Stellan Skarsgard on Sentimental Value, Lars von Trier, Ingmar Bergman

Last Friday, the veteran Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard reflected on his life, career and latest project — Joachim Trier’s Cannes Grand Prize-winning dramedy Sentimental Value, in which Skarsgard plays a veteran filmmaker who has a complicated family life — during a recording of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast in front of a packed house at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic.

The 74-year-old, who was in town to receive the fest’s highest honor for an individual, the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema, had the crowd enraptured and often in stitches. He discussed how he broke into the biz when he was just 16. He dished on colorful collaborators ranging from Ingmar Bergman to David Fincher. And he dissected his varied adventures in art house films (e.g. his five collaborations with Lars von Trier, most notably 1996’s Breaking the Waves), studio movies (e.g. installments of the Dune, Mamma Mia!, Pirates of the Caribbean and MCU franchises) and prestige TV (e.g. the 2019 limited series Chernobyl, for which he won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy, and the 2022-2025 drama series Andor).

But Skarsgard seemed most passionate and proud when discussing Sentimental Value, which many — including yours truly — feel showcases his best performance yet. In it, he is both hilarious and heartbreaking as Gustav Borg, a stubborn Norwegian director who for years neglected family in order to focus on his career, but late in life, after his ex-wife’s death, tries, in his own way, to make things right with his two daughters (played by the brilliant Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), while also pursuing what will probably be his last outing as a director, with a Hollywood starlet (a wonderful Elle Fanning) in the leading role.

Be sure to check out the audio of the conversation at the top of this post, as well as all of Team THR’s coverage of the 2025 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival — the first since the death of longtime festival president Jirí Bartoska — at which other special guests included Michael Douglas, Dakota Johnson, Peter Sarsgaard and Vicky Krieps, and at which the films Better Go Mad in the Wild, Bidad, Sand City and Forensics were awarded top prizes.