True Blood's Alexander Skarsgård | Sizzling sexy in darkest behavior in “STRAW DOGS”

In Columbia Pictures' new suspense thriller “Straw Dogs,” a Hollywood screenwriter (James Marsden) and his actress wife (Kate Bosworth), return to her small hometown in the deep South to prepare the family home for sale after her father’s death. Once there, tensions build in their marriage and old conflicts re-emerge with the locals, including the wife's ex-boyfriend (Alexander Skarsgård), leading to a violent confrontation.

Directed and screenplay by Rod Lurie, the film is based on the 1971 movie of the same title written by David Zelag Goodman and Sam Peckinpah who adapted the novel The Siege of Trencher’s Farm by Gordon Williams.

When Rod Lurie set about the task of revisiting Peckinpah’s controversial 1971 film “Straw Dogs,” foremost in their minds was capturing the scary intensity of the story and its exploration of the darkest human behavior, but also reconfiguring its horrific contours for the realities and moviegoing sensibilities of a new generation.

“Peckinpah had a very definite point of view of human beings and how they behaved,” says Lurie, of the original film’s shocking violence. “He was very much a pessimist, and I believe I’m an optimist. So I thought it might be an interesting experiment to see whether or not you can do the same story, but tell it from a different point of view.”

Working more from Gordon William’s novel, The Siege of Trencher’s Farm than from Peckinpah’s film, Lurie felt that updating the story and bringing its special psychological terror into the classic American setting of a small Southern town -- where life was ruled by how the football team performed on Friday night and the townspeople’s roles were a clearly defined hierarchy -- would bring a modern edge to what is at heart a powerful and ultimately terrifying examination of a relationship being incomprehensibly tested and torn apart.

Lurie then set about regrounding everything in William’s novel, shifting the location to a small fictional Southern town steeped in traditions of brutality, and transforming the characters into roles within that classic American setting.

“It’s not so much that it’s the South,” explains Lurie. “What I wanted to define was a culture where violence was a part of their everyday life, where they’re hunting, where there’s football – which I adore – and where their people solve things through fights. Where machismo rules.”

One thing Lurie insisted should not change, was the central core of the story’s menacing buildup, which forces a reluctant hero to use violence in order to defend his wife, his property and both of their lives – and whether after being shattered, his marriage could ever be rebuilt.

Opening soon across the Philippines, “Straw Dogs” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.sonypictures.com.ph to see the latest trailers, get free downloads and play free movie games. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.

True Blood's” ALEXANDER SKARSGÅRD terrorizes in “STRAW DOGS”

Alexander Skarsgard isn't the first acting hunk to be compared to Brad Pitt.

But the Swede might be one of the few who's up to the task. Known as “True Blood's” icy-hot Viking vampire, Eric, he is preparing to take a bite out of the box office with Columbia Pictures' new suspense thriller “Straw Dogs.”

The film transplants the chilling 1971 Dustin Hoffman-led movie into the sweaty, close-knit Deep South. Skarsgard, 35, plays local football hero Charlie, whose lust for actress ex-girlfriend Amy (Kate Bosworth) turns violent once she returns home with writer husband David (James Marsden).

"It's about territory," says Skarsgard, whose powerful physique, known well to HBO's “True Blood” fans, is showcased in the film. "(Amy) shows up with a writer from Hollywood who's completely different, completely cerebral and not a real man in Charlie's eyes." Charlie puts David to the test, convinced Amy is his.

"From an acting point of view, he reminds me of Paul Newman in `Hud.' And from a charisma point of view, he reminds me of Brad Pitt in `Thelma and Louise,'” says director Rod Lurie. Like the 1971 “Straw Dogs” original, Charlie assists in a violent siege on David and Amy's home, but because of Skarsgard, "you understand finally what she saw in the guy in the first place," says Lurie.

Skarsgard has come a long way. As a child actor in Sweden (his parents are actor Stellan Skarsgard and his first wife, My, a doctor), he quit the business at 13, uneasy with fame. Instead, Skarsgard finished school, spent time in the Swedish Navy, attended college in England and moved to New York at 21 to begin theater training. After returning to Sweden to launch his acting career as an adult, he visited Los Angeles, where his father's manager suggested that he audition for a film for "fun." That movie was 2001's “Zoolander.”

The small part led to others, including his breakthrough role in HBO mini-series “Generation Kill.” The rest is shirtless, fang-induced history.

When Lurie, who had never seen “True Blood,” first met Skarsgard in Hollywood, he looked "very European," the director recalls. "Tight clothes, all white. He had long blond hair, that sort of sweet smile. Almost the opposite of the character he was going to play."

Lurie told him he'd have to beef up to play Charlie. Skarsgard promised he'd eat a lot of red meat. "I didn't realize the Adonis-like nature of what I was going to see," Lurie says. On location in Louisiana., "women were driving down from as far away as St. Louis just to sit in the lobby and watch him walk out. "

But under the veneer of the film's good looks is an emotional rape scene, which Skarsgard says is a stark difference between the modern film and its predecessor. To his character, Charlie, the violent act is not a rape but rather " a love scene," Skarsgard says.

In December, Skarsgard returns to the “True Blood” set to begin Season 5. With fans, Skarsgard has only one rule: "No, I don't bite," he says with a laugh. "If I do that once and there's a picture of me biting a fan, then I'm going to end up doing that for 30 years."

Opening soon across the Philippines, “Straw Dogs” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.sonypictures.com.ph to see the latest trailers, get free downloads and play free movie games. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.

Sneak Peek: “STRAW DOGS” | Stars James Marsden, Kate Bosworth & Alexander Skarsgård

Columbia Pictures presents the frightening suspense thriller “Straw Dogs” starring James Marsden, Kate Bosworth, Alexander Skarsgård, Dominic Purcell and James Woods.

Directed by and screenplay by Rod Lurie, the film is based on the 1971 movie of the same title written by David Zelag Goodman and Sam Peckinpah who adapted the novel “The Siege of Trencher’s Farm” by Gordon Williams.

When everything you’ve lived for is under siege, what would you do? How far would you go?

It’s a question made terrifyingly apparent to Hollywood screenwriter David Sumner (Marsden) and his actress wife Amy (Bosworth) when they move to her small hometown in the Deep South after her father’s death. Smiling faces, warm welcomes and what were once comfortable old relationships take on a sinister tinge for David and Amy, who find themselves driven to a crisis-laden brink.

The suspenseful, gut-wrenching and intensely cathartic new version brings the original story to the present-day American South, and sets it against a backdrop of small town life where everyone knows too much about each other, the town hierarchy is determined by your place within the ranks of the high school football team and the performance of the football team at Friday night’s game determines the fates of many.

David and Amy’s plan is to prepare for sale the family home, which has fallen into disrepair, and for David to take advantage of the quiet and solitude to complete the screenplay he’s working on.

But all is not as bucolic as it seems in Blackwater, Mississippi, and the arrival of the Sumners stirs up long-dormant resentments and suspicious actions. Once there, Amy slips back into being the hometown celebrity, which leaves David feeling out of touch with his wife and questioning her behavior.

Meanwhile, tensions build in their marriage and old conflicts re-emerge with the locals, most notably with Amy’s ex-boyfriend Charlie (Skarsgård), who, along with his fellow former football teammates Bic (Drew Powell), Norman (Rhys Coiro) and Chris (Billy Lush) push the limits of David’s tolerance and the Sumners’ marriage, forcing them to re-evaluate each other and their relationship.

When the daughter of the former football coach Tom Heddon (Woods) goes missing, her father takes the law into his own hands, enlisting Charlie and his boys to help him search for her and setting into motion a series of events that ultimately leads to an explosively violent confrontation, escalating to a shocking, catastrophic climax that will shatter the lives of everyone involved.

Opening soon across the Philippines, “Straw Dogs” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.sonypictures.com.ph to see the latest trailers, get free downloads and play free movie games. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.