This section is going to be filled with fun interviews of people who fascinate me as well as various other bits and bobs of my life and what I concern myself with. In terms of wine, natural wine and beyond.
Meet Icelandic/American actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson – my first memory of seeing Ólafur on television was as the greenlandic thumb guy in „The secret life of Walter Mitty“. But thank goodness, Ólafur cant just be reduced down to one thumb, he has been the lead role as police officer Andri in BBC’s nordic noir hit tv show „Trapped“ (later „Entrapped“), played the prime minister in „the Minister“, went down under to play alongside Jamie Dornan in „The Tourist“ and was part of the iconic Eurovision film „Eurovision Song Contest: The story of Fire Saga“ just to name a few.
Darri, thank you for taking the time to talk to me about wine. So here we go 🙂
(Darri’s replies are in bold)
J: Lets be honest, would you describe yourself more as a wine or beer guy?
D: I used to be a big beer guy but that has changed over the years. A good red is what I turn to these days.
J: When you are done at a set, do you ever go with the crew or colleagues for a glass of vino somewhere?
D: We do but not as often as one would like. We usually shoot 12 hour days and I have to admit that I don´t quite have the energy I used to. But if we do, it´s usually beer.
J: What is your ideal wine or drink to start your evening out?
D: I love a good Old Fashioned or a nice G&T.
J: An assumption from my side, but film events involve probably a lot of champagne? Are you into it? Or do you wish maybe for another drink?
D: I love a good champagne. Champagne and oysters are some of my favourite things.
J: Do you have a favorite wine or even natural wine? (Depends how you answered question 2 this question might be obsolete so just skip in that case)
D: I sort of go through phases. I have for the last few years ordered a bunch of Orin Swift for Christmas. His Abstract is incredible. I´m also really happy if I can find a good Pinot Noir which is not always easy.
J: Imagine, you’d have to pair a wine to a film or a tv show let’s say for example season 1 trapped – what wine would you pair with it?
D: Wouldn´t the classic answer be “Ice Wine” from Canada? I also think that a nice bold red could go well with Trapped
J: Imagine you’d have gotten a tattoo of your favorite drink when you were 19… What would you have gotten (e.g. I’d probably have a Jaegermeister or cheap supermarket Asti tattoo 😀
D: Oh god. For me that would have been a bottle of cheap Tequila. Something I find hard to enjoy these days.
J: Icelanders and wine historically? I feel often Icelanders will go for big names like Bordeaux or Burgundy, because they are known and famous regions and they may not know better? Like social status wines I guess? More talking about the 9-5 Icelander and not someone who’s really nerdy into wine
D: Well, I´m old enough to remember when there wasn´t a lot on offer. I remember names like The Blue Nun and of course Asti Gancia even though I wasn´t old enough to drink them then. In the last 30 years Iceland has changed and I think people have much more knowledge of wines. But some don´t and thats fine too.
J: Asking for a friend who recently started doing a bit more public talking: Do you still get nervous and any advises how to deal with it?
D: I sometimes still get nervous and actually funnily enough, when it’s just me talking and not a character, I can be quite shy. Dealing with it I think is like dealing with any other thing that scares you, just do more of it!…
Thank you Ólafur Darri Ólafsson for answering my questions.
So thank you and see you guys next time!