Stellan Skarsgard

“With Fincher, you can take chances and try things. And what happens is that any pretension and preparation you've done, all the square, intellectual work, you can't keep that up for 40 takes. It breaks down, and new things start popping up. This, for me, is the most exciting thing about film-making.”

“I played a heap of snow in a school play. I was under a sheet, and crawled out when spring came. I often say I'll never reach the same artistic level again.”

“I really enjoy being part of the Marvel Universe. It's a cool bunch of people to work with, and they know what they're doing.”

“I am indeed a fan of John le Carre's novels.”

“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.”

“Very often, it's the director that I'm attracted to. If it's a really good director, I don't even have to read the script to say yes.”

“I'm in Stockholm in my office. I just got here after seeing my eighth child on an ultrasound, so I'm in a good mood. It's beautiful: an energetic little skeleton.”

“I don't do sports, really.”

“There was a Russian director named Elem Klimov, who did his films during the communist days. They were constantly struggling with the authorities and to be allowed to express themselves. But he did one of the best war movies I've ever seen - it's called 'Come and See.'”

“In Europe, the director is the king: it's his vision. It's an auteur tradition.”

“You don't know why you fall in love.”

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

“My performance is totally dependent on what the other actors are doing.”

“It's good to pay high taxes - you have free schools, free universities. It's a much more decent society than those where everybody pays their own way, and some people don't get anything.”

“Acting is such a strange, vague profession, but my kids know it's hard labour.”

“I reflect over my actions; I don't dwell on them.”

“Kenneth Branagh is one of the funniest directors on the set. You laugh a lot. He's very skillful.”

“It's a disease we have that we think that everything is explainable. It's a merchandising idea because you can sell explanations and cures for everything, but it doesn't work like that. It's very hard to understand everything.”

“When we did 'Breaking the Waves,' he had a sign on the wall that said, 'Make mistakes.'”

“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.”