“People wanted to kill me because they thought I was destroying ‘Game of Thrones'”

Filo Asbak is not a household name in every home, but the characters of Caspar Joll from “Government” (Danish “Burgen”) and Yuron Greyjoy from “Game of Thrones”, which he brought to the screen, ignited the imagination of millions of viewers around the world. It’s hard to imagine two characters so different: one is a troubled and problematic character of a spin doctor in Copenhagen, while the other is of a crazy, bloodthirsty and sex-sick pirate whose penis size is his favorite topic of conversation.

The Danish Asbak embodies both in a precise way that is engraved in memory, but the zoom-in interview with him was conducted thanks to “The Investigation”, a new Danish series starring him from the real crime genre, which arrives in Israel next week (February 15 on HOT). At the beginning of the conversation, Asbak, dressed in a blue hoodie and looking as if he had just woken up, insisted on showing the view from the window of his house. “I’m in Wilmington, North Carolina filming a new movie and the view from the house I’m staying in is not amazing,” he turns the camera to a small, laughing yard. “I’m in America and can pretty much do whatever I want because they’re pretty free when it comes to Corona, but I live in a production bubble and I’ve not been able to talk to people other than my family and the people on the set for three weeks, so I’m really happy to talk to you.

But as mentioned, the reason we came together is less than happy. “The Inquiry,” directed by Tobias Lindholm, brings the shocking murder story of Swedish journalist Kim Wall aboard the submarine of entrepreneur Peter Madsen in 2017. The focus of the series, as its name implies, is on the complicated investigative process led by Jens Muller-Jensen, head of the homicide department at the Copenhagen police (played by veteran Danish actor Soren Mulling). Asbak plays Jacob Bok-Japsen, a district prosecutor who, through his deep acquaintance with the Danish legal system, helps the police search for admissible evidence in court that will lead to the murder of a murderer.

The six episodes of the series shed light on the stoicism of Wall’s parents, who took an active part in the investigation itself and in the production of the television drama, and in the commitment of the police, investigators, dogs and divers who spent many hours at sea on the difficult task of finding body parts. The one the viewers do not see at any stage on the screen is the killer, Peter Madsen, who is not even mentioned by name.

Asbak has an explanation for the director’s choice not to present Madsen – an artistic decision he calls “brave”. “It was out of respect for the parents and out of a desire not to give the criminal a stage, but not only. Tobias did not want to meet the killer, he did not want to give him a place, he did not want him to influence the way we told the story and preferred to bring the interrogation story without the killer taking the The focus is that we did not need it to tell the story.

“The first person Tobias spoke to was investigator Jens Muller-Jensen, who told him that he himself had never met the killer. This fact led Tobias to think that if Muller-Jensen did not meet Madsen throughout the investigation, then the viewers should not meet him either. On the contrary, It will help viewers focus more on the story behind the investigation and prosecution – the people, the team, the family.It’s a very original take on the real crime genre and under Tobias’ loyal hands it does not fall into melodramatics but brings the truth, as it is, forward. “A little is more.”

He said without Kim’s parents’ approval the story was never produced, and that it was only thanks to their openness, love and generosity that the series aired. Asbak says that he believes that thanks to the work on the series, Wall’s parents went through processes of completion and mourning. “Each of the people who took part in the real drama cooperated and opened our hearts to us. I worked directly with Jacob, who greatly helped me understand the character, the legal processes and what was behind his instructions and decisions. One of the things that really impressed me was that he chose to emphasize the fact Shekim boarded the same submarine in a journalist’s hat. Not a woman but a journalist – and the killer took advantage of this to commit a heinous crime. Jacob argued that when a police officer goes to work and commits a crime against him in the line of duty, it has consequences for conviction and punishment. “Kim will not be the same. He showed that Kim was there in her role and the killer took advantage of it in the most horrible way. It was another important element that helped sentence him to life in prison.”

Asbak, who is considered a huge star in Denmark, agreed to play a supporting role in the series because of his closeness to director Tobias (“he’s a brother, I’ll do everything for him”). The two have been collaborating for 13 years and Tobias has a big part in the actor’s success. In 2011, when Asbak had just finished acting school, Tobias offered the producers of the series “Government” (also known as “Burgen”) to invite the young actor to audition. Tobias, who is part of the series ‘writers’ team, claimed to the producers that Asbak was born to be the spin doctor.

“I came to the audition skinny, shaved and dressed in a suit,” he recalls with a smile. “I looked like a gangster, and I made claims for and against the death penalty. To this day I can not bring myself to see the tape of the audition out of embarrassment, but it worked, I got the job. I know they say about your Bibi Netanyahu who is one of the greatest spin doctors in the world “But I do not enter politics, I have not been to Israel and I do not pretend to know too much about it. What I do know is that Israeli women are among the most beautiful women in the world.”

The fourth season of “Government” is being filmed these days and you are not taking part in it, why?
“The truth is we were unable to reach an agreement. I love ‘Government’ and it is being revived thanks to Netflix but we did not agree on anything – neither the filming time nor the character. I really liked the role but I did it already. My career has changed a lot since ‘Government’ ‘So if they keep me in a secondary rather than a lead role, I have nothing to give them. If the Spin Doctor, who’s a crazy character, had gotten more on stage and meat – maybe there was something to talk about. But who knows, maybe they’ll shoot another season with him “I love the series and I’m grateful for the character and the role, and I wish them the best of luck wholeheartedly. I know the plot line of the new season and it’s going to be crazy. There’s a chance, and I say it sadly, that even the best to date.”

The 38-year-old Asbak, a member of a well-known family of artisans and gallery owners in Copenhagen, is aware that the sophisticated character of Spin Doctor (a nickname for a crisis management media consultant) has opened many doors for him – including the opportunity to host the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Denmark. “I would do it again,” he says with a smile, “this is a competition that comes from love and I love it. If I can I will not miss the annual viewing of it. I know that Israel won two years ago and that the competition in Tel Aviv was amazing.” The competition was also the one that brought him to the consciousness of international producers, making him one of the most prominent and lone Scandinavian actors who managed to break into the global market – and from there a role in Game of Thrones, one of the most successful TV series of all time.

Euron Greyjoy has appeared in the last three seasons of Game of Thrones, and although he has had a total of twenty minutes of screen time, his villainous character has left an unforgettable impression on viewers. Asbak says that after the sixth season he read the script for the last two seasons and thought there was room for more swag in the character, more madness. “At that moment I decided that in each scene I would play in front of the person standing in front of me as if he were the only and most important person in the world. I wanted to introduce a mesmerizing, powerful intense character, the kind that if I look you deep in the eye and tell you you are the most important person in my life. ‘Fuck it, I’m in Game of Thrones, I want to enjoy the experience and I want to enjoy it with whoever plays in front of me.’ So the madness and the laughter and the weirdness – it’s just me enjoying life. If they came and told me they wanted to do a spin-off on Greyjoy “I would have jumped on it, but he had to be much more developed and layered. He had to show his dark side, his magic, his politician, his survivor and not just the crazy pirate with the crazy leather clothes and the big penis.”

“The thing is, I was one of the big fans of Game of Thrones, but once I joined the series its magic was gone for me and I no longer watched the last few seasons I participated. To be a fan of a show you have to preserve naivety, charm and passion – and those were lost. It’s like “At school you try to kiss the girl for eight years but then you find that the idea of ​​the kiss was better than the kiss itself.”

What did you think of the way the series ended? There were many who got upset.
“I know everyone dies in the end because we read the script together, but I did not watch the episodes. I am aware that the end of the series was problematic for a lot of fans and I fully understand that. But I think there is a reason it was one of the most successful series in the world. Another series failed to do.After the end of the series I also received a lot of interesting texts from people around the world – from those who wanted to kill me because they thought I ruined the series to others who loved me very much because I was bad and funny.But in Game of Thrones there were only two characters “The ultimate definition of ‘bad’ – Joffrey and Ramsey, and how the hell can you surpass them? So I did not take myself too seriously and just enjoyed the process.”

In the international arena, Asbak has starred in quite a few films, including Luke Besson’s “Lucy” alongside Scarlett Johansson, with whom he re-collaborated on “Ghost in the Shell”, in 2018 he starred in “Overlord” produced by G J. J. Abrahams, and most recently appeared alongside Anthony McKee in Netflix’s “Outside the Wire.” A few months ago he also finished filming Samaritan (“Samaritan”), a Sylvester Stallone superhero movie. Asbak is full of superlatives and praise for the veteran actor. “I was paid to get a master class in the game. Stallone is a ‘Rocky’. He is an extraordinary, humble, generous and generous man. A man who took who he is, someone who was always an outsider and did not find his place in Hollywood, and put it into his characters. Rocky. “There was an outsider and Rambo was the king of the outsiders, he lives outside the company, even his character in ‘Copeland’ is a cop who is on the fringes of society. Stallone taught me that if you bring your truth and your vulnerability into the character – it will work.”

To this day, in the international films in which Asbak has participated, he used to play the villain, but in the film he is currently filming, ISS (acronym for International Space Station) – which tells the story of three American astronauts and three Russian cosmonauts stuck together in the station Space and need to cooperate in order to survive – this is the first time he has not stepped into the shoes of the bad guy. “It takes time to build a career,” he says. “It took me a while to build one in Denmark and it takes time to build one more in America, so I’m pretty bastard that for the first time I’m not playing the bad in an international production. The thing is, when you play in a market that is not your home market – once you have a foreign accent you are the bad.”

“Make no mistake,” he continues, “I really like playing villains, they are unpredictable and there is something very liberating in that you can put all the demons you have in them – and there are a lot of demons, especially in the last year we go through – so I put them all on screen “I don’t have to be an idiot when I get home. I can be happy and cook delicious food for my family.”

Versatility is also a trait that is not harmful in the resume.
“Only recently have people started to realize that ‘Government’ is very different from ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ is very different from ‘Investigation’, and that ‘Investigation’ is very different from the role I do in Samaritan. So only now do people realize that I have more From one job, which I find interesting, I have something to offer and it makes me happy, because I am hungry for work and play. “

By the way hungry for work, how has the year been for you since the outbreak of the corona?
“The world is going through a very difficult period physically and mentally. I was lucky, because I worked quite a bit and traveled the world when it was closed, which is a hallucinatory experience and I hope it’s a one-time experience. C) She is the best home teacher I have met, and I am full of appreciation and love for her. Obviously there are days when we still want to kill each other, but our love definitely got stronger during the corona time. There was one day when I was in charge of the studies of our eight-year-old daughter Agnes, and after only half an hour she fired me! She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said ‘Dad, you’re fired’. Following this, my wife and I agreed that she would deal with the girl’s studies and I would focus on the game so that my daughter would not fire me from the role of father either. You know, everything for the sake of peace at home. “