Alexander Skarsgard Pictures - What Maisie Knew 2013

Fact: Alexander Skarsgård is a very, very good-looking man IRL. And when you are a very, very good looking man like this, it is often a challenge to avoid the industry's typecasting and nab roles that showcase substance and versatility — not just abs and cheekbones. That's why we were so excited to see Skarsgård in a completely different role in his latest movie, What Maisie Knew, where he plays a stepfather to the super adorable Onata Aprile. As it turns out, Aprile is both extremely talented and totally game for calling Skarsgård out on his shortcoming (yep, he has one). In fact, they aren't just co-stars: These two actors are legitimate BFFs now and, as we noticed with their darling rapport at the Cinema Society screening, have an absurdly adorable and warm relationship.

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What was it like playing a dad?
"It was a lot of fun. It was different for me. I thought it was just a different character. Someone who didn't ask for this, you know? (Maisie is) obviously not his child and he didn't expect this to happen. In the beginning of the film he's kind of lost and doesn't take care of himself. I think he's very talented and smart, but he's not very ambitious. It's just out of kindness. His girlfriend is like, 'I'm about to lose custody of my child, can you marry me please?' And he's like, 'Okay.' Then she's not there, so he ends up in a weird situation with this little kid who no one takes care of."

"I just thought it was a beautiful story of how he kind of falls in love with this little kid and how he learns to take care of someone for the first time in his life. And she kind of takes care of him, as well. He grows and matures quite a bit."

Alexander, what's it like having a co-star who's so much cuter than you?
"[Laughing] Well, it's pretty cool. It makes it very easy for me to work with someone like Onata because her energy — you can tell just by watching five seconds of the film — it's so amazing and real. There are no false moments. It's all genuine and real. It's not only fun hanging out with her offset, but also in front of the camera. You get so much."

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"[To Onata] You're very artistic. Do you remember the first time we met? Do you remember what we did?"

Onata: "We made a castle with a moat. We cut out people and then we made it so that they would stand up, but the castle didn't really make that much sense, because it wasn't 3-D, so you couldn't put the people inside. So they just fell over!"
"Alexander: "Yeah, they weren't 3-D, that's true, so it didn't really make sense, but it was still kind of fun, wasn't it?"

You can sign us up for castle building with Skarsgård any time. What Maisie Knew, starring Julianne Moore, is out now.

Photo: Gregory Pace/BEImages.