TT News Agency did an interview with Valdemar Wahlbeck before the Sommartider movie premiere.
Sommartider premiered in theatres on 17th July. It depicts Gyllene Tider’s path from young clumsy guys from Halmstad to pop stars after the breakthrough in the late 1970s. But it is not a documentary portrayal. Director Per Simonsson’s film is a romantic depiction of pop life, as if it were a lyric to a Gyllene Tider song:
This rollercoaster of emotions, longing for love, heart and pain. It was a great inspiration.
Valdemar Wahlbeck plays Per Gessle and recognized himself in a lot of things, because he himself is from Gyllene Tider’s hometown Halmstad. But playing an icon, who is also very much alive, is not easy.
I didn’t really know what to do. So I asked Per and he said “do your thing and it will be fine”. And I did that.
Per Simonsson says that Per Gessle was a little skeptical at first:
I noticed that he was wary until he read the first version of the script. Then he understood that it isn’t a documentary.
When Valdemar Wahlbeck compares today’s world to the 1970s, he sees it as a time where there was not much to do, which was good for creativity. You had to come up with something other than scrolling.
It has inspired me a lot, to go out and do things. The first thing I did was to delete Instagram and Facebook. We’ll see if I get them again. I have nothing against social media, but the way I want to live my lifestyle, I just thought it took a lot of time.
Valdemar Wahlbeck has grown up in the world of entertainment, as the son of comedian Peter Wahlbeck. Other celebrity children are also in the film, such as Jesper Parnevik’s son Phoenix and Lancelot Hedman Graaf, son of entertainer Magdalena Graaf and soccer player Magnus Hedman.
Lancelot Hedman Graaf has his own music career, but did not back down to be associated with Gyllene Tider as well.
I thought like that before, but then I’m such an incredibly manic jumping person. So I can’t keep thinking like that. I’m doing music, I’m competing in Thai boxing and then suddenly I’m sitting here and I’m an actor.
To the question if all the guys aren’t too good-looking to play Gyllene Tider Valdemar replies laughing:
Lol! Yes, maybe. But we had stylists and they didn’t.
Jan-Olov Andersson from Aftonbladet asked Valdemar (21) about how it was playing Per Gessle. Valdemar laughs and says:
I thought I would play the most handsome, Anders. It didn’t even occur to me that I would play Per.
Valdemar Wahlbeck explains why he took the chance when the film company in Gyllene Tider’s hometown of Halmstad was looking for young potential actors for the film.
I have been involved in theatre all my life and studied film in high school. I had already applied and got into the Ballet Academy in Gothenburg. It felt like everyone was applying, so you couldn’t help but do it too. It was the big chance.
After many casting rounds and test filmings, Valdemar got a role in the film, but not as bassist Anders Herrlin, but the main role, as Per Gessle, Gyllene Tider’s frontman.
Jan-Olov asks Valdemar about his own musical background.
You learn to play the piano at the Ballet Academy. On guitar, I can only play chords. But I have always sung, at the Cultural School in Halmstad and in choirs. Then I studied film in high school. When the pandemic came, we made even more films. Singing, theatre, film, it has been a hobby, but now it can become a profession.
When I got the role, I had to take a break from school. So now I’m starting a new class at the Ballet Academy. It’s three years, then I’m a musical artist. After all, it’s several art forms in one.
Valdemar met Per Gessle several times before the shooting.
Both in Halmstad and Stockholm. I expected a “rock star”, but he is a Halmstad dude, very nice. There is a small-town feel around him. If you are from there, you know what it is. Per only said “do your thing” about how I should interpret him.
Valdemar sings a lot of Gyllene Tider songs in the movie, so Jan-Olov is curious how it was.
I have always liked Per Gessle’s voice, now I love it. We could do an entire interview just on how to find the Gessle voice. It’s difficult, genuine, one of a kind. Imitating it is impossible. There is a raspiness in it and it is at once sexy, naive and propulsive. It’s about embracing it, landing it in your own body and… then something that sounds like me comes along.
Three out of five of the young actors in the film are considered as nepo babies, children of famous parents. In Valdemar’s case, his father is Peter Wahlbeck, sometimes controversial stand-up comedian, actor and artist.
I have never seen dad as a public figure. I don’t know “Peter Wahlbeck”, but I know my father. For me, he is the one who cooked our meals or with whom I took a walk in the forest with the dog.
To the question what he thinks about Valdemar playing Per Gessle Valdemar replies:
He loves Per, he is the pride of Halmstad. At the same time, dad is a comedian, so he has joked quite a bit about Per. When the family sat at the dinner table and I told them that I was going to play Per, dad got a little tear in his eye.
Photo by Fredrik Etoall