Stellan Skarsgård brings authority to a crowded scene without forcing everyone else out of it. We like him most when that authority falters: his awkward pauses in Sentimental Value are as persuasive as his force in Andor.
Fi1m perspective
In Sentimental Value (2025), Stellan Skarsgård waits to be told where he may sit in a house his character once owned. Gustav Borg is a director who has been a poor father, arriving with a script for his daughter rather than much idea of how to speak to her. We were moved by that wait, and by how little Skarsgård changes his expression while it lasts. The hesitation before he speaks tells us he has prepared for this and still cannot manage it. Joachim Trier gives him room to be awkward without making him harmless.
That combination of weight and restraint helps explain a career that has moved between arthouse films and Hollywood supporting parts. Breaking the Waves (1996), with Lars von Trier, brought his international breakthrough; Good Will Hunting (1997) widened that recognition. He has kept working with von Trier and Hans Petter Moland while taking franchise roles.
In Andor (2022), he knows how much force a scene can take. His Luthen Rael is forceful, but he does not make the quieter performances around him seem insignificant. There is a great deal to explain in the dialogue, and he keeps it persuasive without giving every line extra emphasis. Alongside Denise Gough and Genevieve O’Reilly, he helps make long conversations worth staying for. Our reservation about the slow opening does not extend to his place in the ensemble.
In Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two (2024), Baron Harkonnen calls on his imposing physical presence. The voice matters too: Austin Butler’s Feyd-Rautha borrows it, making Skarsgård’s influence audible even in another performance. It is an effective use of him, though franchise supporting parts can leave little space for the hesitations that make Gustav interesting. We would not want looking formidable to become his only assignment.
Trier gives him more to do with Renate Reinsve in Sentimental Value. Gustav can charm strangers and fail his children, and Skarsgård does not ask us to excuse the second because he is good at the first. We found the film neater than it needed to be, but Skarsgård never softens Gustav to make us forgive him. Start there for an actor allowed to be difficult without having to be a villain.
Biography
Stellan Skarsgård is a Swedish actor. Born in Gothenburg in 1951, he began his career in Scandinavian cinema and is particularly associated with Danish director Lars von Trier, appearing in six of his films including Breaking the Waves (1996), Dancer in the Dark (2000), Dogville (2003), Melancholia (2011) and Nymphomaniac (2013).
He gained international recognition with roles in The Hunt for Red October (1990), Good Will Hunting (1997), the Pirates of the Caribbean films (2006–2007) and five Marvel Cinematic Universe entries as Erik Selvig. He played Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune (2021) and Dune: Part Two (2024), and Luthen Rael in the Star Wars series Andor (2022–2025).
In 2025 he starred as Gustav Borg in Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and receiving an Academy Award nomination for the role.
