Alexander Skarsgård

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#14,656
Santress said:
^Thanks, Buckeye!
From The Library: Throwback Tuesday photos - oldies but goodies of younger Alex! Sources:
1. Shared today (March 14, 2017) by Studio Aanensen (Terje Aanensen) on instagram:

17267487_763481353804867_6442168743173816320_n.jpg


“’Pictures out from the vault’ Alexander Skardsgård •Photo by Louise wiker •Styling by Studio Aanensen/ -Helmot Lang/ Gucci •Hair cut and colour by Terje.”

-studioaanensen instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRnVLB0lXDM/?taken-by=studioaanensen

2. Shared by Studio Aanensen on Facebook on July 11, 2013:

1004429_1375585579322251_912009070_n.jpg


“Alexander Skarsgård is my hair model around 2000 in Stockholm .This is before going to The Loreal studio for hairdressers. His hair is razer cut and made slightly blonder. He is as nice to look at as to be around.....)).”

-Studioterje.Aanensen Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...650363.-2207520000.1489487275.&type=3&theater
Click to expand...

He looks so freaking young (he was, but still)!

audiogirl said:
Eligibility ends May 31. Nomination voting runs June 12 through June 26. Award voting runs August 14 through August 28. That's fairly advantageous timing for BLL, since people tend to have short memories.
Click to expand...

I'm presuming HBO will submit (and advertise) BLL for best limited series, as well as the three female leads, Kelley and Vallee. Let's hope they note Alex's reviews and submit him for best supporting actor.

ETA:
If you're interested in the BLL house porn:
Celeste and Perry Wright’s House (Nicole Kidman and Alexander Skarsgård)
Location: Monterey Peninsula
Cost: $6 million
“Celeste’s house is the most magical of all of them,” Alpert said. But originally, the Wrights weren’t going to live there — Alpert and his team had selected another house that fell through and sent them scrambling. “The first time I walked through it, I had one of those epiphany moments,” Albert said. “I was so taken by the view. It turned out to be a much better place for that family.”
Located on the Monterey Peninsula, the house is a rental property worth $6 million. Director Jean-Marc Vallée took advantage of the house’s proximity to the rugged coastline and filmed many scenes outside. “The furnishings weren’t that interesting and the walls were all white,” Alpert said, “so our production designer John Paino introduced the very light blue color and the house just warmed up so much.”
Celeste’s expansive bedroom, bathroom, and closet are not part of the house — they were built on a stage. “As wonderful as the ground floor of the house was, the second floor didn’t offer what Jean-Marc wanted,” Alpert said. “When you see Nicole in bed, you want her to have the view of the ocean so that was all built onstage, and a green screen was used. I think we really elevated the house in terms of that.”

http://www.vulture.com/2017/03/big-little-lies-houses-cost-location.html
 
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#14,658
Santress said:
^Thanks, Buckeye!

From The Library:

Throwback Tuesday photos - oldies but goodies of younger Alex!

Sources:

1. Shared today (March 14, 2017) by Studio Aanensen (Terje Aanensen) on instagram:

17267487_763481353804867_6442168743173816320_n.jpg


“’Pictures out from the vault’ Alexander Skardsgård •Photo by Louise wiker •Styling by Studio Aanensen/ -Helmot Lang/ Gucci •Hair cut and colour by Terje.”

-studioaanensen instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/BRnVLB0lXDM/?taken-by=studioaanensen

2. Shared by Studio Aanensen on Facebook on July 11, 2013:

1004429_1375585579322251_912009070_n.jpg


“Alexander Skarsgård is my hair model around 2000 in Stockholm .This is before going to The Loreal studio for hairdressers. His hair is razer cut and made slightly blonder. He is as nice to look at as to be around.....)).”

-Studioterje.Aanensen Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...650363.-2207520000.1489487275.&type=3&theater
Click to expand...

Mah lord. I see where the drag queen work came in later. That is some special makeup!
 
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#14,662
scaredsquirrel said:
In all honesty, to reflect the earlier comments, for me - this is the most physically handsome Scars has been in a role. He is...super pretty. Profile, straight on, blah. Beauteaous. Fab. I think they hav figured out how his pretty can be....deadly. Just saying.
Click to expand...

He's ridiculously good looking in this. But there's also so much menace there as Perry, it's hard to look at him in character and not get tense.

tumblr_omtqzmOuh71ubdydko1_500.jpg

from alexanderskarsgardonline

Here's another recap:
One of the most powerful tools in an abuser’s arsenal is control. They can isolate until you truly believe there is no one else to turn to, no life of your own, no room to breathe under their firm grasp. I thought of this watching Celeste try and fail to maneuver around Perry’s anger. He focuses with such laser precision on his target that he charges the air in every scene. “If you go to pieces again whose going to put you back together?” Perry asks. He’s using her past anxiety against her. Any fault or misstep becomes a hammer he can use to chisel Celeste into the sculpture of the docile mother and wife he requires she aspires to be.
Celeste isn’t satisfied with merely orbiting Perry and their children. Six years of servicing everyone’s needs but her own has her feeling empty. But Perry makes it difficult to leave. Every violent outburst is soon followed by riveting sex and some gesture of kindness. It’s enough for Celeste to believe that maybe he can change. But it’s really just another turn in the cycle of abuse Perry has had her spinning in for so long. Big Little Lies is smart to hold such focus on Celeste’s life. It’s her story that perfectly contrasts the enviable beauty of his upperclass world of characters and the horror lurking beneath the lacquered surfaces of their beautiful lives. She’s the best example of how women buck against the narrow boxes of identity afforded to them by children, partners, and society at large...
-Perry trying to get back on Celeste’s good side by talking about having another daughter as some foreplay was weird. “Let’s have that little girl tonight,” he said. No, thank you.
http://www.refinery29.com/2017/03/140949/big-little-lies-recap-episode-4
 
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#14,663
He is so so good in BLL. He is going toe to toe with Nichole and I think this may be one of her best performances as well. Their relationship is by far the most compelling. His attention to detail and nuance is once again bringing an amazing amount of depth to Perry. The look he gave when he saw her "power suit" hanging in the closet and then turned around with his belt in his hand, I was on the edge of my seat thinking he was going to hit her with it. Then he just wraps it up and puts it away and goes all sexy again. The tension is insane. His interaction with the twins was incredible as well. He deserves all the notice and recognition he's getting.
 
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#14,666
Then — as he’s done in every episode so far — Vallée elevates Kelley’s scattershot writing for Perry and Celeste through careful staging and strategic cuts. As soon as Perry grabs Celeste by the neck in “Once Bitten,” Vallée cuts to them frantically ****ing (despite Celeste telling her therapist it’s “lovemaking,” there really is no other word for it).

And when we see Perry throwing a tantrum at Celeste in flashbacks, we only get glimpses, but every single one is staged to show us exactly how strong he is, exactly how scared she is, exactly how much — or little — it turns her on. With Kidman and Skarsgård willing and able to dive into the twisted depths of this relationship, Vallée can fine-tune exactly how he films it to achieve a more devastating, human effect.
Speaking about the greatness of Big Little Lies’ cast is the most obvious comment to make about the show at this point, but that doesn’t make it any less true — especially as the show sprints toward the impending reveal of Who Killed [Insert Whoever Died Here]. Witherspoon is — as she always is at her best — a tensed-up ball of crackling fire, while Woodley has shifted into a whole new acting gear now that Jane’s pain and fury are starting to seep through the cracks.

But Kidman is tasked with portraying a woman who wants anything but to reveal what she’s truly feeling, even in therapy, where she’s supposed to be able to do exactly that. That she manages to wear about 12 emotions on her face at once, ranging from sadness to terror to steely anger, is a true feat.

Opposite Weigert in the therapy scenes — some of Kelley’s best work on the show, probably because he writes them like he writes courtroom or investigation scenes — Kidman is a quiet, constantly vibrating force. When Celeste goes to therapy in “Once Bitten,” she defends her relationship, reveals that she and Perry were “bound” together after she had four miscarriages, and finally ends up admitting that she has feared for her own life in her own house. Her eyes leak tears, as if her body’s too tired to fend them off forever. Every downward glance, every tiny head shake, every sudden narrowing of her eyes says more than Celeste probably ever will out loud.

Big Little Lies has so much going for it. But no matter how it ends and who ends up dying, Kidman’s Celeste will always be the fragile, bruised heart of the show — the one that reminds you it isn’t about sunsets or spotless kitchens, but pain.
http://www.vox.com/culture/2017/3/1...ies-episode-5-recap-once-bitten-nicole-kidman

And her pain, while severe, is nothing compared to what Celeste experiences this episode.

Her arc starts with some high-intensity sex on the kitchen counter. Perry rips at her clothing, throws her on the counter top, but nothing about it is sexy, especially since you can still see her bruises from their previous encounters. She’s even given a nice reprieve at the breakfast table, where she can count on Perry to keep her children in line, to roughhouse with them and to play the role of engaged father. I don’t know about you all, but I now find Skarsgard’s “monster” routine with the boys completely repulsive. I know that’s the point, but it’s still hard to watch.

And then, as we all know, the moment of bliss is upended when Perry comes home, finds toys all around the house, and starts raging again. Thankfully director Jean-Marc Vallée doesn’t show us the scene as it’s happening but flashes to it throughout the episode, most profoundly when Celeste goes to visit her therapist on her own.

After carefully concealing her newest injuries, she walks into the office, looking innocently for some strategies to deal with the violence.

But we all know that’s not really why she’s there, and that’s when things get real.

The probing questions the therapist asks juxtaposed with Celeste’s horrible memories of his latest attack is a profound distillation of abuse — the scene plays out in a way that shows both the crime and the rationalization. We watch as it’s all peeled away.
http://ew.com/recap/big-little-lies-episode-5/2/
 
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#14,667
But the episode belongs to Celeste. It’s hard to overstate just how magically Nicole Kidman owns this role. How easily she projects the tiniest shifts in Celeste’s psyche as she combats internal contradictions about what she calls her and Perry’s “volatile” relationship. A tug at the sleeve of a sweater distills a whole host of emotions. Even in absolute stillness her face spins through a rolodex of emotion. With this opportunity to spread the development of a character over a seven-hour spread, Kidman is making the case for even more A-list actresses to abandon the big screen for the small.

When Perry ambles up to their front door like a Ralph Lauren ad come to life, you, like me and Celeste, might have fallen for his smooth swagger all over again, despite knowing that he’s a sick, sick man. The gloss of money and charm coats every move he makes — until he strikes, in this instance not just pummeling Celeste, but dumping a bucket of toys over her head to humiliate her. Even their non-rage induced sex begins and ends with his hand around her neck. But through it all, Perry’s smart suits, his Brylcreemed hair, and his glowing white teeth all remind us that looks and money are a straight ticket to getting away with hideous, gut-twisting behavior.

Celeste’s solo visit to the couples therapist she and Perry visited previously is one of the series’ best extended scenes. Like HBO’s In Treatment, in which each episode followed the therapy session of an individual, the scene goes on so long it’s practically in real time. At first, this time it appears Celeste attended alone to receive affirmation from the therapist that her and Perry’s mere attendance at therapy is sign enough of hope for their marriage. But the scene evolves as each woman’s agenda becomes clear. The therapist wants to bring Celeste to a moment of honesty about the violent nature of her marriage. Celeste wants to offer just enough information to encourage sympathetic help from the therapist. She doesn’t realize that, like with addiction, admitting the full extent of the problem is the only type of first step that counts.

The exchange offers one of the most complete explanations of what it means to be in a relationship I’ve ever seen on TV. The way a bond can be forged with poisonous and enriching strands so tightly intertwined that a couple can’t even tell them apart.
http://www.vulture.com/2017/03/big-little-lies-recap-episode-5-once-bitten.html

The houses are spectacular, the people are gorgeous, and the views are splendid. But when it comes to the show’s therapy scenes, Big Little Lies couldn’t be any more discomforting. Born from the imagination of series creator David E. Kelley — and not the Liane Moriarty book he adapted for HBO — the marriage counseling sessions between Dr. Amanda Reisman (Robin Weigert), Celeste (Nicole Kidman), and Perry Wright (Alexander Skarsgård) are so realistic they’re draining. In last night’s pivotal episode, Dr. Reisman gets Celeste to admit she’s afraid she might die because of her husband’s violent abuse. Vulture spoke to Weigert about what it was like to film those intimate scenes, Jean-Marc Vallée’s unique directorial style, and working with Kidman and Skarsgård...
Let’s talk about the scenes more specifically. The first time we see Dr. Reisman is in the third episode, when Celeste and Perry go to therapy together. Celeste tries to protect him, but he ends up confessing to the violence in the relationship, which was surprising.
Yes, I thought so too. Alex [Skarsgård] is really, really great there.

What was filming that scene like? You want to think he’s a jerk, but then you kind of feel for him. You realize he’s tortured.
It was very moving, but I have to say often villains are tortured. I can think of a few that we know about right now who are probably pretty tortured also. But I’m not going to get into that! [Laughs.]

Funny! But you know what I mean. Are you saying he played us?
He is an incredibly convincing actor, and I mean Perry. Also Alex, but I am talking about Perry. His sociopathy is partly evident in how well he can perform the role he knows she wants him to play. There’s something about the way he bestows these lavish gifts of flowers and necklaces and stuff and adorns her bruised body with these trinkets. What woman wouldn’t want to hear every single one of the things that he’s able to say, especially one who feels like, “Oh gosh, I have this younger man who adores the ground I walk on and, actually, the root of all of this is that he’s afraid of losing me?” He’s giving her exactly what she would most want to hear. While Dr. Reisman is moved by that to a degree, I think she’s also canny enough to perceive that there might be something manipulative in it.

How long did it take to shoot that scene?
We did all the therapy scenes in two days. They were scheduled to go on much longer, but that’s the way we were working. We were working in a highly intuitive, highly efficient way. We did everything in order. Nothing was out of sequence, which is also very helpful. We were really just right in there, you know?

What was it like working on such a deep and personal scene with Nicole Kidman and Alex Skarsgård?
It was just a very good experience. When you work with a certain caliber of actor, there’s this gift because you don’t have to do a lot to create that suspension of disbelief. It’s just the truth and it’s so palpable. It’s like your own truth is bestowed upon you by the fact that the other in the scene feels so absolutely present. I felt that when I acted with Philip Seymour Hoffman. It’s a very rare quality. It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what that is when somebody’s truth takes over and you’re not thinking about much else besides relating to what’s in the room.
http://www.vulture.com/2017/03/big-little-lies-robin-weigert-therapy.html
 
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With this astonishing fifth episode of Big Little Lies, I keep thinking about all the reviews when it came out that called it trash: high-quality trash, but trash nonetheless. By this episode, this series is so far beyond that moniker it’s hard to believe it was ever associated with it in the first place. This week we get more intimate with each of our main marriages in turn, and the results are astonishing even as they are volatile, emotional, and raw.

I can’t stop thinking about Nicole Kidman’s scene. Especially as her therapist delicately yet expertly gets her to reveal the truth about her marriage. The therapist is one of those of perfect cinematic quality (see also: Judd Hirsch in Ordinary People), but anyone less wouldn’t be able to pull out of Celeste what no amount of makeup can cover.

Jean-Marc Vallée’s direction this episode is as showy as it’s ever been, complete with jump scares, and alarm-like musical cues, but it makes the reveal so much more effective. We know that a fight is brewing between Perry and Celeste; we see its beginning. Then, as Celeste covers herself up, we see flashbacks to Perry beating her: blessedly brief, otherwise it would be to painful to see Perry’s fists pounding into Celeste’s body. Then when the therapist states plainly what she sees so clearly in Celeste’s marriage, and asks Celeste if she ever thought she’d die: the shot of Perry pushing her facedown in the pillow is almost too painful to witness, with the gulp of breath she takes to save her life. Honestly, it might be one of the most disturbing shots I’ve ever seen, especially since it seems like they’re having sex while he’s doing it. At the end of the therapy session, there’s at least talk of a plan, for when Perry hits her again, which even Celeste knows he will.

Many domestic-violence dramas follow a specific pattern, like Jennifer Lopez becoming a warrior in Enough, Julia Roberts escaping her OCD abuser in Sleeping With The Enemy. This one is so much more remarkable because it shows that this abuse can happen to anyone: A beautiful, educated woman in a high-income bracket. Someone we wouldn’t expect to harbor any self-doubt, yet finds herself in a relationship where her life is in danger. She’s still in love with him, and he’s appears to be a great father (although even in play, his encouragement to get the boys to attack their mother is troubling). Even still, she’s not ready to leave him yet. But I can’t help thinking of women who may be watching this, and unfortunately, painfully, recognizing some aspect of their own relationship, realizing that they’re not alone. It’s not just great television: It’s great, period...
Alexander Skarsgard has been killing it in this series: When Perry cries at the airport, you almost get the feeling that he’s as unhappy about the situation that she is, controlled by some evil awful impulse that enables him to continue to hurt his wife...
http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/big-little-lies-telling-vital-story-about-abuse-252337
 
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