Borgen star interviewed
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First of all, can I ask you...
Have you been surprised by the success of Borgen?
Oh, absolutely. I'm still not really...
come to terms with it, because
it was... even risky for Denmark
When we did it we were told to expect a...
a smaller audience than...
than "The Killing" and the other series
that've been very popular in Denmark
because it's political, it's a bit, you know...
maybe for the chosen few, and....
When I started travelling, I just...
I couldn't believe it
Why do you think it's been
such a success soap in Australia?
Which, after all, is so far
away from Denmark?
Oh, God! I'm the last one to
anwer that question. I have no idea.
I have no idea, I mean...
I hope it's because it's a good show...
And I think it's hard to see your own...
I mean there must be something exotic about it, but...
but we're so used to that, so we...
I can't see it.
I mean...
... there's something about...
you know putting of...
that I am female political leader that is ...
... sort of new ...
No, I don't know!
But I was just really happy (laughs).
People often mistake your co-star
for a real-life spin doctor
Does anybody mistake you for
a real-life Prime Minister?
Well, not mistake, but ...
I remember... there was recently...
a lot of demonstrations in Denmark
about something... a welfare issue
And I when I walked out, you know, people say:
"That wouldn't have happened
if you were the Prime Minister"
and "Could you... you've
got to do something about it!"
I think, I think...
I did also hear...
somone talking about the Prime Minister
saying something on the news the other day
And then... "No, I'm sorry,
that was you saying that, wasn't it?"
You know, that sort of...
confused it a little bit, but ...
I do feel that... like when I went to France
I was really received as a ... you know ...
a state's minister,
which was very nice.
So tell me, what can Australians
expect to see in the final series?
Well, the second series...
is filmed in... what you call
... continuation of the first series
So that direction of the first series
sort of continues in the second series.
that's kind of one story that ends there, and then...
the third series, which you might get...
later on, is something completely different.
But …
but I think
my character has a really nice voyage
and tries to get back to basics, sort of
back to the ideals and back to the...
to why she wanted to be a politician in the first place.
Have you had feedback from Australian fans?
about their views on the program?
And can you in any way relate to
our first female Prime Minister
who only recently left office?
Well, when I hear about female politicians
in other countries
sort of comparing it and this and that
What I find quite special about our show
is that although it is a gender issue
we really played that down a lot
I was not... I didn't particularly play
a female prime minister
There's two episodes that touch that subject
that it's because she's a woman
but apart from that I think we toned it down a lot
and when we eventually got a female prime minister
she had much more...
you know... she was confronted much more
than my fictional character ever did
so I think my prime minister
gets off a little more easily
Do you understand what I'm saying?
Are you saying that in a sense
it's easier to be a woman
prime minister in Denmark
that it is to be a woman prime
minister in ...
I think it's easier to be a woman prime
minister in the fictional world.
And in the sort of
...mildly idealistic world
Why is that, then?
women still face this glass ceiling?
If it's easier to be a woman in the
fictional world rather than a real-life world
I think it was...
I mean I found it really boring if...
because it is the first female prime minister
that's the first episode
God! We have the first woman.
If I had to play the whole series:
"Oh, and the woman comes in...
"... and the is dancing", oh,
it would be very boring.
It would be just the same issue continuing,
So it was a politician, a new politician
that was much more what I played
somebody who is very new to a position
and to a... to the whole cynical...
the whole, what do you say,
all the compromises, and ... whatever
what power does to a human being
but it was much more that story
that we were telling
what does power do, can you be...
have the power and still be a human being
more than can you still be a woman
So many of the issues that,
or problems that she has, my prime minister,
we have actual parallels from the real world
but that was just men.
so it's not...
I for example have never...
my character has not been...
there was no... in no episode do we
talk about my clothes
or my handbags,
or my... haircuts, which they do
much more with female politicians
than with male politicians.
Did you follow Julia Gillard's travels at all...
when she was prime minister?
I didn't follow anyone.
'cos, it's a ... I mean it is and it's
very compromised, and it's...
It's a tale
and I couldn't... I actually I banned myself
from seing the news for a while
because I just had to believe in this system
in our sole story
and I mean people do do their parallels
all by themselves,
I don't have to help them (laughs)
by having a certain person that I follow, so
now, I did not follow... in other words.
And finally, can I just ask you about Sidney?
You've been visiting here
What's your perception? You seem to
have brought the wheather with you.
Oh, no, no no! I left a very sunny Copenhagen.
Oh, I think it's fantastic!
Well, we are also here because of the
Opera House and all that
what an amazing building!
I mean, what an emotional piece of art.
It's incredible. I just went to the zoo today
and coming on the boat and seeing
the skyline and all...oh!
I'm definitely coming back.