Trivia for
Fanny och Alexander (1982) More at IMDbPro »

• Liv Ullmann was originally offered the role of Emilie Ekdahl (played by Ewa Fröling) but turned it down. Ingmar Bergman was very upset and told Ullmann that she'd "lost her birthright".
  
  
• The part of Bishop Edvard Vergérus was written by Ingmar Bergman with Max von Sydow in mind. When the screenplay was completed, von Sydow was contacted about playing the role, which would have been his first in a Bergman film since Beröringen (1971). Von Sydow was willing and, in fact, very excited about playing the role. However, Bergman was not aware of this, since von Sydow was in Los Angeles at the time, and could only be reached through his agent who, acting in what he perceived as von Sydow's interest, told Bergman and his producers that von Sydow would only play the role if he could have a percentage of the film's profits, in addition to his salary. The producers, already stretched to their financial limits, of course balked, and told the agent that, sadly, there could be no such compromise, and began looking for other actors to play the pivotal part. By the time von Sydow had learned why his beloved role had been taken from him, Jan Malmsjö had already been cast as the Bishop, and von Sydow lost his chance to star in what would later be known to be Bergman's "last film" (although he would play key roles in Den goda viljan (1992) and Enskilda samtal (1996) (TV), both written by Bergman). Von Sydow was furious about the incident, and, by certain accounts, still harbours a bitter grudge about it to this day.
  
  
• Last theatrical movie directed by Ingmar Bergman.
  
  
• Director Trademark: [Ingmar Bergman] Last names Vergérus and Egerman.
  
  
• The funeral scenes outside the church were shot by the crew since the director was sick with the flu.
  
  
• Famous Swedish song and dance man Jan Malmsjö, who is playing the evil bishop Vergerus, thought it was strange that director Ingmar Bergman approached him for a role very much different from anything else he had done. He asked Ingmar Bergman, who replied: "Well, I sense some hidden dark and evil streaks inside you, Jan. You have it, I have it, all of us have."
  
  
• In his diary book kept during shooting, Ingmar Bergman notes that Jan Malmsjö, playing Vergérus, once collapsed due to long shooting hours combined with stage work (6 performances a week).
  
  
• Ingmar Bergman and cinematographer Sven Nykvist had a big falling-out during shooting, since Nykvist wanted to attend his ex-wife's funeral and Bergman wouldn't allow him to leave the set.
  
  
• Ingmar Bergman's first draft of the script, completed in 1979, consisted of about 1,000 handwritten pages.
  
  
• Ingmar Bergman had Ingrid Bergman in mind when he wrote the role of Helena Ekdahl, grandmother of Fanny and Alexander. The role eventually went to Gunn Wållgren.
  
  
• At the end of the film when Emily introduces the idea to Helena that she wants to stage August Strindberg's brand new play "A Dream Play" and that she wishes for Helena to act with her in it, Helena is pretty pessimistic and reluctant about the whole idea and on the mention of Strindberg exclaims: "Oh no... that dreadful woman-hater!". This is somewhat of an in-joke from Bergman towards actress Gunn Wållgren (who portrays grandmother Helena): Gunn Wållgren is first of all well-known as one of Sweden's foremost Strindberg-interpretors ever and secondly; her most successful and praised part on stage was actually the part of Indra's Daughter in "A Dream Play" (a play and a part the actress also loved very much). Gunn Wållgren later in the final scene also recites the first lines of the play's prologue to Alexander.
  
  
• Ingmar Bergman wanted to kick off the six month long shoot with "something light and happy", so the first scene that were shot was the wild pillow fight starring all the children.
  
  
• The heating in the studios didn't work too well during the winter months, so scenes had to be shot in subzero degrees before extra radiators got properly heated.
  
  
• Peter Stormare makes an uncredited appearance as one of the men helping Isak with the trunk.
  
  
• Director Ingmar Bergman suffered serious bouts of hypochondria during shooting, and imagined he had gotten both testicular and stomach cancer at the same time.
  
  
• Ingmar Bergman's work diary was released in Sweden in 2006, revealing that the director has huge doubts of himself pulling this big film off. There are constants complain about illnesses, misery and fear he might not finish the movie due to personal concerns.
  
  

• SPOILER: Ingmar Bergman's favorite scene was the one with Alexander and the mummy, much thanks to Sven Nykvist's masterful, haunted lighting.
  
  

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