The Skarsgård family is taking on a notorious Swedish serial killer in “What Remains.”
Gustaf Skarsgård leads the fictionalized feature that is loosely based on Sweden’s most infamous serial killer Thomas Quick AKA Sture Bergwall, who confessed to more than 30 murders over three decades. Bergwall claimed he committed his first murder when he was only 14-years old; however, he later retracted his confessions, saying that he had been heavily medicated and seeking attention.
Gustaf Skarsgård portrays a character inspired by Bergwall, with Oscar-nominated star Andrea Riseborough playing a therapist who tries to figure out just how much what the supposed killer is saying is true.
In real life, Swedish journalists followed Bergwall’s case and discovered that psychologist Margit Norell was leading a “cult”-like group that helped manipulate the police and Bergwall into falsely confessing. His case is now considered one of Sweden’s most horrific miscarriages of justice.
The official synopsis for “What Remains” reads: “During the 1990s, at a Scandinavian psychiatric hospital, a man known as Mads Lake (Gustaf Skarsgård) confessed to multiple murders and was convicted. However, the uneasy triumvirate of Mads, therapist Anna Rudebeck (Riseborough) and policeman Soren Rank (Stellan Skarsgård), all have a vested interest in unearthing the truth, and a deepening co-dependency threatens to consume them all.”
Stellan Skarsgård is billed as the “godfather for the film,” while his son Gustaf Skarsgård is in the lead role and his wife Megan Everett-Skarsgard co-wrote the script with Ran Huang.
“What Remains” is Huang’s feature directorial debut. The film had a seven-year production process and went on to debut at the Locarno Film Festival.
Stellan Skarsgård’s other actor-son Bill Skarsgård recently told Esquire that his father Stellan was “morally against violence” in their household growing up…despite Stellan starring in films like “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and now, “What Remains.”
“I wasn’t allowed to have toy guns. But I’ve never held those ideals,” Skarsgård, who stars in “The Crow” and “Nosferatu,” said. “I grew up in a different time. I don’t think playing a violent video game makes you a violent person. I’ve always found violence fascinating.”
“What Remains” premieres June 21 in theaters and on VOD. Check out the trailer below.
