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And that’s a contemporary theme too, isn’t it? Yes. It feels very important and very relevant today all over the world. We are so detached from that suffering and that pain. It’s so easy to say ‘well, we’re not going to help those people we see on a TV screen.’ Or it’s on social media and you can just scroll through it and you don’t have to deal with that. But it’s important to realise that these are human beings who are suffering. And in this case, it’s about forgiving yourself a little bit and also forgiving the other side for what happened and coming to terms with that.
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Jason Clarke plays Lewis Morgan, the British army officer who is married to Rachael, played by Keira Knightley. And Lewis is trying his best to be compassionate in the way that he treats the German people. How does Lubert react to Lewis? In terms of Lewis it’s very rich and interesting because Stefan doesn’t despise this man. He understands his predicament. He feels for him and he’s incredibly grateful for what he has done. You know, he lets Stefan stay in his house that’s unheard of, no one did that. But at the same time, he can see that Lewis’ relationship with Rachael isn’t working. He’s hardly ever there and when he is they are arguing so he sees this woman who is alone and dealing with her pain and suffering on her own and that’s the connection that they make, that they both carry this grief and suffering. But it’s a tough situation for Stefan because in a way he feels bad about it, falling in love with this woman and turning a new page, starting a new chapter in his life hopefully with Rachael, but he also feels that he doesn’t owe Lewis his happiness. In Stefan’s opinion Lewis and Rachael’s love is dead and she is finding love with someone else. And he believes that he can give Rachael a new life. And in a way, Rachael helps Stefan connect with his daughter. And that has been the most painful thing for him. Since the death of his wife all that he has left is his daughter and she resents him. She doesn’t want to talk to him and Rachael comes into the picture and it’s not like she is replacing her mother, but she lightens up in a way and it helps him connect with his daughter. And he is very optimistic for a second.
You obviously have a lot of scenes with Keira and Jason and it’s very intense. What’s that been like? It’s been wonderful. I think the three of us were so excited about that triangle, the fact that it’s so rich and deep and complex. It’s not that Lewis isn’t right for Rachael, you can understand both guys in this situation and you can feel their pain and feel their love and sympathise with them and you can understand the predicament that Rachael is in towards the end of the story. And both Keira and Jason are incredible actors and lovely human beings. I’d never worked with Keira or Jason before but a couple of friends of mine worked with Jason on a movie and spoke very highly of him and my Dad worked with Keira ten years ago on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, so I met her then and Dad had the best time working with her, he said she was so cool and so down- to-earth and easy going and fun and smart and obviously an incredible actress. So it’s been lovely, it really has.
You have to speak German in the film. Did you know the language? Not really. I knew a few words but I couldn’t speak German and I still can’t (laughs). I had to memorise the lines and the tricky thing is to get to a place where you feel comfortable saying the lines. Not only do you have to memorise them but also it’s a long
process from memorising the lines to actually being able to play the scenes. Because in the beginning when you memorise it you are still in your own head thinking about every single sound, every single syllable and how to pronounce it but you are completely disconnected from your co-stars because you are in your own head. So I had to do it over and over again to get it to a place where I could be somewhat present in the scene and talk to, in most cases, my daughter. But they’ve been great. The German actors have been very helpful and supportive on the day and I’ve worked with a dialect coach on set. She would come into my trailer and we would run the scenes over and over again. And I’m sure I’ll be doing a lot of ADR…
Ridley Scott’s production company, Scott Free, is a key part of the production and Ridley himself as a connection to the story. He actually spent time in immediate post war Hamburg when he was a young boy… Yes, Ridley told me that story. I think he was 11 he was here in Hamburg for a couple of years. And I met Ridley and the author of the book (Rhidian Brook) was here with his father and I wouldn’t say it was based on his story but it’s inspired by it. The love story is fictional and I don’t think Rhidian’s father lost a brother back in England but Rhidian’s father came here with his father, who was an officer, just after the war and was here for four years and let the German family who owned the house, stay in the house. it wasn’t a mansion like this but a smaller house and they even shared the kitchen. It was incredible to meet them. They were on set and it was really profound because you can only do so much research from books or watching documentaries. And when you meet someone who lived through that, someone who was actually here and experienced exactly that scenario we have in the script and in the book, it gives you so much. It was so lovely to hear his stories and what it was like and in a way he broke the ice because he said that he befriended one of the German kids. The family that they shared a house with had four kids and he befriended one of them who was his age quite early on, they played football together and that kind of broke the ice in the community in a way – this English boy and German boy playing together and they became good friends. It’s a beautiful story.
The production built the exterior Hamburg sets in Prague. What was it like to walk on to those very convincing sets that portray the devastation caused by the bombing? It hits you very hard especially when you have seen images of Hamburg at that time, of people buried in the rubble and then you come on to these incredible sets. It puts you right there and it hits you very, very hard.
Read the full interview with Alexander Skarsgård in the March Issue of Live 24-Seven Magazine
LIVE24-SEVEN.COM
CE L EBRI T Y INTERVI EW AL EXANDER S KARSGARD
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