By Mads Mikkelsen is a go-to bad guy for Hollywood franchises these days following celebrated villain turns in “Hannibal” and “Casino Royale,” along with more ordinary bad guys in “Doctor Strange,” “Fantastic Beasts” and “Indiana Jones”.
Though he’s played some good guys in American studio films (eg. “Rogue One,” “Clash of the Titans”), it’s usually when the celebrated actor returns home to film in his native Denmark or other European productions that his roles tend to be much more as a flawed protagonist than a scheming antagonist.
Mikkelsen is the recipient of an honorary Etoile d’Or career prize of the Marrakech Film Festival this year where his role in Denmark’s Oscar entry “The Promised Land” was also shown.
Speaking at a masterclass on Saturday at the fest about that dichotomy of casting, he says (via Deadline) that it comes down to his voice:
“It’s quite simple. It’s the funny accent. It’s as simple as that. It used to be Germans, then it was Brits; then the Russians, and then for some reason they fell in love with the Danish accent. That’s definitely part of it.
Then if the Americans see something they like, they have a tendency to try and copy it, right. But I’ve been lucky enough to do different villains in different universes.
There’s a big difference between Marvel and James Bond… but I never think about it too much. In Denmark, we don’t divide it into bad guys and good guys, we tend look at more complex characters.”
He also offered advice on acting in different languages, saying the trick is to rehearse it over and over because once you shoot the scene that’s it, it’s over and “if there are mistakes, if people out there are going, ‘Oh my God, what an accent’. So be it. That’s all I could do.”
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