- Liam Neeson, Schindler’s List, 1993. In serious contention before Steven Spielberg voted Neeson. When the big Irishman dropped out of the Exorcist prequel (that became two separate films by different directors),he was replaced (in both!) bythe big Swede.
- Peter Stormare, Dancer in the Dark, 2000. First chosen for Jeff, Bjork’s would-be boyfriend, but was stuck on Aberdeen (and only finally free for atwo scenesrole of her eye doctor.
- John Diehl, Jurassic Park III, 2000. Skarsgård, Steve Buscemi and Tony Shaloub were on Steven Spielberg’s menu for… a meal. The role is Cooper, the mercenary eaten alive by Spinosaurus as his plane is trying to take off. The character could be, says IMDb, a nod and a wink (or belch) to another Cooper munched upon by a Tyrannosaurus at the start of the 1998 Dino Crisis video game.
- Marcel Iures, Goal! 2005. “The only reason I wanted to do the movie was to work with[UK director] Michael Winterbottom,” said the Swedish star. “When he left, I left.”
- Jean Reno, Flushed Away, 2006. Reno beat Johnny Depp, Kevin Kline and Skarsgård to voicing Le Frog. Well, Reno is French! And Stella is “the kindest, warmest man you’re likely to meet,” Paul Bettany told Guy Flatley in 2002, “with an insatiable appetite for trying things, tasting things. He’s the all-time heavyweight vodka-drinking champion of the world, so we have a hell of a time together.”
- Peter Haber, Millennium: Män som hatar kvinnor (The Girl With The DragonTattoo, Sweden, 2009. Two directors with the same idea for a Swedish serial killer… Danish Niels Arden Oplev felt the enormous Swedish best-selling trilogy should have asimilarly international Swedish star. As usual Skarsgård was over-scheduled.In 2010, he joined David Fincher’s Hollywood re-make…in the same role.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 6