Source: Land.se  [Translated and edited]

Date: Fall 2009

The sky is next to cloudless and on the deck of S/S Norrtelje is Michael Nyqvist, one of Sweden's biggest names, looking alight across the water - out there on one of Roslagen's islands.

Michael: I'm very hot in town.  It's wonderful to just sit outside on the island and enjoy. I have always felt a freedom in nature. When I go to the country, I can be completely at peace. In the city people are staring at me. Fame causes you to get a strange self-perception.

Norrtälje is Michael Nyqvist's childhood country. His adoptive parents lived in the neighborhood since he was two years old and he has many friends still there. He was drawing the house on the island, where he celebrated 83-year-old Mother Gerd's birthday last summer.

Before we meet, his PR woman says Michael has done over 500 interviews in Sweden and Europe over the past six months in connection with "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Nevertheless, he is friendly. When he speaks, he often laughs and strokes his hand over his beard when looking for the right word or expression.

He has just written "När barnet lagt sig", an autobiography of his childhood hunt for his origins. He's been writing the book for a long time in Canada, Egypt, France, Italy and Norrland. At the beginning it had 700 pages but it was pared down to 500. Michael says, "There were too many adjectives."

Michael: I always scan a room when I come in. The insignificant is the essential. I am claiming that. What we create ourselves is what we see in our eyes, not what we really see. I was afraid of the concierge, mother and father, school, cars, heights, the wind - everything was scary! I thought they would come and take me back to the nursery all the time.

When Michael was six, he learned that he was adopted. A year later, his parents separated and his father moved out. It was a betrayal Michael will never forgive, even though they reached a sort of reconciliation. At the end of his father's life, Michael finally asked why he abandoned him.

In the book, Michael describes how he traced his biological father, met him in Stockholm. In one second, he recognized him though he had never seen him.  At his sister's wedding, he finally realized that he was accepted by his Italian family .

He only met his Swedish biological mother for 20 minutes.

Michael: She did not like me. She told me I hate you for everything you've done. I replied, "But I haven't done anything. It's you who have..."

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" will soon have its international release.

Michael: It's fun that the first film goes to every cinema in Europe and then on to Asia. It's a dream to do something that the whole world wants to see. My idea with Mikael Blomkvist was to show a man who's a good listener, empathetic, wise and analytical. I also hope in this era that intelligence should be sexy.