Stellan Skarsgard accepted a lower salary for Sentimental Value

Perth Now

14-07-2025

Stellan Skarsgard accepted a lower salary for Sentimental Value because he wanted the crew to enjoy good lunches.
The 74-year-old actor served as an executive producer on the Joachim Trier-directed comedy-drama film, but Stellan decided to accept a lower salary for his role for the sake of the crew.
During a round-table interview at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Stellan told Variety: "I wasn't supposed to be [an executive producer] at first, but I said: 'I'd never film in Norway without having a special contract.' After Insomnia, I gathered the whole crew and said, 'I'll never film in this country again – unless we get a good lunch.'"
The actor - who was born in Gothenburg, Sweden - recalled being underwhelmed by the food provided for the Insomnia shoot.
Stellan - who had a starring role in the 1997 Norwegian thriller film - shared: "I lost eight kilos on Insomnia. We would usually get a loaf of bread, that's pre-sliced, and a plastic salami. That's it!
"I've made other films in Norway since then, but it has always said in my contract that everybody should get lunches of the highest European standard. And that's expensive.
"Norway, they're the richest country, but they don't want to spend money on food.
"I went down, I think, half a million kroner in my salary to pay for this, for the food for everybody. And the producer said, 'You'll get credit for that.' Also, the food has to be served on real china – no plastic, paper bags or whatever. And you're not standing in line, you sit down and eat."
Stellan believes that seemingly trivial issues, such as the standard of food, can actually have a meaningful impact on the quality of a movie.
The film star said: "It makes everybody happier and makes the film much better. I haven't made one bad film in Norway since."
Meanwhile, Stellan insists that he's not remotely fussy about what he eats.
The veteran movie star is similarly open-minded about his career choices - even though he regrets some of his decisions.
He explained: "There's a lot of people who limit what they eat. 'I'm not eating meat,' they say. I eat everything.
"I have this appetite for life, but also, it's not a genre that makes the film bad. It's laziness. The American films I've made, they were made by really good directors. Like Ronin with John Frankenheimer, Dune with Denis Villeneuve or my first Marvel film. Unfortunately, I had to sign up for four of them. But the first one was directed by Kenneth Branagh!"