In Order of Disappearance star Stellan Skarsgård is in high spirits, cheerfully chatting about his dark and deadpan new movie.

 “It is almost a continuation of my work on A Somewhat Gentle Man, my first attempt at being funny in our very Scandinavian dark kind of way. I took it a lot further this time.”
Skarsgård is a versatile actor, with roles in the bleak Melancholia, the pulpy The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and the forthcoming Avengers: Age Of Ultron.
“I like funny material; everything from Marx Brothers to Billy Wilder films and Monty Python. I like humour to be unpredictable, and very human. I think man is a very funny creature but, at the same time, the most tragic creature. At once the most brutal and the most loveable creature on earth. And I try get as many facets of humanity into whatever I do as possible.”
Skarsgård’s filmography reads like a piece of surrealist comedy in and of itself – what other actor can boast of starring in superhero flick Thor one week and Lars Von Trier’s explicit art drama Nymphomaniac the next?
“I know!” he exclaims. “Strangely, I was a lot more naked in Thor 2 than I was in Nymphomaniac – for all the scandal surrounding Lars’ film, it was Thor 2 that had me running round in my underwear!”
Nymphomaniac was the sixth Von Trier movie Skarsgård has starred in: over the duo’s two decades-long collaboration, the actor has seen the controversial director grow and evolve.
“Technically, he’s one of the best directors in the world. In his first five films he was handcuffed by his skills. There was no life to them. Now, he’s become much more of an actors’ director. He’s more confident, there’s less bullshit. Early on he was totally controlling of his actors and they became cold and dead. Then he finally let loose and it worked. He had become a master of manipulating his actors, but he’s realised he can just ask us to do something and it works!”
Skarsgård has been in Von Trier’s most extreme films and defended his controversial Nazi comments at Cannes in 2011.
“He couldn’t get to the punchline, he forgot the punchline, and he sort of muddled up what he was saying,” he said. “But he was in a room with people that knew him. Everyone knows he’s not a Nazi.”
Although he considers the director a close friend, even Stellan has been occasionally shocked by Von Trier. The actor reveals that, while filming the rape scene in Dogville, Von Trier told him to play it “like a romantic comedy”.
“That was one of the only times I ever took a beat!” Skarsgård admits. “He has a self-editing problem, that’s one of the thrills. He throws out any idea he has. And at that stage, I had played raping Nicole Kidman five times, and he threw out this suggestion. I was speechless for a second. Of course, it doesn’t work! But that’s one of the fascinating things about working with him – you investigate the possibilities of a scene; your first impression of a scene or character isn’t always the truth.”
Skarsgård was of course shocked by the suicide of his Good Will Hunting co-star Robin Williams. He describes his time on Gus Van Sant’s film as “a beautiful experience”.
“When you sat down one on one with Robin, he was very calm and serious,” he adds, “but suddenly when people would join you, this irrepressible comedy brain would kick in – almost like a protection. What I thought was, ‘Is that how he survived school, by being funny?’ Like so many funny people, you feel it’s a coping mechanism, and he was funnier than anyone I knew.”

In Order Of Disappearance is in cinemas from September 12.