Alexander Skarsgard’s tough scenes of violence
Alexander Skarsgard found it "emotionally draining" shooting scenes of domestic violence for ‘Big Little Lies’.
The 40-year-old actor enjoyed director Jean-Marc Valee’s approach to shooting the mini-series but admits the moments where his character Perry Wright got violent with his on-screen wife Celeste (Nicole Kidman) were "very tough" to work on.
He said: "It was very tough, yeah. It was emotionally draining. Working with Jean-Marc [Vallée], it’s a great way to shoot. It’s fun. And you feel very liberated and free as an actor because he doesn’t rehearse much.
"It’s not traditional filmmaking. It’s not your coverage, and then they turn around and it’s your co-star’s coverage. It’s all handheld, all existing lights, which is wonderful. It feels more like you’re in a play, in a way, where you have the floor to yourself and can really explore it.
"But it also meant you have to commit in every single take, and you shoot the scene from the first to the last second. You go through the whole thing, the whole emotional journey."
But Alexander was thankful he and Nicole, 49, had time to bond before they started filming the show as they needed to trust one another in order to accurately portray the "horrible" rows.
He added in an interview with Vulture: "So, it’s very exhausting, and fortunately Nicole and I got to spend some time before starting the project to get to know each other and to build that trust because it’s incredibly important, when you shoot physical and emotional scenes like that, that you feel like you have a good partner, that you really genuinely trust each other, and that you’re in it together.
"And, we have that. Even at the end of the day, and obviously in-between takes, to really check in with each other and make sure that we were OK.
"But it was tough. It was very tough. They’re horrible scenes to shoot. I agree with Nicole. It wasn’t like you could just shake it off and go home. It was very difficult."
Nicole previously admitted she was left "in pain" after shooting the scenes.
She said: "Afterward, I would just be quiet. I would go home and be quiet. After we shot some of the really, really violent scenes, I was in a lot of pain myself. My body was.
"It was very strange. It was very uncomfortable. It wasn’t a good feeling, I have to say.
"But women go through this, so I wanted to tap into the truth of it, and I wanted to be real in those scenes, so that’s what it required — an element of violence."
