The Hollywood star can barely remember the last time he filmed a movie in Sweden.
It must have been “Melancholia” with Lars von Trier, 2011. But I haven't worked with a Swedish director in about 15 years, says Alexander Skarsgård and pauses.
Or am I lying now? No, that's true.
It's true that the majority of the film is shot in Belfast. And it's in English. But with a Swedish director, producer and several Swedish actors, it counts as Swedish, Alexander Skarsgård insists.
It feels great to be back. This can't be compared to a big studio film in the US, it's more intimate.
Skarsgard: Vulnerable
"The Wolf Will Tear Your Immaculate Hands" is described as a gothic drama set in the northwest United States in the late 19th century and follows Isabel (Darla Contois), a Native American woman.
She was taken from her home as a child and raised in a Christian school where she was forcibly assimilated, says director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén.
Alexander Skarsgård plays Jonas, a British widower who hires Isabel as a governess for his two daughters after his wife passes away. The youngest daughter is convinced that her mother is still alive in the form of a wolf out in the woods – while Isabel comes into contact with her own roots and, as Nathalie Álvarez Mesén puts it, discovers a wound within herself.
Who is the wolf is a bit up to the viewer, she says.
Skarsgård, who will soon also appear in pop star Charli XCX's mockumentary "The Moment" and in "Wicker", was attracted by the fact that the role of Jonas was unlike anything he had done before.
"There's something rudderless about Jonas, he's a broken man. There's something very vulnerable and beautiful about that," he says.
“Much darker”
Nathalie Álvarez Mesén's feature film debut "Clara Sola" (2021) won five Golden Bugs and was widely acclaimed. What now awaits is a more enigmatic story.
"It takes place in a different time, but it's still quite close to our world. A little more like magical realism but much darker, like they're trying to dig deeper into something," she says.
At the same time, she points out, the story has great relevance.
The schools that forced children to forget their roots, that's a wound that's very much alive. There are people today who went to these schools as children, she says, adding:
It felt important to tell it.
“The wolf will tear your immaculate hands” is the second feature film by director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén. She had her international breakthrough with “Clara Sola” (2021), which won five Guldbaggers and was Costa Rica’s Oscar entry.
The script was written by Álvarez Mesén himself together with the Icelandic poet and writer Sjón.
The cast includes Alexander Skarsgård, Darla Contois, Lily LaTorre, Bronte Carmichael, Forreste Goodluck and Pernilla August.
The film will be released in Swedish cinemas in the fall of 2026.
