Source: Land.se [Translated and
edited]
Date: Fall 2009
The sky is next to cloudless and on
the deck of S/S Norrtelje is Michael Nyqvist, one of
Sweden's biggest names, looking alight across the water
- out there on one of Roslagen's islands.
Michael: I'm very hot in town. It's wonderful to
just sit outside on the island and enjoy. I have always
felt a freedom in nature. When I go to the country, I
can be completely at peace. In the city people are
staring at me. Fame causes you to get a strange
self-perception.
Norrtälje is Michael Nyqvist's
childhood country. His adoptive parents lived in the
neighborhood since he was two years old and he has many
friends still there. He was drawing the house on the
island, where he celebrated 83-year-old Mother Gerd's
birthday last summer.
Before we meet, his PR woman says Michael has done
over 500 interviews in Sweden and Europe over the past
six months in connection with "The Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo". Nevertheless, he is friendly. When he speaks,
he often laughs and strokes his hand over his beard when
looking for the right word or expression.
He has just written "När barnet lagt sig",
an autobiography of his childhood hunt for his origins.
He's been writing the book for a long time in Canada,
Egypt, France, Italy and Norrland. At the beginning it
had 700 pages but it was pared down to 500. Michael
says, "There were too many adjectives."
Michael: I always scan a room when I
come in. The insignificant is the essential. I am
claiming that. What we create ourselves is what we see
in our eyes, not what we really see. I was afraid of the
concierge, mother and father, school, cars, heights, the
wind - everything was scary! I thought they would come
and take me back to the nursery all the time.
When Michael was six, he learned that
he was adopted. A year later, his parents separated and
his father moved out. It was a betrayal Michael will
never forgive, even though they reached a sort of
reconciliation. At the end of his father's life, Michael
finally asked why he abandoned him.
In the book, Michael describes how he
traced his biological father, met him in Stockholm. In
one second, he recognized him though he had never seen
him. At his sister's wedding, he finally realized
that he was accepted by his Italian family .
He only met his Swedish biological
mother for 20 minutes.
Michael: She did not like me. She
told me I hate you for everything you've done. I
replied, "But I haven't done anything. It's you who
have..."
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
will soon have its international release.
Michael: It's fun that the first film
goes to every cinema in Europe and then on to Asia. It's
a dream to do something that the whole world wants to
see. My idea with Mikael Blomkvist was to show a man
who's a good listener, empathetic, wise and analytical.
I also hope in this era that intelligence should be
sexy.
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