San Sebastian take it to the Max

Von Sydow picks up Donostia Award

by Amber Wilkinson

Max Von Sydow picked up a Donostia Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival yesterday (September 24).

The veteran Swedish actor said it was "a great pleasure and honour" at a press conference.

He was presented with the award by Argentinian star Leonardo Sbaraglia, who worked with him on thriller Intacto.

On receiving the accolade, von Sydow said: "It’s a great honour to receive this award but whether I deserve it not is another story."

The 77-year-old - who first came to fame in a string of Ingmar Bergman films including The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries - confessed that being typecast had been a problem.

He said that having made several films with religious themes, US producers had assumed him to be very religious, despite the fact he has no specific faith.

The actor, whose mire recent films include The Inqiry and Minority Report, also decried the lack good roles for older actors. He said: "They are rather predictable. There's always a grandad in the script who is ill on page 10, who dies on page 32."

He said this was why he was relishing the prospect of his latest part in a Julian Schnabel movie, adding: "I hope there’ll be some more interesting grandfathers in the future."

For more information about the film festival, which runs until September 30, visit the official site

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