Stellan Skarsgard Discusses Venice Festival Drama ‘Painted Bird’

No stranger to the world of prestigious film festivals, Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard drew notice almost from the very beginning of his film career when he won the best actor award at the Berlin Film Festival in 1982 for his role in Hans Alfredson’s “Simple-Minded Murderer.” Next stop for the Emmy-nominated star of HBO’s “Chernobyl” is the Venice Film Festival, where Skarsgard co-stars with Harvey Keitel, Barry Pepper, Julian Sands and Udo Kier in Czech writer-director Vaclav Marhoul’s adaptation of the classic Jerzy Kosinski novel “The Painted Bird.”“The Painted Bird” was an unusual production as Vaclav Marhoul shot across Eastern Europe for several years.

Did you know the unorthodox filming plan when you signed on?Yes and perhaps it’s an even longer project than you realize.

Vaclav called me nine years ago when he obtained the rights and told me about his plans and I knew

Read full article