{"id":144536,"date":"2026-08-12T18:35:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T18:35:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/144536\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T18:35:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T18:35:14","slug":"anders-danielsen-lie-revisits-the-making-of-oslo-august-31st","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/144536\/","title":{"rendered":"Anders Danielsen Lie Revisits the Making of &#8216;Oslo, August 31st&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"1024\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SEQUELS-WEEK-SQUARE-BUG-1-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1235209643\" style=\"width:131px;height:auto\"  \/><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/features\/general\/indiewire-sequels-week-landing-page-schedule-1235208220\/\">This article is part of IndieWire\u2019s Sequels Week. Click here for the full schedule of essays, lists, and in-depth interviews.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOslo, August 31st\u201d (2011) is not a sequel in the sense that \u201cJaws 2\u201d or \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/features\/best-of\/alien-movies-ranked-worst-to-best-prometheus-covenant-1201817323\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/features\/best-of\/alien-movies-ranked-worst-to-best-prometheus-covenant-1201817323\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aliens<\/a>\u201d are sequels. It only assumed position as the middle child of Joachim Trier\u2019s \u201cOslo Trilogy\u201d retroactively, once the \u201cThe Worst Person in the World\u201d (2021) catalyzed a link between the two above titles and \u201cReprise\u201d (2006). An actor in all three, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/t\/anders-danielsen-lie\/\" id=\"auto-tag_anders-danielsen-lie\" data-tag=\"anders-danielsen-lie\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Anders Danielsen Lie<\/a> tells me about making the connection: \u201cI read the script for \u2018<a data-id=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/criticism\/movies\/the-worst-person-in-the-world-review-joachim-trier-1234649577\/\" data-type=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/criticism\/movies\/the-worst-person-in-the-world-review-joachim-trier-1234649577\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Worst Person in the World,<\/a>\u2019 and one of my initial reactions was that it made \u2018Oslo\u2019 and \u2018Reprise\u2019 feel more related. It makes sense to call them a trilogy, because of the themes and these characters being shuffled around in this cultural milieu in Oslo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/news\/business\/american-film-market-afm-expands-ai-tech-companies-1235210223\/\" title=\"\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-card-index=\"0\" data-post-id=\"1235210223\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/The-AFM-HOUSE-pavilion-century-park-1.png\" alt=\"The AFM House, which will be located at The Pavilion at Century Park in Century City in Los Angeles.\" height=\"168\" width=\"300\"   loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-attachment-id=\"1235210225\" data-wp-size=\"nova_size__sixteenbynine_small_cropped\"\/><\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/news\/breaking-news\/charlie-and-the-chocolate-factory-netflix-theaters-1235210208\/\" title=\"\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-card-index=\"1\" data-post-id=\"1235210208\"><img src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Willy-Wonka.jpg\" alt=\"WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, Gene Wilder, Oompa-Loompas, 1971\" height=\"168\" width=\"300\"   loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-attachment-id=\"1234728394\" data-wp-size=\"nova_size__sixteenbynine_small_cropped\"\/><\/a> <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/awards\/consider-this\/anders-danielsen-lie-worst-person-in-the-world-bergman-island-consider-this-1234680797\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/awards\/consider-this\/anders-danielsen-lie-worst-person-in-the-world-bergman-island-consider-this-1234680797\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Danielsen Lie<\/a> and Trier first met in the summer of 2005 when the director was casting \u201cReprise,\u201d his kinetic, fragmentary, French New Wave-inspired debut feature about two young men with passionate literary ambitions. Danielsen Lie was cast as Philip, who outpaces his best friend in the pursuit of literary success only to unravel with equal pizzazz. Years later, Danielsen Lie was pleasantly surprised to receive a call from Trier, saying that he wanted him to lead an Oslo-set remake of \u201cLe Feu Follet\u201d (\u201cThe Fire Within\u201d), a French novel by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, published in 1937, and the basis for Louis Malle\u2019s 1963 cinematic despair poem of the same name.<\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t a casual inquiry.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wrote it for him. I wouldn\u2019t have done it without him,\u201d Trier told Interview magazine in 2012. \u201cAnders in real life is kind of a renaissance man. He\u2019s a doctor, and he\u2019s working as a doctor at the moment. He\u2019s also a musician. He\u2019s released a couple of albums. He\u2019s written a book. He\u2019s done a lot of work. He\u2019s done some journalist work, and he\u2019s an actor. So I actually sort of triggered his curiosity about this part by saying, \u2018Listen, man, with all your talents in a dark alternative universe, it could come to nothing. And how would that feel?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The dark alternative universe version of Anders (also called Anders) is a recovering heroin addict suffering from suicidal depression. The timespan of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiewire.com\/t\/film\/\" id=\"auto-tag_film\" data-tag=\"film\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">film<\/a> is maybe 24 hours yet it holds the weight of the life that hangs in the balance. He starts the day by silently leaving the bed of an unknown woman and wading into a lake with rocks in his pockets. When this attempt doesn\u2019t go to plan, he returns to his inpatient rehab facility before heading off to Oslo to visit his best friend, attend a job interview, see his old family home, and go to a party. As he does these ordinary things, dread seeps into the film like an invisible poison. A lot of this emerges from Danielsen Lie\u2019s untouchable embodiment of despair.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s the closest I\u2019ve been to a method acting experiment,\u201d Danielsen Lie said. \u201cIt was built from the inside out. It was all character psychology for me.\u201d He haunts his own film like a ghost before the fact. His physical charms distract companions from the desperation of his internal plight. Like many of the characters he has played within Trier\u2019s films, he wears the educated arrogance of someone primed to belong to intellectual culture. He has an Olympian smile and is adept at charming women (a tortured sense of mystery is scarcely a turn-off), still, he is barely keeping his head above water.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOslo, August 31st\u201d premiered in the Un Certain Regard strand at the 2010 edition of the Cannes Film Festival. It went down a storm. Amongst its admirers: Cate Blanchett who hooked Danielsen Lie up with Hylda Queally, the American agent he has to this day. But Danielsen Lie was at a crossroads. Pre-Oslo he had been studying medicine and he didn\u2019t want to let that go. So, he didn\u2019t!<\/p>\n<p>Although he has built a name over the years as an international arthouse actor, he has remained a medical professional. For most of his career, while not on acting jobs, he has been a GP in Oslo. During Covid-19, he moved to administration as a Chief Medical Officer and now he works on public healthcare planning. It\u2019s educational but he is missing his patients. (\u201cThat\u2019s the essence of doctoring.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>We talk while he is on vacation near Harstad \u2014 a town above the polar circle \u2014 after a day hiking in the mountains with his family. Many people would be deliciously tired after such wholesome exertion and not want to spend their evenings raking over the past with a chatty English journalist. However, he revealed that he enjoys working on vacations, using the freed up headspace to focus on projects there is no time for when working on a film. \u201cI don\u2019t have that on and off switch, unfortunately,\u201d he said, and dropped intriguing details about a book project he is researching on the history of a particularly colorful family member.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He hasn\u2019t watched \u201cOslo, August 31st\u201d in a long while \u2014 he doesn\u2019t like to watch any of his films more than three times. Still, it remains a formative experience. Over the course of 100 minutes, I learn how instrumental he was in the creation of this film in ways that extend beyond (and yet are held within) that formidable lead performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"553\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MCDOSAU_EC007.jpg\" alt=\"OSLO, AUGUST 31ST, (aka OSLO, 31. AUGUST), Anders Danielsen Lie, 2011. &#xA9;Strand Releasing\/Courtesy Everett Collection\" class=\"wp-image-1234681260\"  \/>\u2018Oslo, August 31\u2019\u00a9Strand Releasing\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n<p>IndieWire: Did you ever get lost in the character? You hear these stories of, for example, Vivian Leigh having a breakdown after \u201cA Streetcar Named Desire\u201d. What was your experience of embodying Anders?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Anders Danielsen Lie: The shoot was around 40 days, and I remember staying in a bubble for those 40 days. The English translation of the French book [by Pierre Drieu la Rochelle] is The Fire Within. That was my guiding star. I wanted to make the audience feel that there was something burning inside me, but there would never be any very expressive emotional eruption and that was also Joachim\u2019s style. He had a much more restrained style then. He was very interested in Bresson. I had also read Bresson and was inspired by all his ideas about the actor as a canvas for the audience\u2019s thoughts and feelings. So I wanted to create quiet intensity and at the same time, I wanted the character to be open enough for interpretation. I want to provoke thoughts in the audience but I don\u2019t want to tell you what to feel. That\u2019s not my taste and I try to think about it in my own work as an actor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This was not supposed to be a film about drug addiction, per se. Mostly we thought of it as a film about loneliness, and a portrait of someone who can\u2019t connect with other people. But, given my medical background and medical training \u2014\u00a0I\u2019d worked at a drug facility a couple of years before we shot the film \u2014 it was tempting to start smuggling in research. We did that too. We visited a lot of addiction clinics and facilities for addicts. There\u2019s a group therapy scene in the film where we had cast people from one of these clinics and I also think the therapist in the film worked as a real therapist at the clinic.<\/p>\n<p>What is your most vivid memory from the shoot?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s very hard to answer that question because, in many ways, my most vivid memory is trying to be in the present moment for 40 days. It was like being on a silent retreat, I\u2019ve never been to a silent retreat in my life. But I was so concerned about concentration, trying to stay in the present moment.<\/p>\n<p>Do you feel a little disassociated from it, like it was almost a 40-day trance?<\/p>\n<p>I was definitely dissociated from whatever else happened on that set, because, to engage with other people on the set, eating lunch with them, etc, felt like a violation of the rules I had set for myself. I was not supposed to step out of that bubble. I\u2019ve never worked like that again. If I were to do a similar role today, I don\u2019t think I would work that way. I would think of it as a bit naive. But it worked for me on that film. At that point in my life and in my career I had done one film as an adult, so I was pretty inexperienced. I didn\u2019t have a bunch of other techniques to rely on. I didn\u2019t have any formal training. So I was just trying to follow my intuition.<\/p>\n<p>Can I ask how you and Joachim first met, and how you realized you shared a kind of cinematic affinity?<\/p>\n<p>Yeah. So we met during the casting of his first film. I think we immediately sensed that there was a chemistry and a willingness to work in a very intuitive fashion and in a very analytical way at the same time. I remember on \u201cOslo, August 31st,\u201d we almost didn\u2019t communicate with words at all on set, because we had reached a new level of communication. In the preparations to the film, we discussed a lot about everything, character psychology and the story, and how to adapt this old French novel and French film into something that felt like a contemporary Norwegian story. But the moment we started shooting the film, I could just look at his face and know exactly what he wanted and vice versa.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And was it like that from \u201cReprise,\u201d or was it more from \u201cOslo\u201d that you started to have an almost telepathic connection?<\/p>\n<p>I think we used \u201cReprise\u201d to get to know each other. For me, \u201cReprise\u201d was a very tough shoot. It was a difficult part and complicated script with complicated ambitious structure. And it was his debut as a director.\u00a0 We maybe both felt that there was something more to explore in our director-actor relationship. So I was very happy when he called and wanted me to play in \u201cOslo.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"551\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MCDOSAU_EC001.jpg\" alt=\"OSLO, AUGUST 31ST, (aka OSLO, 31. AUGUST), from left: Anders Danielsen Lie, Malin Crepin, 2011. &#xA9;Strand Releasing\/Courtesy Everett Collection\" class=\"wp-image-1234695727\"  \/>\u2018Oslo, August 31st\u2019\u00a9Strand Releasing\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n<p>Did you know he had written \u201cOslo\u201d specifically for you?<\/p>\n<p>He said that. And it made sense that he wanted me to do it, even though that character is very different from me and I\u2019ve never been in such a dark place in my life. But I had a personal story with addiction-not myself, but someone close in my family, and I also had a feeling of being lonely sometimes. I could feel alienated and not always able to connect, even though I was surrounded by friends and people that I knew loved me very much. If you know that feeling, you can play it. So maybe he felt that I was someone who could do that in a convincing way. I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n<p>That quality of feeling alienated while role-playing in company really comes over in your characterization. There are scenes where you have a lot to say, or you\u2019re charismatic and flirty, but it doesn\u2019t convince us. Maybe because of the way the film is crafted and that early scene that is really hard to watch when you walk into the lake. Were those real rocks or movie rocks that you were holding?<\/p>\n<p>They were real rocks! We had divers in the bottom of that lake, but it turned out there was something wrong with the oxygen tanks, so when I got to the bottom, there was no oxygen.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What?!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I had a feeling that the shot for that scene, which was supposed to be one take, was just perfect. So I was on the bottom of that lake, thinking, \u201cWell, now I really have to just rise to the occasion and stay here for as long as possible.\u201d I counted how many seconds that was. I don\u2019t remember now.<\/p>\n<p>I timed it. 22 seconds.<\/p>\n<p>22? Wow, that\u2019s pretty impressive. Oh, I mean, it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n<p>It is.<\/p>\n<p>There was so much to think about during that scene. I remember thinking at the bottom, \u201cNow I should go up. I think this is good enough,\u201d because it couldn\u2019t be too long either, because it was supposed to be one take and we had to get on with the scene and we wanted this morning light! We were pretty happy with the scene, and we had a couple of scenes like that where we felt that we just had a great day at work. We shot on film. It was a very ambitious, complicated mise-en-sc\u00e8ne with a lot of shots that we had planned in detail. For example, the ending is a nine minute-one take shot. People had to move furniture so that we wouldn\u2019t see any of the crew or the equipment. I had one phone call, I was supposed to play a piano piece and shoot up heroin with a needle in my arm. Prepping for some of these scenes was like prepping for sports championships, so we had a lot of fun. Actually, even though the film might be dark and depressing and even disturbing for some people to watch, we had a lot of fun making it because it was really \u201cmaking movies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was super fun to make \u201cOslo, August 31st\u201d!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are some nuances. If you asked my wife, she would say that I was not in a good place during those 40 days.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe you had a bubble in your brain from the lake scene.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, it wasn\u2019t very deep in that lake. I don\u2019t remember how deep I went, but I went to the bottom and stayed there until I figured it was time to get up.<\/p>\n<p>And am I right in understanding that you just did one take and that was the take that was in the film?<\/p>\n<p>We did two takes. And I think they were both pretty good, but in the second take, I was too emotionally expressive when I got up from the lake. Right after we had shot the second take, I felt that that was the best take. But then I knew that Joachim wanted a very restrained style of acting. As an actor, you tend to sometimes be more emotionally expressive than you should, because the only thing that feels true is when you reach some kind of emotional state that feels good. But it\u2019s not always right. It\u2019s been a while since I watched the film in its entirety, but I think it would have been too early for the character to crack up emotionally. He is not supposed to do that at that point in the film. Some of his problems are that he can\u2019t connect. He can\u2019t release his emotions either. So there was a dramaturgical thing but I have never seen the second take.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I understand that you had a great period, where you were in rehearsals testing Eskil Vogt\u2019s writing, and feeding back on what worked and what didn\u2019t in the writing and then rehearsing the new material, etc?<\/p>\n<p>It was a very special working process because Eskil and Joachim were supposed to start shooting \u201cLouder Than Bombs,\u201d and then that film was postponed, and Joachim got an idea: what if we shoot a film in Norway really fast? They don\u2019t usually work like that. They spend a couple of years writing a script, and then it\u2019s casting, pre-production, everything. But on \u201cOslo\u201d they got this idea. I think it was in March or February 2010, and because it was technically a remake, we had the framework of the film, so we could actually start pre-production without a script.<\/p>\n<p>We had an idea of the key scenes, and then they wrote a couple of drafts for those scenes. We tested them out in casting, finding especially the Thomas character, the friend of Anders, but also some improv that we did with the party sequence. So we could test out the material, and they could go back to the writing room and integrate some of the improv and the results from the rehearsals. And then we could rewrite, test out and go back to the writing room\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve always been interested in getting a mix between written scenes with composition and dramaturgy but at the same time, the style of acting should be close to a reality that we know. It is supposed to almost feel improvised and documentary-like. So we wanted to get the best of both worlds and that seemed like a very useful way of working. We continued working that way on \u201cThe Worst Person in The World,\u201d and I believe they also did that on \u201cSentimental Value.\u201d I was not such a big part of that film, but this is the Trier-Vogt way of working, and I feel like I\u2019ve been one of the contributors to that style. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s unique. People have had that kind of ambition before. For example, Cassavettes has been a big inspiration, at least for me, and I think for Joachim too.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"571\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MCDREPR_EC002.jpg\" alt=\"REPRISE, Anders Danielsen Lie (center, white shirt), 2006. &#xA9;Nordisk Film International Sales\/Courtesy Everett Collection\" class=\"wp-image-1234695729\"  \/>\u2018Reprise\u2019Nordisk Film International Sales\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n<p>Between \u201cReprise\u201d and \u201cOslo,\u201d it feels like you were invited into the film earlier, and through this process, even informed the script. So, it feels like a film that might contain some of your ideas within the writing?<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, I think so. I could also contribute quite a lot because I had that medical background. We got easier access to medical facilities and clinics and people that were interesting to talk to and so we could do research very effectively given the time frame of the production. We didn\u2019t have much time. Everything was happening simultaneously, writing the script, doing research, location scouting and that created a very interesting momentum. I don\u2019t think it would have been possible to do that for a film like \u201cSentimental Value\u201d, which was much more complicated to make in terms of locations and production, but for \u201cOslo,\u201d it made sense.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a very funny exchange when you go to your dealer and he says, \u201cI thought you were clean,\u201d and you say, \u201cYeah.\u201d And he\u2019s like, \u201cOh, congrats! \u201cThat\u2019s awesome!\u201d He\u2019s so happy that you\u2019re clean as he is weighing out a gram of heroin for you.<\/p>\n<p>Absolutely. Sometimes I forget the humor in the film. There are many moments that really make me laugh. I was afraid that people would be bored by watching my face being depressed throughout the course of a movie. I wanted there to be dynamics, both in the mood of the character, but also in the film, like I really wanted there to be funny moments and also moments where you could watch this character laugh and be in a lighter place. If you\u2019re depressed all the time, there\u2019s nothing to lose, there\u2019s nothing at stake. But if you watch him smile or laugh, then you get a hope that maybe this will turn out well after all.<\/p>\n<p>To me,\u00a0 there was never any hope because he was already half-checked out of everything that he was doing. He had feelings and emotions that he would express imperfectly, especially with his friends, but he never seemed very into things.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>No, I think you\u2019re totally right. At the end where these two girls are in the pool with his friend, he\u2019s watching them, and you can see a very ambivalent expression on his face. What I was trying to play there was that the character is thinking, \u201cWhy don\u2019t I enjoy this? Why don\u2019t I desire? Why don\u2019t I cherish this moment? This is the most beautiful thing a person can experience in life. To hang out with these people on a beautiful summer night in Oslo, why am I unable to enjoy this moment?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s that term, anhedonia, where you can\u2019t feel joy.<\/p>\n<p>Right, exactly.<\/p>\n<p>So, you have immersed yourself in a character like this as an actor, do you encounter people in a similar situation to Anders as a doctor?<\/p>\n<p>Absolutely, I\u2019ve met many people like that.<\/p>\n<p>And what\u2019s your approach?<\/p>\n<p>Well, every person, every individual, every patient is unique. As a healthcare professional,\u00a0 I think that this is one of the worst diseases or worst tragedies a person can experience, when you get that feeling that people are desperately in need of help, but they\u2019re almost impossible to help. And they have good people around them, and people who love them and care about them, and still they\u2019re not able to enjoy that help and appreciate it. What do you do in that situation? It\u2019s easier for me as a medical professional to deal with that because I know that there are obvious limitations to what I can do. Healthcare in Norway is basically a voluntary thing. If people don\u2019t want my help, I can\u2019t do anything about that. I can only try to motivate as much as I can but I shouldn\u2019t be too emotionally involved as a doctor. But if you\u2019re a family member or this is your girlfriend or boyfriend or your brother or sister, it\u2019s much much harder. I feel their desperation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There is an interesting contrast in the two roles you have in life. Actors make themselves incredibly vulnerable. You don\u2019t have control over the cut. You wait in between takes for a setup, and then you come and give something. Whereas doctors are the authority figures and it\u2019s the patient exposing themselves, so it\u2019s interesting that in one role you\u2019re the person with the power and then another like you\u2019re giving up a lot of power .<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, I think you\u2019re onto something there, but the biggest difference in my head is that when I work as a doctor, I\u2019m more rational. I\u2019m not investigating a chaotic emotional part of my brain. It\u2019s the opposite. I have to deal with people in crises and people in very emotional states, but I have to try to stay calm and focused and work out solutions. That\u2019s something I enjoy because in life in general \u2013 and when I work as an actor \u2014 I\u2019m very neurotic. There\u2019s a lot of emotions all the time. So when I work as a doctor, I get some free time away from that part of myself. Other people can be emotional. Other people can be irrational and I can be responsible.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re probably one of the few people that sees being a doctor as downtime.<\/p>\n<p>[Laughs], no I would never say that.<\/p>\n<p>I know. I\u2019m sorry. I think my jokes are stressing you out.<\/p>\n<p>No, not at all. I know it sounds crazy to say that. Being a doctor is exhausting and it\u2019s stressful, but in a totally different way to acting. I feel like I\u2019ve landed in my office as a GP after very tough shoots because it\u2019s something totally different, and I get to use a different part of my brain. I feel very privileged to have that opportunity to do such different things. In theory, it\u2019s not supposed to work to do both. I\u2019ve said that to myself many times that I have to quit something. But I still haven\u2019t been able to do that.<\/p>\n<p>And now you\u2019re writing a book as well.<\/p>\n<p>And now I\u2019m doing things even more complicated.<\/p>\n<p>Well, you are a man who appreciates that we only have limited time on Earth. Speaking of time, how does it feel looking back on the fact that Renate Reinsve had a small role in \u201cOslo,\u201d knowing that you went on to work very intimately together on \u201cThe Worst Person in the World\u201d and \u201cSentimental Value.\u201d Do you recall meeting her during the making of \u201cOslo\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, absolutely. We met during the casting of \u201cOslo.\u201d We didn\u2019t know exactly what role she was supposed to play. We just enjoyed her energy and her vibe, and we thought she was very talented. So we wanted to have her in the film. I remember saying to her, \u201cSome time you should play the lead. I can play a smaller role.\u201d That ended up being \u201cThe Worst Person in the World\u201d. And the rest is history. I\u2019m very proud of her. She feels like a little sister to me, and I feel very closely connected to her. I can sometimes be annoyed with her and then jealous, but deep down, I think she\u2019s a very, very talented actor, and I love working with her. It\u2019s always a treat. If she\u2019s my fellow actor, I know that we will always figure out a difficult scene because she adds so much, and we can get to crazy places. She\u2019s a lot of fun to work with.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"683\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1327784222.jpg\" alt=\"CANNES, FRANCE - JULY 09: Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie attend the \" verdens=\"\" verste=\"\" menneske=\"\" worst=\"\" person=\"\" in=\"\" the=\"\" world=\"\" photocall=\"\" during=\"\" annual=\"\" cannes=\"\" film=\"\" festival=\"\" on=\"\" july=\"\" france.=\"\" by=\"\" pascal=\"\" le=\"\" segretain=\"\" images=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1234945225\"  \/>Anders Danielsen Lie and Renate Reinsve attend the \u201cVerdens Verste Menneske (The Worst Person In The World)\u201d photocall during the 74th annual Cannes Film Festival on July 9, 2021 Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>So \u201cOslo\u201d premiered in Cannes. Can you remember what that was like?<\/p>\n<p>Oh, that was a very special experience. Although sometimes in those ecstatic moments in your life, the hardest thing is to really take it all in. To be present is the toughest part. I was a bit overwhelmed. I was very nervous because I was such a big part of that film. It was incredibly well-received and I was very happy about that. At the same time, I felt a bit empty. I was supposed to start my medical residency in the fall after Cannes. It all looked very nice on the outside, but I was also very confused because I knew that, \u201cIf I go all in on this acting career now, there\u2019s a risk I might not complete my education as a doctor.\u201d That was a big dilemma at the time. What should I do about that?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So what I ended up doing was I got a fantastic American agent. I went to the U.S. and met a lot of casting people, and I got back to Norway and went straight to this remote town outside of Oslo and started my residency. I didn\u2019t shoot any films for one and a half years. I sometimes ask myself, \u201cWould I\u2019ve gotten the kind of career that Renate has gotten if I had seized that opportunity?\u201d But at the same time, I\u2019ve always had this strong feeling that I have to do something else. It\u2019s not enough for me to be an actor. It doesn\u2019t feel like real life, and it\u2019s not. It\u2019s fiction in every sense of that word. Maybe if I was a different person, if I enjoyed it more\u2026<\/p>\n<p>You don\u2019t enjoy acting?<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s complicated. Often it\u2019s very painful. It might have to do with the kind of parts I\u2019ve played, because I\u2019ve played a lot of depressed characters and terrorists. I\u2019ve struggled to play those characters in a convincing way. When I feel like we\u2019ve nailed a scene that gives me a lot of satisfaction but I need something else to feel like a full human being.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe, as you suggest, acting would be a different experience if you played less tormented characters. Would you like to, I don\u2019t know, play a rom-com lead?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yeah yeah, yeah. And I\u2019m trying to do that more now. I\u2019ve done a couple of\u2026 \u201cEverybody Digs Bill Evans\u201d is not that kind of film. There, I\u2019m playing a heroin addict again! But I\u2019ve done a couple of films (\u201cLow Expectations\u201d and \u201cBrave New Love\u201d) that are coming out now, where I\u2019m playing much lighter, funnier characters and I\u2019ve experienced now for the first time in my life that it\u2019s actually possible to have a great day at work. To laugh and to be in a great mood. I realize how many tormented characters I\u2019ve played, and that it\u2019s been hard, but I\u2019ve done it so much that that\u2019s what I know.<\/p>\n<p>Break the cycle.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what I\u2019m trying to do.<\/p>\n<p>Do people tell you their experiences of depression because you were in \u201cOslo\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>Yeah, actually, that still happens every once in a while. It feels like there is something special about that film that resonates with audiences in many parts of the world, and that\u2019s really\u2026 I think-that\u2019s wonderful. It makes me very proud, and it means a lot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article is part of IndieWire\u2019s Sequels Week. Click here for the full schedule of essays, lists, and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":144537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[85],"tags":[9542,1138,157,156,69011,69012],"class_list":["post-144536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oslo","tag-anders-danielsen-lie","tag-film","tag-norway","tag-oslo","tag-oslo-august-31st","tag-sequels-week"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117083984823736337","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}