The sight of Alexander Skarsgård getting undressed is enough to send "True Blood" fanatics -- and, well, pretty much everyone else -- into fits of screams and squeals. At least in America, anyway.
Skarsgård, a proud native of Sweden, says that his home country is a lot more nonchalant about the human body than his adopted land. Americans, he observes in the new issue of Out Magazine, always seem enthralled or scandalized by anything non-PG on television -- at least when it comes to sex.
"That always strikes me as weird because parents in the States freak out if their kids see a nipple or a butt cheek, but at the same time they're OK with their kids watching people bash each other's heads in with baseball bats," he says. Skarsgård should know; there were few eyelashes batted at his ultra-violent remake of "Straw Dogs," but his abs are a constant source of conversation. "I notice in interviews in the U.S. all people want to talk about is nudity. You have a half-hour interview, and you spend 25 minutes talking about the nude scenes, and of course, if it makes sense as a scene, I'll do it."
He must really believe it; his response is nearly verbatim to what he told PopEater (now HuffPost Celeb!) last year.
"I'm not a prude," Skarsgård said. "I'm from Sweden, and it's different there. If it makes sense, I'll do nudity, and it's made sense every single time I'm naked on the show. And I love to be naked. It's kind of liberating."
Beyond making sense within the context of the piece, Skarsgård also says he likes to make a point with his nudity.
"I don't even think someone -- some guy who doesn't know any gay people or black people, who may have all these prejudices -- if that guy watches the show and thinks, I really like this character, then you've done something pretty good," he continues.
Skarsgård next appears in Lars Von Trier's "Melancholia," and is currently in production on the drama, "What Maisie Knew" with Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan.
For more, click over to Out Magazine.