Big baddies and small dogs with Mads Mikkelsen.
Raise a glass to the Great Dane…
Be it Europe (The Hunt, Pusher) or Hollywood (Rogue One, Doctor Strange), Danish star Mads Mikkelsen is in that career sweet spot. Incoming in sci-fi Chaos Walking and award-winner Another Round, the 55-year-old will also take over from Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts. Spectacle doesn’t scare him, it seems. “Sometimes you want to go out and have a sword in your hand!”
In Another Round, you play Martin, deep in a midlife crisis, who experiments with daytime drinking. Did you ever drink on set?
No, we didn’t. Because we were doing it so many days in a row. And keeping a level of [alcohol] would be impossible; you’ll have to drink two bottles of scotch every day. And people would fall asleep.
You play a teacher, but what kind of student were you?
Myself? Hmm. Good question. I was not very good at sitting still. But I was pretty fast [at learning]. I nailed it pretty easy. It came easy to me, a lot of it. So when I hit high school, and I entered into teenage territory, I lost all that. I was just focused on the girls and having fun. So the train left without me there.
You worked with Another Round director Thomas Vinterberg before on
The Hunt. Does that hold a special place in your heart?
The Hunt was extremely big and personal for me because I won [Best Actor] in Cannes, and for the film community, if they didn’t know me, it would probably have opened their eyes a little bit.
You’re also in Doug Liman’s Chaos What can you tell us?
Walking. It’s a very interesting, bizarre and kind of beautiful story. Men cannot keep a secret… there is no way they can keep their thoughts to themselves. And women don’t have that issue, so obviously there is an interesting power balance going on there!
What do you see as your major career turning points?
Bond [Casino Royale] was one turning point, obviously, in the sense that it was a huge film for me to do in the American and European market. I would say the first film I did over there, King Arthur… just being part of that world was a turning point. My very first feature film, with Nicolas Refn, Pusher, was a kick-start and a turning point. So there’s quite a few of them out there.
Can you pinpoint how your Hollywood career started?
I know I got the job on James Bond because of Open Hearts, made by Susanne Bier, where I play a very soft man, who is a doctor, and for some reason they thought I could be a baddie in a Bond film! So sometimes it’s strange.
Do you mind playing villains?
I’ve done a few villains. I’ve also done quite a few normal people and quite a few crazy people. I try to find something that is different from film to film. I mean, I think a Marvel film is very different from a James Bond film, which is again very different from the Hannibal TV show. They’re all villains in their own world, but they’re very, very different villains. So I tried to find something new in the characters.
Does it surprise you that you’ve been in so many pop-culture touchstones?
Yeah, it does! If you’d asked me 10 years ago, I would never have guessed that would happen. It would be strange for me not to say I am surprised. In the midst of it, it’s just happening, but when you stop and you look back, you go, “What the fuck just happened there? Why me? Why am I inventing the Death Star? That’s pretty cool!”
How did you spend 2020 in lockdown?
I was planning to learn a few languages. I never got around to it. But there was so much to do. I had so much tennis I had to play. We got a little dog. And we spent a lot of time with a dog! JM
ETA | 5 FEBRUARY / ANOTHER ROUND OPENS NEXT MONTH.
‘WHAT JUST HAPPENED HERE? WHY ME? WHY AM I INVENTING THE DEATH STAR?’