Type Without Thinking (Much) with ‘Eurovision’ Actress and Björk Hometaker Elin Petersdottir

Type Without Thinking (Much) is an email interview series I’m working on where my subjects let their mind wander and are encouraged not to give my questions much thought. The order of the questions are intentionally random. Given the strange times we’re living in, I’m hopeful this gives you a bit of a break from the news.

There have been few bright spots in this year of the bottomless poop emoji. Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga was one of them. This silly Will Ferrell/Rachel McAdams Netflix summer comedy about two small town Icelandic singers with pop star dreams was stupid funny and surprisingly tender. I’m still playing the movie’s killer catchy songs on repeat in my car, at home, or in my car, which is parked at my home because, well, 2020. Veteran actress Elin Petersdottir plays Helka, the mother of McAdams’ character, and was kind enough to take part in this stupid funny and surprisingly tender interview.

The first question is always not a question. Promote everything you’ve got going on right now…
I’m not naturally a very good self promoter, but since I really love working, here I go! Right now, I’m nearing the completion of a film called Siblings (“Sisarukset” in Finnish) with Finnish director Saara Cantell and a small group of actors. The story unfolds as our lives progress over many years, so we’ve been actually been filming it over the course of seven years. I’m really excited by it, but you can understand how eager I am to get some recurring work on a TV show with shorter production time. A US/international agent, which I don’t currently have, would certainly help with that.

I see what you did there. Eurovision Song Contest, in my opinion, was the feel good movie of the summer. Talk to me about working on the movie and what co-star Pierce Brosnan smells like…
Working on Eurovision was nothing short of wonderful — just a treat to be around such talented and lovely people. Not just my colleagues in front of the camera, the creative teams were just so very, very good at what they did and observing such skill is always mesmerizing. Pierce Brosnan smells just as good as he looks and acts.

I thought so. On a scale of Kevin Costner in Robin Hood to 10, where would you place Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams’ accents in the film?
A Solid 10 — those accents are an integral part of the overall experience!

What’s your favorite song from the film, and do you these gems deserve some Oscar attention?
I probably shouldn’t say anything since I have zero musical talent, but “Jaja Ding Dong” is my favorite. However, all of the songs should be nominated. ALL OF THEM.

Your bio says you “communicate in three languages” on a daily basis (Swedish, Icelandic and American English). What language does Donald Trump communicate in?
It seems to be a secret language that a small number of people understand, but thankfully I’m not one of them.

What do you miss most about living in New York?
Luckily, my husband works in New York and I tag along fairly often. The plan was to move more of our lives back there, but that got swiftly “2020-ied” out of us. But if had to pick something, it’s the fact that I never feel out of place in New York.

What is something people don’t know about Iceland?
That there was a ban on beer until 1989. You could buy hard liquor — literally called Black Death — but not beer. It made very little sense and the reasons have never fully been explained. One theory, which I find most plausible, is that parliament forgot to include it on the “allowed list” when they abandoned prohibition in the 1930s.

You do work mainly in Finland, which naturally brings me to this important question: What is your favorite Renny Harlin movie?
Die Hard II. Obviously. I mean, the use of Finlandia by the great Finnish composer Sibelius is reason enough.

Is it true you directly purchased your home from Bjork? If so, I want details about the experience.

The story of our home is really a 5-part Epic Magical Saga.

Chapter 1: Our landlord was selling the apartment we were renting and we had three months to find new digs, and decided that buying was probably the smartest choice. We looked and looked, but a month and a half passed without any luck.

Chapter 2: We were walking home from a party on a ship in the harbor — and we never, ever go to parties- and looked up to see the most amazing windows. We both stopped in our tracks and said “Oh wow! That’s what we’re looking for!”

Chapter 3: Some weeks later, less than a month before moving out and nowhere to go, we got a newspaper delivered to us by mistake, and in it, lo and behold, it had a listing for “our windows.”

Chapter 4: I went immediately into New York mode, still in my pajamas. Drinking my morning coffee, I called the realtor and said, “We’ll take it, as is, asking price, no nonsense”. He got very quiet, and then he said “Well hold on, you have to see the apartment first” and then he was hemming and hawing for the longest time and said “Because you know it’s Björk’s apartment and she would like to show it to prospective buyers herself.”

Chapter 5: We met with her, saw the apartment, loved it even more and everything just fell into place without a hitch.

Epilogue: Of course everyone in Iceland except for us knew that it was her apartment. It’s a tiny country, so the odds weren’t exactly stacked against that happening.

About ten years later, I was obsessed with a summer house that was for sale. But after about a month of trolling the listings online I had to get over my cabin crush because I found out the seller was Björk and I just could not be ‘that’ person. Recently I saw my former boss had bought it. See? Tiny island.

Wow. Cool story. Tiny island. Lastly, what’s something people should know about you and your work?
I give it everything I’ve got. I love rehearsing, getting into the part, making the character a human, the feeling of being on set, feeling all that creative energy, being entirely in that place mentally. I truly don’t care how small a part is, I will never just “phone it in.”

Ok, then what’ something people shouldn’t?
I cannot sing. Luckily, I don’t mind distracting from my horrific singing with my non-existing dancing skills.