For US audiences, Alex Høgh Andersen is back, and this time he is playing a very different role than what we have previously been used to. When we last spoke to Alex over a year ago, he had appeared in the third season of Those Who Kill and then Viking: Downfall of a Drug Lord. The actor had let on that after a few too many gins, he and his friend had come up with the concept of a new series called Call Me Dad. The premise? What happens when your best friend starts dating your mother?
This Danish dark comedy comes to US screens this week and is certainly something different to what you might be used to when it comes to Alex Høgh Andersen performances – the actor completely shines in his comedic role and Nordic Watchlist’s own Alex caught up with the star.
Talking over video call the actor explains how he has just got back from New York shooting a film which he is incredibly excited about but has to remain very tight-lipped about, so we jump onto Call Me Dad and the series’ creation.
Having seen the star rise to fame in such dramatic roles as his Ivor the Boneless in Vikings and more recently his role in Those Who Kill season three (which we won’t say too much about to avoid any spoilers). Here he is clearly having a lot of fun – or is he?
“We had a lot of difficulties keeping a straight face making this“, the actor laughs. “We were always trying to reach for this edge and playing around with that edge in trying to find something that was funny ourselves – that way we knew that it was working“.
With the series being almost completely improvised this makes for some incredibly funny viewing but it was perhaps a little less funny for the director who had to deal with the cast who kept falling about laughing.
“It was totally unprofessional but oh my god we had so much fun!“
Alex had touched on the series when I spoke to him last year – that he had a ‘few’ gin and tonics with his best friend when they then came up with the idea for the series. The actor confirms that it was more than a few, possibly even a bottle.
The series follows Emil, played by Alex, who finds out that his best friend Viktor (Magnus Haugaard Petersen) is dating his mother Helle (Ellen Hillingsø). Not only are the pair of them best friends but also business partners and that is just the tip of the iceberg for Emil as he is also struggling with strange nose bleeds and one of the most infuriating girlfriends you will ever encounter in a Danish series who we will come to in a moment.
First, let’s talk about Ellen Hillingsø – an actress widely known for her roles in such series as Rita, The Lawyer, The Bridge, and the upcoming Oxen.
“She was just perfect for the role – because you just never questioned it“, the actor proclaims. “We were so pleased she said yes because she adds so much extra value not only to her role but to the whole project itself.”
If there is one character whom you will walk away from this series, or even these episodes, that will make you bang your head against the wall, then enter Carla (Roberta Hilarius Reichhardt), who is Emil’s girlfriend and quite possibly one of the most infuriating characters we have experienced in a while (thanks to a brilliant performance from Roberta). How on earth did Alex keep a straight face with their scenes?
“She is like our main MVP in this series and you have totally hit the nail on the head there – I had a tough time not cracking up in our scenes. She was so good that I was almost frightened half the time and also so frustrated!”.
Frightened and frustrated? How could this be? Well, Emil happens to be one of the nicest people on the planet – not one thing upsets him. He doesn’t fight back, he doesn’t like confrontation, and he just continues with his life despite being taken VERY much for granted, which, as you can imagine, leads to an assortment of tricky situations, many of which involve Carla, who is a whirlwind of chaos.
“We want people to be freaking out on the couch watching this series and shouting at the television“, Alex explains and we can confirm that this was indeed the effect it had on myself. “Carla is a character who just doesn’t embrace Emil and runs all over him“.
How and why would spoil the short series, but rest assured Carla does a mighty fine job in breaking down the impenetrable good nature of Alex’s character – if it wasn’t enough that his best friend has confessed to sleeping with his mother, Emil has a lot on his plate.
His best friend is Viktor who he works alongside as a chef for a sustainable food company – the series has a lot of focus on food and the culture that comes with it, and Copenhagen (and Denmark itself) is the perfect place to focus on that kind of culture. How good are Alex and Magnus’ culinary skills in real life though?
“I think it is fair to say that I was the better chef as Magnus doesn’t cook at all“.
And when it comes to signature dishes what would be Alex’s dish?
“Italian cuisine is my favourite. I make a mean pasta – I start out with making a little pesto, add some pasta to it with some almonds, sun-dried tomatoes, and some love too!“
The actor goes on to explain that one of the fun parts of the series was getting to learn a new craft, and in this case, it was in the kitchen. There are no long takes of him doing his chef bit in the kitchen, but he still got to put his training into practice when he was involved in cooking lunch for a private school. That surely must have been stressful?
“The lovely part about my job is the fact that we are pretending for a living, and I am really good at that“, he smiles.
The series also does its bit of focusing on sustainability – both Emil and Viktor try to run a sustainable chef experience where even lemons are frowned upon and where you certainly shouldn’t get your oat and almond milk mixed up. Outside of work Emil spends his mornings swimming and collecting rubbish, it is here that he meets the mysterious Siv (Johanne Milland) who could be a potential love interest to further complicate his already crazy world.
When it comes to reality how well connected is Alex when it comes to sustainability?
“I am very environmentally orientated“
Alex does a lot of work with environmental organisations which has seen him travel to both Kenya and Bali to highlight some of the issues that they are fighting out there.
“That element of the show was very dear to me but it was also very Copenhagen. Here was this character trying to be as good as possible in a contemporary world and, as we find out, it is just impossible”.
Will Alex Høgh Andersen be visiting Emil and his crazy world again? The series certainly wraps up nicely but we are sure there is plenty more things to visit to make it even more stressful.
“We would love to do a second season but there is nothing planned at the moment”, he confirms. “The reason we came up with the idea in the first place was just an excuse for Magnus and I to work together. The fact we got to show up to work and be in a TV show that we created ourselves with our best friends – that is just incredibly cool and obviously we would do everything in our power to create a second season. There is still a lot of fix“.
Call Me Dad makes its US debut on the Viaplay US streaming service, specializing in the best of European and Nordic series and films and available as an add-on subscription via Prime Video Channels, Comcast and The Roku Channel.
