Peter Stormare: ‘I believe in aliens and UFOs – I pity people who don’t’ - The Independent

The prolific Swedish character actor, best known for feeding Steve Buscemi to a woodchipper in ‘Fargo’, talks to Adam White about psychic powers, Disneyland, and why choosing movies is a bit like being in Oasis.

Whether in theatre or movies or not, I had to leave because it was in my body, like someone had told me deep inside.

Just wait for the right moment, I’ll let you know when it’s time.”.

Considering his devilish, mischievous face – sharp beard, sleepy eyes, that marvellous Roman nose – and how often it’s been used to embody abject villainy on-screen, Stormare is surprisingly gentle.

Stormare is the epitome of a “Hey, it’s that guy!” actor.

But you don’t actually know an actor like Peter Stormare.

It’s called The Obscure Life of the Grand Duke of Corsica, and stars Timothy Spall as a British architect asked to design a mausoleum for a terminally ill eccentric played by Stormare.

“I think it’s like being one of the Oasis brothers,” he begins.

It’s like they think every song they do will become the biggest hit ever, you know.

But it’s nice to be away from the big machinery of Hollywood, where there’s like 300 people surrounding you and everything is paint-by-numbers.” He jumps back a metaphor.

In smaller movies or on TV, they don’t care.”.

As it happens, he’s just flown back into Los Angeles from filming one in Sweden, for what sounds like a Scandi variant of Homebase.

While the young Stormare was sure he’d end up working in movies, it took him a while to actively pursue it.

Despite the sheer number of classic movies on his resume, though, Stormare has barely seen anything he’s made.

“It’s like, you don’t want to hear yourself on tape, or see yourself in a photo.

Whether he’s watched them or not, those movies have defined a life worlds away from the priesthood he was also tempted by as a child.

He doesn’t know why he was drawn to religion, just like he doesn’t know why he was so certain he’d end up in America.

“As Jesus Christ said, you don’t have to go to church, you are your own temple.” He says he doesn’t necessarily believe in a god.

I get asked whether I believe in aliens and UFOs, and I say, yeah, because it’s more fun to believe than just to be a naysayer to everything?

I pity people who don’t believe in anything, or believe that you die and everything becomes black!

He says he’s “well prepped” for his own death as a result, but that might also be because he’s acted out practically every fatal scenario imaginable.

“I think I had around 100 squibs there,” Stormare says, stroking his beard

“It’s the only time I’ve seen my father crying,” Stormare says

“He was sitting on a bench just outside the Space Mountain, with tears in his eyes, and he said, ‘How the hell could you know about this when you were five years old?’ I said, ‘I really don’t know… I just knew.’ So I was able to do that and, yeah, prove to them that I was right all along.” He cracks a cheeky smile