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The production of the 1997 film
TIC TAC was the first
time Michael worked with director Daniel Alfredson. A
decade later, they would be reunited once more in two of
the "Millennium" films.
The Swedish thriller, written by Hans Renhäll, tells the
story of various people involved in small crime during
one day and night in Stockholm. It was Sweden's
submission for the Academy Awards for Best Foreign
Language Film, but it did not get nominated. It won a
Guldbagge Award for Best Film, Best Direction and Best
Supporting Actor (Emil Forselius). Hans Renhäll was
nominated for Best Screenplay. It also won the Don
Quixote Award and FIPRESCI Prize at the Karlovy Vary
International Film Festival. Some critics have called
the film "a Swedish Pulp Fiction". Michael plays the
role of a restaurant bar owner.
* * * * *
The Man in Red - 2009
This is a different orangey-red sweater than the one
Michael wore at Cannes in 2009. It's a great color for
him!
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I've updated the "Books"
section by adding the Norwegian version of Michael's
autobiography. The title is very similar to the original
Swedish version. It's called, "När barnet har lagt
seg", published by Cappelen Damm in February 2010.
Same cover photo.
At the time of the publication,
Michael visited Oslo to promote his book. Thomas J.R.
Marthinsen of ABC Dyheter reviewed the book. Here are
some excerpts from that review:
"Nyqvist clearly has more talents
than playing other people in front of the camera. He has
written a naked, sore and straightforward depiction of
the pursuit of his own identity... It's all told in a
tight, emotionally neutral language. Sometimes the story
should have had more meat, but mostly the
short-haired language works to bring out the great lack
that exists in the protagonist's life."
"The jumps made between present, past and the actor's
life could have been more clearly defined. What comes
on the next page often feels a bit random. In short, the
book could be both longer and broader... It is probably
the publisher who should take the blame for the book
being no longer than it is. Perhaps they thought that it
should be published as soon as possible, for there is no
doubt that the author's career as an actor has
contributed to the publication."
"Despite these objections, this is a
nice small book. Michael Nyqvist demonstrates that he
can write. But even more, he manages to show an adult
life that is vulnerable, sensitive and difficult. He
clearly shows that we all carry a children's edition of
ourselves in our interior. This reviewer only wishes he
had gotten a little more resistance, so it could surely
have become an even better book."
An anonymous blogger wrote, "I have
just attended the launch of Michael Nyqvist's book. It
was a great event where Nyqvist talked with Vibeke
Nilsen about topics from the book. Personally, I very
much liked it when the author himself read the passages
from the book. He put together a good selection of text
from the book, and the parts he had chosen set a good
mood for conversation between Nyqvist and Nilsen, though
it never went into depth. Of course not.
A room full of people may not be the setting to touch
the most sensitive parts of an upbringing. But Michael Nyqvist is a charismatic man. It is easy to listen to
him for over an hour. And definitely worth it."
The following photos were taken on
his visit to Oslo. He looks quite tired in some of them,
but that's to be expected when 2010 was an extremely
busy year for him.
* * * * *
On working outside of Sweden (2012
interview):
He is a permanent employee of the Dramaten, but in
recent years Michael Nyqvist has been working in
Hollywood. There it's about long work shifts and the
atmosphere is radically different compared to Sweden.
"In the United States, it is more isolated, and
anxious," he says. When the homesickness becomes too
strong, Michael Nyqvist listens to the sea weather
report on P1 (Swedish radio). The sea and water have a
great significance for him... He continues, "I am in the
prime of life and if you get the opportunity to meet
colleagues in other countries, then you should take the
chance. I have filmed in South Africa, Taiwan, Chile,
Prague, Dubai, Norway, Germany, Canada, New York and
Denmark throughout the 21st century. It has been so much
fun to see how others work."
Nyqvist believes that it is not the juicy Hollywood
wages that have attracted him there. "I have been well
paid in Sweden too, so that is not crucial," he says. He
has discovered that the filming differs greatly between
Sweden and Hollywood. "When we film in Trollhättan, for
example, it resembles some sort of collision existence.
In the United States, it is more isolated - and anxious.
The actors are like large corporations. Or as an elite
athlete, surrounded by coaches and dieticians. If you
have dinner with a colleague, then you definitely do not
talk about work. The attitude is that you can be stabbed
in the back. I would never go and take a beer and talk
shit about the director as we do in Sweden."
This is NOT a photo of Keanu Reeves
and Michael talking shit about directors Stahelski and
Leitch. (laughing)
An interesting piece of artwork of a
"John Wick" poster -
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In the summer of 2010 Hollywood
decided to cash in on the success of the Stieg Larsson
screen adaptations in Sweden. They wanted to create
their own American version with "The Girl with the
Dragon Tattoo". Daniel Craig was chosen to play
Mikael Blomkvist. At the time, Michael told the press,
"Daniel Craig is just amazing. I'm very curious but I
think he'll do a wonderful job. And if they miss what I
feel is very Swedish in the way we did it, I think
they're going to bring lots of other things to the
story. When asked if he felt confident about the English
translations of the books, he replied, "I love the
English language. I think it's fantastic. Sometimes
English describes things better than we do; on the other
hand, we can describe some things better in Swedish."
Michael said the real challenge for an actor working on
a screen adaptation of a book is how to reveal a
literary character's inner life on screen. "Blomkvist is
a good listener, has a great deal of empathy and is very
intelligent. But, in a way, he's an invisible character.
That challenged me enormously. He's actually a very
difficult character to play."
His solution was nothing if not novel. Michael said, "Remember the film
The Elephant Man? I
thought of Mikael as the doctor and Lisbeth as the
Elephant Man." [Don't you think our favorite Swede
could have easily taken over Anthony Hopkins' role as
Dr. Merrick?]
Then there were those aspects of the story that had
merely to be hinted at, such as Blomkvist's womanizing.
Michael said, "We had to take a lot of that out for the
film because of time limitations. So I tried to
express it with my eyes, the fact that perhaps you might
think he's a womanizer."
I think he failed in giving that
impression. For one thing, the hairpiece he was made to
wear was God-awful and totally changed the shape of his
head and handsome looks. I think the filmmakers thought
revealing his bald spot would age him too much.
I've added about 25 photos to the Millennium Trilogy
pages. Here's a couple on-location shots.
Plus I've added a few photos to the film's publicity
events at various locations, such as these taken at
Cannes. Michael really looked good with his tanned face
and highlighted hair.
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