"I was terrified. Meeting a living legend like Stellan felt like facing my own inadequacies," confesses Renate Reinsve, the Oscar-nominated star, in an exclusive TheEntBase podcast interview. "That first table read in a plain office—just us staring at each other—was a brutal test of composure. How do you act opposite an icon when your hands are shaking?"
Skarsgård, seated beside her in London, drops a bombshell: "I was just as nervous. Renate’s raw talent is intimidating. We were two Oscar nominees, both secretly scared of each other."
This shocking admission of mutual intimidation fuels their explosive on-screen chemistry in Sentimental Value, where Skarsgård plays Gustav Borg, a self-absorbed director begging his estranged daughter Nora (Reinsve) to star in his new film. Off-screen, their bond is warm; on-screen, it’s a warzone of grief, neglect, and buried trauma. Nora and her sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleas) are reeling from their mother’s death—a woman whose life was shattered by Gustav’s career obsession.
Stellan Skarsgård and Renate Reinsve clash in 'Sentimental Value'. Christian Belgaux/Neon
Reinsve reveals director Joachim Trier’s ruthless vision: "He sees straight through your actor’s mask. After The Worst Person in the World, he pushed me into darker, uncharted emotional abyss. I knew it was coming, but facing my own hidden sadness? That’s the real horror."
Nora’s trauma runs deep: a theatre actress crippled by stage fright, she once attempted suicide—a secret her father never knew. "Every page of the script felt like a weight," Reinsve admits. "But that’s the gift: Trier’s writing is so layered, it forces you to confront demons you’ve buried."
Stellan Skarsgård as the flawed genius Gustav Borg. NEON
Skarsgård, electrified by the role, calls the film "a cinematic playground." He teases: "Gustav’s first scene—watching his family’s chaos from a distance, then diving back in—it’s a metaphor for the whole movie. I devoured it. This character is... let’s just say, uncomfortably real."
Behind the scenes, their fear transformed into trust. "We leaned into that nervous energy," Reinsve says. "It became the raw material for Nora and Gustav’s broken relationship. Sometimes, art demands you to be terrified first."
