Top 127 Quotes & Sayings by Stellan Skarsgard - Page 2

My father used to stress that he valued us all as individuals, but that no one in the world was worth more or less than anyone else. This was a good principle to establish in a large family.

The countries where you have the most fear of immigrants are the countries where you have the least immigration.

We have to know that the bad guys are not different from us in the world.

My preparation for roles are less about the character's profession than who they are, what their dreams are, and in what way are they childish.

We were working under very harsh conditions on 'Zero Kelvin.' We were up there in the Arctic, closer to the North Pole than to a hospital. Sometimes you had to sleep in small Arctic tents with guns to protect yourself from polar bears and stuff.

My life reads more like Proust than a tabloid.

I grew up in a family where you were allowed to say anything; you were allowed to show weakness... I have no problems talking about anything, basically. But at the same time, I know I'm different than a woman.

All directors have their strengths and weaknesses, as all actors have, and all artists. What you try to do is complete the relationship and take care of the stuff that the director won't take care of.

I mean... mankind has for hundreds of years known that torture is not a very smart way to get information. It's horrible that we're going back to medieval times.

I've got a lot of weaknesses. One of them is that I often get scared and tense when I'm working - and fear is one of the big threats to any good performance, because it closes you down and makes it harder for you to produce life in front of the camera.

Because of ignorance, I wasn't a big fan of Marvel. I hadn't read the magazines. They were not as big in Europe as they are in the United States. They're more a part of modern American mythology. I know more about the original Thor than the Marvel Thor.

I've worked with Lars von Trier on many films, and there's always a female character that's like an open wound - everything just pours out of this person.

You don't know why you fall in love.

You learn a lot from kids.

Rupert Murdoch is in bed with Cameron. Of course they want to kill the BBC... anybody who is in the way.

I don't know - personally, I don't watch many films where the violence itself is the main entertainment, because I find them boring.

I can say yes to some directors without even reading a script. But the first-time directors I've worked with, the scripts have not been perfect, but they had something that I liked.

I still live in Sweden. That's my base. When I'm not working, I'm there.

Even if you're the President of the United States, you still act like a little child and think like a little child sometimes. Childish behavior is what I look for in all of my characters because that is what makes them human.

A film doesn't exist until it meets its audience.

You could probably ask anyone who loves Fincher films, and they couldn't answer why.

I don't do sports, really.

All male roles are written in a way where you just hide what's going on inside you, and all female roles are written in a way where they expose everything.

I'm almost sometimes too subtle in my acting.

I don't feel ashamed or humiliated when I am naked, but I definitely feel it when I am playing games.

I was the eldest of five children, and although I never saw myself as any kind of leader, as the eldest, like it or not, you have some power inherent in that position.

If you understand each other's way of thinking, you understand what kind of film someone is trying to make, and all the ideas that I come up with will fit into that film.

Man is such an amazing animal, and the possibilities are infinite for each person.

The core to what makes Fincher really interesting - all the technique and all that, that is not in the center even if it's a big big part - what is in the center is the characters, and he really is interested in that.

I wanted to get the opportunity to do what actresses do: play the inside of a person.

The difference between an experienced director and a new director is not as big as the difference between individual directors, the temperament they have, and the things they're interested in.

I said yes to 'Nymphomaniac' before it was written.

I'm not a signing or dancing man.

When you work with someone you don't quite know, you have to figure the director out, and you can come up with ideas that are counter-productive.

I started acting as an amateur when I was a kid, but I wanted to become a diplomat. It was self-centered and weird, but I had this idea of going out in the world and solving conflicts and making the world a better place. But I kept on acting, and eventually, I just dropped out of school and continued acting.

Most of my acting in general is about what's going on in the head, and the lines are just something that comes out.

It's fun to play characters with a past, but it's also fun to play any role that is what I would call a 'pressure cooker' kind of character, where the lid is on, and it's left to simmer throughout the movie.

When I had kids, I became a better actor. I just stole from them.

It's not in the tradition: not even the schoolkids have hot lunches in Norway. They bring a couple of sandwiches from home.

I am not only lucky to be an actor, but I am lucky to be one of the most privileged actors in the world because I can do all kinds of films and genres and everything.

Some directors are interested in acting, and others are only interested in cranes and moving the camera.

Maybe there is something specifically Scandinavian that comes out of the long, dark winters - you have to learn to laugh at misery, in a way.

Everybody thinks I'm so serious and the dark side is very accessible to me, so of course it's a challenge to do something funny.

The ethical code of my upbringing was be good to people and try not to hurt them. You don't need a god to tell you that.

There's so many films made out of bad books, and I don't have time for those.

The first time I saw Istvan Szabo's 'Mephisto,' I came out and I was in shock. I was shaking.

My parents were rather unconventional and did not accept rules unless they thought they were defendable. They were atheists when Sweden was a very Christian country.

Some actors are what I call more like mirror actors, which means that they do a performance at home in front of the mirror, and then they go deliver it. I'm not that type.

For 'Avengers,' in the Albuquerque desert, we shot New York there. And I was standing on a platform, nine feet high... and it was the rooftop of a skyscraper in New York. And it was all desert around me!

I did a Norwegian film called 'Insomnia' that was remade and that was a good remake by a good director, so I'm honoured.

There will always be storytelling, whether it's on the big silver screen, or it's your television or your iPhone or whatever, people will keep on telling stories.

You always have to figure out what the director is good at before you work with them; then you can fill in if need be.

I am not a nationalist in any way, and I hate flag waving, and I don't think much good has come out of nationalism. I am proud of Scandinavia in the sense that we have actually managed to create a very tolerant and human society, which is very livable.

If you look at Kirsten Dunst's performance in 'Melancholia,' which I think is absolutely wonderful - it's not even in the text, because she doesn't say much; it's all in her eyes. She doesn't have to explain what she's feeling. You just feel it.

You have to make sure that you find projects that are not too similar and roles that are not too similar, so the challenges are new and you still learn things. I still think I can become a much better actor.

if a real God were actually so vain as to constantly demand worship, then he would not be worth it.

We don't live. We're miming in the choir.

Unfortunately, the way the world is constructed, a lot of people have no chance, from day one.

Theres nothing more reassuring than a world thats crazier than you are.

I started acting long before I decided to pursue it. I started acting as an amateur when I was a kid, but I wanted to become a diplomat. It was self-centered and weird, but I had this idea of going out in the world and solving conflicts and making the world a better place.