Interview with Ulf Stenberg and Peter Grönlund on “Björnstad”

Five years ago, Ulf Stenberg played a supporting role in Peter Grönlund’s successful debut “Tjuvheder”. They quickly discovered that they were two men of the same scrap metal and barley. Besides being happy to combine their well-groomed playoff beards with sports hats, they are both obsessed with the same issues at work: male identity, patriarchal structures, social heritage, peer pressure and exclusion.

Now Stenberg plays the lead role in Grönlund’s television series based on Fredrik Backman’s bestseller “Björnstad,” which revolves around a small town on the ropes. Stenberg stars as returning NHL star Peter Andersson, who will restore the hockey team’s honor on the rink.

– I am Peter’s avatar, his arm outstretched in the world. We are fascinated by the same things and always strive to create the utmost authenticity, Ulf Stenberg smiles from his home in Nyköping during a zoom meeting.

– Yes, exactly, Ulf is my alibi so that I can retire from the world but still be able to operate there, says Peter Grönlund in his studio in front of a large poster of the latest feature film “Goliath”.

“Goliath” was a nuisance and a hyper-authentic family drama depicting how destructive masculinity is passed down from a criminal father to his son at a mill in Östgötaslätten. Even if “Björnstad” doesn’t move in criminal settings, the similarities are striking.

– Yes, “Björnstad” is close to the themes I usually work with. No less important is the relationship between the individual and the group. I liked the characters and the story takes place in a fairly closed small world, almost like a minority society, although it is an extract from society in general, says Peter Grönlund.

For Peter Grönlund, ice hockey became a perfect metaphor in the story he wanted to convey.

– As one of the characters in the series says: “It is not hockey itself that violates or creates war”, but hockey culture is a symptom of a sick social climate with patriarchal structures. Children are put on the ice early and raised in a winning culture, one that is all about defeating others and taking what they want. At its best, the series can lead to a debate about how we raise our children, says Peter Grönlund.

Ulf Stenberg has worked with the same kind of problems. For ten years he has created a series of theatrical performances dealing with male aggression, bigotry and gang violence in criminal settings. Including “Top boy – a hooligan story”, “Cut him” and “Bye bye brother” that he created together with his childhood friend Emil Rosén Adsten.

– The point of “Björnstad” is that we want to discuss issues related to macho culture, male identity and patriarchal structures from a male perspective. If we want to get anywhere with these important topics, we must reach a broader audience, not just have discussions with those who are already part of our team. I think we should try to look at this with open eyes and understand what it attracts, says Stenberg.

In the series, his character is forced to suffer a painful confrontation with his male identity after a traumatic event where his daughter is raped by the great star of the team, Kevin, at a party.

– Even though Peter is basically a good person, he is forced to realize that he is still part of the “bad guys” who maintain a very unhealthy system that also turns out to have fatal consequences for his daughter and family, says Ulf Stenberg.

He has no problem with identifying with his character.

– I was born in Norrland and the show shows a masculinity that I recognize well. I belong to a generation that was raised by men of the old school, but that has grown up in a world where these ideals no longer play out. I belong to the men who have to change the way they view their own masculinity, says Ulf Stenberg, who just passed the 40 mark.

Although he was not raised on the rink, the hockey environment was not entirely unfamiliar. He has come into contact with sport through an extra son. For Stenberg to be credible as an NHL professional, careful preparation was required. In addition to being a personal trainer on the ice, he was able to hang out with Gripen HC in his hometown Nyköping. Most of his team on the series is also made up of talented young hockey players who were selected for the series and coached by a hockey coordinator from the USA. During filming, he also had tangible help from the legend. from Luleå, Lars “Osten” Bergström, as assistant coach in the cockpit.

– I learned a lot about how to think about ice hockey from “The Cheese”. It taught me to understand the psychology of hockey, which is very interesting, from how and why you do certain exercises in training to how you think about tactical changes and psyche during a game. It’s a damn tough sport, Stenberg claims.

The recording of “Björnstad” happened They also coincided with the premiere of the SVT documentary series “The History of Hockey,” which also became a revelation for Stenberg.

– The series helped me understand where hockey comes from: from violence, from a Canadian culture of violence where it was legitimate to break the opposing team to win the game. Since then, of course, they have gradually tried to eliminate violence from sport, but it is still there and burning, says Ulf Stenberg.

He believes that the revelations in recent years about harassment, punishment and sexual harassment in the world of hockey are not a coincidence. The breeding ground for closed, homogeneous and more or less fully masculine environments is a breeding ground for an unhealthy macho culture, says Stenberg.

– Unfortunately, there are similarities between the hockey culture in “Björnstad” and the criminal gang environments; the culture of silence, the unwavering loyalty to the gang and the threat of violence that is there all the time, an unspoken agreement that can always be compensated by fighting. I get it, it’s simple and clear, even if it’s a pretty bad way to solve problems, he says.

He can understand the charm be integrated into a system governed by clear rules.

– If you only follow the rules, it is quite easy to orient yourself in a culture where everything is black, white and black, right or wrong, with clear consequences if you go outside the norm. They can be unpleasant environments for those affected by violence, but if you follow the rules, it is usually a simple environment, he says.

He himself always tries to find the lowest common denominator with his characters, be it hockey coach Peter Andersson or fertility doctor Jonas who meets Josephine Bornebusch’s head doctor in “Love me 2.”

– My entry to work is the belief that most people are who they are more. The similarity between Peter and Jonas is that they both want to be a better version of themselves. This is what makes them interesting and enjoyable even if they have their flaws and shortcomings. I think Jonas is quite clever, clumsy and ugly, but he acts well-intentioned, says Ulf Stenberg and laughs a little.

– But I think both Jonas and Peter have very good conditions to develop and become sensible people before they die. That is also part of my attitude. Damn, you have your whole life to be a better person, a better father, and a better man.

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