Swedish Rain Man
Robert Gustafsson takes over Dustin Hoffman’s Oscar-winning role when the film “Rain Man” becomes theater at Rival in Stockholm in January next year. Jonas Karlsson plays his brother (Tom Cruise had the part in the movie).
“Rain Man” was the most watched movie in Sweden during the spring of 1989, it was nominated for 8 Oscars and received four, among them for best movie and also for best actor (Dustin Hoffman). Now it’s Robert Gustafsson’s turn to play the autistic Raymond, a man capsulated in his own world. Says Gustafsson: “All people, regardless of background or personally, have a gram or two of these syndromes and letter combinations inside of them. Now it’s all about pulling that out and accept it. For me it’s a lot to do with control. I can get stuck in things, close a door and then stand there and fidget with it for two minutes. Often it’s when I am done with some larger project, like writing a script. Instead of putting a period mark, I just write dot, dot, dot…”
For Jonas Karlsson, taking on the role of the brother was not as easy a choice. “At first I thought ‘why do this’ but then I read the script and the story captured me, this young man who discovers his brother and the journey they go on together. This is a play about being human and about having a brother.”