Quotes from Stellan Skarsgard

The distribution systems and the cinemas have adopted to the blockbusters, and they now get their main income from selling popcorn, and if you don't make a film that sells popcorn, it's very hard to get it out there.

My life reads more like Proust than a tabloid.

If I ever lose a job because I've talked about being an atheist, then I don't want that job.

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.

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

One of the beauties of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' is the very delicate and strange relationship between the two main characters.

How many big American films do you see where the heroine has no vanity whatsoever?

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.

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.

I only did 'Thor' because it was Kenneth Branagh directing, but I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.

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.

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.

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 think Dan Brown is a terribly bad writer, but he has cliff-hangers after every chapter which makes you continue reading.

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.

I don't know if I am a good cook, but I am a dedicated cook.

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.

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.

Shooting should not be about delivering something I've prepared; it should be a live process of finding things out. When things happen that you haven't planned, that's when the film comes alive.

I'm not lazy on set. I'm lazy in the rest of my life.

I've never thought of myself as a professional. I very rarely do something I don't enjoy.

Any society that starts forbidding certain words or expressions is a society you should be wary about, whether it's the KGB or social consensus that enforces it.

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.

It takes a long time to make me beautiful, but it goes fast to make me ugly.