Alexander Skarsgard talks working with Navy veterans on 'Battleship'

Alexander Skarsgard is grateful to the Navy veterans he worked with in order to prepare for his role on the action film "Battleship."

"I play a commanding officer on one of those destroyers," Skarsgard told OnTheRedCarpet.com host Rachel Smith. "To actually spend time on one and hang out with a commanding officer and be an annoying actor asking all my stupid questions ... it would've been impossible to do this if I didn't have that opportunity."

"Battleship" is based on the popular board game of the same name. In the film, an international fleet of ships on earth come in contact with a fleet of alien ships who attempt to take over the planet. "Battleship" also stars Rihanna, Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson and Brooklyn Decker.

Skarsgard plays Commander Stone Hopper, the older brother of Kitsch's rebellious character and Commanding Officer of the USS Sampson, who goes to battle with aliens. Skarsgard is likely best known for his role on "True Blood" as vampire Eric Northman.

The cast of "Battleship," received some training from Navy veterans to learn the language of working and commanding the ships. A retired naval captain named Rick Hoffman served as a consultant on the film and put the actors through a boot camp.

"It wasn't about being strong and fit, it was about understanding what you were doing on that bridge," Skarsgard said of the boot camp. "For me, being the captain of the ship I had to know the lingo, how you communicate, all that kind of stuff and that's what the boot camp was about basically."

"It was amazing and I am so grateful and they took care of us and they were so patient with us annoying Hollywood actors," he added.

Several Navy veterans are also featured as extras in the film. At the "Battleship" premiere, Skarsgard said, "Those veterans that are on the ship that my character referred to they're real vets and they served on the [USS] Missouri."

"Some of them going back to the second World War and it's just a very humbling experience to be there with them on that ship," he added. "The stories those guys told us were just amazing and I'll never forget it."

"At the end of the day, it's an entertaining movie," Skarsgard said about the film. "It's supposed to be fun and enjoyable but also I think the challenge was to get what's real, real -- 100 percent real -- for you to suspend disbelief and believe all the aliens and all that stuff."

Skarsgard has worked on movies like "Straw Dogs," "Melancholia," "Trust Me" and "Generation Kill." He admitted that "Battleship" is not the typical movie he chooses to work on.

"When I'm not on 'True Blood' I usually do independent movies that are very character driven, not a lot of green screen work," he said.

"Shooting that green screen stuff feels ridiculous, you're overacting a lot because there's nothing, you know, there aren't actors there it's just a gigantic green wall and a little dot," he added. "So you feel very ridiculous and you just have to trust your director and it's amazing when you sit down and watch it when they have all the CGI, the special effects added into it."

"Battleship" hit theaters on May 18. Check out the trailer below.

Additional reporting by Rachel Smith, host of KABC Television's entertainment show "On The Red Carpet" (check for local TV listings). (Copyright ©2012 OnTheRedCarpet.com. All Rights Reserved.)

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