Max von Sydow - biography

“I think English is a fantastic, rich and musical language, but of course your mother tongue is the most important for an actor.”

“In this country, you have movie actors and theatre actors and television actors.”

“There are those who want to believe but can’t, and there are those who believe as children and it’s no problem for them at all.”

“The offers I get are for grandfathers, uncles - and they often die very quickly in the script.”

“I began imagining scenes in public which some drunk would come up to me and slap me in the face.  Nothing like that ever happened, but I often wonder if I would have turned the other cheek.”

“Playing the role of Christ was like being in a prison.  It was the hardest part I’ve ever had to play in my life.  I couldn’t smoke or drink in public.  I couldn’t.”

“I don’t believe in devils.  Indifference and misunderstandings can create evil situations.  Most of the time, people who appear to be evil are really victims of evil deeds.”

“I remember those days with Bergman with great nostalgia.  We were aware that the films were going to be quite important, and the work felt meaningful.”

“Movies give me an opportunity to go places.  I’m not only a Swede but an American, not just a man of my time, but I’ve been living 2,000 years ago-and not just in a new country, America, but in the Holy Land, too.”

“Only very rarely are foreigners or first-generation immigrants allowed to be nice people in American films.  Those with an accent are bad guys.”

“The idea of working with Steven Spielberg was very attractive.  He’s such a master.  He knows the language of the camera and of filmmaking, which gives him a great freedom.”

“Playing Christ, I began to feel shut away from the world.  A newspaper became one of my biggest luxuries.  I noticed that some of my close friends began treating me with reverence.”

“In Hollywood they usually cast me as villains or priests.”

“The most difficult part of playing Christ was that I had to keep up the image around the clock.  As soon as the picture finished, I returned home to Sweden and tried to find my old self.  It took six months to get back to normal.”

“The studio rented a house for my wife in Los Angeles under a phony name to keep reporters away.  Whenever I wanted to visit her and my children, I would have to sneak in the back door after dark.”

“It’s important to me to work in my own language now and then.  I love English, but you can never learn to master a foreign language if you’re not brought up with it.”

“All my life I’ve been looking for diversity.”

“I’ve never been in a barroom brawl in my life.  I just don’t do such things.”

“I’m getting too old to play some parts, but I’m still greedy.”

“In a theater, the part is mine and I can control it as I want to.  In the movies, I don’t have direct contact, and I am fighting technical machinery.”

“I just feel I shouldn’t work too much, because there are so many other things to do.”

“I’m not in retirement.  I just don’t want to work so much, and I don’t get that many offers any more.”

“A vacation spot out of season always has a very special magic.”

“Bergman has a very special eye for people.  His background taught him to listen and to feel.”

“Filming is repetition and many takes.”

“I accept a role only if it’s something I really, really like.”

“If Jesus came back today, and saw what was going on in his name, he’d never stop throwing up.”

“Perhaps I scare people.  I don’t know why.”

“Producers are not gamblers.  They want a good return on their investment.”

“Spielberg knows his craft so well, he can also improvise, and that is a lot of fun.”

“The more I had to act like a saint, the more I felt like being a sinner.”

“When I finished the role of Christ, I felt as though I’d been let out on parole.  A man who has served 18 months isn’t eager to go back to prison.”

Max von Sydow has appeared in the following films:
Bara en mor (1949)
Fröken Julie (1951)
Ingen mans kvinna (1953)
Rätten att älska (1956)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Prästen i Uddarbo (1957)
Nära livet (1958)
Spion 503 (1958)
The Magician (1958)
The Virgin Spring (1960)
Bröllopsdagen (1960)
Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
Nils Holgerssons underbara resa (1962)
Älskarinnan (1962)
Winter Light (1962)
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
4 x 4 (1965)
The Reward (1965)
Hawaii (1966)
The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
Här har du ditt liv (1966)
Hour of the Wolf (1968)
Svarta palmkronor (1968)
Shame (1968)
Made in Sweden (1969)
The Passion of Anna (1969)
The Kremlin Letter (1970)
The Night Visitor (1971)
Utvandrarna (1971)
The Touch (1971)
Äppelkriget (1971)
Embassy (1972)
Nybyggarna (1972)
The Exorcist (1973)
Steppenwolf (1974)
Ägget är löst! – En hårdkokt saga (1975)
Trompe l’oeil (1975)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
The Ultimate Warrior (1975)
Cuore di cane (1976)
Cadaveri eccellenti (1976)
Foxtrot (1976)
Il deserto dei Tartari (1976)
Voyage of the Damned (1976)
Gran bollito (1977)
Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)
March or Die (1977)
Brass Target (1978)
Hurricane (1979)
Bugie bianche (1980)
La mort en direct (1980)
Flash Gordon (1980)
Victory (1981)
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd (1982)
Jugando con la muerte (1982)
Le cercle des passions (1983)
The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew (1983)
Never Say Never Again (1983)
Le Cercle des passions (1983)
The Soldier’s Tale (1984)
The Ice Pirates (1984)
Dreamscape (1984)
Dune (1984)
Code Name: Emerald (1985)
Il pentito (1985)
The Second Victory (1986)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Oviri (1986)
Duet for One (1986)
Pelle erobreren (1987)
Ghostbusters II (1989)
Mio caro dottor Gräsler (1990)
Una vita scellerata (1990)
Father (1990)
Awakenings (1990)
A Kiss Before Dying (1991)
Europa (1991)
Bis ans Ende der Welt (1991)
Oxen (1991)
Den goda viljan (1992)
Dotkniecie reki (1992)
Morfars resa (1993)
Needful Things (1993)
Time Is Money (1994)
Judge Dredd (1995)
Dypets ensomhet (1995)
Truck Stop (1996)
Hamsun (1996)
Jerusalem (1996)
What Dreams May Come (1998)
Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)
Non ho sonno (2001)
Vercingétorix (2001)
Intacto (2001)
Intact (2001)
Les amants de Mogador (2002)
Minority Report (2002)
Heidi (2005)
L’inchiesta (2006)
The Inquiry (2006)
Le scaphandre et le papillon (2007)
Rush Hour 3 (2007)
Emotional Arithmetic (2007)
Un homme et son chien (2008)
Solomon Kane (2009)
Oscar et la dame rose (2009)
Shutter Island (2010)
Robin Hood (2010)
Truth & Treason (2011)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)