The upcoming blockbuster and TV series to be broadcast on TV 2 in 2024, about Quisling’s last days, was recently filmed in Trollhättan in Sweden. It is the actor Gard B. Eidsvold who plays the traitor Vidkun Quisling.
Challenging role
The 56-year-old actor is both grateful and daunted by the task, and he’s prepared well for the role.
– This is the most challenging thing I’ve done, at least in the film. There’s an incredible amount to take in and it’s a violent story, resulting in him being executed. I take it very seriously and have been working on the role for a year and a half,” Eidsvold told TV 2.
MAKEUP: Gard Eidsvold for the help of the make-up artist on the set of Trollhättan to look as much like Vidkun Quisling as possible Photo: Petter Sørum-Johansen / TV 2
Personal challenges
During the war, Gard Eidsvold’s parents fought against the occupation. The actor will bring this personal story with him into the role. He did a lot of digging into his family history before starting work on the film and TV series.
ON THE SET: Director Erik Poppe instructs Gard Eidsvold on the film set in Trollhättan. Photo: Petter Sørum-Johansen / TV 2
– Both Quisling and my father, Knut Eidsvold, were in Møllergata, and probably in the same cell. It provides a contrast, and much of it was traumatic for my father, who survived, says Gard Eidsvold.
Curious about your story
The family never spoke of what their parents had been through during the war. Eidsvold knew a lot about it, but he kept researching because he was curious about his own story.
– It is special. I have a fundamental respect for this project which means I don’t take it lightly. If I don’t play this role for them, I carry it with me in my spine, she says.
THE DIRECTOR: Erik Poppe working on a scene from the film on the set in Trollhättan. Photo: Petter Sørum-Johansen / TV 2
– The role of Gard is a story in itself
It is director Erik Poppe who is behind the upcoming film and TV series about Quisling’s last days. The project has its origins in extensive research and unique material, including the diary of prison chaplain Peder Olsen. He was Quisling’s confidant from his arrest until his execution on October 24, 1945.
TERPING: Erik Poppe must have all the details in place when Quisling is played by Gard Eidsvold. Photo: Petter Sørum-Johansen / TV 2
He finds it exciting to work with Eidsvold and is proud to play the lead role and to have taken on that responsibility
– His journey as an actor and his upbringing are fascinating. With a father who was a diehard Communist who was imprisoned during the war and who bore a grudge against Quisling. And then comes the son, who’s one of our best actors, and he’s going to play Quisling. This is a story in itself. It’s a dream to work with Gard, and one wonders he didn’t do it several decades ago, Poppe concludes to TV 2.
