Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World” is finally gracing America’s theaters and not only will moviegoers be able to catch the best movie of 2021, as well as BAFTA Best Actress nominee Renate Reinsve, but the movie’s secret weapon, Anders Danielsen Lie’s heartbreaking performance. Amazingly, Danielsen Lie is a celebrated actor who somehow manages a side career as a practicing medical doctor. And, as you’d expect, juggling both professional roles isn’t easy.
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“Although I think that I’ve learned a lot as a doctor from my work as an actor because I learned something about communicating with people,” Danielsen Lie says. “I have also approached character and roles with my medical experiences and my medical training in mind. I feel like I have a big database of human drama.”
Danielsen Lie continues, “So it can be inspiring. I guess that’s why I continue doing both. But I really try to separate the two. Two different occupations, two different things that I do. I need to separate them. And it feels like whenever I’ve done a film, it feels like stepping back to real life. Literal sense of that word. And I enjoy that, being able to withdraw from the fictional bubble of the film, but also the universe of the entertainment industry, which is fiction in itself sometimes. So, I feel more anchored that way, by being able to go back to an ordinary life.”
The rest of our conversation with the 2022 National Society of Critics Supporting Actor winner is as follows:
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The Playlist: I know you’ve worked on Joachim’s last number of films, did he give you a heads up that he was writing this character with you in mind? What was that process like?
Anders Danielsen Lie: No, he didn’t. I knew that he was supposed to make a film with Renate because I mean, we are very good friends, and we talk about our projects all the time. But I didn’t expect to be offered a part in it. And I remember when he sent me the script and said that he might want to cast me in this role. He was also honest with me. He said that “O.K., maybe you are not old enough for this role. Maybe the age difference will be so important that you have to be a bit older.” So, we started talking about character and what he could represent in it. And we have so much in common when it comes to the interest of the melancholy of the passage of time, which is a recurrent theme in many of his movies, “Reprise,” and “Oslo August 31st” in particular. And it felt like the character of Aksel could represent that theme in this movie, and in that way, link all these films together.
Do you remember when he said the role was yours?
I don’t remember him saying that. It just happened.
You just got on the call sheet? Like all of a sudden, he just said, “Hey, show up”? [Laughs.]
This film was actually postponed because of the pandemic. We were supposed to shoot it in the spring of 2020. And then came the first lockdown in Norway, so we had to push it onto the fall.
Because of the pandemic were you trying to juggle both your practice and this role while you were shooting?
No, no. I’d done that a couple of times, but usually I don’t. If I have a demanding, long shoot like that, I will not work as a doctor while I’m shooting. That doesn’t work very well. It added another layer of discipline to the production. I think that was the major effect of it. Of course, it was a big challenge in terms of planning and insurance and all that. But when we were on set, it was just even more disciplined, even more structured than it usually is. And that’s challenging, but it can also be a good thing because you desperately need a collective concentration on set. Everybody has to stay really concentrated, and the restrictions probably added more discipline, which can be a good thing.
There are actors who want to write and direct and some of them want to get involved in politics, but it’s very rare to find a medical doctor who also has a substantial acting career. What about those two professions appeal to you?
I think the main reason for that is that is they are both very time-consuming. It is hard to combine, and it doesn’t always work that well. Although I think that I’ve learned a lot as a doctor from my work as an actor because I learned something about communicating with people. I have also approached character and roles with my medical experiences and my medical training in mind. I feel like I have a big database of human drama. You know?
Sure.
So it can be inspiring. I guess that’s why I continue doing both. But I really try to separate the two. Two different occupations, two different things that I do. I need to separate them. And it feels like whenever I’ve done a film, it feels like stepping back to real life. Literal sense of that word. And I enjoy that, being able to withdraw from the fictional bubble of the film, but also the universe of the entertainment industry, which is fiction in itself sometimes. So, I feel more anchored that way, by being able to go back to an ordinary life.
I always joke that people who are involved in entertainment or media, we don’t really help people in anything tangentially. Others will say, “Oh, you give people to distract from their daily lives” but you actually help people, which is so wonderful in many ways.
Yeah, but I want to comment on that though because I thank you very much for saying it, but I think it’s easy to underestimate how, for example, movies, novels, music, and all kinds of cultural expressions can have a therapeutic function in people’s lives, especially now during the pandemic. It’s incredibly important for people to be able to distract themselves from a very hard life. I think that we have really missed the experience of going to a movie theater and exploring a film with other people and listening to their reactions. It’s a collective experience. I remember when we were in Cannes with this film, [the world] was starting to open up a bit, and I could sense how much people have craved to do this, to go to the movies, I mean. So, we shouldn’t underestimate how important entertainment and movies can be for people.
When I spoke to Joaquin a couple of months ago, he told me that your character in particular was based on or inspired by people he knew. Did he tell you who any of those people were, or did you just sort of get the sense that it was sort of people in his peer group?
Yeah. That’s a good question. On his previous films, it’s been more specific, so that we’ve had some models, or we’ve had conversations with specific people whose biographical stories we’ve been heavily inspired by. But here, it’s more like, this character is a synthesis of our own lives of people. Miranda July’s film, “Me and You and Everyone We Know”? It’s like that. It’s a mix of everything. And it’s also a mix of themes that interest us. So it is not only representative of characters and people, but it also represents themes and intellectual ongoing debates. You know?
Yes.
So you can use a character for all that and let and let all those elements … What do you say? Converge?
Yes. Converge.
Exactly. So, that’s one of the nice things about fiction is that you can synthesize a lot of exciting elements in one character like that.
“The Worst Person in the World” is now in limited release in Los Angeles and New York.