Hit Me With Your Best Shot: Alexander Skarsgård Special

by Nathaniel R

Alexander Skarsgård in his first movie role in 1984

Alexander Skarsgárd is nothing if not committed to his nearly feral manchild in The Northman. He embraces the movie's mythological brutality and reminds us of both his indisputable screen charisma and the too little acknowledged fact that its unusually flexible in terms of tone and genre and auteurial vision. This may be another northman (you can't change your ancestry) but it's definitely not Eric Northman of True Blood fame! And speaking of the Nordic vampire that made him internationally famous, this is a good time to look back to his breakthrough season from the summer of 2008 to the summer of 2009. Not that he was a "new" actor in 2008, mind you...

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Cláudio's Best Shot Pick: 'True Blood' & 'Paparazzi'

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…

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I'll Link to That: Dune, Teen Wolf, and The Gilded Age

• Interview Kirsten Dunst interviews her Melancholia costar Alexander Skarsgárd about the demands of making his Viking period epic The Northman. Fun banter!
• Gr8ter Days takes a 40th anniversary look back at the first mainstream gay movie, Making Love
• Cartoon Brew struggles over abusively low salaries for artists in Japanese anime

Dune Part Two, The Gilded Age, Teen Wolf, Anders Danielsen Lie, Teen Wolf, and a new Luca Guadagnino project after the jump...

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Yes No Maybe So: "The Northman"

The 2021 film year will stretch well into 2022 -- that happens with late Oscar ceremonies -- but we finally have a title we're really excited about to look forward to the month after the Oscars. Robert Eggers' viking drama The Northman starring Alexander Skarsgård hits theaters on April 22nd. Let's discuss the trailer with our Yes No Maybe So™ system...

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Sundance: "Passing" review

by Jason Adams

I hope that after fifteen years of me writing on the internet you all will have an inkling of what a big deal it is for me to start a film review off with talk of Awards, a subject I normally pay very little attention to. Perhaps it's that this is my first Sundance -- I've heard people get exclamatory brains in these places, although it being virtual this year I don't have the excuse of the mountain's thin oxygen supply. But here's the deal -- if every single person involved with Rebecca Hall's directorial debut Passing isn't nominated for awards next season I'll eat my shoe. Hell I'll eat one of Ruth Negga's shoes, and they look complicated. Buckles and snaps. But seriously. Everybody gets an Oscar. Do they have Oscars for Craft Services? Give them an Oscar. They kept these geniuses fed well enough to make this beautiful, blessed film...

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