Dave Davies

I imagine you may not have heard that in a while.

Does it bring back some memories?

Yeah.

I will say, you know, that request that you make of her takes the film to some pretty dark places eventually, doesn't it?

In making art, you mean.

So do you found that a liberating experience as an actor?

We'll need to take another break here.

Let me reintroduce you.

We're speaking with Stellan Skarsgård.

He's won a Golden Globe Award and earned an Oscar nomination for his performance in the film Sentimental Value.

He'll be back to talk more about his life and career after this short break.

I'm Dave Davies, and this is Fresh Air.

Not long after the Lars von Trier film Breaking the Waves, you were in Good Will Hunting, which was directed by Gus Van Sant.

This was the film set in Boston, written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.

And I wanted to play a clip here.

The story people will remember is about these young friends in Boston.

who are working class guys.

They're kind of brawlers.

They like to drink at bars.

But one of them, the Matt Damon character, is a janitor in a college and is also a savant, brilliant at math and whatever.