Some people believe that it is easy to be an actor or an actress, as it is not real and the emotions that the characters go through are not really emotions, as it is simply acting and those playing the characters can simply switch off once the scenes are finished shooting. However, this is not always the case and there are some occasions when the stars live every second of what they are shooting and really do struggle with the emotions involved in the projects.
That was clearly the case with former True Blood hunk Alexander Skarsgard, as he shot some very difficult scenes for the new mini series Big Little Lies. There were some scenes where the actor had to get very violent with his onscreen wife, played by Australian beauty Nicole Kidman, and Alexander admitted that, while they were fortunate enough to get to bond before shooting the scenes, he still struggled with the violence involved.
Skarsgard was chatting to Vulture, when he shared, "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."
He added, "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."
So there you have it. Things are not always that easy for the stars shooting these horrible scenes and they sometimes live exactly what you are seeing on the screen.
