Like many actors, Alexander Skarsgard enjoys his down time. But unlike some TV stars, the True Blood hottie doesn’t put his talents on stand by when his hit HBO show isn’t filming. In fact, he goes back to work — with different characters in mind.
“I spend seven months just playing Eric on True Blood,” the 35-year-old actor tells the latest issue of BULLETT magazine. “But when I’m on hiatus, when I get my five months off, I’m not looking to play the same character again.”
Skarsgard, who has played bad-boy vampire Eric Northman on True Blood since 2008, has continued to keep his acting resume fresh over the years and most recently has starred alongside Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Rihanna and Brooklyn Decker in Battleship.
“I was a big fan of True Blood — that’s why I started thinking about him,” Battleship director Peter Berg tells BULLETT. “One day, a gang of women who heard that came into my office — there were about seven of them — and told me it was not negotiable.”
And while the Swedish hunk is staying busy with four films that hit theaters this year, his props go to a certain Battleship costar who also doubles as a Grammy-winning singer.
“God, I thought I worked a lot,” Skarsgard tells the mag, referring to Rihanna. “We would shoot until late Friday night and she would jump on a plane and go to L.A. to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards in front of a billion people, and then get straight back on the plane and fly to Hawaii, and go to set Monday morning with a smile on her face.”
