Thure Lindhardt photographed by Clinton Gaughran for AfterElton
Though you're undoubtedly psyched for the Oscars and Sally Field's (slim) chances at a miraculous third Oscar, you should also keep your fingers crossed for Danish actor Thure Lindhardt's triumph at this Saturday's Independent Spirit Awards.
This year's Indy Spirit Awards are chock ful of fabulous acting nominations, including one for the 38-year-old Lindhardt, who stars in director Ira Sachs' wonderful gay relationship drama Keep the Lights On. As Danish filmmaker Erik Rothman working in New York, Lindhardt is completely engrossing as he falls into a serious relationship with drug- and sex-addicted lawyer Paul Lucy (Zachary Booth). Keep the Lights On's added layer of intrigue is that the film is written from director Sachs' own experience. He had a serious relationship with publisher Bill Clegg, who wrote the 2010 memoir Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man.
We caught up with the adorable Copenhagen-born Lindhardt, who was just recently announced as an addition to the Showtime drama The Borgias in 2012, and discussed how the intimacy in Keep the Lights On seemed so real.
AfterElton: The Independent Spirit Awards are just days away. Your category, Best Male Lead, is excellent -- you're nominated alongside John Hawkes, Bradley Cooper, Matthew McConaughey, Jack Black, and Wendell Pierce. What are you specifically looking forward to at the ceremony?
Thure Lindhardt: Well, it's weird because I'm looking forward to the party and the event in itself because I'm really proud and -- well, yeah, proud to be nominated in that category! Especially for that movie, for many reasons. One, for me as a mostly unknown [in the U.S] actor, to be nominated with this group of incredibly famous and wonderful actors, of course that in itself is a very big thing. I don't have expectations for anything, though. I'm happy to be there and be part of the group. I'm proud to be part of a movie that's so important. The director is incredible, and it was a very intense and wonderful, honest journey to be part of.
AE: Keep the Lights On's director Ira Sachs has talked about how this story is basically his story, but he never felt too vulnerable during production. He said he wanted his life to be "an open drawer" for the actors to take from. That's pretty awesome. But did you ever feel like the scenes you were shooting were almost too personal?
TL: I did! But first of all, he was treating his own story with respect. He was treating his actors with respect. He was not just trying -- as he explained to me -- to take his diary and turn it into a movie. He was trying to create a dramatic piece and tell a story. When I came on board, he changed the character from being a Jewish man from America, and he gave me the liberty to create my own character. And when I signed on, he gave me full access to ask questions I wanted to ask about him and his past. So I used that and took advantage of that. I asked all the questions I needed to know, but what I had in mind was finding the character. I was not interested in "snuff," you know what I mean? He was very open about [his life] because he wanted to create and tell a story about relationships, codependency, love, and finding yourself and finding your own strength. That's what was so fascinating to me. Every time I used him or asked him a question, it was always with that in mind: How would the character go to from a A to Z?
AE: Sounds like a one-of-a-kind relationship between director and actor. Is it strange thinking there may be no other project like that?
TL: I think every story that I've been lucky to be a part of has its own life, and been it's own little thing and world. This world was very, very special and wonderful, but I don't think I think of this movie as, "Oh no -- that was that! There won't be others!" I'm sure there will be other good stories to tell!
AE: The intimacy between your character and Zachary Booth is very interesting and sometimes jarring. It doesn't seem faked. How did you go about achieving it?
TL: The way [Sachs] wanted to approach these characters, he wanted me and Zachary to meet before we shot the movie -- and he didn't want us to talk about the movie. He wanted us to keep our characters to ourselves. He wanted us to meet and hang out, go for a walk, have coffee, do normal stuff. That was quite interesting. I hadn't tried it before -- that way of working with actors. It was very liberating, because both of us knew we had to connect in a certain way, and Zach is a very talented actor who really goes for the work. We just met and we kind of connected and became friends, and he's got a great sense of humor. I don't. I pretend! I've got a bad sense of humor. So we laughed about that. We laughed a lot; we had a lot of fun together not talking about the work, but talking about art, life, other things. It kind of created the chemistry, I think. When you like the person you're acting with? It does make it so much easier. We also talked about how difficult it was to create intimate scenes. But in one of the sexually intimate scenes, one of the first scenes we did was when they meet, he knocks on the door, and they go and take their clothes off. Ha! We shot that on the second day of shooting, and it was Zach's first day. That was kind of like -- OK, we have to take that jump. The characters take that huge step. We had to do that too, in a way, since we had no time to build a fear about it. And of course, we had all sorts of rules. It's funny, because sex scenes in movies -- and you've probably heard this from every actor you've ever spoken to -- nothing is less attractive. But still, I think we just went for the intimacy right away. And I'm not talking about physical intimacy; I'm talking about psychological intimacy. That's the difficult part.
AE: That technique reminds me of Weekend from last year. The two lead actors actually lived together for a bit, and that helped establish their intimacy. Have you seen that movie?
TL: No. But it was sort of the opposite: [Sachs] just wanted us to meet, go for a walk. We went to see a Broadway show. We had that to talk about. But we didn't talk about characters on set. We kept it to ourselves. Ira would go and talk to Zach, then he'd talk to me.
AE: But it's safe to say you and Booth are not like your characters in this movie. Was it strange to see what he brought to the screen after knowing him on a friendly level?
TL: I was and I wasn't. I'd read the script, so I knew what he had to go for. It really just felt like an added level of "Woah, this is real!" Suddenly he was there and he was a junkie! Am I allowed to say "junkie"? I don't know if that's politically incorrect.
AE: "Junkie" is a pretty commonplace word here.
TL: OK. Good. I got a beating from Denmark for using the word "junkie"! They were like, "You can't say that! It's hurtful!" I don't mean to be hurtful! Anyway, when you act, you always go for something deeper. You always try for the current that goes on under everything. You ask, "What do they really want?" It was valuable to do that work by myself, then go and meet the other actor.
AE: What's next for you?
TL: I'm doing the next season of The Borgias, and I just did a German movie that's coming out now about an Austrian girl who was kidnapped and held in a basement for eight years. I'm playing her kidnapper. I'm going to go back to Germany, and there's going to be press and stuff for that. That's the next weeks. Then I'm taking two months off! I haven't had any time off in the past four years! I'm going to try and have whatever they call -- a life?
AE: Speaking of gay roles: Have you seen your Borgias costar in Beautiful Creatures yet? His costumes are straight-up Liberace. He even plays the piano to lure a young man.
TL: No! Well, he's an extraordinary actor! I'm sure he could do whatever you asked him to do. I just watch him and learn -- as I should, just like from all those big actors. Just being like, "How do you do that? Wow! I want to do that too."
