Ola Rapace On Skyfall: "i Do My Own Stunts"

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2012-04-12

Ola Rapace is the latest Swedish actor who invests in a career overseas. In the upcoming James Bond film Skyfall (2012), he plays Patrice (which FSWL was the first one to reveal on February 29), a villain who will do his best to kill agent 007.

Our good friends at MovieZine.com met up with Rapace during the filming in Adana in south-eastern Turkey.

How did you end up in a James Bond film?
[Ola Rapace:] I was asked to come and do a screen test. I know that director Sam Mendes had seen Lukas Moodysson's "Together", but I am surprised that he remembers me from it. I met him when I did my audition. I tested with a stunt team because they wanted to see what I could do physically. It was tough.

Do you have a foreign agent who is looking after roles for you?
[OP:] I have a few agents, but I'm not interested in how their job is done. Just give me good roles.

Yes, how does it feel to play the villain in a major international film?
[OP:] It's a dream come true, I get to come and play on a giant playground. I’m driving a motorcycle, shooting with machine guns, and everyone is nice and takes care of me. I really feel like one of the stunt guys, and I make so much of my own stunts as I get permission to. And I like to drive fast. I enjoy every second of it.

Who is ‘Patrice’?
[OP:] He is a man who does not speak so much. He enjoys the violence and he loves to be in control. He likes to play with violence, he likes to chase people. It's quite liberating to play a villain. He does not pretend to be nice, he just do his job. He is practical and shows no emotions.

How do he and Bond fight?
[OP:] Bond is chasing me, first on a motorbike and then we jump down on the roof of a train and continue to fight there. We're shooting parts of that here in Adana, and then we film more in Istanbul. It is supposed to look as if everything is set in Istanbul.

Are you a Bond fan?
[OP:] No, I have never been into Bond. I think the ones with Daniel Craig are great, and I've seen some of the early ones although I do not remember much of those.

How does it feel to go from filming in Sweden to something of this size?
[OP:] Surreal. By just looking around I realized it costs millions. I did not think there was so much money in circulation.

It is often referred to as Swedish actor who starts a foreign career gets to play bad guys. Max von Sydow did it once, Mikael Nyqvist does it in the latest "Mission: Impossible" film. Any comment?
[OP:] It's a good way to get into it. And right now they're very excited about Swedish actors and Swedish screenplays. They are talking about the "Swedish wave", and rightfully so. One can see that people are interested in anything that comes from Sweden. Once you say you are Swedish you notice an increased interest.

What would you rather do?
[OP:] I would love to make a film with Gary Oldman, that would be fantastic, and I would like to do more international films, but it’s not a purpose of my own. I'm not a child anymore.

Surrealist. I look around and realize how many millions it will cost. I did not think there was so much money in circulation.

This exclusive interview was done by Swedish film critic Gunnar Rehlin © 2012 MovieZine.se.

Editor's note:
Skyfall (2012) is released in UK and Swedish theatres on October 26th.

Photo above:
Ola Rapace as "Patrice" in a scene set in Turkey. Photo: François Duhamel © 2012 Danjaq, LLC, United Artists Corporation and Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All rights reserved.

Read the original Swedish interview with Ola Rapace about his work on Skyfall:

www.moviezine.se/artikel/10007-ola-rapace-om-bond-jag-gor-mina-egna-stunts

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Ola Rapace On Skyfall: "i Do My Own Stunts"

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