The director Frida Kempff tested over 50 actors before deciding on Josefin Neldén as Sally Bauer – the record woman who swam across Öresund, Kattegat, Åland Sea, and the English Channel in the 1930s.
It has been a dream assignment to get to do, and Frida has also been incredibly generous and inviting in her work, in the script work and she has really invited me to become a co-creator in a very unique way, says Josefin Neldén.
In "The Swedish Torpedo" she makes a sparse interpretation, where Sally Bauer's body language and interaction with the environments convey more feelings than the lines. The physical struggles helped her to find her interpretation of Sally Bauer, explains Josefin Neldén.
The swimming training has been a huge part of shaping Sally. All the hours in the water have also helped me to try to understand what the attraction to these long distances is, even if I don't really know if I've grasped the charm. But water and the sea I have always loved.
"Something that grates"
At the same time, she has a leading role in the new thriller series "The Doctrine". There she plays Nina, a vain and worn-out journalist who stumbles upon a scoop and gets drawn into an international spy intrigue. Here too, Neldén got to be involved in shaping a rather awkward character.
It's fun to find something that grates in a person. Sally and Nina live different kinds of lives in different times and have different drives. But both are characters who aren't 100 percent sympathetic from the outside. There's something very appealing in such a character, she says.
"Peaking now"
Since Josefin Neldén made her feature film debut in "Tjenare kungen" in 2005, she has been nominated for a couple of Guldbaggar for best female supporting role, played Maggan in "Vår tid är nu", and played a lot of theater.
The new leading roles feel like a kind of peak, she explains.
When I was finished with both projects, I know I said to my husband that I probably won't have a year like this again. It was such a damn lucky hit with everything. Two huge and fun assignments together with great people, where you've been allowed to feel involved, she says.
Some kind of breakthrough, I don't know if it is, but maybe it's peaking now and everything will soon go downhill.
Born 1984.
Lives: In Gothenburg.
Family: Husband and two children.
Some previous roles: "Tjenare kungen" (2005), "Känn ingen sorg” (2013), "Gräns" (2017), "438 dagar" (2018), "Vår tid är nu" (2017–2020), "Psykos i Stockholm" (2020).
Currently starring in: "The Swedish Torpedo" with a cinema premiere on November 15 and "The Doctrine" which will be shown in six episodes on TV4 starting November 12.
