You can now meet two of Sweden's most beloved actors on the big screen. In the dramatic comedy Andra Akten, it is Lena Olin and Rolf Lassgård who will now make us both laugh and cry.

Maybe I've always chased life a little too much. That something had to happen. I started thinking about the importance of waiting for life, for it to happen, and not just chasing it all the time.

Via Zoom, INRIKES meets up with Lena Olin and Rolf Lassgård, they are sitting next to each other in a hotel in Stockholm. The atmosphere is light-hearted. Both are close to laughing and get along very well. The second act is the first time they have worked together, but they both say they would love to do it again if the opportunity arises.
Congratulations, The Second Act is a fantastic film. You laugh and you cry.
Rolf: Lovely, fun!
Lena: Yes, it was wonderful to see the film at the gala premiere in Sweden in a salon together with an audience. Talk about incredibly wonderful.
There's a big recognition effect when you watch the film, when you're no longer 25 but still think you should put things off until the future, 'oh I'll do that another time, it'll have to be later'. Did you have any thoughts about the importance of making the most of the day when you were shooting the film?

Lena: I'm probably pretty good at making the most of the day, but it depends a bit on how you feel. On days when I feel good, I feel really good and I think it's really fun. But then you feel bad on some days and then nothing works. But I think a lot of people, including myself, can relate to this, thinking 'I'll do that later'. It's often the dreams, like in my character Eva's case, that suddenly there's no 'later', suddenly she sits there and becomes empty. The person I was when I was 12, I still am, and you have to learn to find that back if you haven't been in contact with that part of yourself for a whole life. I think Eva has been very good and has done everything for others. But suddenly she sits there, has stopped working and has been abandoned. Her son says in the film 'but do something that makes you happy, for your own sake' and she wonders 'what would it be?, I don't know'. There are probably many who recognize themselves in that.

Rolf: I think so too. When we made Act Two, my life had changed and I kind of got a little bit of butter on my sandwich when I reflected on the film's story. Maybe I've always chased life a little too much. That something has to happen. I started thinking about the importance of waiting for life, for it to happen, and not just chasing it all the time.

It's really good to let yourself take it easy sometimes.

Lena: Yes, but this job is quite addictive. You've come so far that you don't really know 'what would I do if I just thought about myself'. It's nice that there's always a script, a book or a poem to read. I always prepare very carefully for a new role, so when there's a gap and I suddenly have nothing to do for several weeks, I get anxious. I always need to have something to do, something new to learn, probably to calm the anxiety.

What do you do when you have free time to relax?

Rolf: I like monotonous tasks. I like to do something physical, like chopping wood and building a woodpile for drying. It doesn't have to be anything complicated. You do the same movements over and over again, but it's tangible and you're doing something while your mind can be in a completely different place. Once I finish the job, I'm very happy with myself and feel that my creativity is blossoming and I can sit down and read a manuscript.

Wonderful, and then you get to chop wood while you disconnect from your thoughts.
Rolf: Exactly.

Rolf Lassgard 

Age: 67. 
Family Three children and three grandchildren. 
Bor Eastern Skåne. 
Career in brief: Rolf Lassgård, one of our most beloved actors, is a two-time Guldbagge winner and has been seen in countless roles. From the priest Lasse who dares to take the step and come out as Marianne in My Father Marianne to the rough-skinned policeman in The Hunters and the grumpy orderly in Hannes Holm's two-time Oscar-nominated A Man Called Ove, for which Rolf was awarded a Guldbagge. At the beginning of the year, he could be seen in the SVT series Händelser vid vatten.
Currently In the cinema in the film The Second Act.

The film's second act 

The Swedish drama comedy Andra Akten went straight to number one on the Swedish cinema charts. The film is a story about friendship, joy of life and hope. The main roles are played by Lena Olin and Rolf Lassgård. The director is Mårten Klingberg, who also directed Min pappa Marianne with Rolf in one of the main roles. In the film we meet the recently retired Eva (Lena Olin) who feels a bit lost in life. Her son has moved away and her ex-husband has remarried and moved in across the street. To have something to do, Eva takes on an extra job to help the eccentric star actor Harald Skoog (Rolf Lassgård) with rehabilitation after a stroke. What starts as a disaster grows into warm friendship, budding joy of life and into a hope that life is not over. In fact, it may not even have begun.

In the film we see a beautiful Stockholm in the summer. Do you have any favorite places in Stockholm?

Lena: For me it's Djurgården. I grew up in Stockholm and walked a lot on Djurgården. I love it.

Rolf: I've never lived in Stockholm, so my favorite places are probably elsewhere. At home in Jämtland and also down in Skåne where I live now, in eastern Skåne.

Do you have any advice for your 25-year-old self in terms of career?

Lena: I don't think so. I was very unsure about certain things then, and I still am. But I don't think there's so much that I think 'I should have known that' or 'I should have told myself that'. I guess I did the best I could (laughs) and tried to feel good and fight forward. Rolf: I would like to say thank you to that 25-year-old (laughs) for not giving up.

What are you doing this spring?

Rolf: I'm going to shoot a Danish film called Rome.

Lena: I'm going back to New York and then I'm going to travel to various festivals in the US where our film Hilma will be shown before it has its US premiere. Then I'm in two other films for which there is some post-production and press activities. And if everything goes well, I'll start a new film in August. But there's a lot of PR work, it takes a lot of time when a film is to be launched.

How do you view social media? Are you active?

Lena: I think Instagram is fun, both personally and professionally. You can show pictures from a premiere and also considering that we are in different parts of the world, it's really fun to see what others are doing, 'well, now they've gone to the country' and stuff like that. You can also keep in touch with people that you may not have an email relationship with. I like it. Thankfully, I haven't been hit with any hate. And I'm not a teenager either and I don't feel dependent on everyone thinking I have the right look all the time. But social media shouldn't take over too much, of course.

Rolf: It's pretty much the same here. I only have Instagram, but it's changed a bit there. As soon as you look at something, you're bombarded with ads and other material. So I try to be a little restrictive with what I look at.

Lena: Yes, I know. I happened to watch a clip of a funny baby and then was bombarded with eighteen thousand videos about babies.

I've even been kicked out of a movie set because I couldn't stop laughing; 'get out of here and stop laughing.'.

What makes you laugh out loud?

Lena: I laugh at stupid things, I think it's really funny when people pull their asses. I can't laugh at funny stories, I just get nervous because I know I might not laugh. I'm quite funny and I remember from school that I could start laughing at nothing and not be able to stop.

You then Lasse, what makes you laugh. Oh, no Rolf, I happened to say Lasse. Sorry!! My brain is confusing Lena's husband Lasse with Lassgård. Sorry!

Lena: I've done that too! The other day I said to my daughter 'soon I'll talk to Lasse Hallström. No, what can I say, he's my husband. I'm going to talk to Rolf Lassgård, I mean!' (laughs)

Rolf: (laughs) Lasse is a name that's always there! I had a role where my character was called Lars-Martin and in one scene I say 'if you call me Lasse I'll kill you'.

Luckily I'm far away on Zoom then!

Rolf: (laughs) In terms of humor, I can also laugh at things that are a bit forbidden to laugh at. I've even been sent off a film set because I couldn't stop laughing; 'get out of here and finish laughing.'‘

Lena: It has also happened to me that I have been at work and laughed at something, and couldn't stop. You feel unprofessional and you get so nervous that you sweat, but you still can't stop laughing.

Do you have any unknown talents that people don't know about?

Rolf: I'm very good at air guitar.

Any particular song?

Rolf: The entire Jimi Hendrix repertoire.

Do you spin the guitar around your body when you play solos?

Rolf: It's a bit difficult (laughs) but my teeth are good. I can play with my teeth (laughs).

You are both very popular and often get recognized. Do you have any idols that you have lost your cool with?

Lena: My husband Lasse and I stayed at the Grand Hotel once, along with all the Nobel Prize winners. I was so impressed. They were so humorous and had such a distance, while being the smartest people in the world. Talking to these intelligent people made me a little starstruck.

Rolf: When I met Bruce Springsteen at a recording of the TV show Late Night with Luuk, I was pretty quiet at first. But things got better and it was really nice to talk to him.

What are you watching or reading right now?

Lena: I'm reading a book that might be made into a movie, but I can't say what it is. Rolf: I've just finished watching the TV series White Lotus. The first season.

Lena Olin

Age: 67. Family: Husband and three children. Two dogs. 
Bor In Bedford outside New York, country houses in Skåne and in the Stockholm archipelago. Apartment in Stockholm. 
Career in brief: Lena Olin has appeared in a number of acclaimed productions during her acclaimed international career. Her breakthrough came with Varats unbelievably lightness, which was followed by Chocolat, The Reader and the TV series Hunters to name just a few. For her performance in Fiender, a story about love, Lena was awarded the New York Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress and also received an Oscar nomination. Last year, the film Hilma premiered, in which she plays opposite her daughter Tora. 
Currently In the cinema in the film The Second Act.

Is it easy to let go of your children, which Lena's character in the film doesn't want to do?

Lena: You never let go completely, but you have to make sure it happens gradually. Our son has been married for a long time and has lived in different places and for a long time I kept writing 'text when you get home' only to get a response 'stop, put it down, we just can't do that'. My daughter Tora is 27 and incredibly independent, but I never let go. The children are clearly present even though they don't live at home anymore. They are part of our lives. You have to trust your children and it's easier with some children than others, that's just how it is (laughs).

Rolf: You have to be a little crafty. I've discovered that Thursdays are a good day of the week to get in touch. If you call on a Friday, there's a risk that they'll be out and then the worry starts ticking away, 'how are you going to get home and stuff like that'. And I've noticed that you can't ask 'where are you?' 'what are you doing?', that doesn't work at all. It's better to ask 'did you watch the hockey game on Saturday?' because then you know you'll get an answer.

Lena: You have to learn, you have to take it with you.

Do you have any companies or business interests outside of acting?

Lena: No, nothing like that. I wouldn't be good at it.

Rolf: Same here, it's never interested me. There's a coffee shop called Kaffe by Lassgård, but it drives my daughter. I just drink it!

Do you have any retirement plans? Is there a tipping point where you stop working and start playing golf or something like that instead?

Lena: No, it's a painful thought sometimes that in our industry you're constantly waiting to be invited. But I think it's like music; as long as the music is playing, I'm dancing. That's who I am and I feel most comfortable with myself when I'm working. It's more challenging for me not to work. I like to have something to do.

Rolf: It's a process. In Sweden, you're constantly reminded of it. If you go to ICA and shop, they'll kindly ask 'should we get the 5% today?' They don't call it a pensioner's discount, but that's what they mean. You get asked by pension insurance companies if you want to start taking them out. So you're constantly reminded. But I think it'll probably be a smooth transition in some way. But I don't see myself saying that there's a point where you become a pensioner and say 'now I'm quitting and retiring'. As long as it's fun, I want to continue.