Scan Magazine | Cover Feature | Roland Møller
Roland Møller – rejecting the villain From time in one of Denmark’s most notorious prisons, to a leading role in an Oscarnominated film, Roland Møller has been on quite a journey. But, as the Danish actor tells Scan Magazine, the journey is far from over. With three big releases due out this year, he is looking to turn his back on the bad guy persona and broaden his repertoire. By Linnea Dunne | Photos: Nikolaj Møller
“I don’t like to call myself an actor. I don’t act – I project feelings; I’m a storyteller on screen,” says Roland Møller. “I try not to be in my head, I just feel the scene and act from my gut, follow my heart. That’s when I really nail a scene.” Of course he is an actor, at least in the sense of playing a major role in an Oscar-nominated film, but it is fair to say that he is far from the traditional type. Not only does he lack entirely in formal training and qualifications, but he has also spent four and a half years in one of Denmark’s most notorious prisons. “I was never really a bad guy,” he says. “I was acting in a criminal environment. I didn’t really like it but I needed action and got bored quickly, so when people challenged me to a fight I wouldn’t step down. With this position in the criminal underworld I acted like I was crazy and could explode at any time, but in real life I’m actually quite a nice guy.”
Back to Horsens State Prison That he found his way into the world of film was somewhat of a coincidence. After writing extensively while in prison, mostly as self-therapy and initially with the plan to make a book out of it, Møller 32 | Issue 99 | April 2017
was contacted by Tobias Lindholm who had heard about the writing. “He told me he was making a film and wanted to read my notes, and then eventually he contacted me for help with developing the script,” says the Dane. “Then Horsens State Prison, the old prison I’d served time in, was emptied and became available – this place that would cost millions to build, with doors full of history – and then we bounced ideas off each other, got funding and help with casting and so on.” The now famous Pilou Asbæk got on board and Møller coached him in how to talk and walk and move as a villain. “Then Tobias wanted me to play a part, I said ‘no way, gangsters don’t go out in the spotlight!’, but I thought maybe the girls would like me if I had a small part – that was my motivation.” What he thought would be a small part turned out to be not so small in the finished cut of the film R, which earned him nominations for Supporting Actor at the Bodil Awards and the Danish Film Critics Association Awards. He went on to star in Lindholm’s next film, A Hijacking, as well as R co-director Michael Noer’s 2013 Northwest, and for the latter he finally won his first Bodil Award for Best