Alexander Skarsg?rd 'stalked' Hold the Dark director to get role in thriller

How did Alexander Skarsg?rd get a starring role in the thriller Hold the Dark (out in theaters and on Netflix, Sept. 28)? By stalking its director, Jeremy Saulnier, whose previous credits include 2013’s Blue Ruin and 2015’s Green Room.

Skarsg?rd is joking — but not about his love for Saulnier’s work.

“I saw Blue Ruin when it came out and I was just like, ‘Who the f— is this filmmaker?'” the actor told EW earlier this year. “I think he is one of the greatest filmmakers that we have in America today.”

In the Alaska-set Hold the Dark, Jeffrey Wright plays a naturalist who volunteers to track down a wolf that has taken a young boy from a remote village. Riley Keough (The Girlfriend Experience) costars as the child’s mother, while Skarsg?rd portrays his father, a soldier who’s been serving overseas in the Iraq War.