Happy Sad Confused - Bill Skarsgard

Episode Date: September 17, 2019

Don't be frightened, Bill Skarsgard is anything but scary in this visit to "Happy Sad Confused". The young actor talks about growing up as part of Sweden's famous acting family, his career-changing role as Pennywise, and his new film, "Villains"! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Happy, sad, confused begins now. Today on Happy, Sad, Confused, on villains and playing a villain in It, Chapter 2. Hey, guys, I'm Josh Harrow. It's welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused, My Little Old podcast with big-time guests like Bill Scarsguard. Welcome to the show. Apologies, first off, if you're devoted to listener, maybe you've noticed, wait, where's the podcast been the last couple weeks? I pride myself on almost never taking a week off, but man, it's been busy. I was just in Toronto, Toronto Film Festival. My annual trek up north to see 20-ish films, I don't know, do a ton of interviews for MTV. So all that being said, apologies for being dark the last couple of weeks. The good news is, We're back in a big way with a great young actor, Bill Scarsgaard, currently appearing in two, kind of two films and a lot more really, really great guests I'm super excited for coming up

in the next little while. I don't think we'll be taking another week off for a long while. So first to catch up, Toronto Film Festival just wrapped up. I saw, like I said, probably 20-plus movies, some before the festival, some during the festival. Honestly, there was almost nothing I didn't like there. I saw a lot of like solid movies. I don't know if anything like jumped out as a movie that like I felt passionately in love with as like the film of the year for me. That being said, often those kind of films take a minute to digest for me and maybe coming around on the second viewing. Then I kind of realized how much I love it. I saw, I did see Parasite. Parasite's probably my favorite movie of the year thus far. That's Bong Joon Ho, who you may know as the

filmmaker of Snowpiercer and Okja. His new film is, I would say, actually a masterpiece. And it's one of those that the less you know going in, the better. I also saw Knives Out, which is a blast. Ryan Johnson's new ensemble, who've done it. I saw The Lighthouse, which is this atmospheric, crazy black and white film with Robert Pattinson and Wilm Defoe. I enjoy that. Jojo Rabbit is Tycho Waititi's latest bit of insanity, a satire set in World War II featuring some great performances, including some, Tica knows how to direct kids, I have to say, they're fantastic in it. Ford v. Ferrari, James Mangold, we love him around here, his new film star in Christian Bale and Matt Damon. Bale is very much likely back in the Oscar

hunt for this one. And Joker, which was the hot ticket at Toronto, I saw, I very much enjoyed. I mean, we're going to be talking about Joker the next few months. that's just the reality. It's gotten some divisive reviews. I am definitely in the pro camp. Joaquin Phoenix is remarkable in it. The production design, it's just, it's a, it's, it's certainly Todd Phillips most well-realized film in terms of from a filmmaking standpoint. It is certainly very much in the key of old-time Scorsese. It is it is a Joker film by way of taxi driver. There's no way around it. It is a dark, depressing, sad movie, a character study of a guy that is more Travis Bickle than comic book character. So I'm so, I guess, well, I was going to say, I'm so curious

about all the think pieces that are going to come, but I'm also already weary of them, to be honest. But yeah, that's our reality. We're going to be talking about Joker for a while, and I do think Joaquin at the very least is going to be in the awards. hunt and maybe the film itself. I don't know. I'll be curious to see how audiences receive it. As for the guest today, I do want to talk a little bit about Bill Scarsgaard. Bill Scarsguard, you know, of course, as Pennywise. He is this career-altering performance for him that he landed, I think when he was 25 or 26, and he has played Pennywise in the last two It films, It, and It Chapter 2, which is currently in theaters, making a gazillion dollars. Such a fascinating,

unique trajectory for a young actor. I was saying to him before when he was in here, you don't think of leading men type actors in their 20s getting their breakout roles and something like this. I joked that this is like Tom Cruise breaking out by playing Freddie Krueger. It just doesn't happen this way. So because of that, though, I'm also just endlessly fascinated by what Bill's career is going to be. He's like a tall, good-looking dude like his brother, Alexander Scarsgard, so he can play those kinds of roles, but now he's already shown that he can be this weird character-type actor with a performance like Pennywise. So for that reason alone, I'm thrilled that he was here, and we got a chance to chat. I first met Bill,

as I reminisced with him, in a random, like I was on the set of Allegiant, that kind of forgotten divergence sequel. He had a small part in that, and to see his trajectory since then, where he was just kind of starting to find his way just a few years back in Hollywood movies and to see where he's at now is really cool. He's really actually, the real reason he came in, as much as it is nice to talk about, is his new film Villains, which is out September 20th, which I very much enjoyed. It's gotten great reviews. It played at Southby, two enthusiastic responses. It's basically a four-character story. Kind of a thriller, kind of a black comedy. I was kind of say Alexander. Bill and Micah Monroe play robbers who kind of find themselves in over their

heads when they meet another couple who may be even more dangerous than they are, played by Jeffrey Donovan and Kira Sedgwick. A fun, weird little genre movie that deserves your love. Villains comes out this Friday. What else to mention? Oh, of course we were plagued. It was as if like the Stephen King gods, the horror gods, descended upon us during this conversation for some reason, some fire alarm went off and there's like a beeping in the background. Then it was driving me insane, but we trudged through because you never know how long those things are going to go. So I apologize. I'll try to edit around it, but I think it's going to be completely impossible. So if you hear a beeping in the background, suffer through it just like Bill and I did.

He's a professional. We're all professionals. Let's just, let's just get over it. The important thing is the conversation was great, and he was a delight. Of course, and I should mention, because I sometimes take for granted what people do or don't know. I mentioned that Bill is Alexander Scarsgaard's brother, former guest on the podcast. He's also the son of Stellan Scarsguard, one of, just one of the great character actors. You've seen him in a thousand things from Goodwill Hunting and Hunter of October.

He's just everything, Chernobyl recently. He's fantastic. So when we're talking about his dad, that's who we're talking about. Okay, that's the preamble. Let's get on to the big show. Remember to review, rate and subscribe to Happy Say I Confused, spread the good word. And I hope you guys enjoy this chat with Bill Scars. Should we have a chat?

Yeah. We're here. You've got coffee. You're waking up. Hopefully me too. I'm a little slow. Have you been? you haven't had a crazy press store

because it thankfully they kind of keep you behind the scenes yeah a little bit but it's been I've had nonstop two weeks yeah three premieres and and everything so

it's the plus this is the last last day last thing I do today oh nice okay so one last no not this is the first thing of the day but it's the last my brain is fucking toast the last thing I do

of the tour so I fly back tonight and today's the last last day excellent the finish line is inside. I'm a little fried myself. I was just in Toronto for the film festival. So I saw like 20 movies in like five days. So I'm like, you know, I feel like I do a bunch of podcasts there as well. Not podcasts, but yeah, I did on camera stuff for MTV. So yeah, I think the last time I saw you was probably at Comic Con where like we had that suite or like we bring people

in. Yeah, that's right. So it's the same kind of thing. That's my, um, my Toronto, which is basically like Waltwell interviews, but then I like jam in a movie or two at the beginning or the end of the day. So what did you see? So I saw like, I saw like. Let's see, I saw Knives Out, which is awesome. Oh, cool. Ryan Johnson. I saw Parasite, the new Bong Joon Ho movie. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's unbelievable. I've heard great stuff about it, yeah. What else, what else? Jojo Rabbit is crazy but good. Yeah. Yeah, there's a lot. Are you, is there anything particularly you're excited for this fall?

Are you like... I'm really curious about the Joker film, because I'm such a big Joaquin fan. I saw it. Oh, how would you think? No, I liked it. I did. That's how bright my brain is I can't even think I like the most anticipated film

Exactly I will have you know I asked everybody You know I had a stupid silly runner With every interview And I was like you know Clowns are in right now So who's better boyfriend material

Joker or Pennywise How do you think they answered Bill? I don't know You lost big time Yeah It's not you though It's Pennywise It is

I guess apparently Murdering children Is it turnoff for a boyfriend Yeah, yeah. You have a creepy stalker is probably better. Right, exactly. The lesser of two evils. This is history on the podcast.

We've had we've had father-daughter combos. We've had father-sons. This is the first brothers. You've completed the Alexander Bill duo. So thank you for coming on the show today. Oh, cool, man, yeah. You only have six more to go. I was going to say, how many more do I have?

Six brothers and then, or six other siblings, yeah. Well, I was all eight. Maybe for the next one, I'll just have all six in at the same time to kill a lot of birds with one stone. Eight. Jesus. Oh, my God. You're here for a couple of reasons. I mean, it obviously has already made a gazillion dollars, so that needs a little bit less love.

But you have this great new film called Villains as well, which I really enjoyed, man. Oh, thanks, man. So this one, there's something like it give you license to kind of like, go off and do, because this is not, I wouldn't say a hard sell, but it's like an odder kind of a film. Like it's a, um, thriller comedy, black comedy

kind of thing. Does kind of, did this come, I assume, after the first it or? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, and I want to say, I was shooting Castle Rock, a TV show for Hulu, which is also, you know, inspired by the Stephen King universe. And the character I was playing there was very dark and gloomy and not the

you know just tormented you know man thing so so you're like let me do something cheery like this

this is the version of cheery bill well I mean the script came along and the even though the topic if you describe the topic of this movie

it sounds like you know the darkest most horrific story ever but you know this couple getting trapped in a house been tormented

by the owners of it but but the script is obviously really funny and the character is very, like, lovable, and it's like this lovable, enthusiastic idiot. And I was like, oh, man, like, you know, this... That's kind of what I need right now.

Yeah, like, you know, like, I haven't done too much comedy, you know, and, like you said, it's hard to kind of define this genre or the genre of this film, but it is very much comedic, and the role is very much comedic. So, you know, and it's a great, it was a great script and great story, and it always read like a stage play a little bit, you know, it's kind of forehander, you know. It's basically, yeah, it's four actors and a great quartet of actors. Yeah.

You and Micah, of course, Jeffrey Donovan and Kira Sedgwick. Yeah. Yeah, does that kind of let you get into the nitty-gritty a little bit more where it's basically four people in a house essentially for 90% of the film? Yeah, I mean, casting was pretty much everything in it as well, you know. It was a big part of it is like if the four actors that you end up spending the whole time with watching the movie if that doesn't work

if the chemistry between the actors doesn't work you know the film wouldn't work so so we actually did have which is

you know fairly uncommon for for indie movies but we had like a full week of rehearsals before we started

shooting so like every day we would just sit and rehearse and talk about the script and talk about character details and you know

Jeff and Kara and obviously in our great seasonal actors and then Micah's well so we kind of um you know everybody came with their you know fun little quirky ideas for who to kind of flesh out these characters that they were already great on the page but there was so much that you could like yeah little details that you could add you know my character says about a bunch

tattoos and like what are they going to look like and designing those and you know the outfits are all like everything is kind of like over the top but i i think Jeff actually described it very well and when he said uh during the rehearsals and he was like i think that this movie should be uh north of reality and south of farce I think you hit it I think hit it then yeah he did

so which was like oh like that's exactly the tone of the movie you know it is over the top and and but there's also you know obviously kind of these

you know undertones of of real emotional moments and it's sure I also like that like I always admire look I mean like yourself

I've watched like 10,000 movies by now any movie that can surprise me a little bit where like if you know maybe the less said about the plot of the better, but like, suffice it to say, the movie starts and you're like,

oh, I'm, I'm watching, like, natural born killers or something. Yeah. And then all of a sudden you're like, wait, I'm, I'm in misery to go back to Stephen King. Exactly, exactly. Did that play on the page, too, where, like, when you're reading it, you're like, oh, shit, this is going. Yeah, absolutely. Because, you know, the thing about, like, you know, when you get a script sent to you,

um, you don't know really anything about it. So, so, um, and there's nothing like that. that first time experience, which is what, obviously, a lot of the moviegoers will experience the first time they see it. They don't know where the movie's going. And, you know, trailers are good, but they can kind of ruin films sometimes. And this is one of those movies, which I think plays absolutely the best. If you haven't, you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know, you haven't seen the trailer. Yes. Because it's exactly that. I mean, it starts off with, you know, this kind of, you know, these young lovers, a couple, me and Micah, and they're robbing

a gas station and you're like, oh, my God, like, you know, these kind of crazy over the top, you know, characters are like hitting the road. Yep. They're escaping something and they're going towards something else. So it's kind of, the movie starts sort of in the middle of A story, you know, and and then without spoiling it too much, they get, they get, you know, they hit a little speed bump along the way. I feel like the best example of that, this just came to me of like a film that like

way back went through me. the best possibility was from dust till dawn remember that one where similarly it's like a crime film at first and then that one

like the structure's a little different but like halfway through you're like oh wait I'm in like a crazy vampire horror yeah yeah no 100% 100% yeah did this was at South By

did you go to South By or were you I couldn't go because I was shooting I was shooting a film in Alabama at the time so so unfortunately I couldn't go

so actually we saw we had the screening of it a little fan screening of it yesterday at the Regal on Essex and it was the first time I saw the movie with an audience and it is a, the movie really plays best with an audience is one of those things you know, there's a lot of laughs and gasps

and everything and feeling the energy of the crowd is great. Yeah, I mean, I should say it's getting great reviews. I mean, if you follow things like Rotten Tomatoes, it's like 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. Oh, good, yeah, cool, that's cool, yeah, yeah. So wait, are you living in New York now? Because I remember way back when you, so I don't know, you probably don't remember this. The first time we met of all places,

was on the set of Allegiant in a weird van and you were telling me at the time you were like, I think I'm moving to New York and I'm moving with my brother. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So did you end up here or are you here or what happened? Well, no, you know, life took a turn. But at that time, this would have been 2050, 2015, I think.

Sounds about right, yeah, yeah. And, yeah, so, like, you know, I didn't know what I was doing after we finished Hamlock Grove that I shot for three seasons. yeah and the show was done so so i was like all right what are we doing and and me and my best friend land and um uh we're like all right let's he's from canada and you know we're like let's let's do new york let's see what what that's like so we did we did six months and

never came back what new york wasn't for you no man i'm kidding i i just absolutely love it it's just other things happened and and you know um which sort of now you know i have a family and i We live in Stockholm. So that kind of, you know, my, my, like, six months in New York kind of overlap with, you know, meeting my girlfriend. Oh, wow. So that was a pivotal time. Yeah. Yeah.

It was just kind of how, for me, at least, it seems like life goes when you try to plan something. The old genre in that. Yeah. Exactly, right. It's just, the more you plan, the less you know about what it's going to be like. Do you think Stockholm will always be either the primary home or half-fee or whatever? Or, yeah, half year maybe. Like, I don't know.

There's, um, there's, uh, Stockholm is, is really dark and depressing, uh, maybe not six months out of the year, but a, but a good solid three. Um, so, so, um, um, um, yeah, man, like, I think, you know, growing up there, the winters, um, not so much the weather, like the coldness. It's, it's not too, too, too, too, too much, uh, uh, worse than, than, then, then New York winter. But it's, uh, though, uh, though, there. the darkness just really gets to you.

Yeah. So, like, um, um, I, uh, the way I've sort of orchestrated my lives in the past, my life in the past couple of years have just been, um, um,

um, you know, I, December could be nice. It's like, light candles and, you know, it's Christmas time and the darkness kind of plays into all of that. And then as soon as January comes around and you're like, oh,

I don't want three more months of this. Yeah. So yeah, we'll figure, we're, we're figuring it all out. But, but for now, you know, um, um, You know, we have an apartment to Stockholm. Got it. You know, her family's there and my family there.

So, yeah. Nice. All right. So let's go back for a second if we could. So let's talk about Little Bill Scarsgaard. It was a long time since you were little, probably, before the growth spurt. By the way, or my, it was a late growth spurt. Was it really?

Yeah. I was like, I was like there's the, you know, the shortest guy of my group of friends when we were, like, 16. I was going to ask, are there any short gentleman in your family? are they all like six three and over basically on my dad's side yeah they're all tall my mom is is probably average height and but they're shorter and my uncle's is shorter so like my mom's brother and so um but uh yeah everyone on my dad's side and then everyone in my family obviously are tall like I'm like the shortest one the runt of the litter bill not really um we're about the same height But, like, yeah.

So was that a relief at 16 that you got the growth spurt? You're like, finally, here we go. Oh, yeah, man. Like, I don't know if, were you late bloomer? Well, I'm obviously 7.3 right now. Sure, but still, like, being a young, young man, you know, laid into puberty, that's a tough. Psychological cost. It's tough, man.

And, like, you know, like, your voice hasn't drawn to your trying. I was just going to say, I think your voice just cracked when you were talking about it. It's tough, dude. Yeah, come on, man. Leave me alone. I'll grow up, I want you. I'll be tall one day, you'll see. Yeah, so when I started growing, it couldn't have come, you know, sooner for me.

Okay, so when did you realize dad was something of a big deal growing up, especially back home? I mean, as actually, I guess when you were probably, I'm doing. the math when you're like eight or nine is when he starts to do the big u.s stuff like the big american films goodwill hunting etc yeah yeah yeah um yeah and you know it's like as a kid you you you don't care or know anything about your dad's sort of career or if it's like oh i guess my dad's career is taking off now i mean you just don't you're just reading the trades at eight you're like hey just signs of like for amistoc it's going to be great for us and i'll Spielberg cool um but um but yeah

Yeah, so you're probably right. I mean, I remember he shot Google Hunting in Toronto, and that's one of the movies I remember. We all went with him, you know, so we all stayed in Toronto for the entire shoot, and I would have been like six or something, and I think that's kind of where it started. And then for the next three or four years,

we would just go with him wherever he would shoot. which is amazing as a kid because my mom was helping us out tutoring us so she got like the download of what we were doing in school and so we would do that we would have like two or three hours of school every day and then just like

be able to do whatever we want and when we came back home to Stockholm we were always like way ahead of the other class members because like you know classmates because you just yeah just I guess you can

if you're really intensive fire your school day you can do it in two hours That's the lesson of this. Like, they'd just pad it out. It was basically daycare. That's the secret of great school. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But, but yeah, no, it was fun.

It was great. And then, you know, as we sort of got older and, you know, became teenagers, obviously we had to sort of stay around and stick around for school and school more serious. But, yeah, it was a couple years there. It was just great, you know, like going to see all these exotic places, like Toronto. Doesn't get more exotic than Toronto. No, but, you know, we lived in Mexico for a bit.

Amazing. Cambodia in 2002, which is like, you know, only backpackers at that point. It was like before tourism, I did Cambodia. So, yeah, just seeing all these places as a kid is so amazing. Like these different cultures. And also, like, Sweden is such a, you know, well-functioning and privileged, little, you know, country that they're being exposed to, to, you know, these sort of third world countries and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, what, and, and, what, and,

, what, and what, and the atmospheres of those actual sets? Does, does anyone stick out as an indelible memory where, like, because it seems to me, like, your dad clearly has loved what he's done and that he must have imparted that whether consciously or unconsciously onto you guys did any of seeing him in that element really make an impact on you as a kid you think do you think subconsciously it sort of ingrained itself in? Yeah I mean like I always just

I took an instant liking to film sets you know as a kid and it I think a lot of kids just intuitively understand what a film set is because it's, or it's, it's weird, it's play, it's play, it's play and pretend. And, you know, that's pretty much all a kid is doing with his friends. So, so being able to, you know, you were exposed to like all these grown people, grown-ups, dressing up and pretending to be other people and, you know, everything from like, you know, scenes where they would have guns and they were shooting.

And, you know, obviously that's cool for a kid. being around to like, you know, a shark biting his arm off in the deep blue sea. And, you know, and, and you get to see, oh, there's a big robotic shark. Like, how cool is that? You know, all these stuff and things. It's just really left an impression on me for sure. And who, and when you think back, what were your film tastes as a kid and how did they develop? Like, were you had a bunch of older siblings, did they influence your, you?

your love of certain kinds of films that you have um yeah and my dad did too man like i mean we would um like um he would we sometimes we would he would just we would watch movies together you know like a friday night and like me and my dad would just watch movies and we you know we watched like kurosawa and like you know um and he would like you know you would watch and it's subtitled you know and so so uh if i was like seven or eight you know i couldn't keep up with the with the subtitle so he would just pause and he would explain everything was happening you know yeah and and and uh uh it kind of made for an even you know uh better viewing experience yeah you've got like the director's comment you got the actors commentary on this class yeah no exactly here's what curse i was going for here

uh yeah and like you know seven samurai's was like one of those movies that like really like left a big impression on me i remember and um and then i was i was a huge james bond fan like as a kid growing up like watching like all the old you know sean connery ones and uh it's just uh Yeah, yeah, so, and like, you know, of course, like, the more, but, like, being exposed to it, my dad was, like, he didn't want us to watch, like, I wasn't allowed to watch, like, Power Rangers, because he thought it was this, like, glorifying violence. But whereas, like, seven, seven summer ice I could watch, which is, like, extremely violent, but it's, it's not, yeah, it's already, and it's not, it's not, it's portraying violence in a, it's, it's, it's not, it's portraying violence in a, in a more realistic manner and not, you know, pretending that you can kick someone in the face

200 times. So, so... I love it. So you're, like, watching, like, Lars Ventreer before you're watching Star Wars, basically. I'd imagine that you call Lars Venter Uncle Lars.

That's my image of the, of the Scarskard family. Uncle Lars. Yeah, you know, and then, you know, yeah, and tried to watch, like, a lot of the films that my dad was in as well.

My dad, so when his career took off in the 90s, you know, because he's a foreign actor with an accent, he played the bad guy in every role he did, and he got killed in every movie was in. So I don't know if that's therapeutic, but like, you know, by the time I was 10, I'd seen my dad die probably, you know, 10 different times in 10 different ways. Here he goes again. How are they going to do it this time? Yeah, yeah. And as a kid, you're always rooting for your dad as well. You're like, come on. Even if when he's a bad guy, you're like, come on.

I don't, oh, shit, he got killed in this one, too. That's, this, yeah, this is why you ended up as Pennywise. You needed retribution. Yeah, exactly. This is for dad. Yeah, it doesn't go too well for him either, though. No, that's true. In the end, spoiler.

So when do you get serious about acting? I mean, the filmography kind of picks up around when you're 17 and 18, it seems like, is that sort of one you kind of decided, I'm going to really make a go of this? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was probably around the time where I started identifying as like a professional actor, which was because it was my profession. I started working at it and I started making a living out of it. But yeah, there's these two movies I did sort of back to back.

when I was, you know, 1819, one was called Behind Blue Skies and the other one was called a simple assignment. And I remember, you know, the Behind Blue Skies was the first kind of a real lead I did and like an amazing sort of coming-of-age story. And I had to audition for it like, you know, eight times. And I don't know why Hannah's the director. was not convinced, but he came to a premiere of this kind of comedy that I'd done where I was playing a supporting part, and I remember, like, you know, gathering the courage

with, you know, two beers after the after party, and sort of charging the director and being like, Hannes, listen, I've auditioned five times for this thing already, and like, nobody can do this role better than I can. Like, I speak, this character speaks to me, I understand this guy. da-da-da-da. And I really went into this preacher mode. And then, you know, on the sixth audition, the following week, he was like, remember what you told me at the premiere? I was like, yeah. He said, well, anyways, you were saying, you were saying some good stuff there. Because, like, I think for, you know, for a lot of directors, like, you know, when you, when you, you know, try to find sort of at the time this kind of undiscovered, you know, a performer for the role. And it's also like, oh, he comes. from his family but can he actually do it and you know this kind of thing um but to to hear someone like i was uh i was i got so passionate about the project and and and the role um and seeing you know

for for a director to kind of i guess hear that um made an impression on him and then you know eventually finally he decided that that i was good enough to do the role but but and then the whole that whole experience was just uh uh so amazing for me it really was and it changed yeah it changed everything. It changed like, you know, my approach to acting in a lot of ways. And it also, you know, really that made me dedicate myself to, to want to do this for a living. And then the movie I did right back, like the back-to-back ones, the one I did, right after that one was a simple assignment where, which is this like romantic comedy, where I play a character with Asperger's Syndrome. And, you know, so that was like, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,

went really went with the character and you know it's uh uh you know this kind of quirky movie that we did with you know half a budget and and uh i think like the average age on the on the film crew is like uh 27 or something and that's like including everyone in the movie like the actors as well as the crew members so it was just like basically all these kids you know figuring out as you go yeah and and you know and and and and and and and and i'm really proud of that film too and and everyone that you know were were that made made that film but um yeah so so those things those those two roles back to back really um really made me like completely fall in love with with with with with filmmaking and and and acting and then it's off to the races and then i guess

you get the closest thing to kind of a steady gig which is you do hemlock for a few years hemlock Grove, which it was a Netflix series before. It was cool to be a Netflix series. Yeah, we were number two. I think we went into production a month after House of Cars. Right. So, so, yeah, it was actually kind of funny because, you know, I, you know, I booked that thing and, and Netflix at the time was not in Sweden. Um, so I came home and, you know, my friend's like, oh, yeah, you know, you booked something. Yeah, I booked this, you know, this TV show and, oh, where's, where's it? It was on Netflix. And I'm like, what's Netflix? Well, you know, it's kind of like Spotify, but for film.

Oh, so it's a web series. Yeah, well. Just trust me, in five years it will rule the planet. Exactly. Just go with it. So where are you at then? Give me a sense, a snapshot of where you were when it came around. Like, were you happy with the career?

Were you sort of, like, what kind of roles were you going up for? What were you after? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, so, yeah, I did Hemlock for, for three years and a lot of kind of problematic things went into that production but it was for me it was

just an amazing experience and just a schooling and acting and acting in English and acting playing an American character and all these different things and we finished that and I did yeah I did the divergent thing I did a little role in that and so I was like yeah and I was

like okay what where you know where is my career going and you know what's the next thing and I always try to be as picky as I can you know and I want at least you know something about the project that that really inspires me for wanting to make it and and then you know the the the audition for Pennywise was sort of floating around in LA right um and um uh seems like i mean like half the city audition for it i think well i was gonna say that's the fascinating thing about it for many reasons is like it it was like they were they're looking at women they're looking at different ages different body types yeah yeah like like like what they what kind of a thing they were looking for or was kind of like just what's your

interpretation of what you'll what your yeah exactly not at all and it yeah they were they were auditioning. There was no type, really. Like anyone, you know, like, there's no rule for what Pennywise is or looks like. So, yeah, there's women auditioning for it and, you know, middle-aged men and, you know, 26-year-old. So I didn't know, but I just got the scene and weirdly enough, actually, I mean, looking back at it, it was the storm drain scene.

So, yeah. Um, so, um, um, um, um, um, which is obviously an iconic scene already that you know from the book and you know from the TV show. So, um, so I was like, oh, cool. I can, I can get to do something with that scene. And, and, um, um, I just remember really enjoying, um, uh, uh, the process of figuring out what this character is. And for me, for the audition itself, I was just like, oh, I can do whatever I want, you know, right. what's the voice like or what's the face what's the smile how creepy is he and like how good is he of you know trying to lure the kid in and you know when does he when does he turn really bad in the scene i mean there's a lot of moments in the scene where it's like okay you know because part of it is also he's kind of almost you know he's loring him in and all that stuff as well um but i had absolutely no expectations that i would book it you know um and um and at the time like i was i was

fairly unestablished. So just had really fun with the audition, went in there, did something you know, fun that I thought was, uh, uh, was, was, was cool and, and, and, and then left it at there and being like, all right, you know, we'll see, we'll see where it goes, but, you know, probably not going to, you know, hear back from them and then, and then sure enough, you know, five auditions later, I booked it. I'm noticing a theme here in your career. Yeah, exactly. I've heard you talk about how, like, it was a process, even in the production. Like, you felt like you kind of, you did that storm drain scene, the last scene on the first scene, the first film, and how even finding the voice took a while even during production.

Yeah. So, like, what, I'm just curious, when you were in the audition, like, what was your voice? Like, what was the runner-up voice that you were still working on to Pennywise? Yeah, I think the voice was more. like more human if that makes sense initially like it was more like a more huge like a human sort of approach to it so it was more of a of a guy yeah and less of this kind of demon thing or you know uh so um um um yeah and then you know because the first time i i read for it you know you're just you and so you there's no makeup there's no nothing and right um so i i i want to remember

the voice being more oh my god what's that it's just a normal fire alarm in the middle of a podcast totally typical it's kind of wise lies we're going to power through this together um but um but yeah so like i mean i like i have uh i have uh i have uh i have i have I have voice recordings and, you know, I film myself and I have all that stuff left still. So maybe at some point it will get released and you'll see, you know, the old, yeah, the old takes and kind of the 10 different steps of ending up with what the character ended up becoming. But yeah, so when we, you know, once I booked the role, Andy and I sort of sat down. in Toronto, and we just, like, explored everything, really, you know. I had an idea of this, like, really, like, really kind of high-pitchy thing that we were

exploring, and then we explored sort of, like, more, like, baritone, you know, gravelly thing. And I think what ended up becoming the voice is a blend of those two. so like you can like you know the character does go like this kind of thing and then sometimes it's dialed down here so right we you know and those those fun playing around with those different ranges and how many voicemails exist of you doing your Pennywise voice for friends family yourself I don't think I left a lot of

um voice mails but I remember I spent so much time in the whole get-up, you know, the makeup and everything. And the first, you know, five or ten times I had that thing on, I was like very, very serious. And, you know, in my trailer, filming myself, doing different scenes and then trying to figure out what the makeup looked like

and how it translated. And, but the more I worked and the more, you know, comfortable I got in it, and the more bored I got from just sitting around for hours and hours on set, waiting around as you do. I would just, you know, I would face-time everybody that I could think of. And they'd just get, you know, people from, like, my friends from back home or family in Stockholm would just go like, oh, Bill's calling me from Toronto.

And then they, you know, answer, and Pennywise is there. Anything to amuse yourself, basically, at a certain point. Yeah, and I also just say, I made these little, just videos of myself. as Pennywise or in the Pennywise get up but just like there's this one scene in the in the first movie where I have this wig on like long hair and it's the scene from the projector where like yes the hair is covering yeah the mother's face and then the it's and then it starts revealing and it Pennywise is there so what we had on there was like actually like the hair was down to my to my to my like shoulders yeah long long wig for that specific scene but

But I was walking around with Pennywise with like hair down to his, to his, to his, to his, to his chest. And that was his hippie phase. It was his hippie phase. So I was like, and I was like, oh, like I just thought it was so funny because I was like, hey, man, what's going on, dude? Like he's like this guy, like the surfer man. Like, what far out? What's going on? So like this is like this like bohemian, you know, like Venice skater guy.

Penny, Pennywise at Ridgemont High basically. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, I would just feel myself doing that and send it to friends. and stuff like that. So, like, as you do, when, you know, you have, you know, too much time on your hands on a film set. Apparently, the word on the street is that your brother is now getting on the Stephen King villain game. Did he give you the heads up that he's going to do Randall Flagg? Is that official?

That's the news. Okay. Well, oh, good. Yeah, no, that's true. Yeah. He's entering, you know, the second most iconic villain, maybe, after Pennywise. so he'll get silver that's amazing

no but yeah it's great I mean I think Randall Flag is is truly the the second most iconic Stephen King villain

so I think it's a really cool casting choice and and I think Alex can do something really fun with that role so yeah and I met Stephen King for the first his time the other day I was doing Good Morning America and he was on there to promote his new book. Yeah. So he's in the next, in the green room next to me. And I was like, oh, my God, like,

Stephen came. Like, yes, Stephen's here. And, you know, he wants to meet you. And I was like, okay, cool. Like, hi, Stephen. And he goes, and he goes, and he goes, thank you for putting my grandchildren through college. And I was like, well, thank you for putting my grandchildren through college. Right back at you, buddy. that's amazing um yeah and and you know and you know i was like oh so i hear my like my brother alex is is is uh you know doing randall and and and stephen was like yeah we're so excited to have him on board so that's awesome it's really cool and i i really can't wait to see what what they do with it um the one thing that you know i know you've talked about that's

like fascinating to me is you know as we said this isn't like the normal path for someone your age like for the big break role you know no no you know top Tom Cruise didn't do Freddie Krueger to explode onto the big screen. Yeah, exactly. But it opens up such a world of opportunity for you, I think, right? Like, you can, you've now kind of, like, thrown out the gauntlet to show, like, I can transform, I can be what you need me to be. Does that feel freeing right now?

And is that reflective in the kinds of roles that you're going up for, that you're seeing more than the kind of, because, you know, frankly, for some in their late 20s, a lot of the roles are kind of boring. They're kind of just, like, straight arrow heroes. Yeah, yeah, no, and you're absolutely right. And I do think that as, as like a male actor, you tend to have, like, there's a lot of great roles in your late teens and into your sort of mid-20s where you play these sort of coming-of-age stories. He's like, you know, young guys, and there's like that, it's that genre of, like, coming-of-age story. And then it seems like it's like from, you know, 25 until 35.

It's like, oh, he's kind of just like a grown kid now. It's like, where do you fall into this, you know, story of like, you're not quite yet this sort of leading man man that, you know, that they want and you're too old to be, you know, the kind of coming of age teenager. So, so, so, yeah, like the fact that, you know, when I was 26, I booked this, you know, evil monster, you know, a million-year-old trans-dimensional creature, was like, okay.

And I was like, well, at least I hope I'm not typecast as this guy for the rest of my life. I don't think you have to worry about that, yeah. But, but, but, yeah, it's, it's a, it's a very bizarre career path, I think. And it, you know, not in a million years, if you asked me in the, as you were saying, saying the first time we met on the set of that virgin like like yeah where's like you know

where's you where are you going to be in five years and you know same goes for like you know again just like the more you try to plan and figure out what your life actually looks like the the the wrong you seem to be or and and and so on so

um yeah it's been great and you know again like villains who premiered September 20th um is a character that's pretty much as far away from Pennywise as you can go and

and and yeah like I hope that that people are you know capable of of differentiating you know the clown from from the man well they will because you're not

recognizable that's the key like I mean I'm sure you've been around like people having conversations about Pennywise or it without them even realizing it's you um maybe not really but but but yeah for sure like there's um there's um i think if you if you don't look like look up who what i actually look like and you watch just watched the movie yeah i i hope that that you wouldn't spot the killer clown of you know in me walking down the street um but so yeah

and it's bizarre one of the you know bizarre career path and and having this a sort of of the vehicle that launches you. I certainly could never have predicted, and here we are. So, you know, I hope that, you know, now I can just try to do more mundane roles for a little bit. Maybe a rom-com, maybe something more relatable. But, but, yeah, you know, but I guess, like, the more I try to plan or foresee what it's going to be like, the more wrong I seem to be. In a good way.

Well, if the last five years are any indication, then the next five years are going to be totally unpredictable. And that's the best way to be for an actor or maybe for anybody. Thank you for stopping by today, despite the fire alarms. Hopefully the building's not burning around us when we exit this office. Right, yeah. Yeah, no, hopefully we'll survive. But congratulations on both it, but also, of course, villains, as you said,

it's out September 20th, a great piece of work for, very high quality actors just clearly enjoying themselves in kind of like a weird genre mashup so people should support it because it's got your money already. Let's support Bill's other Passion Project villains right? Yeah, no, I absolutely think so

and it's, you know, it's one of those films or again, you know, Bobby and Dan, the filmmakers you know, they wrote it, it's a, it's a story made, you know, with so much love, with very little money. and unfortunately, like, these types of films tend to just get swamped by the likes of it, you know,

these like big blockbuster and popcorn movies that, you know, whenever you can sort of support the indies out there and their, you know, theatrical releases is a good thing. And it's a fun movie to see in the theaters, you know. Totally, I'm sure. It's the less you know about it, the better, but I think you'll, you know, enjoy the ride. Totally. We've given them just enough of a teaser. Yeah, exactly. Thanks for stopping. Thank you so much for having me all.

See you. And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressure to do this by Josh. American history is full of infamous tales that continue to captivate audiences, decades or even hundreds of years after they happened.

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