(No)moneybrother

I received an email. It's in Swedish but translated it says something like:

"Hi Alex. Just the thought of me and you making music together is insane. I am a artist while you are nothing but a cheap entertainer for the masses. So please don't mention either me nor my girlfriend in that stupid blog of yours ever again. /Anders"

Well, Anders, guess what? I don't understand exactly what your problem is but I just mentioned both you and your girlfriend in my stupid blog again. And please explain to me what is so artistic about pretending to be Bruce Springsteen?

P.S. I'm giving your girlfriend a call when I get back to Stockholm.

Don't be such cheapskates, please

In Sweden there's a huge legal process going on right now against a group of people that call themselves The Pirate Bay. I'm usually pro pirates, but these so called pirates are completely different from Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean (awesome movie by the way). Instead of stealing from the rich and give to the poor which is like normal pirate procedure, these computer nerds steal from hard working artists like myself and give to no one but themselves. Us actors deserve to get paid for busting our asses in the movies. Making a movie is a difficult process. You may have to be away from home for long periods, sometimes you have to get up early in the morning, you have to think about what you eat and work out a lot, you might have to be outside while its raining, and so on, I can probably come up with a thousand reasons why we should get paid. It can be really hard to learn your lines for instance. I hope those pirate bay-guys end up in jail for life. If you don't want to do the time, then don't do the crime, dork.

Kicking it with Eric

Sorry for not posting so much lately, I've been really busy. Except for filming I have focused on getting my second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. I started training martial arts in Stockholm a couple years ago to get in shape for the role as Micke in the Dog Trick. I didn't care much for it at first but after a few weeks my sensei, a Korean guy named Kim, took me aside and said that he'd never seen a bigger talent than me before. I've always been doing sports of some kind so I wasn't surprised. I received my black belt quicker than any of Kim's earlier students, I even trained with the Olympic team for a short while. When I moved to LA I gave it up since I didn't know of any good dojos here. But a while back I ran into Sean William Scott (who's a totally cool dude by the way) at a party and he told me that he just received his black belt from his sensei. So I decided to go with to his dojo and it was awesome. Their sensei is a old guy from North Korea named Choi and the pictures on the wall showed him with several a-list celebrities. I ended up doing kumite with no one else than Eric Roberts (who is a third degree black belt. That dude's got some serious skills). He turned out to be a genuinely nice guy and after the work out he took me to his favorite low carb diner in the hills. I had a tofu burger and we talked about how he'd met my dad on the set of Entourage (I love that show by the way). I decided not to ask him about his sister since, well, I know the feeling when it comes to famous relatives. Then he told me that he thought I was probably ready for my second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do if I just worked on my roundhouse a little bit. I was like; really? And he was like; totally. So since then I've been spending a lot of time in the dojo with Eric and Sean because a second degree black belt will look great in my resume. Eric has also invited us all to this party at Robert Englunds mansion next week. I'm actually supposed to be filming that evening but I hope I can make it to the party anyways, I've always been a huge fan of Robert Englund.

Hammarby and I

Last Friday night was out of control. My favorite soccer team Hammarby was in town. Rami Shaaban, the goalkeeper, and I shared a cab to Foxtail on Santa Monica Blvd and met with some of the other players there. A girl outside the club asked for my autograph so I signed her t-shirt, but then she asked at which position I played. I didn't have the time to ask what she meant since Rami knew the guy in the door, and most players had already entered. I didn't want to stand in line like the rest of the douches outside and hurried to get inside.
What a night, we went all-in so to speak. One of players, no names, vomited in the ladies toilet, another started screaming that Hammarby would win Allsvenskan (the Swedish soccer league) 2009-2010, promised to purchase beer to everyone, instead he turned around and run away. I hope he went back to his hotel. Great night, I love Hammarby and I hope they win.

On stage

As you all know I've been doing a lot of TV lately. Sure, it's great but I feel that the long production time takes away from my true love; theater. So I've decided to turn The Dog Trick into a one man play and see if I can find a stage to preform it on a few times a week. I would even be willing to come into people homes and preform. If you know of a small venue let me know!

(Christian and Christopher I hope it's OK that I'm adapting The Dog Trick for the stage. If I make money on it I will make sure you get a share!)

Stephen Moyer

We all know how it sounds like he says “Suck-ay” when he's talking to or about Anna's character “Sookie”. I think it should be pronounced “Sue-key”, or rhyme with cookie. This was a big problem when we start shooting the first episodes, and Alan Ball was furious because Stephen couldn't pronounce her name right. He even hired a speech therapist to help him. Okay Stephen, say “Cookie” – “Cookie”. Good, now say “Sookie” - “Suck-ay”. It was truly hilarious. Alan ended up using him cause we couldn't find another actor fast enough...

So, at Dolce the other day, Stephen comes up to me and says “Sue-key, I knew how to say her name the whole time”. Then he just walked away. I think he was kinda drunk cause he never speaks to me on the set.

We can do it

My political views? Well, I'm a Obama supporter of course. That guy is a great inspiration for me. If he could become the President of the United States after growing up in extreme poverty in a disease ridden Africa, I shouldn't have any difficulties landing a lead role in a major Hollywood movie. And since almost all my family consists of actors, it would be like if Obamas parents were Kennedy and Nixon.
I drove down to Venice this morning and ate lunch at small place by the beach. Had a tofu burger with a green salad. Nobody seemed to recognise me. That will change soon enough.

Sofi Fahrman

I was interviewed by Sofi Fahrman at New York Fashion Week last year, and somehow I forgot all about it. I found the video of the interview at her blog. I have to say that I'm not proud of myself, I acted like an ass. I didn't look her in the eyes (as my father once told me that I should when I talk to the beautiful people), drank beer and seemed full of myself. “Pay attention if the beautiful people ever speak to you” my father told me, “Pay attention boy!”. I’m sorry Sofi! (And dad.)

Northman sings Nordman

I've received a lot of kudos for my portraying of the ancient Viking vampire Eric Northman. I was thrilled when Alan Ball offered me the role as Eric, because Northman in Swedish means Nordman and as it happens it's the name of my favorite band ever. During one of the rehearsals I brought a CD with Nordman with me to the set and played it during one of the breaks. Everybody started rocking like crazy and Alan Ball came over and said; Alex, what is this stuff?
It's Northman, I answered.
You got to be kidding me, he said, if I ever come to Sweden I have to meet those guys, this is like the best music I've ever heard. I want those guys in the show!
I was really happy that Alan and the others (well, except for one person, I guess you know who, always the party pooper) liked Nordman as much as I do. I hope they play in LA someday, it would be a dream come true.

New script

I read this terrific script a while ago, can't tell you much about it, except that it is a medieval film. I just love medieval movies. In Sweden they filmed the most expensive Swedish movie ever a few years ago, it's called "Arn". Half my family is in it. I actually went to a meeting with the director, but it seemed like we couldn't agree on anything. He asked me what my favorite medieval movie was and I answered "Conan the Barbarian". He looked kind of bummed out by my answer so I asked him which movie he thought was the best medieval movie of all times; "Name of the Rose" he said. I told him that the Name of the Rose is a bit gay in my opinion. Anyways, if I'd gotten a part (as Arn of course) I probably wouldn't have ended up here so I guess it was for the best.

Blue Steel

So I was meeting Malin Akerman for lunch. She had picked this fancy place in the Malibu area so I had to like take the car hours earlier to get there in time. When I arrive Malin has still not showed up so I tell the restaurant staff that I have a reservation for a table so the girl I'm talking to asks for my name.
Skarsgard, I tell her.
She browses through the reservations and tells me I'm not on the list. So I go, ok, check for Akerman instead and she's like, yes, we have a Malin Akerman here but you're obviously not her.
But I'm supposed to meet her here, alright?
And she's like, we get lots of people coming here claiming they know famous people just to get in.
Ok, but I am kind of famous myself, you might have seen me on HBO lately?
The girl doesn't even look at me.
I sigh.
Alright, so is it ok if I wait here?
Suite yourself.
So I sit there for maybe 40 minutes when finally Malin arrives.
Alex, darling, I am sooo sorry for keeping you waiting. The traffic is horrible here. Why are you sitting out here, I thought that maybe you had ordered something already?
Well, yeah, there was a slight misunderstanding.
We get our table. I look at the menu and I can't find any tofu anywhere. I order a low carb veggie burger instead. Malin starts chatting about her Italian husband, about his music and so on. I want to know how she got the part in Watchmen. Suddenly I spot Ben Stiller at the entrance. So I wave at him and he comes over to our table. But when I get up to offer him a handshake he walks passed me.
Malin!, he goes, you look great as always. They hug each other.
I was at this party last week and spoke to Steven Spielberg about you, he said he wanted you as the female lead in his next feature. I decide to interrupt, Ben, how you been? Loved you in that Tropic Thunder movie! He turns over and looks at me for the first time.
I don't believe we have met, he says.
There's a moment of silence.
Come, on it's me Alex. We played in Zoolander together.
We did?
Yeah, I played one of those models that got torched in the car in the beginning, remember?
No... uh.. But I remember the Asian dude. He was hilarious.
Uhm, maybe you remember my dad. Skarsgard?
Oooooh, oh right, you're Skarsgards kid. That's right, now I remember. Hey, next time you see him, say hallo to your brother for me. Heard his filming in Europe?
Sure, I'll...
Ben just cuts me off and starts talking to Malin instead; So I hope there will be some boob shots in Watchmen? Right? Anyways, nice to see you again Malin. And you too, Alfred. Got to run. See you.
Malin seems thrilled after the quick meeting; he's so nice isn't he, she says. I have suddenly lost my appetite. I don't know, how old is he anyway, I ask, has to be at least 45?
Later that night I sit down with my stand up routine at home. Maybe comedy is worth a try after all. It obviously worked for Malin and Ben Stiller. How hard can it be?

Indian girlfriend

One of my fans has contacted me about Moneybrothers girlfriend being an Indian (native American) or not. It turns out she's not an Indian but from Chile. So in my opinion I wasn't entirely wrong since after googling it, it turns out Chile is a country in South America. So that means she is American, just not native American. Tomorrow I'm going to have lunch with Malin Akerman. She's from Sweden.

Headache

I've got a headache that has kept me inside most of the morning. Impossible to get anything done with the script I've been reading for the past couple of days. I won't go into details on either the script or the headache; let's just say I was at Dolce (again) the other night...

Bartender

Where do I to start? Well, I showed up at the address of the party. I was greeted by they guy that I meet at Dolce. I was obviously a bit early cause the only other people there was the serving staff. I apologized for being early but he said that I was right on time. He led me in through the house to a beautiful backyard. He introduced me to model looking two guys who stood at the bar. "There are the guys you are going to be working with" he said and left us. I was a bit surprised, sure the guys looked good but they weren't famous or anything. I asked the two guys what was expected of us. One of them (named Tom) told me that were to stay at the bar and pour drinks until 2 AM. The other guy (Adrien) added that we get a 30 min break each.

I was totally gutted. This wasn't at all what I had agreed to. I thought I was gonna "work the floor" and be a famous guest. I wanted to leave but being a Swede has made me very dependable so I slowed my pride and tried to look cool and started organizing the bar with Tom and Adrien.

An hour after I had gotten to the party the guest started dropping in. A bunch of C-list celebrities like that Top Model girl who married the Brady Bunch guy showed up and want shoots. As soon as they realized that I was Swedish they started asking for Absolute and snaps. I short of liked being an bartender and was happy to pour drinks... Until I saw my dads new wife. My heart started racing what if my dad was there too? I didn't want him to see me working in a bar at some random party. Luckily he wasn't there and his wife didn't recognize me, at least she didn't comment on it when she ordered wine. Oh god, I really hope she didn't recognize me.

iSkarsgard 2.0

Went down to the Apple Store at Beverly Center and the clerk informed me that my iPhone was an iPod Touch.

A helping hand

I've realized that's almost impossible to get hold of any of my Swedish movies in LA and I asked my younger brother to bring some from my private stock when he comes. I don't really need 20 copies of The Dog Trick in Stockholm. Perhaps I can hand some out to my fans?

It will be a blast having my brother in LA. He can sleep on my couch (at least for couple of weeks before I get fed up and kick him out ;=)), we can watch my movies, read scripts, party, pick up girls and just have fun like we used to back home. Hopefully my dad will drop by; I haven't seen him in LA since I moved here.

Moneybrother

Yesterday I went for a quick jog before my scheduled meeting with Alan Ball. I usually listen to techno or similar stuff when I run but this time I chose to listen to my good friend Anders Wedins (a.k.a. Moneybrother) latest album. I haven't had time to listen to it earlier so I was totally amazed how awesome it was. Anders voice is maybe not the best in the industry but since his genre is sort of alternative he gets away with it. The melodies are great though. No need to tell you it was a good jog, right? Since I have plans on maybe get my own musical career started, I came up with the brilliant idea that maybe we should do something together in the future. I have been taking vocal lessons for quite some time now (same guy that Christan Bale used to take lessons from) just in case. Anders has a solid thing going on in Stockholm but in my opinion he doesn't possess enough star quality to make it big in the states. I, on the other hand, got the looks but with all the present acting I have no time to sit down and write any good songs. I will contact Anders about this soon, I'm sure he will be more than interested. Last year in Stockholm Anders invited me over for dinner. He has a very cute girlfriend who I think is an Indian (native American). I could'nt take my eyes of her. She looks a little bit like Pocahontas but still speaks fluent Swedish which is totally strange. If she wasn't his girlfriend I would definitely make a move on her. Duh, maybe I will anyways (haha, just kidding). Well, if Anders doesn't write those songs for me, it might be a whole other story, right? (haha, just kidding again, I won't steal her from you, Anders). After the dinner we went to Spy Bar which felt a bit weird since my dad used to hang out there a few years ago. Nowadays the crowd seemed pretty young so it was alright I guess. Anders bought me a drink I've never had before, a caipirinha. It was very good but a bit sour. Maybe I'll share the recipe in this blog later... :-)

Good Luck

I was waiting for coffee and a Portobello Sandwich at 101 Coffee when I noticed that Colin Farrell was sitting at the table next to me with two of his friends. He was just about to leave, I tried to get his attention so I could congratulate him on getting to work with my brother, but he just kept walking.

Questions

I while ago I got the questions which character that I have portrayed that I feel the strongest connection with, and what character I would love to some day portray?

I've been pondering these questions for weeks, and my answer must be Micke and Ben Hur. I was nominated for Best Supporting Actor as Micke in “The Dog Trick” and I think it's rather obvious for any viewer that Micke and myself have a lot in common.

Ben Hur would be something of a dream to portray, and I've been told that I sometimes look like a young Charlton Heston... A story of revenge, passion and freedom. Perhaps Michael Bay could be the director?

iSkarsgard

Bought an iPhone this morning (so I could blog from the set). Can't get the phone to work though. Nowhere to insert the SIM, nowhere to dial or to answer. Other than that it works fine. Music player, video and photos, even YouTube. I love YouTube.

Friday

I've decided to work the party on Friday. I called the guy and accepted the offer but I forgot to ask what it pays. Oh well, working a party is pretty cool what ever the pay is.

Overheard in the Valley

I spent the whole morning looking through “Overheard in New York”, and I realized that I “overheard” something a few weeks ago. I was on an audition, hoping to get a role in an independent film, directed by some hip up-and-coming, but unfortunately unknown, director. Anyway, this man, at least twice my size, was sitting with the rest of us in a hotel lobby in the Valley. I can't remember the street but I have a note somewhere with an address, can't seem to find it. Jeez, I just keep drifting away from the story, aren't I? Anyway, this huge, pale and slowly balding man kept telling these stories of when he was filming with Di Caprio. Claiming that he was one of the extras when they did “The Beach” (obviously a lie, I have seen “The Beach” twice and he wasn't in it). This guy told the person next to him that Di Caprio had been so impressed with the acting that Di Caprio wished that he had known him then he was staring in “Titanic”. Hilarious! Not even Swedish director Roy Andersson, who loves freaks and outcasts, would have cast this guy in any of his absurd and boring commercials. Anyway, just wanted to get this story of my chest.

Friendster or Myspace?

Quick question to all you Internet people, should I sign up for Friendster or Myspace? Or should I just stick to Lunarstorm and my blog?

This morning

It's fairly chilly outside today, mid 50s in the morning, but it should reach 70 degrees in the afternoon according to the news. I bought Filippa K coat when I visited my family in Stockholm and it's quite useful when it gets cold outside.