'True Blood' Star Alexander Skarsgård: 'I Love Being Naked'

'True Blood' Star Alexander Skarsgård: 'I Love Being Naked'



As the striking Viking Eric Northman on 'True Blood,' Alexander Skarsgård never fails to make you take notice when he's onscreen, even when he's delivering his lines in the most deadpan, laconic way possible -- he's just that riveting.

So what's the man behind the vamp really like? As it turns out, he's a down-to-earth guy who loves punk rock and science fiction, and doesn't mind nudity (we kinda guessed that last one). Skarsgård, 33, spoke with PopEater about season three of 'True Blood,' how he showed up in a Lady Gaga video and stripping down for the camera.

What can we expect from Eric in season three?
It's all about vengeance. You find out pretty early on that something happened a thousand years ago, that Eric lost someone, and now he's getting the opportunity to avenge that person's death. So he's going to try to do that, and it's not easy. And I've got a very, very graphic scene coming up that I shot with a man.

What was that like?
I'm not a prude. I'm from Sweden, and it's different there. If it makes sense, I'll do nudity, and it's made sense every single time I'm naked on the show. And I love to be naked. It's kind of liberating.

Eric's always got several partners -- but he seems to want Sookie in a different way.
Eric is intrigued by Sookie. You know, he's been around for a thousand years, and he's over humanity in general, but there is something different about Sookie, and he wants to figure out what that is -- what she is. And while it's fun to play around with Bill, to tease him, it's not just a game anymore.

Are you attracted to dark characters, dark stories?
I think I have that kind of tendency. I just did this animated film, 'Metropia,' that's such a dark, dystopian sci-fi tale. And I have [Lars von Trier's sci-fi disaster flick] 'Melancholia' coming up. There's got to be something disturbing in the story for me to be interested -- it's probably something I need to talk to my shrink about! [Laughs]

What bands do you like? Do you like dark music, as well?
Right now, I'm listening a lot to Beach House. But I'm more into punk rock, a lot of British punk rock -- the Buzzcocks, the Adverts, the Chameleons -- and Swedish punk rock. There's a band called Ebba Grön, a legendary Swedish punk band from the late '70s. I'm a huge fan. It's all in Swedish, so people won't understand a word, but it's pretty aggressive punk rock. It's frigging amazing. I love it. Of course, there are the Sounds and the Hives, but I think there are a bunch of really good up-and-coming artists like Fever Ray, the Knife, Mattias Alkberg and Miike Snow. Theresa Andersson lives in New Orleans, but she's from Sweden -- her self-titled record is a very good album. If you're not into punk rock, I recommend that. It's very mellow, very beautiful.

Are you a Lady Gaga fan?
The reason I did the 'Paparazzi' video is that the director, Jonas Akerlund, is a fellow Swede and a good friend of mine, and he called and asked me to do it. At the time, I didn't know Lady Gaga's work or her music very well, so I looked her up, and I thought, "Oh, this is pretty interesting." But I didn't want to do something if we'd just be walking down the beach or holding hands or that sort of thing. And sure enough, when Jonas pitched it, he was like, "It won't be anything silly. You're going to try to kill her and push her off a balcony and then she'll come back and she'll poison you and you die." And I said, "That sounds cool, I'll do that!" I worked on it for six hours at least, six or seven hours, and I guess a lot of people saw it. The thing is, you can work on a movie for three months, and no one sees it, and then you do something like this for six hours, and that's what people talk about!

So are you going to do more music videos then?
That's my new career. I'm just going to quit acting and do music videos from now on. I'm over 'True Blood.' I'm officially quitting right now! [Laughs]

Any music videos you've got lined up then?
Anything. I'll jump on anything. [Laughs] I'm just waiting for the phone to ring!