Alexander Skarsgård has endured a rough couple of months.
Back in December, he recalls, he was riding high with nominations from the British Independent Film Awards and Gotham Awards for his role in the gay BDSM drama “Pillion.” Plus, he thought he could successfully start a “smear campaign” against his famous father, Stellan Skarsgård, who has also been in the awards race for the familial drama “Sentimental Value.”
“I felt like I could take that motherfucker down… Life was fucking great,” Alexander said in a hilariously self-deprecating speech at Variety’s Cover Party at Sundance presented by United Airlines. “I was riding high.”
Then things took a turn. “I didn’t win a British Independent Film Awards. I didn’t win a Gotham. I wasn’t nominated for anything else. Dad was just nominated for an Oscar,” Alexander said from the stage, charming the crowd as he jokingly put himself down. “So my self esteem’s has been on the bottom. I started feeling like, what’s the point if you’re not going to be nominated and win awards?”
So Skarsgård’s trip to Park City has doubled as a much needed morale booster. The actor, who graced the latest cover of Variety, is attending Sundance with two films, A24’s music mockumentary “The Moment,” starring Charli xcx as a fictionalized version of herself, as well the unconventional romantic drama “Wicker,” in which he appears alongside Olivia Colman and Peter Dinklage.
“This is great for my ego. I may not be nominated, but I’m on the cover of a magazine,” he said. “Thank you to the editors. I look fucking fabulous. My inflated ego is back!”
Saturday night’s event doubled as a goodbye to Utah, where Sundance has been hosted for decades. The festival will depart for Boulder, Colo. in 2027.
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“This is one of our favorite events of the year,” said Variety’s co-president and co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh. “As you all know, it’s the end of an era at Sundance. It’s the festival’s last year in Park City. It’s been such a privilege to come here and discover the great filmmaking voices that are coming up in the industry.”
From Variety US