Alexander Skarsgard Talks Gay Sex Scenes, Drag, and His LGBT Fan Base

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Alexander Skarsgard Talks Gay Sex Scenes, Drag, and His LGBT Fan Base

alexander skarsgard

Alexander Skarsgard is no stranger to queer-friendly content and the Tarzan star is opening up about his experience filming gay sex scenes, dressing in drag for the premiere of a movie, and his LGBT fan base.

In an interview with Pride Source, Skarsgard said he is flattered to have the support of LGBT fans. He adds that he has always been accepting of the LGBT community because he grew up with strong gay role models:

“It’s always been the most natural thing to me because my uncle and godfather is a gay man and so growing up, even as a little toddler, it was just as natural as being straight. My aunt would show up with her husband and my uncle would show up with his husband. He was, by far, out of my father’s four siblings (Alexander’s father is actor Stellan Skarsgard), the most fashionable and the most trendy, cool guy. So, when I was a kid, he was the one I looked up to. I thought he was really badass: fit and awesome and cool, and obviously not because he was gay.

When I became a teenager and the kids made fun of other teenagers who were gay, I never really understood that. It just baffled me because my idol, my godfather, was gay, and he was the coolest guy I knew. I just couldn’t understand how that could be an insult.”

Skarsgard also talked about how he ended up in drag as Farrah Fawcett for the San Francisco premiere of The Diary of a Teenage Girl. The director of the film is a drag queen and he felt a little bit bland when getting ready for the premiere:

“I was sitting there with my grey suit and I just felt like, ‘Fucking hell, this is so boring; can I play as well?’ I said, ‘I wanna look like Farrah Fawcett.’ I showed them that iconic image from the early ’80s in that golden dress with the blonde hair, so that’s what we went for. I can’t quite say that we nailed it. I mean, they did an incredible job, but I think it’s tough with a dude who’s 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds. (Laughs) And with those heels, I was like 7 feet tall.

As physically demanding as shooting “Legend of Tarzan” was, it was nothing compared to that night in drag. Oh my god; walking around in those heels, in that super itchy, hot wig and the fake nails, I felt like Edward Scissorhands. I couldn’t even grab a drink.

He added, “I have tremendous respect for all the drag queens out there. I got a little taste of what it takes to look that fabulous.”

As for his work on HBO’s True Blood, in which he played a pansexual vampire, Skarsgard says it’s ridiculous that the show was written off by some as “too gay.” He also added that the show brought LGBT people into the homes of people who might otherwise not have been exposed to them: “…a lot of people who didn’t have anyone close to them in the LGBT community suddenly had someone in their living room every Sunday night that they loved.”

As for any advice he has for straight actors who are tasked with a gay sex scene as he was, Skarsgard says, “You just have to embrace it.” Of his two sex scenes on True Blood, Skarsgard says,

“They’re incredible scenes. I loved this scene and I remember talking to Theo (Alexander), who played the Greek lover of Russell Edgington (portrayed by Denis O’Hare), and that was the first gay sex scene I had on ‘True Blood.’ He’s also a straight guy and he was nervous; he had never kissed a guy before. I just said, ‘Look at the scene. It’s this nemesis and he comes in and then it gets seductive and you think they’re gonna make love and it gets into that and then suddenly my character stabs him in the back and he explodes. In two minutes, look at this emotional rollercoaster we’re taking the audience on. If we commit to this, it’s going to be an amazing scene and we’re going to be very happy with it forever. If we hold back, that’s when it gets awkward.’

Same thing shooting the other scene with Ryan (Kwanten) – we knew that it was coming because we shot a scene the previous year where I hypnotize him and say, like, ‘When you dream, dream sweet dreams of me.’ Because we did it in a very seductive way, when they said ‘wrap’ and I turned around and I saw the writers, I could just see in their eyes that they were like, ‘We’re definitely gonna see this dream later on in the show.’ We knew it was coming. You have to think of the scene and how it fits in and hopefully be excited about the scene. Then, just dive in.”

As for the next time Skarsgard will “do something as gay as ‘True Blood’ again”, he says, “Well, I mean, next time I get drunk probably.”

You can read Skarsgard’s full interview with Pride Source HERE.

Check out photos of Skarsgard in The Legend of Tarzan, which opens July 1, below.

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