00:03
Josefine Lindegaard
I chose "Langebro i måneskin med løbende figurer" af C.W. Eckersberg. It's an incredible painting that's set in moonlight in Copenhagen over a bridge by Kastellet. I absolutely love this bridge.

00:21
Josefine Lindegaard
I don't know why I gravitate towards moons in paintings. This has two small windows that are lit up in the background, and it always makes me think of what's happening in this little house. There are people on the bridge. Some people are standing pointing, and a man is running. Where are all these people going? I can give each one of them individual stories and change them over time depending on what mood I see this painting.

00:50
Josefine Lindegaard
The old Copenhagen buildings make me nostalgic. It makes me feel at home and it makes me wonder where these people are from, where they are going, who they are, who their ancestors are. The way that the moon reflects in the water, and the sky's turning from day to night with the pink colors and the clouds, it's just so beautiful.

01:18
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
My name is Tina Jøhnk Christensen and I'm the host of Danish Originals, a podcast series created in partnership with the National Gallery of Denmark and the American Friends of the National Gallery of Denmark. Our goal is to celebrate Danish creatives who've made a significant mark in the U.S.

01:35
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Today our guest is Josefine Lindegaard, a Danish actress and rising star in Hollywood. Welcome Josefine.

01:42
Josefine Lindegaard
Thank you.

01:43
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
It's nice to have you here.

01:45
Josefine Lindegaard
It's nice to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

01:48
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You're so welcome. I met you at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, where you attended an event celebrating the Beyond the Light exhibition, which was a collaboration between the J Paul Getty Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Denmark. What were your thoughts about the event and the exhibition itself?

02:09
Josefine Lindegaard
I thought it was a beautiful event. I was so happy to see Danish art in Los Angeles because it means so much to me to feel at home sometimes when I'm far away from home. And I thought the pianist was just absolutely incredible and the fact that there were art pieces that I remember from going to the museums in Denmark with my family behind him was so fascinating. And just the setting of the Getty Museum is so beautiful. So I thought it was incredible.

02:43
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
How would you describe the museum? You mentioned the setting is beautiful. How would you describe it?

02:49
Josefine Lindegaard
It's up on a hill, so it's very picturesque. It's very scenic. It has amazing architecture and the view is just stunning over the water and the art pieces, they just come alive inside this beautiful museum because the surroundings are so magical. It started when it was still light out and then it became dark. So that was a really beautiful transition.

03:14
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
How important is it for you to participate in events like this outside of Denmark? And what do you think you personally gain from taking part in them?

03:24
Josefine Lindegaard
I think it's so important because I never — I am — I know some people who have moved here and then they're just like, I don't have any relation to Denmark anymore. This is my new life. I'm here. I'm the opposite. I love Denmark. I become such a nationalist when I'm outside of Denmark.

03:43
Josefine Lindegaard
When I was 18 and I first came over here, I was like, oh, it's the coolest over here. I love it. And now as I've grown older, I can see all the downsides and I can truly see how special Denmark is and what a safe, amazing country. So for me it's so important to participate in events like that, where I can feel nostalgic and feel at home and meet other Danes.

04:08
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And what does art mean to you? And do you have a special connection to Danish art?

04:15
Josefine Lindegaard
Art means so much to me in so many different aspects. I think that art isn't just a painting, I think art can also be a feeling, and especially as an actor, I would say, music as art too, and what I love to do is just put on headphones and walk through a museum on my own, and then just let the exhibitions pull something from me.

04:38
Josefine Lindegaard
And what I love the most is it's always something different. I've walked through SMK in Copenhagen a million times and each time I go through, my favorite period is the Golden Age. So when I walk through that and I love landscape art, it always gives me something new and the same with music. It depends on what state I'm in.

04:57
Josefine Lindegaard
Art in paintings means so much to me because me and my dad always went and looked at landscape art wherever it was in Denmark at the different museums. And when I lived in New York last year I would also go to the Met and I would walk up and I would see the painting Copenhagen in moonlight and I would feel at home.

05:18
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Oh, that's nice. You are an artist yourself, an actress, and you have now started an international career that has brought you to Los Angeles. What brought you to the city of angels in the first place and tell us about the first time you went and what your impression of this big city was.

05:37
Josefine Lindegaard
So the first time I came to Los Angeles was when I was 17, and I had an incredible, like I had such an American dream. My family and I lived in Poland in Warsaw from when I was 8 to 12 years old. So I went to an American school and I started doing American theater and I was surrounded by Americans. And when you start doing theater and watch movies and Disney channel in an American society, it's Hollywood, you know?

06:06
Josefine Lindegaard
So I fell completely in love with the idea. I had never been there, but then I went to New York when I was 16 and I attended an acting school there for three months. And then I was like, I'm going here, America, this is it. And then when I was 17, I came to Los Angeles with an ex-boyfriend who also had an American dream and we came together and I was just like, I'm going to move here, I'm going to work here.

06:32
Josefine Lindegaard
But then I came back to Denmark and I was like, you can't just move here and work. You need a visa. You need other work. So then I came back here with a visa and I started, I had small, small roles in big projects. It was amazing. The first two years I was living in seven different places in weird rooms with weird roommates, but it was just the idea of being in Los Angeles that really, it was so magical. And now I can see the downsides too.

07:04
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Try to explain the city the first time you arrived, you know, 17, blue-eyed?

07:10
Josefine Lindegaard
Oh my god. Just the weather. It's always sunny. Coming from Denmark, which has all the seasons and a lot of rain and a lot of darkness. It was like a light. And I didn't see any of the homelessness. I just saw the Hollywood sign and I went to parties and I met gorgeous, glamorous people and I met people who said that they could make me a star.

07:33
Josefine Lindegaard
And you know, it was a dream and the city is so big, so I also really tried to explore all the different neighborhoods. So it feels more like 14 different cities in one, but it's not like one. So I thought that was so cool that I could go from Silver Lake, that feels more like Brooklyn, down to Santa Monica, that feels so beachy, and like, total California, but it was just so different.

08:01
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And you mentioned your perception of the city has changed. You are no longer dreaming. What is your relationship to the city today? How do you see Los Angeles today?

08:11
Josefine Lindegaard
It's a very interesting relationship. It's total love hate. I was filming a movie for four months last summer. And right before I filmed, I was like, I'm done with LA. I want to go to New York. I want more realness. I felt like the city after COVID — something shifted and I felt there was more chaos and the political state here, you see so many homeless and then you see so much wealth — it's unbalanced.

08:38
Josefine Lindegaard
And then I did go to New York for some months, but then I ended up missing LA because it does have so much space and dreams and something about the sun just makes you look at the positive side of things. But also, when I'm here for too long, I feel like I'm in a bubble in some ways because of the sameness to the whole thing, the same weather—

09:01
Josefine Lindegaard
So then I go to Denmark and I really love that contrast because as soon as you hit Copenhagen Airport, you're like, oh, okay, I'm not living in a dream. This is reality. And you get on your bike and you drive through the rain and it's just a little more real. But then after some months, I miss LA.

09:17
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
I guess you also learned that the people who said they could make you a star might not always tell the truth. Can you talk a little bit about that?

09:26
Josefine Lindegaard
Yeah, yeah, yeah. This was also before the MeToo movement really hit. So it was a lot of men who tried to use their powers and all the whole spiel. And I come from a very safe family. I come from a strong mother. And a very humble, great, respectful dad. And I know my values, and I've always felt good enough as I am, so I definitely knew how to not go with that.

09:54
Josefine Lindegaard
I also grew up with parents who've always told me not to be naive, and to question people, and if it's too good to be true, it might be. But of course I was just young, and I did hope for some of these producers and all these people to bring me in on things, but I quickly found out.

10:13
Josefine Lindegaard
I was standing at a club when I was 18, the second time I was here. Leonardo Dicaprio was at the table with a cap on and I saw there were ten girls around him and they were all schmoozing and all these things. And they were all on cocaine and drunk.

10:28
Josefine Lindegaard
And I thought to myself, okay, I'm either going to be standing here with these people for the next five years and I'm still gonna stand here or I'm going to go to acting classes and make the auditions and not care about who can I schmooze, more like get really specific and good at my job.

10:48
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Smart move, Josefine.

10:50
Josefine Lindegaard
I'm happy about that now.

10:52
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Yes. You have come a long way. Denmark is far away, both in terms of geography, but also in terms of culture and mentality. Where are you from in Denmark? And try to describe the place you're from for somebody who does not know it.

11:07
Josefine Lindegaard
Yeah, I'm from about 20 minutes on a bike outside of the city center. I'm from a little town called Hellerup, which is very quiet and very family oriented. It's right on the water. I mean, Copenhagen is surrounded by the sea, but I lived right by the beach. And it's a very, very safe community. I grew up biking to school when I was, I don't know, 6 years old.

11:33
Josefine Lindegaard
And I could always walk to my friends. I grew up in an apartment complex and we were all best friends. And we had dinners down in the gardens. And we just grew up very, very safe. Just like small town suburbia, but still very close to Copenhagen. So it was a nine-minute train ride and 20 minutes on a bike.

11:52
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You mentioned that you lived in Warsaw with your parents and that you got involved with acting. Talk a little bit more about how you got involved and why you liked it so much that you decided to make that your career.

12:04
Josefine Lindegaard
Yeah, so actually it started before Warsaw. My mom is a real estate agent, but she grew up modeling a bit on the side. So she was doing a lot of commercials and when I was five she brought me on to a set and I loved it. I felt so comfortable in front of the camera. I loved it so much.

12:24
Josefine Lindegaard
So she put me in an agency for kids and I started doing tons of commercials. And then I would get off school to do the commercials and it was my favorite thing. And then when we came to Poland, it was Annie the musical, it was Chekhov's Three Sisters. It was a very complicated kind of plays, which just made me realize that I didn't only like commercials, I also liked going in depth with material.

12:53
Josefine Lindegaard
And when I came back from Poland, I auditioned to get into a theater school in Denmark called Eventyrteatret, like the fairytale theater, which is very famous for young, striving, theater artists. And I went there alongside my school, Folkeskole, my elementary school. And I was there three times a week with other fellow young people who loved to act. And that's how it started.

13:22
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And you mentioned to me that you have representation here in the US. Maybe you can talk a little bit about who that is and what does this actually mean that you're represented by them? Break it down to people who don't know what it means to have representation.

13:38
Josefine Lindegaard
Of course. So I'll take it back a little bit. When I was 16, I got into school in New York, called Stella Adler Studio of Acting. I went to New York by myself. I rented a room in an apartment with some Danes and after this course, I was like, okay, how can I make this my job? And I heard some people talk about agents and managers and I was like, I don't think Denmark is big enough to have agents and managers.

14:04
Josefine Lindegaard
I went home. I asked around. My mom is a real estate agent. My dad is in finance. No one is in the arts. My parents have always been, Josefine, your dream is great, but we can't help you. If you want this, you got to go for it yourself. And I found out there were five big agents in Denmark and I emailed them all 17 times and no one answered. And then one answered and she was like, okay, come in. I had a meeting with her. She's done a lot of work in the US. She's lived in LA, she knew LA.

14:37
Josefine Lindegaard
And she said, okay, you haven't done anything, but I'll send you out on auditions, and if you get something, we can sign you. And so the first two things she sent me out on, I got. And she signed me and then she then hooked me up with managers in Los Angeles because you, that's kind of the way to go.

14:55
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And what do they do for you?

14:57
Josefine Lindegaard
So they sit— I hope all day. They sit on a site, I think it's called Actors Access, which has a breakdown of all the things that are shooting. And then it says "Project: Stranger Things," "Girl: 18 to 25, blonde," like it has the whole breakdown and then they submit me to be allowed to audition for this. So then if the casting director sees that I've been submitted and they think I look the part, then they give me permission to self tape.

15:33
Josefine Lindegaard
So in the US, it's a little bit different in Denmark, but in the US, you do a self tape. Especially after COVID, you don't go into the room. You might go into the room the third or fourth time, but the first time you do a self tape. You film it on your phone, and you just film a scene with someone who's reading with you. And then you submit that to the casting director.

15:55
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You play the role of a Scandinavian farmer named Greta in the main village in Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon. What can you tell us about Greta and how she fits into the story?

16:07
Josefine Lindegaard
So, Greta, or Greta, she is in Zack Snyder's version of Seven Samurai meets Game of Thrones meets Lord of the Rings. He's made an incredible universe. His writing partner, Kurt, has Norwegian origins. And they've created this village that is Scandinavian. It's not time specific. We don't know what time it is, it's a group of farmers that are very, very close.

16:35
Josefine Lindegaard
Her arc is beautiful. She starts being afraid of what's going to happen when this force comes down. And then she takes responsibility and she reminds the other farmers, we know how to farm, we are good at this. So let's try to trade that so the samurai can help us fight and we can help them farm and harvest. And she has a little love relation and it's beautiful.

16:58
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
So there are many Scandinavians in the film?

17:02
Josefine Lindegaard
So there are some Scandinavians, but there are also a lot of British actors, some Australian. We had a great dialect coach. But sometimes, she would send me lists and I had to do voice memos for her in Danish, which is really funny.

17:17
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
How did you get involved with the franchise, and talk about the experience of being cast. Were there any surprises in terms of how that happened?

17:26
Josefine Lindegaard
Yeah, it actually happened in a really funny way. I got a self tape in 2021, in December. Everything with these big franchises is extremely private, hidden, secret. The scenes that you get for the self tape aren't scenes from the actual franchise, because it has such a cult following. I got a self tape request for a role, it had like no description almost, just that this role will shoot for seven months, starting in April until November.

17:57
Josefine Lindegaard
And this person needs to live in LA, be in LA. And it's Zack Snyder. I don't even think it had the title of what it was, but Zack Snyder is huge. So of course I knew it was a big thing. It said it was Netflix, 'coz it was already bought by Netflix. It's a Netflix franchise.

18:14
Josefine Lindegaard
And then I did this self tape. It was a weird scene. It was a very, very simple, small scene, just between a boy and a girl. And I almost thought, why is this so simple? And then I found out that I had a call back. So that's the second round. I did one more scene. And that scene was from the actual franchise.

18:33
Josefine Lindegaard
And there were almost no descriptions, no character descriptions. I just had to go with my intuition and then I was called to a meeting with Zack Snyder and the casting director. And that's when you know, you're very close and it's the last round. I just arrived in Copenhagen because it was in December and I usually go home for Christmas and so I had to do it on Zoom with them and I sat there with them for 30 minutes.

18:58
Josefine Lindegaard
I spoke with Zack about his vision. He explained what it is. I did another scene that they had given me, multiple times. Zack was very excited and he was like we're gonna make magic happen in LA. I was like, I got this 100%, and then a week went by and I didn't hear anything and that's like a bad sign.

19:16
Josefine Lindegaard
And so then I heard that I had not gotten this role and this was one of the lead roles and I was extremely sad. And four months went by and I had forgotten it. And then in June 2022, when they were already filming, my manager calls me and he says, there's another role, do you want to audition for it? They have said that they don't need you to audition for it. They can use your old audition to consider you for this.

19:41
Josefine Lindegaard
I said, no, I would love to self tape for it. So I did. And then again, I hadn't heard anything for two weeks. So I packed my things and I went to New York. Like I said, I wanted to go to New York and then on the plane, of course. It's always like that. Then on the plane, I got the offer. I stayed in New York for 24 hours and I went straight back. And so it was a smaller role than the one I first auditioned for, but it came back to me in such a beautiful way.

20:07
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Nice. So what is it like being on a big production like this? It's a huge scale production. And what is it like watching somebody like Zack Snyder work on a set like that? It must be quite amazing.

20:22
Josefine Lindegaard
It's crazy. It's the biggest thing I've ever done and seen. I had two days on a movie in 2019 called The Comeback Trail where it's also Robert De Niro, Tommy Lee Jones and Morgan Freeman. So that was also really high scale. And I thought, nothing is going to be bigger than this. It was 14 different cuisines at lunch and it was crazy.

20:45
Josefine Lindegaard
This was another level. He transformed an entire film village out in Santa Clarita to fit his vision. It was built from scratch. Our village, I get goosebumps. Our village was built from scratch as a Viking village. So you felt when you walked through the log houses and all the different sets in this village, you felt it was 100% one-to-one how it must have felt like to be a Viking or a farmer back in the day.

21:16
Josefine Lindegaard
He is incredible. I don't care what anyone says about him. I think he is the greatest director. He runs around on set. We filmed in 115 degrees weather, which is like 42 Celsius. I was very challenged by the heat. I thought it was extremely hardcore. I had to get on an extreme electrolyte, food, and water intake protocol. Because if you did not remember to eat, you could not work.

21:47
Josefine Lindegaard
Zack was biking around, running around. He had so much energy. He never stopped. We worked 16 hour days and he was such a trooper. He treated everyone the same. He would stand in line for lunch. He would be so lovely to everyone, all the drivers, all the people, which made the set such a warm place to be. Our call sheet, sometimes there were 400 people. You see how many people were involved. There were four cameras filming. It's just on a level that I don't think anything can get bigger than that.

22:19
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
So, Josefine, you said they built this Scandinavian village. Did they get it right?

22:23
Josefine Lindegaard
I think they got it right. I mean, the setting of being in 115 degrees weather or 40 Celsius in sunlight was not right. But the whole insides and the houses felt so right. And our costumes were so thought through and it's just down to the tiniest detail. Everything is just on point.

22:44
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You also have a role as Julia, an influencer, in A Man Called Otto. You are filming Tom Hanks's character in a little scene in the film. What's it like standing across from somebody like Tom Hanks and have scenes with somebody of his caliber? You don't have lines with him, but I assume you got to talk to him.

23:05
Josefine Lindegaard
I did talk to him and it's always like, you know, they say don't meet your heroes. I've tried that with some other ones, but not with him. He is so much like he is. And the craziest thing is I thought I would be really nervous, 'cause I only had two days on that movie. I thought I would be really nervous seeing him and acting across from him.

23:25
Josefine Lindegaard
But, it's something about when you grew up with people's voices and you grew up with them on screen, you actually feel very safe around them because they feel like your grandfather or your dad or something. He came up to me, he gave a handshake. He said, I'm Tom. Where are you from? We talked about Denmark. He was very engaging. I talked to him all day practically. He was just extremely nice to all the extras. He was clapping when we were done with scenes.

23:53
Josefine Lindegaard
It was such a good thing to see as a young aspiring actor, to see these major actors treat everyone with such respect and to see how they approach a character and how they approach work very professionally, and it makes me so inspired. And I felt the same on Rebel Moon, with the actors there just working in extreme circumstances, but never complaining.

24:19
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Have you met the opposite?

24:21
Josefine Lindegaard
Yes, I have met the opposite, and I won't mention names. But I have met people who are very arrogant and who complain and who make it almost like to an extent where I'm just like, if you're in this position, there's so many people dreaming of being on a set for one day and you have this incredible role and you earn a ton of money, don't complain because it's just rude.

24:49
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And in the film A Man Called Otto, you don't have a line, as I mentioned, but you're recording. She is recording a scene where Otto is saving a man on a railway track and then tries to kill himself afterwards. Your character basically just records it to post it online and to somehow promote herself. How do you feel about this whole culture of self promotion? I have a feeling you wouldn't have done the same in that situation.

25:17
Josefine Lindegaard
No, no, no, no. I actually just saw a movie about the same plot of someone killing himself. And the whole thing about our culture, we stop, we film, instead of helping. And I feel it's a big challenge. I have a sister who's 19, who lives in this whole TikTok Instagram world.

25:34
Josefine Lindegaard
Some of my best friends are huge influencers. I see the backside of it. I know how anxious they are. I know how hard it is to keep this facade on. I feel very mixed about it because Instagram also has so many great things and there is a lot of transparency from some influencers, but I think the majority of social media just really has not helped the world.

25:57
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
So you're not into self-promoting?

25:59
Josefine Lindegaard
No. I try to, of course. I post work and I do post sometimes, but I think my last post was four months ago. I do Instagram stories for my near friends to keep in contact and everything, but I don't— No, I don't think it should be about me. I think as an actor, it should be about the characters and the work. And I think that my private life should be private.

26:24
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And A Man Called Otto is a remake of a Swedish film. What do you think of remakes of Scandinavian film? Do you think it's necessary? What do you think?

26:35
Josefine Lindegaard
Yeah, I think it's tough, because A Man Called Otto was En mand der hedder ove, which is the Swedish version. It was a bestseller, an incredible book, and the movie has such a cult following in Sweden. I went to the premiere in Stockholm, and I talked to a lot of the Swedish audience, and they were disappointed with the American version, which I said, of course, I mean, the one you have a relationship to is Swedish. It's your own country. It's Rolf Lassgård, who's an incredible, big actor there and it's the original.

27:09
Josefine Lindegaard
So I don't think you can ever come in and take from the original. But I think that it's a blessing that Americans who wouldn't have seen the Swedish film still get this incredible story told. And it's inspired so many Americans. It was a major, major hit in the box office and now it's on Netflix. And I know that it's been watched so many times. It's been number one for many weeks.

27:35
Josefine Lindegaard
And so to that extent, I think that I prefer originals, of course, but I also think that everyone should be able to watch incredible art. And so it's definitely had a life here, which also, I mean, the fact that it has success here also makes more people watch the original.

27:56
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You also worked with Robert De Niro in The Comeback Trail. How approachable is someone like him on set? I have a feeling, because I've met both Tom Hanks and Robert De Niro, that they are different. How are they different? Are you starstruck, or is he just another colleague that you get to read lines with?

28:13
Josefine Lindegaard
So I was 19— No, maybe I was 20. I was very nervous about this, because this scene, it's again, two days. I had two days, tiny, tiny role. I was sitting in a car with Robert De Niro and Zach Braff and I walk out of the car and I'm at this gala movie premiere with him. And so to sit in a car with Robert De Niro, we had to approach the scene, like we have to drive a little bit. So we drove and you know, you have to do a scene a million times.

28:44
Josefine Lindegaard
He is much more quiet. He is very introverted. He is not like Tom Hanks who is an energy bomb — he talks to everyone, he's very enthusiastic. Robert De Niro seems very private. He had his own people on set. His own hairstylist, makeup artist, assistant, who would bring in an umbrella and take him away when he had a break. He's in his trailer and you can feel he's lived it, you know? He's a legend. He can do whatever he wants.

29:13
Josefine Lindegaard
And I think that it's so important to respect everyone's approach to it. Because if that's what makes him feel safe on set and creative, then he should do that. I think when you're young, you feel like you have to please people, you have to be out, you have to be social on set. I've also tried. I did a movie called Detained where I had some very emotional scenes and for that I can't be out and I can't be social before I go into a scene like that. So it depends on what you're doing.

29:43
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You've worked with Tom Hanks and Robert De Niro. Coming to the US to work demands a lot of preparation and a lot of hard work. Were you surprised about anything along the way?

29:54
Josefine Lindegaard
I'm surprised about how little it actually means that you worked with these people, it doesn't bring you big, incredible roles where you get to express something and say something. In these scenes with Tom Hanks and with Robert De Niro, I haven't gotten to show my talent because it's scenes where I walk into a premiere, I smile, you know, it's not huge character arcs.

30:17
Josefine Lindegaard
Whereas in Rebel Moon and in a Danish film called Rotten Flowers, in Detained, in other projects on a much smaller scale, I've gotten to show more character arcs. Yeah, so I guess that surprised me because I thought when I was 19, 20, I worked with Robert De Niro, I can get any role I want, which is not true.

30:37
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And you mentioned when you were 17 and you got here like, I'm gonna move here, I'm gonna do this and that. And it just doesn't happen like that. You need a visa. Can you talk a little bit about that process, what that's like?

30:49
Josefine Lindegaard
Yeah, that's a really long process. And people don't understand it before they've done it themselves. And so you need to get an O1 visa that I've had for about 3 years, maybe 4. You either need to be sponsored by a studio, like Netflix, or HBO, whatever, Lionsgate. Or you need to be sponsored by an agency, your own agency, but it has to be an agency that has an office in the US And then you need deal memos, which means you need producers to promise that you have work here.

31:22
Josefine Lindegaard
So if you are applying for a 3-year visa, then you need 3 years of film work. And you also need letters of recommendations from people you've worked with in the past, directors, producers, and you need press. So you also need to show that you have done things and you're active in the press from your home country.

31:43
Josefine Lindegaard
And of course it gets easier every time you do them, because then you can kind of feed off of the old ones and I've always gotten them through my agency. But actually when I did Rebel Moon I had one that goes until 2025 but Netflix wanted to get me one too. And then when you've gotten a lot of these you can then apply for a green card, which I've done. But it's a whole process and it's a lot of money that you need to spend.

32:09
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
It's not simple. Let's put it like that.

32:12
Josefine Lindegaard
It's like my college degree, I feel.

32:15
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And, speaking with an American accent is important when you are in an American production. You mentioned you went to an American school in Warsaw. But how do you manage in terms of learning the language? You know, that's not simple either in getting the accent right.

32:31
Josefine Lindegaard
I think it's all about being here. When I'm here for more than three weeks, I can feel it in my dreams. When I dream at night, I wake up in the morning. I'm like, oh, did I dream in Danish or did I dream in English? And when I dream in English, I know that my accent is here. I know that I'm in it.

32:46
Josefine Lindegaard
And as soon as I'm in Denmark for three weeks, I feel myself neglecting my accent because I think it's so embarrassing to be out at a Danish restaurant to be speaking American when I'm with Danes. So as soon as I get an audition, I try to sit with the lines and just read them to myself for an hour so that I know how I'm pronouncing. And if it's a specific accent, like a Southern accent or East Coast accent or something that's more complicated, I hire a dialect coach.

33:16
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
How many languages do you speak?

33:19
Josefine Lindegaard
I speak Danish and English fluently, and then I speak Norwegian and Swedish a little bit. I'm doing an online course right now in Swedish, and then a little bit of French, but nothing fluent.

33:30
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And I saw your resume and it says that one of your special abilities is boxing. How did you learn how to box?

33:37
Josefine Lindegaard
I love training, I love being active, so I boxed in Denmark from when I was 16, I got really into it. I had a trainer in Copenhagen, and he actually worked for the champion of Denmark in boxing back in the day. And I loved it. I thought it was such a cool way to bring out emotions and to get in shape at the same time. So I've kept that skill.

34:03
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Do you have any other special qualifications that you didn't put on your resume?

34:08
Josefine Lindegaard
Did I put skiing on there?

34:09
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Nope.

34:10
Josefine Lindegaard
Okay, I'm really good at skiing. It's like the one thing, it's so embarrassing to say, but it's like the one sport. If I wasn't an actor, I would 100% live in the mountains and ski and be a ski guide. It's my favorite outlet to just relax. My dad took me skiing when I was 2 years old and I ski with him every year, yeah.

34:30
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Wow, I'm envious.

34:31
Josefine Lindegaard
I want to do a ski movie.

34:33
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
You're only 25 years old and so this is a big question because you have the whole world in front of you. What are your goals and ambitions? What do you want to achieve?

34:46
Josefine Lindegaard
My big goal is to live off of acting 100%. I would also love to direct and I would love to be able to act and produce and direct, not just in the US or just in Scandinavia, live both places and work both places.

35:00
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And you have already written and directed one film that I've seen called Silence, and I think you did some follow ups to that. Can you talk a little bit about that process of getting those films made?

35:13
Josefine Lindegaard
Yeah, that was in COVID when the whole world was shut down and my agency back then, they were like, you guys should all do something with this time. And so I partnered up with my friend who was represented at that agency. And we were like, okay, what can we write? What can we do?

35:30
Josefine Lindegaard
And we thought about this little short story about how relationships went through a lot during COVID and some couples weren't used to seeing each other all day, every day. So maybe they totally lost the connection and then they had to live together and see each other all day. And it was a story about a couple who fell apart and then they found each other again.

35:53
Josefine Lindegaard
Writing and directing that was such an eye opener. I was in it, but I was also behind the camera. I think some actors are like, no, I'm good with just acting, that's what I like. But I like everything about filmmaking.

36:06
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And here in Los Angeles, have you created a community of Scandinavian or Danish creatives that you hang out with or work with?

36:14
Josefine Lindegaard
Yes, when I first came over here, I actually didn't meet a lot of Danes. I met a lot of Swedish people, some Norwegian, and some of my Swedish and Norwegian friends, they're all in music. So there's a big music group who are all Scandinavian, and I hung out with them a ton.

36:32
Josefine Lindegaard
I met my boyfriend, I had an American boyfriend. I then gravitated towards him and his American friends. But before I met him, I was hanging out with these Scandinavians every day to feel safe and at home, and I definitely also have some Danes. I have 8 to 10 Danes that I can really just count on. And every year some people move back and some people move here, and right now this year is amazing because I have three of my best friends from high school living here, working here.

37:05
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
That's nice. Do you see Denmark from a different perspective now that you've lived abroad?

37:15
Josefine Lindegaard
Absolutely. I used to think that Denmark was a small, boring country. And now, I just see it completely differently. I see it as a safe, incredible culture, special, heartwarming, really, really incredible way of living.

37:33
Josefine Lindegaard
It came to me when I started seeing my older brother's friends starting to get kids, and how people spend a ton of money on school here, and how it's free in Denmark. And I also realized when I had to go to the doctor here, or I cut my finger three years ago, I had to pay out of pocket so much. You need a lot of money to have a good life in the US. And in Denmark, you can have a great life with not a ton.

38:02
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And which values do you think you've taken along with you on your road to success outside of Denmark?

38:10
Josefine Lindegaard
To be honest and to be humble and not expect it all to just come to you, to work for my ambitions, work for my goals, and to be humble about it and to treat everyone with respect and to know that the man on the garbage truck is just as important as the CEO. Also, community, helping others, helping others on the streets, helping where I can.

38:39
Josefine Lindegaard
And being really grateful that I have a place like Denmark that I can always go home to. In COVID, I mean, it was COVID, the Trump election, Biden election, Black Lives Matter. It was just chaos in the US. And I was so grateful and fortunate that I had a country I could go home to because a lot of people I knew here, they had no idea what to do. They had no idea where to go. They don't have a safety net like I have. So I think gratitude I brought.

39:12
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
What is your favorite Danish word and why? And when you've thought a little about it, would you mind spelling it for us for the listeners who don't speak Danish?

39:23
Josefine Lindegaard
I feel like everyone will say hygge, but that is my favorite word. H-y-g-g-e. It's a short version of hyggelig, or hyggeligt. It's the most famous Danish word, I think, and it's so cliché to choose that, but I use that word a lot, and I use that word so much in the US. I've taught all my friends about it, my ex boyfriend, all of his friends.

39:50
Josefine Lindegaard
Everyone knows what hygge is and it's a feeling. And I love that word because it's a feeling and a lot of my friends from the US were in Copenhagen because of the SAG and WGA strikes and they spent months in Copenhagen with me and I tried to bring them to places that were hyggelig or hygge and now they finally understand what it is.

40:13
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And in your experience, what is the one thing that Americans get wrong about the Danes and vice versa?

40:20
Josefine Lindegaard
That we're socialists and that we can't build wealth and achieve big things. I think those are the biggest misconceptions. Now that I've had so many Americans in my world in Copenhagen, they've learned that it's more work-life balance. Danes don't value work as highly, it's not their whole life. Family, friends, hobbies, and activities on the side are just as much worth as work.

40:52
Josefine Lindegaard
I think that a lot of Danes think Americans are one thing, generalizing about how Americans are superficial and that they aren't cultured and that they don't care about the deeper meaning or history. I've met some of the most incredible, smart, deep, wonderful, open human beings, and I think that Danes could learn a lot from the openness and the welcoming spirit that sometimes gets misunderstood.

41:24
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
And finally, at this stage in your life, where do you prefer to live? And when I hopefully get to speak to you in ten years' time, where will you be and what will you be doing if everything goes your way?

41:37
Josefine Lindegaard
My dream is to have a base in both places. I have an apartment in Copenhagen that I rent out when I am in the US and vice versa. I think that that's the best of both worlds. I don't think I can choose one place. But I would love an apartment in New York and a place in Copenhagen and to work all over and also have a place in LA.

42:00
Josefine Lindegaard
I can never leave America totally, I would always be here, but I definitely think that when priorities change, I'm young right now, I'm single, I don't have commitments, I don't have kids. When that happens, maybe, hopefully, I don't know, in ten years' time or something, I definitely want my kids to be raised in Denmark, but also have some American culture and American opportunities. And if everything goes right, I will work as an actor, producer, writer, director in all over the world. And I would love a company.

42:38
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
We all look forward to hearing about that in ten years' time.

42:40
Josefine Lindegaard
Yeah, me too.

42:41
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
Thank you so much for being with us today. We appreciate it.

42:44
Josefine Lindegaard
I'm so happy to be here. Thank you.

42:50
Tina Jøhnk Christensen
For today's episode, Josefine Lindegaard chose C.W. Eckersberg's Langebro i måneskin med løbende figurer, or Langebro, Copenhagen, in the Moonlight with Running Figures from 1836 from the collection of the National Gallery of Denmark.