From Eurovision To Game Of Thrones To A War

One could forgive Danish actor Pilou Asbaek for not picking up the phone when writer-director Tobias Lindholm calls. While the two men have collaborated on three acclaimed dramas since 2010, and their work together has earned them plenty of praise, Lindholm does put his leading man through his paces and then some. But when the work results in films like the latest Lindholm-Asbaek collaboration, the Oscar-nominated A War, it's worth it, says Asbaek.

"Tobias has become one of my closest and dearest friends, we are great at drinking drinks and eating good food together," he smiles. "I love him, and I get frustrated thinking about the day he's going to start using international actors rather than a good old Dane like me. But as good as we are when we're not shooting, we're as terrible when we are! We keep pushing each other — I expect him to be the best writer and director in the world and he expects… well, not acting but the opposite of acting because he just wants people to be. I know for a fact that if I had to follow a filmmaker to hell and back, it would be Tobias Lindholm."

"As good as we are when we're not shooting, we're as terrible when we are! We keep pushing each other..."

In A War, Asbaek plays Claus Pedersen, the commanding officer of a squad of Danish soldiers serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan. Tough but compassionate, he is faced with an impossible choice — one that has lasting repercussions — when he must decide between the welfare of his men and the safety of the Afghan civilians he has promised to protect.

It's compelling, confronting stuff, made with Lindholm's combination of documentary-style realism and cinematic panache and held together by Asbaek's rock-solid performance (surrounded by actual soldiers as his co-stars, he underwent a three-month boot camp to become "a character they would respect"). And it's all the more interesting because, as the actor reveals, not many people outside Denmark actually knew that Danish forces were fighting the so-called War On Terror.

"When it comes to Danish involvement, we have been a warring nation for the past 15, 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan," he says. "In Iraq we were peacekeeping troops; in Afghanistan we were peace-creating troops, which meant we would be aggressive. The Danes knew this and have discussed it a lot, but when we took this film to America or the UK or Australia or New Zealand no one knew about Denmark's involvement in Afghanistan. We were one of the first nations to go into Afghanistan, and many, many families have lost loved ones. To hear from other countries that they didn't know about that, I was like 'Jesus, man…'"

Given the intensity of his recent work (including a stint on Game Of Thrones as the notorious Euron Greyjoy: "I hope I'll be back next season but they won't tell me anything!"), it's nice to know Asbaek can still relax every once in a while, as he did when he hosted the Eurovision Song Contest broadcast in 2014.

"I've always been considered a very serious actor in these very hardcore dramas," he laughs. "Then I got this call: 'We think it would be funny if you hosted Eurovision.' I've never said no to a party in my life and I'm not about to start now. And it was a month of celebration. I loved it."