Stellan Skarsgard savours silence

Stellan Skarsgard focuses more on what's going on in a character's mind than their lines.

The Swedish actor has made a name for himself in Hollywood with roles in movies such as Good Will Hunting, Thor and Mamma Mia!.

For his latest feature, In Order of Disappearance, Stellan plays father Nils, who sets out on a murderous revenge after his son dies and his wife decides to leave him.

"Most of my acting in general is about what's going on in the head and the lines are just something that comes out," he explained to denofgeek.com.

"I enjoy saying as little as much as possible and feeling as much as possible, and the thing of course, is, with this specific character, what's going on in his head is this enormous feeling of loss and the frustration of being unable to handle it, or not having the tools to handle not only his emotional state but also communication with his wife. That is of course the frustration that leads him to start killing people because he doesn't know how to handle the situation."

While he is known for the variety of his parts, Stellan thoroughly enjoyed the popularity that came with Marvel franchise Thor. He starred alongside Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Kat Dennings in the movies.

"The fanbase was already there, pretty much, but what Marvel have done – and done very successfully - is cast some of the best actors and actresses in the world to play those superheroes, and that is of course invaluable to the success," he added.

"It's not like the popcorn films of the '80s where we had someone with a lot of muscles who couldn't act and special effects were everything. They have the best directors, the best actors... add that to all the special effects, and it makes those films so much better."