Norwegian actor Axel Bøyum is one to watch out for – he has already won awards early on in his career and has been considered one of the most exciting talents to come out of Norway.

Frustratingly, a lot of the series’ he has starred in, such as Delete Me, Eye Witness, and Home Ground, are not available in the UK; but on the 28th June we will finally get to see him have some fun in Netflix’s sci-fi comedy Blasted!

We spoke with the star about his role in this new film, and to get an update on his role in the upcoming series Headhunters too.

Tell us a bit about your new film Blasted and the role you play?

Blasted is a sci-fi comedy set in Norway, Hessdalen. I play Sebastian who has made himself into a stressful work-a-holic. He has been waiting for a promotion for 6 years, but never gotten one.

His friends Audun and Pelle have planned a bachelor party for him, which he doesn’t have time to participate in but when he invites his potential client to a weekend of ‘serious ball-tickling’, the bachelor party happens. When confronted with some strange situations, could Sebastian’s stressful thinking come in handy? Especially when he meets his former best friend and laser tag-partner Mikkel…  

It involves a lot of paintballing – was this something you had tried before?

Yes, for sure. I have done some friendly matches and also shot my friends for pure entertainment – I can see the joy in it.

Is it true that the film was inspired by the real-life UFO phenomenon?

It takes place where there has been a lot UFO talk, a place called Hessdalen, maybe ‘a lot’ is a bit excessive but more talk than in the city, for sure.

They even have a UFO shop there where they sell UFO-beer!

How does it feel to be part of the first Norwegian sci-fi comedy?

It has been great fun! Martin Sofiedal, the director, has made hundreds of short films, so when he got the chance to make this it was something I really wanted to be part of.

Even though it was being produced, and premieres, on Netflix, it felt like we were doing all these short films which I grew up doing. We’d put them up on YouTube and hope that we’d get 1,000 views.

Now there will be potentially 200 million people watching. The process and the shoot was definitely on a higher standard and I really enjoyed making this movie. Some great cast mates, and I built a really good connection with Martin which has turned out to be a good friendship.

What have you got coming up next?

I am playing the Lead in the new TV Series called ‘Headhunters‘ which is based on the book by Jo Nesbø, however this will be a prequel which is based 10 years before the events of those. The series is showing on Cmore and has been picked up by an international distributor too – so hopefully it will come to the UK!

Finally, what was the last book you read, an album you listened to, and a film or TV series you watched?

Last book I read was Shuggie Bain, I know I’m late to the party on that one!

The last album was Mr Morale and the Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar, then my film was Everything Everywhere All at Once – and that film definitely lives up to the hype!

As for TV series? I have been watching season 3 of Barry at the moment and it is probably in my Top 5 TV Series of all time for me.

Blasted zaps onto Netflix from the 28th June

Interview by Alex Minnis