Ahead of the release of Netflix film Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver, Danish actor Josefine Lindegaard breaks down her low-key approach to Hollywood and her love of a good SaunaGus
Josefine Lindegaard has just been to the sauna. She is visiting her parents and her childhood home in Hellerup, a small coastal town north of Copenhagen, and the sauna and Öresund is just five minutes away. This is where she has been practicing ‘SaunaGus’ – a mix of sauna, aromatherapy, meditation and dips – in the frigid seawater for 15 years with her mother. “We did it a long time before it became a thing,” says Lindegaard. “It is so refreshing.”
But these days, Lindegaard is usually closer to the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles, where there are no saunas by the sea. Here, Danish-born Lindegaard, who has dreamt of being an actor since she was a young girl, has created a stable career for herself. She has been rubbing shoulders with Hollywood A-listers like Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Zach Braff in The Comeback Trail (2020) and A Man Called Otto (2022). Even if her roles are quite small, they have all been part of a learning curve.
Photo: @joselindegaard
“I thought I was going to lose my shit on set,” recalls Lindegaard about showing up to work with her famous colleagues. “I was really scared to meet them. But the thing that happened was really surprising. When you grow up watching these actors on screen, you kind of feel you know them when you meet them. So I actually did not freak out.”
I was very excited that we got to be in this amazing film village, which reminded me a lot of Scandinavia and Vikings.
Josefine Lindegaard
This chill factor may have also been what Zack Snyder, the director behind big-budget blockbusters such as Watchmen (2009) and Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) saw in Lindegaard. But, apparently, the director is also a big fan of Scandinavia. So, when casting for his Rebel Moon franchise, which begins with a two-part sci-fi film, he chose Lindegaard for the role of the farm girl Greta. “It was incredible,” says Lindegaard about shooting on location in Santa Clarita outside of Los Angeles. “Zack built our entire planet from scratch. I was very excited that we got to be in this amazing film village, which reminded me a lot of Scandinavia and Vikings.”
The planet is Veldt, a far-off moon where Lindegaard’s character lives in a simple and peaceful farming village that resembles medieval times. Here, the small community sustains itself with grain fields, but when they are attacked by evil forces, who want the harvest, peace is threatened. Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire was released in December on Netflix and in order to keep momentum following part one’s rather wild cliffhanger, fans have already penciled in the April 19 release of Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver. “The fans are very happy about it,” confirms Lindegaard, who is aware that the reviews have been mixed. “I have only received kind messages on Instagram, and the fans are very excited to watch part two.”
A still from the production of ‘Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver’, set to be released on Netflix on 19th April. Photo: Netflix
There is a grounded humility and girlish charm to 25-year-old Lindegaard, but one should not mistake that for lack of ambition. She has a very clear plan, and is determined to excel in her career even though she takes one step at a time. “The cool thing about my process is that I have worked on this career since I was 17, so I am not an overnight success,” she says. “My career is gradual. I have been climbing up the staircase step by step, so I think I am much better prepared than some actors, who get lucky and get their big breakthrough right away. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be an overnight success. Like the cast of Stranger Things for instance.”
Lindegaard was 18 when she decided to make the move to Los Angeles. Though she had appeared in a few Danish productions (including the popular family film Far til fire på toppen) She had not had a big breakthrough in Denmark like Claes Bang, Mads Mikkelsen or Sidse Babett Knudsen before she tried to make it internationally. “I was very excited,” she recalls about arriving at LAX with her suitcases. “I arrived with big dreams and I thought that Los Angeles was going to make them all come true. After my first movie in Denmark, I thought I was a star. But that was obviously not the case and it took hard work to get to where I am today. I realise now that you have to be super naïve and young to do what I did. if I had known what I do now, I might not have made the move. I might have been too scared.”
But fear did not hold her back and, following the Rebel Moon movies’ release, it is likely we will see a lot more of Lindegaard on the red carpet. Here, she also has a mission. When posing for the photographers at the Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire premiere, she wore a Saks Potts leather look in a colour palette she felt was in keeping with the film: earthy tones of brown. “I see it as a good opportunity to show Danish and Scandinavian design on these red carpets,” she says. Though she celebrated her Danish roots, she looked every bit like a rising Hollywood star.