Alexander Skarsgård has nothing but glowing things to say about his time on Succession as billionaire CEO Lukas Matsson. While on the red carpet for the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Eric LaRue on Saturday (June 10), the actor told Decider that shooting the HBO series was “cathartic.”

“I really don’t know what I learned from that experience,” he said when Decider asked him about lessons learned during his time on the series, though Skarsgård added, “I had the time of my life.”

He described coming to the set straight from The Northman, which is an epic historical film directed by Robert Eggers and features Skarsgård as Viking prince Amleth, as well as a producer.

“I came off The Northman, which was an extraordinary experience, but a very difficult job because it’s incredibly heavy. And the way Robert Eggers shoots is mentally and physically taxing. It’s long intense shots,” the Swedish actor said. 

“Most of us are shot with just a single camera and it takes a day to light them. It was an incredible challenge, but it was also quite cathartic to then jump into Succession right after because Succession is diametrically opposed to that,” Skarsgård continued. 

Overall, Skarsgård described his experience on the HBO hit as “playful, fun, and loose.” 

“There’s two cameras running and we can move around. They use Zoom lenses so the cameras are far off. It’s as close to theater as you can get while in front of a camera. So liberating, so free. It was exactly what I needed after seven months in the mud shooting The Northmen. It was a real treat and such a fun character to play,” Skarsgård concluded. 

Similarly, Skarsgård spoke fondly of his character in the upcoming drama Eric LaRue, which marks Michael Shannon’s feature directorial debut and sees playwright Brett Neveu stepping into the writer’s chair to adapt the script from his 2002 play.

Skarsgård plays Ron LaRue, the father of the eponymous character, who recently shot three boys on school grounds. He is also the husband of Janice LaRue, played by Judy Greer, who is struggling to come to terms with her son’s crimes. 

Ron, however, is handling things very differently than his wife. He’s found solace in a cult-like church that convinces him to pass on his pain to god. Skarsgård explained, “Ron is oddly buoyant and excited, and thrilled, which is kind of an oxymoron in a way since his son has committed a horrific act.”

Skarsgård continued, “He’s trying to wrap his head around how this could happen, how his darling son could do something so horrific — where did that anger come from? He’s found a solution to that problem which is that God had a plan and this was meant to happen.”

Skarsgård said the movie ventures into a “very dark subject matter,” which he found “incredibly challenging and interesting to explore.”

With titles such as Succession and The Northman under his belt (and recent works like Infinity Pool and Lee), he was drawn to Eric LaRue because of its “incredibly well-written screenplay” and the opportunity to reunite with his former costar Shannon, with whom he worked with in the 2010 crime thriller 13. “Working with Michael Shannon as a director was one of the most thrilling experiences of my career. Anyone who has seen him on screen knows what a terrific actor he is and how much he understands what an actor needs and is so incredibly intrigued and interested in the process,” Skarsgård said.

No complaints here. Our greedy hands will take as many roles as Skarsgård can handle.

Eric LaRue is currently seeking distribution and will screen June 13, 2023 and June 15, 2023 at the Tribeca Film Festival. Find out more on the Tribeca Film Festival website.