MADS MIKKELSEN
“LIFE AND DEATH IS DRAMA. SO THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING INTENSE IN THE FILM”
It would be tempting to say that Mads Mikkelsen - currently on a scorching hot streak - is having something of ‘a moment’, with two different (and really very good) character dramas on the horizon, and a role in another huge blockbuster-verse in the can. Only, calling it ‘a moment’ doesn’t take into account the fact that Mikkelsen’s been soaring like this for a couple of decades now, going from strength to strength since transitioning from a dancing career to make his feature debut in 1996’s Pusher.
One of Denmark’s greatest exports, the 55-year-old’s filmography has flourished on a diet of character dramas and the biggest mainstream properties imaginable: James Bond (Casino Royale), Marvel (Doctor Strange) and Star Wars (Rogue One). And he’s adding the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to that collection with Fantastic Beasts 3, replacing Johnny Depp as the series’ big bad, Gellert Grindelwald plus - announced as we went to press - he’s joining Indiana Jones 5. TV’s Hannibal also earned him huge pop-culture cachet, playing the cultivated cannibal over three seasons.
But despite big-ticket behemoths, the vampirically handsome Dane - all scalpel-sharp cheekbones and piercing eyes - has continued to pursue complex roles in smaller European dramas. “I don’t think so much about balancing one project in Denmark with one in America,” he tells Total Film. “It’s what comes my way that I find interesting, and the people that I find interesting.”
Striking an accidental balance has been convenient, though. “It is a lucky situation, because Denmark is a small country. If you make one film a year, it’s too much. People get fed up with you! So it is a lucky thing that I can stay away for a little while.”
Mikkelsen has banked repeat collaborations with the likes of Nicolas Winding Refn, Susanne Bier, Thomas Vinterberg and Anders Thomas Jensen. Jensen has directed Mikkelsen in five films, and contributed to the screenplays of five more. It’s their latest collaboration, Riders Of Justice, that kicks off our chat today.
Evading easy genre categorisation, it’s set within a grittier milieu than Jensen’s previous films (their last collab was the bonkers ). Here, Mads (the ‘D’ is silent) plays
