ट्रिविया

In the 60s, as a young director, he questioned Ingmar Bergman's status in Sweden and in the world with unusual fire and soul, believing the stories and camera work were to constructed and Bergmans characters too stiff. On the other hand, Bergman was very impressed with Widerberg's films, but the two directors never met.

Left school at 17, then deserted from the army after being conscripted, but was able to avoid prosecution. By the time he was 22 he had published a novel and short story collection.

Not a friend of good planning, he sometimes rewrote parts of the script in the margins of a newspaper while sitting on the can in the morning, before going to the shoot. He flourished under chaos, with everything happening fast and in no particular order. This was extremely demanding for the crew, never really knowing what to except, but everybody agreed it was a great way to get the energy up for every day.

Suffered from bipolar disorder but only agreed treatment in his later years.

Favoured natural lighting in his films and considered black & white photography as too stark and stylised.

Considers John Cassavetes, François Truffaut and Elia Kazan some of his strongest directorial influences.

Liked to bet on horses, and once won 175,000 SEK (Approximately 25,000 USD).

Father of Johan Widerberg

Often stated that Ådalen 31 (1969) and Ormens väg på hälleberget (1986) were the two films in his career he felt were the happiest ones.

Despite a successful run as an author in the 1950s he was never happy with the books he wrote, calling them "dead pieces of Swedish literature.".

Was a festival regular in Cannes and would often dine together with François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Lindsay Anderson and Ken Loach.

Rose to prominence in 1962 as a newspaper film critic, with the publication of his controversial book "Visions of Swedish Cinema", in which he criticized the monopolisation of his country's film industry by Ingmar Bergman and his adherents.

Big admirer of Stanley Kubrick.

One of his passion projects was to to adapt Norman Mailer's 1955 novel The Deer Park into a film. The project was never made.