Alexander Skarsgard is known for two things: playing a mean guy, and playing a hot guy, and most of the time they are the same guy. But what happens when his character actually translates into real life? This time, the Swedish actor almost hit a child while riding his bike. That child is climate activist Greta Thunberg.
In a new interview with The Times, the actor admitted that he narrowly missed the teenager while he was cycling to the interview in Stockholm. “I nearly ran over Greta Thunberg. She’s how we sell our country now,” he said, adding, “I almost hit her with my bike. Greta is like a modern-day Viking and, like Greta, the Vikings refused to fly.” Some would say that the viral marketing campaign for his new movie The Northman has gone a bit too far.
Thunberg is known for climate activism and was allegedly protesting at the time of the near-hit. Skarsgard is known for his hit TV shows True Blood and Big Little Lies. His latest movie, The Northman (no relation to his True Blood character of the same name) hits theaters later this month. In the film, Skarsgard plays a very shredded Viking who raids Slavic villages. Perhaps accidental violence is his way of method acting.
The Northman also stars Skarsgard’s Big Litte Lies wife Nicole Kidman (though she plays his mom in the film, so it’s fine), Anya Taylor-Joy, Björk, Ralph Ineson, Ethan Hawke, Claes Bang, and Willem Dafoe. The movie hits theaters on April 22nd.