Alfredson was born in 1965 in Lidingö, Stockholms län, Sweden,[2] the son of Gunilla and comedian, writer, and director Hans "Hasse" Alfredson. Tomas was used to being treated differently from an early age.[3] "[A small] number of people were public property, and he was one of them," Alfredson said of his father. Hasse was seldom home, and Tomas was mostly raised by his mother.[3] "But I participated in [Hasse's] film productions every summer, it was probably a way for us to reach each other (...) I thought it was great fun."[4]
Alfredson would often have minor roles in the Hasseåtage series of popular films, that featured the comedy-duo of his father and Tage Danielsson – such as the role of the "Count" in The Apple War (1971), his sole line of dialogue being "Adieu, mon plaisir" ("Goodbye, my pleasure").[4]
Directing career
Alfredson's career started at Svensk Filmindustri, where he worked as an assistant.[5] He was involved in the creation of the Swedish television channel TV4, where he worked in the entertainment department.[5] One of his successes was the Swedish adaptation of Fort Boyard, "Fångarna på Fortet".[6] Alfredson then moved on to Sveriges Television, creating television series such as Ikas TV-kalas, a children's television show starring Ika Nord, who would later appear in Alfredson's 2008 film Let the Right One In.[7] According to Nord, Alfredson was "only 25, but already extremely knowledgeable".[7] In 1994 Alfredson directed Bert, another tv production based on the Bert diaries, a popular series of teenage novels written in the diary form.[8] A feature film, Bert: The Last Virgin, based on the series was made in 1995, for which Alfredson received a Guldbagge nomination for Best Direction.
Alfredson joined the Swedish comedy group Killinggänget as a director in 1999.[9] "I saw that they were a little funnier than the others, and a little more thorough", he said.[3] His first collaboration with the group was a 1999 series of four television films, including the mockumentaryScrewed in Tallinn, which depicts a group of Swedish bachelors who travel to Estonia by bus in the hopes of finding Estonian girlfriends.[4] The 2004 film Four Shades of Brown, directed by Alfredson, is Killinggänget's only feature film to date. The film intertwines four unrelated stories with a common theme of betrayal, in particular parents betraying their children.[10] The film received four Guldbagge awards, including Best Direction for Alfredson.[11]
Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist released his debut horror novel Let the Right One In in 2004. After reading the novel, Alfredson wanted to get involved in a film adaptation, and approached Lindqvist: "They [sic] was a crowd banging on his door to make a movie, so I was #40 or something. When we met, he knew of me and he liked what I'd done previously, and we got along together very well."[12] The film tells the story of a 12-year-old bullied boy who befriends a child vampire in early 1980s Blackeberg, Sweden. In addition to directing, Alfredson edited the film in collaboration with Dino Jonsäter.[13]
Let the Right One In premiered on 26 January 2008 at the Göteborg International Film Festival,[14] where Alfredson won the Festival's Nordic Film Prize.[15] The film went on to win additional awards, including the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Tribeca Film Festival.[16] The film quickly became an international success, with the rights being sold to more than forty countries[17] before its theatrical release on 24 October 2008.[18] Domestically, the film won five Guldbagge Awards, with Alfredson receiving his second Guldbagge Award for Best Direction.[19]
International career
After finishing the work on Let the Right One In, Alfredson publicly announced that he would not make any more films in the "foreseeable future".[20] He stated that he had grown tired with the Swedish film and television industry, which he considered "drained of power, courage, and gravity."[21] While he had received several offers from Hollywood producers, he was reluctant to leave his "home, children and all the colleagues I depend on to be good."[21] However, in March 2009 he announced that he would partake in a big international film production.[22] In July 2009, Alfredson signed to direct a film adaptation of John le Carré's 1974 novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.[23] Produced by Working Title Films' Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner,[23] it premiered in September 2011 at the 68th Venice International Film Festival.[24]
In 2017, Alfredson directed the widely panned The Snowman. Despite the all-star cast and it being based on a book from the popular series by Jo Nesbø, the movie was mostly panned by critics and received a 7% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[26]
