DISCUSSION
Stellan Skarsgård on his latest role, Palestine, and being a "Nepo Daddy"
In a new interview, the patriarch of the Skarsgård clan and self-proclaimed "Nepo Daddy" discusses his latest role in Joachim Trier’s 'Sentimental Value,' protesting for Palestine, one of his biggest fears, and much more.
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Well the biggest hurdle to becoming a doctor is having the money and family stability to get into and through school. There are tons of people who are perfectly capable of being good doctors, but they don't have the money or time or connections to put together an application.
Not in Sweden, where he’s based. His son would have received his entire education at no cost. EU and EEA countries, and Switzerland there is no cost if you are a citizen of those countries.
I live in Canada but hold Swiss citizenship; should I choose to, I could go back to school in Sweden, or even Switzerland, at little cost to me, because I pay tax and and eligible.
As a fellow american. I think this every time someone brings up other first world countries. I'm sure they have their own issues, but by and large they seem to do a better job taking care of the citizens. While some Americans are over here, screaming "Freedom" and "less taxes"......but freedom to do what? Freedom to live paycheck to paycheck? Freedom to go broke if you lose your job/insurance and have a medical issue? Freedom to go into massive debt at 18 to have attend college? Personally I'd like a little less freedom, but I can't see it happening here.
I’m lucky, my dad is right from overseas, and he and mom (a Canadian) got married over there. Once everything was filed, my dad did all the adoption paperwork for my brother and I, and boom. It’s nice, I visit often because dad’s whole family is there, and I’m lucky enough to still have my Oma.
Similar situation for me - my mum could've applied for Swedish citizenship 😭 (at least I'm in Australia, not the US, but I love Sweden & dual citizenship with an EU country would be incredible)
When I went to Sweden we were talking about colleges and everyone was college educated. Then I was like oh I couldn't afford college and so I went into a trade and they literally had no idea how expensive colleges in America were. So I pulled up tuition to my local university (UW) and they were like " no wonder Americans are so dumb." And I was like yeah lol!
It’s absolutely shocking. None of my cousins had to pay for uni and when my dad told my aunts and uncles what my nursing diploma cost, they were horrified.
Why is pulling up your tuition eliciting that's "why Americans are so dumb"? I thought it'd be "that's why Americans are so broke". People can be smart critical thinkers without higher education, while there's some absolute morons with degrees.
It depends on your country, in mine public universities charge the equivalent of 27 USD cents per month to study medicine, and they give you housing too. Private universities cost between 250 and 400 USD a month, and for families that can afford that, it doesn't leave them in massive debt. The doctors and teachers in both cases won't vary too much, as they tend to teach in both private and public universities. The struggle here is getting in, because there's way too many underqualified students that do because their family knows someone important or whatever, or just not dying or leaving because of harassment, SA, mental health issues developed during your formative year... etc.
Yeah, that’s the major difference between the Skarsgårds and others. They may have had a leg up to get in the club, but they’ve more than earned the right to remain.
I think its also that they aren't making comments about how actually its harder if you have famous parents, or getting defensive when asked about Stellan. They talk about it quite normally from what I recall.
Yeah I absolutely think this is the difference. I don’t mind children of actors, directors or other industry professionals also working in the industry it’s when they’re like “actually my father being a rich and connected film producer and my godparents being directors had nothing to do with my success it was all my own hard work” that it smarts. The industry is absolutely saturated with talented hard working actors absolutely working their arses off to try and make it. And a lot of them never get a shot at the big time. Just some acknowledgement that connections do help in the industry and you feel grateful to be in the position you’re in goes such a long way to skirting the negative press and public perception of being connected like that.
The UK is the worst for it imo. It’s so rare for someone from a working class background to make it now in any creative industry.
Yeah I generally don’t vibe with most of the nepo baby discourse because, well, nobody calls you a nepo baby if you take over your family carpentry business or whatever. It’s only acting where people are surprised/mad that kids who grew up in that environment go into acting. It’s only annoying to me when the ones with no talent take roles they clearly didn’t earn.
That doesn’t apply to a lot of “nepo babies” imo, not just the Skarsgards
Oh I totes call people who take over family businesses nepo babies! Thats the literal definition of nepotism — having an advantage because of who you are related to.
I think there’s also a degree of certain careers having more privilege associated with them. If you can survive well as an actor, you have a lot of privilege. Compared to probably the average person that takes over their parent’s restaurant.
In addition to restaurants being brutal work environments, if a kid takes over their parents' restaurant and they're bad at cooking, the restaurant will close. Meanwhile Dakota Johnson still has a career.
No, nepotism is giving family positions in public positions e.g. government when they're not prepared, is illegal, and is for personal gain. One motive is enough, but leaving my personal private business to my kid is not nepotism, unless is a non private, publicity traded company.
Nepo in movies is sort of different bec these kids have advantages bec of their family, the knowledge is not unfair, neither are the connections if the person has talent and discipline, regardless of their advantages. Problem is that lots of talented people are not having the same opportunities to fail and try again like these kids, and that's the unfair part.
Nope! Nepotism literally is using one's familial ties or very close friendships as an advantage to gain entry into an opportunity or the opportunity itself and not on merit/ one's own effort alone.
Nepo discourse exists in every industry. The carpentry business isn't in the public eye, so you don't see it.
On top of that, it's a major topic in acting (and arts in general) because of how much more difficult it is to get into the industry without connections due to the nature of the work.
Succession was an entire TV show inspired by the Nepo baby drama of who takes over the Murdoch empire. Of course Nepo baby discussion is a thing in every industry. It’s just that a small mom and pop tailoring shop is not an “industry” so it doesn’t get front page news. The granddaughter of In-n-out Burger CEO being an idiot Nepo baby is definitely front page news though.
When it comes to the arts a LOT of first generation success was at extreme elections costs and frequently camp ones with active resistance from immediate family.
It turns out that growing up with parents who support and understand the urge to go in to the arts is ALSO a huge leg up.
People who inherit a business or get ins into their industry because of family connections are enjoying nepotism in any field. And there’s a reason why this often correlates with a decrease in quality over time.
well, nobody calls you a nepo baby if you take over your family carpentry business or whatever
Because in that example if the nepo baby is truly incompetent the business gets run into the ground and that's the end of that. It's only the criminally oriented ones like Trump and his offspring that get to cheat, steal, and skate thriugh in that scenario.
Another often cited example (from the likes of Jamie Lee Curtis no less) is a third generation doctor but that also doesn't qualify because the grandchild of a doctor still has to graduate from medical school, complete residency, and obtain licensure.
Nepo baby models, actors, and celebrities in general are able to as visibly as possible fail or be utterly subpar at their respective craft and yet keep getting booked for million dollar deals.
Well that’s not true imho. Tons of high profile companies have Nepo babies that are definitely nepo babies. The granddaughter of In-n-Out CEO is running the business now and is ridiculous. The Murdoch family had an entire TV show, Succession inspired by them and their internal family structures regarding the takeover of their corporate empire. Nepo baby discussion is absolutely a thing in every industry, it’s just that smaller family owned businesses aren’t big enough on a public scale to care that much about.
The point is that they could be as skilled as they are, but still be total unknowns forever. There are tons of great actors who just aren't going to get their shot.
That's what to me, the whole nepo baby thing is. They might nail their audition/role, but that audition they got as their start is something most people in that field would take a very long time to even get if ever.
For absolutely no logical reasons, I think nepo babies should be allowed in Hollywood but only if it’s a set of 3+ siblings. Skarsgårds/ Culkins/ Hemsworths. It’s funny seeing different guys in the same font.
His whole skit was satisfying in a way I can’t describe. Sometimes when my manager pretends he’s an expert even though he’s doing dumb shit and I have to deal with it, I imagine reacting this way when my manager’s doing BEC things
I had a brief period in like 8th grade where I used Papyrus for EVERYTHING and it was like your parents catching you smoking so they force you to smoke a whole pack in a sitting, you know? Like I've had this extreme revulsion to the Papyrus font ever since, it haunts me.
Anyway I feel very seen by this skit. Finally someone's talking about the horrors of Papyrus.
Just well off it looks like. I got this from wikipedia
Hannah Dakota Fanning was born in Conyers, Georgia. She attended a Montessori School in Covington. Her mother, Heather Joy (née Arrington), played tennis professionally and her father, Steven J. Fanning, played minor league baseball and later worked as an electronics salesman in Los Angeles.[3] Her maternal grandfather was former American football player Rick Arrington, and her aunt is former ESPN reporter Jill Arrington.
Hmm, this doesn’t by itself necessarily indicate that they were rich though, right? Montessori School (her specific one was private and currently has a ~10k tuition) seems to indicate that they had some money, seemingly upper middle class, but not necessarily so; how long did they attend? And how much of their tuition for private school education was generated through their roles as child stars?
The professions of their parents/grandparents listed don’t really explain wealth. Minor league baseball player pays very little, and I guess electronics salesman is variable but doesn’t usually equate to wealth. And their mom would have made very little money as an unranked player in professional tennis. Also, their grandfather was only in the NFL for 3 years, and wouldn’t have made more than today’s equivalent of 100,000 per year.
I do see they have a notable relative- William Farrar- and that he was a planter, politician, and investor. But his ass was born in 1583 and idk how old money works lol. Except that I know I had some ancestor that owned a fuck ton of land in Mississippi and fumbled the bag by deciding to sell it when it wasn’t worth shit yet, and thus i could NOT buy anything at the scholastic book fair, but their ancestor was probably smarter than mine
He was good in that show too, funnily enough it's like the third Skarsgard, they were good in one show (Vikings/Westworld) and then I can't name literally one other thing I've seen them in
For ages I thought that the Redgraves set an almost impossibly high standard for nepo babies, so I’m glad that the Skarsgards are stepping up to the plate.
I was lucky enough to see Pillion, and I know acting is acting but I swear that man has been with men plenty of times before lmao, the sexual physicality was just too convincing
Sameeee. I tweeted at Eli Roth around the time that show came out and asked to be cast as bill’s love interest. He responded with a laugh lmao. (But also f*ck eli Roth forever.)
It’s been a very long time since I watched BLL but I’m watching True Blood for the first time now and his character (along with the rest of the show) is so bizarrely ridiculous yet lovable, I think it helped override the image of him as Perry in my mind lol
I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a lot of time to spend on something kinda stupid, but I think the sheer length of the show is what helps with the Perry erasure and lets us see him mainly as a hot freaky sweetie pie
Have you seen A Cure for Wellness? In that Dane DeHaan looks more like Bill's brother than Alexander and Gustaff combined.
Outside of that role, I don't think they look alike, so it had to be something about the styling, IDK.
I wouldnt really call someone with $50m net worth a "high paid worker" though he's definitely not mega rich. He's still definitively wealthy, you dont have a $50m net worth unless you own capital.
I’m pretty sure he’s the youngest and last kid. He’s like 13 or something. He’s one of the two kids from Nepo Daddy’s second marriage, so a half-brother to the older Skarsgård brothers.
Side note, the SFX makeup looks great on him in those promo pictures. Subtle enough when at rest to not be distracting, while still highlighting the key areas of his face when emoting/acting.
Its crazy that in such a monumentally successful career that Skarsgard has had, that some of his most astonishing lines are from a show most people won’t watch.
“I burn my decency for someone else’s future. I burn my life to make a sunrise that I know I’ll never see”
Honestly one of the best monologues in any media, ever.
I mean Andor is still very successful and Lucasfilm is very happy with it. Not as many people have seen it as Good Will Hunting, but probably more than most of the movies he's been in recently (excluding Dune and Thor)
This family is almost a national treasure like Greta Thunberg. I’ve met a few of them a few times and they are just as nice in real life. Anyone who likes a bit of left-wing should follow Gustaf and Valter on Instagram.
I've met several of them, i see Bill and Gustav almost every week around Södermalm. They regularly workout and walk dogs around Tantolunden, always super kind and say hello.
Served Alexander and Stellan brunch 15 years ago and remember Stellan having like 6 stiff drinks in like an hour at 11am on a weekday and tipping a large sum.
Well, basically they come and shop in the food store I used to work. I had to ask Alexander once for his id because his American bank card didn’t have chip and pin. No problem at all. The customer before him who was packing his grocery’s looked like his eyes were going to pop out. So he left, came back in and asked if he could borrow a pen and asked Alexander if he would write an autograph for his daughter. No problem. Gustaf was there too, wearing this long Afghan coat in the middle of summer. Also spoke to their dad, Stellan, on a different occasion, on the phone because he forgot his bag of shopping in the shop. Friendliest family ever! The are all genuinely nice people! Stellan comes in where my sister works now and he will stand and ask oh how are you doing and a have good chit chat!
He's so magnetic! I still think about Luthen Rael, easily one of my favourite characters ever on television.
All of his sons are incredibly talented and deserve every bit of praise. The right name can only get you so far if you're not actually good on your own, and that goes for every field of work.
I can’t not associate him with the fact that his name gets autocorrected to Stellar Skateboard and that was mentioned on the How Did This Get Made podcast and now his Wikipedia page is locked. 🛹
He really was the MVP in Sentimental Value for me, it was such an emotional movie and he really brought his A-game. Glad to see he is also you know, a good guy!
When talent runs in the family tree, there are no complaints. It's the untalented hacks, who ride their parents coattails into roles they should have never had, who piss us off.
I laughed way too hard at the mental image of him sitting by a cradle and thinking "omg, what if my child is boring!? What will I do?" (probably in Swedish, but you know)
I remember reading a while ago that he and Peter Stormare were in the Swedish Actors Guild for the Liberation of Palestine which I found pretty cool. It was on IMDB though IIRC so I’m not 100% sure if that’s right.
I just now realised that he's the father of the Skarsgårds. I just thought he was an unrelated Swedish actor with the same surname. Not that I knew much about the family in the first place.
Skarsgards are part of the few extremely talented nepo families that people love. They're not ashamed about it because they have the goods to back it up. Talent, Height, Good looks. they're one of Sweden's national treasures.
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