Beck’s New Partner Is Based On Character From Book Series
In an interview with Dagens Nyheter Kristofer Hivju talks about his new role in Beck.
Mikael Persbrandt’s beloved character Gunvald Larsson was written out of Beck in the last episode, destined for his own spin off. In this Saturday’s episode to premiere on C More, police chief Klas Fredén (Jonas Karlsson) brings the charismatic homicide investigator Steinar Hovland (Kristofer Hivju) in from Oslo to partner Martin Beck (Peter Haber).
The pair are immediately put to the test when they are sent to investigate the remains of an unidentified body in the ashes of a caravan fire. The owner of the caravan, a young female drug addict is missing, but is she the victim? As the case progresses, it becomes clear that Steinar Hovland’s methods are entirely opposed to those of Gunvald Larsson, and so the dynamic of the show changes as a result.
“Both are ambitious and talented officers,” says Hivju. “But Steinar is a sympathetic type who has empathy with the criminals, in contrast to the cynical Gunvald. Steinar is loosely based on the Kollberg character from the books – he was a communist and thought that it was society’s fault that people commit crimes. I took that with me into the role.”
Hivju goes on to describe how his approach to Beck differs from Game Of Thrones, in which he plays Tormund Giantsbane:
“If Game of Thrones is like playing bass, so Beck more like playing a finely tuned violin. Game of Thrones has a sort of Shakespearian style and uses a grandiose American acting technique where one speaks in a deep voice and continually run at the maximum.”
“Another difference is that Game of Thrones is an enormous production machine which has no room for improvisation at all. In a small production such as Beck it is always possible to film an extra scene if you get a good idea.”
Beck: Steinar premieres Saturday February 6th 2016 on C More.