. It's all in the movement of bodies and the stillness of eyes. Beckoned by his hierarchical superior, Bill takes Sookie to meet Eric at his throne, her hand held in an echo of old courtesies. The camera moves along with the couple, letting them go out of focus as they approach the Northman. Still, like a statue, eyes fixed on the joined hands, Eric is a man watching his fate walking towards him. Simple yet effective, the staging plants the seeds of connection between these three while also illustrating the magnetism exuded by both actor and character.
Regarding Paparazzi, my thought process was the same. In other words, while Skarsgård is only a secondary presence in the music video, my best shot choice needed to feature him somehow. That means that Lady Gaga's Vertigo homage, the many shots of dead models bleeding gold, and the songstress wrapped in film stock were not an option. The actor is absent from the music portion of this video, appearing only in the narrative framing that contextualizes the clip's storm of bold imagery. He's the boyfriend of a fame-hungry popstar, who, one day, throws her off a balcony during a fight.
Seeking revenge and notoriety, she plans to kill him, mixing poison into the man's drink. From erotic camp to cartoonish murder, Skarsgård's trajectory finds him going from lover to aggressor, victim to a beautiful corpse. Some good possibilities for the best shot are images centering on the player's feet, summarizing their toxic relationship in quick flashes. First, there's the ecstasy of sex, marred by the crisscross lines on Lady Gaga's stockings, making it look like her legs have been broken and sewn back together. Then, in the end, the boyfriend's death is shown through a dropped glass at his feet, an ice cube tumbling away just as life leaves the body.
;)
However, my choice for best shot happens after the boyfriend's demise, as Gaga's dragged away by police and investigators look over the crime scene. Here, director Jonas Åkerlund connects Skarsgård to the dead models, presenting a perversion of fame that makes people more valuable as dead objects than living humans. While the authorities take pictures for evidence and dust the sunglasses for prints, the Scandinavian cadaver looks like a star being made up for a shoot. It's a perverse sight, the murdered as the ultimate shock artists, their killers' masterpieces. The shot is not as glitzy as the video's most iconic images, but it's just as twisted.
Don't forget to post your #bestshot choices from True Blood's “Escape from Dragon House” and/or Lady Gaga's Paparazzi.