Edvin Ryding takes time to chat to Nordic Watchlist about his new series, Swedish soldier drama ‘A Life’s Worth‘, which is out now on Viaplay.
Nordic Watchlist caught up with Swedish actor Edvin Ryding during a break in filming the upcoming Hunger Games film. The Young Royals star, who has recently appeared in 28 Years Later, is back on our screens in Viaplay’s A Life’s Worth, which is available now on both Viaplay UK and USA.
Nordic Watchlist: The series is a little different from some of your previous work, Young Royals, for example. What drew you to this project and the character of Strand?
Edvin Ryding: What attracted me to the role was that it is a part of the history of that area, but also Swedish history, that I felt was not really explored.
Reading the script, I was overwhelmed with how powerful it was; I was really moved by it. Also, from the get-go, I had heard very good things about the director Ahmed Abdullahi, and it felt like a really great challenge as an actor to go out there and tell that story.
Nordic Watchlist: You didn’t just have an amazing crew around, you also had an incredible cast around you as well. Tell us what it was like bonding with the guys, and who did you get on with most on set, as I assume it felt pretty close quarters for you when shooting the series?
Edvin Ryding: It was a fun experience prepping for this, as none of us had done any military service. So we were put into this boot camp in Sweden for a week, which had us doing military service in the woods with a major.
None of us knew each other and I think we left that experience as brothers, more or less – it really created that bond that I imagine one must have felt when being a soldier.
We reached this point where we started to fully trust each other. To go on set where you can trust everyone around you and feel safe if you might make a mistake, or to try something – it was just wonderful.
To say who I bonded with most is difficult – it might have depended on the day.
Nordic Watchlist: Where did you shoot the series?
Edvin Ryding: We were shooting in Slovakia for a month, and then in Lithuania for two months, living very close to one another.
Nordic Watchlist: The chemistry you guys have built really shines through in the series – it felt genuinely convincing from your performances.
Were there any fun moments that happened behind the scenes that you could share? It must have been pretty intense at times because the storyline is full-on.
Edvin Ryding: I think it’s necessary to have fun moments when telling this type of story, as you need to be able to cope with it, and I think that is incorporated in the story as well. These guys are going through these horrific experiences, but are still able to joke around.
Life funnily imitated art; we might have had a day where we had been shot at all day or shooting the scenes where we had been kidnapped – and then we’d have this game to see who had the sweatiest gear on by the end of the day. We were carrying around so much, and it was so hot out there. Little things like that were going on behind the scenes.
Nordic Watchlist: Was there anybody you learned had skills you never knew they had previously? For example, I heard that Erik Enge turned out to be pretty good at ice skating whilst he was on set shooting Black Crab.
Edvin Ryding: It is funny with Erik because he is such a soft and endearing person – then we go into armoury training and he goes: “Oh, I know all this.” He is very experienced, but he won’t shove it in your face, which is also a very good quality of his.
The things we would get up to in between takes were always fun – we would go on these improvised rants in various accents. Toni (Toni Prince) has got a talent there with those.
Also, Johan (Johan Rheborg) – who plays our Colonel in the series – is renowned in Sweden for being a great comedic actor, but he is a magnificent dramatic actor!
Nordic Watchlist: Looking back at your career so far Edvin; you have tackled royalty and homosexuality, earthquakes in Kiruna, zombies, criminal families, and whatever you might get up to in the new Hunger Games film. What have you found as one of the most challenging roles, and how does that compare to your role in A Life’s Worth?
Edvin Ryding: That’s a good question! I feel that every character brings their own sort of challenges, because it’s always a process of finding your way into it, and finding your truth in the character. Obviously, the big challenge with A Life’s Worth was that not only was it a very physical challenge and straining on the body, but there was also a lot of technical stuff with the soldier’s appearance that I didn’t know that I had to learn.
I think also, psychologically, with Strand, he’s very far away from me as a person, I have to say, for the record. He’s impulsive in a way that’s quite far away from me, and obviously, he goes through this big journey, these elements, both the psychological and the physical.
A Life’s Worth was certainly a challenging thing to do, but I had great help from my director and my castmates, which I was very lucky to have.
Nordic Watchlist: I am going off script here, but lastly then – who do you see yourself most in, out of the characters you’ve played?
Edvin Ryding: Well, I suppose there’s a bit of me in almost every character, but I think the closest one might be Wilhelm from Young Royals, or maybe… I did a film called A Part of You. I played a character called Noel, who was also quite similar to who I am as a person.
It’s a good question. It’s hard to answer, though, because it’s like, it’s… vaguely, it’s me all along, but at the same time, it’s not. You know what I mean?
A Life’s Worth is out now on Viaplay USA and Viaplay UK you can also catch Edvin in the series Gåsmamman/No Time To Mourn
