Interview Noomi Rapace (‘Millennium Trilogy’)

Amsterdam, Embassy Hotel, Wednesday 13 January 2010

The Swedish Noomi Rapace has convincingly portrayed one of the most appealing novel characters of recent years: Lisbeth Salander from Stieg Larsson’s hugely popular book series. ‘Millennium: Men who hate women’ also became a (deservedly) hit in the cinema and in January and March 2010 the film versions ‘Millennium 2: The woman who played with fire’ and ‘Millennium 3: Justice’ will follow. Noomi Rapace was in Amsterdam for a short visit, where she spoke to the press in the Ambassade Hotel. In our conversation, Noomi turned out to be a pleasant interlocutor, whose speech waterfall it was barely noticeable that she has difficulty with the English language. “I don’t want my fear of speaking English to get in the way of acting,” she says. A reason for the Swedish beauty to take a language course.

Sample

Acting lessons are no longer necessary, but even a seasoned actress like Noomi (she made her debut at the age of seven) sometimes dreads her work. For example, the scene in which Lisbeth returns to lawyer Nils Bjurman to get back at him in her inimitable way for the suffering he has caused, looked pretty easy on paper. In practice, however, it worked differently, says Noomi. “I was convinced that I would be able to play this scene without any problems, because it would make me feel good about getting revenge. But the weird thing was that it was actually harder to do this scene than the one where Bjurman abused me. It was simply abhorrent to trigger those feelings in me.” According to Noomi, however, every person has a monster in them. “This role has helped me understand how people get completely confused in war situations.” She mentions the events in the Iraqi prison Abu Ghraib as an example. “I can well imagine how war can change a person, how it causes you to push your boundaries. Anyone would get fucked up about it. I am convinced that everyone has a dark side.” Scenes that Noomi was afraid of, but which turned out to be easier in the end, were the sex scenes. “It’s never fun to do: it’s not sexy and there’s no magic. You have the whole crew around you and everyone feels embarrassed. Still, it was great for me. And that without rehearsing!”

remake

Today, one Scandinavian film after another is being remade by Hollywood. ‘Let the Right One In’ becomes ‘Let Me In’; before the Dutch premiere, a remake of the Icelandic ‘Reykjavik-Rotterdam’ has already been announced and the first ‘Millennium’ film has also been announced. The actress has conflicting feelings about it. “It will be interesting to see what they will do with the material. Of course it adds something to the existing film. It is new and will no doubt be a far cry from what we have done. But on the other hand, it’s also bizarre: someone will be playing me.” Noomi says that she hopes that the actress who is cast for the role of Lisbeth in the American version is not a cute, sexy doll, to whom everything is perfect and therefore ‘dead’. “Maybe Elliot Page, or Evan Rachel Wood would be suitable,” she suggests. “Those are actors I admire. But who knows, the process will take so long that by then there will be a new star who could play the part.”

nightmares

Noomi admits she doesn’t like to pretend to be different, to play feelings. An odd statement, given her career choice, however, she declares: “I have to find the emotions within myself: hatred, sadness, contempt, fear. I use that so that the character I play becomes a mix of me and the character. Until I don’t know who is who anymore.” Because Noomi is completely committed to her role, this has sometimes given her nightmares during the filming of the ‘Millennium’ trilogy.

Engine

However, that determination also makes Noomi go all out. She did all the stunts, except for one, herself. “I wanted to do that one scene so badly, but they wouldn’t let me.” Noomi is referring to the scene where Lisbeth rides a motorcycle across the bridge at night. “It was too slippery and a stunt woman was used. Of course you can’t see in the film that it’s not me, because it’s an overview shot.”

normal life

Despite the trilogy’s success, the attractive thirty-year-old is careful not to let her fame interfere with her family life. “I try to find the balance between my work and my family. I refuse to raise my son as a ‘celebrity child’, as you see them so often in magazines. Those kids don’t choose that, I want my son to lead a normal life.”

Noomi is currently preparing for her role in the film ‘Babycall’, for which she will soon be leaving for Oslo to rehearse. How her international career will progress, of course, remains to be seen. In any case, we eagerly look forward to her other films, which hopefully will find their way to the Dutch cinema or DVD supplier.