Joel Kinnaman trained for 6 months to prep for 'Altered Carbon'

Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman says he trained extensively for his action role in Netflix's sci-fi thriller Altered Carbon.

Asked how he got ready for the part, Kinnaman joked with reporters during a recent roundtable interview in New York: "A lot of stretching in front of the mirror. Naked.

"It was a lot of training to prepare for this," he went on. "For me, I took this as an opportunity to take the action to another level and I wanted to be prepared, so I could do all of my own stunts. I got this gig way ahead of time, so I really got the time to prepare, so I was training for a good six months before we started shooting with the best stunt team in the city, in Hollywood... I was training in all different kinds of martial arts and stuff like that.

"And then the nudity... well, just my Swedish heritage prepared me well for that. I grew up where you'd watch children's television and there was an occasional [breast.] There was a very relaxed relationship with nudity. You could see on children's TV when I grew up, you could see a family going swimming in the summer, and they would be naked. That was just normal."

Altered Carbon is a 10-part adaptation of Richard K. Morgan's novel about a futuristic society in which human consciousness may be transferred between bodies, meaning the wealthy can essentially live forever by adopting another "sleeve" when the old one wears out. The series co-stars Renee Elise Goldsberry, Will Yun Lee, Martha Higareda and Ato Essandoh.

Kinnaman, 38, is best known for his performances in The Killing and Suicide Squad. He also will soon be seen in the Amazon series Hanna.