Mads Mikkelsen: The Danish star of his international Oscar nominee “The Promised Land”, says goodbye to Indiana Jones in “The Dial Of Destiny” and becomes a new grandfather

As a new grandfather, Mads Mikkelsen couldn’t be happier, but he doesn’t laugh much in his new film. An earthy piece from the 18th century, The Promised Land In this film, the Dane plays the role of seasoned veteran Ludvig Kahlen, who is determined to transform the ruined moors of Jutland into thriving farmland. It’s a Western of sorts, which becomes noticeably clearer when Kahlen starts fighting with a rival local landowner, but for Mikkelsen it’s a subversive alpha-male tale of the kind he does so well, straight out of brutal Vikings fantasy . Valhalla rises to the chilling survival drama Arctic.

In its home country, the film has a much more blunt title, Bastards, which goes much deeper into the essence of the character. “The literal meaning in English is to be someone’s illegitimate son,” the actor explains, “but of course it also means to be a bastard.” In Denmark it doesn’t really have the previous meaning, so I think it’s a very appropriate title.” He shrugged his shoulders. “But it’s out of our hands, so here we are.”

However, Mikkelsen does not condemn Kahlen for his behavior. “He has no choice,” he says. “He must be determined to survive.” The actor sees parallels with his 2013 film Age of Rebellion: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas, in which he played the lead role: a vengeful German merchant who unleashes a brutal feud with Saxons in the 16th century. “I think Michael Kohlhaas has a lot in common,” he says. “It’s obviously a much older story, but the theme is the same: a man who controls his own destiny, who has a sense of justice and righteousness and who is willing to burn the world to the ground to get his way to get.”

Historically speaking, the finished film makes Jutland look miserable, but Mikkelsen claims the filming “was so bad”, noting that he always had the luxury of a caravan within reach when it started to rain too heavily. “I’ve had harder work,” he says. “It was clear that we had to make an epic film, and then 42 days and an $8 million budget to make it look as good as it did, which meant we always had to be on top of things. It meant long days, but it wasn’t the hardest shoot ever. It was really very satisfying.”

Despite the strike, it’s been a good year for Mikkelsen, now 58. Given the timing, you might think he was juggling. The Promised Landa competition title from Venice, with his role as Jürgen Voller in it Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which opened in Cannes about three months earlier. “Oh, they didn’t overlap at all,” says Mikkelsen. “It just so happened that they came out one after the other. Indiana Jones was in the editing room for a long time because there was so much to do with CGI, whereas our film was in the editing room for a much shorter time. They did not overlap during the survey period. In fact, I’ve made it a virtue not to overlap films for many reasons, partly because it’s frustrating, but it also means I have to compromise. [on my performance].”

Born in the Copenhagen suburb of Østerbro, Mikkelsen has starred in some of the industry’s biggest films, from Bond to Marvel and beyond Indiana Jones touched him more than most. “It’s interesting to make a film where you spend almost as much time on PR as you do shooting,” he says. “That’s the nature of these big animals from America, especially this one. We’ve been everywhere and I’ve had a lot of fun.”

Why did he want to be there? “Indiana JonesHe said almost in disbelief. “I grew up with it, like everyone of my generation, long before I started watching French films and fell in love with this category or genre. Indiana Jones was simply a milestone in filmmaking when it comes to adventure films, one of those utterly mesmerizing films that stays with you forever. That was the first reason. Then sentimental reasons. When I read it and realized it was a farewell to him, I thought, ‘Damn. I want to be a part of it.’ It’s a beautiful ending for this beloved character.”

It was also a far cry from the world of Nicolas Winding Refn’s 1996 film printer, a debut for both, in which he played a drug dealer’s sidekick. Did he think his career would take him this far? “God no. That would have put me off. When I did the first one, I didn’t have a degree yet printer Movie. I was in school. When you graduate, you just hope and dream to be part of something you find interesting, and a lot happened in Danish cinema at that time, and one of them was Nicolas and his colleagues. printer Films. I became part of his team and that was all I could hope for. Little by little, everything changed into something else and suddenly I also ended up in America. If I had known that, I might have been scared. I could have just said: ‘Hold your horses’.”

It would have been the loss of the cinema. When did he realize his career would go international? “Well, the first thing I did was King Arthurhe says, referring to Antoine Fuqua’s 2004 adventure film in which he starred alongside Clive Owen, Keira Knightley and Joel Edgerton. “Then I got the job to play James Bond and that was obviously a turning point in the sense that it was the real deal, an established franchise and they wanted me to be the villain rather than the sidekick. I thought, ‘Okay. There’s a lot going on.'”

It’s hard to imagine now, but Casino Royale was by no means a certainty. Towards the end of Daniel Craig’s tenure as 007, the public begged him to stay, but at the start of this tenure he was hiding from nothing. “Yes,” said Mikkelsen. “The irony of that is obviously crazy. We can hardly imagine it now. I mean, James Bond is in many ways the crown jewel of English film history, so obviously people are going to have strong opinions about who the next Bond will be.

“There was pressure on all of us, but there was even more pressure on Daniel, because there wasn’t a single day that he walked down the street – before we even shot a scene – and didn’t see the headline that said not he used to be bad. blond, or his nose was wrong, or whatever. Everything was wrong. If it put pressure on me, he must have felt it a thousand times stronger. Then he showed it to them and we high-fived each other. We knew it would be good, but it was better. It was fantastic to be a part of it.”

Since then, Mikkelsen has appeared in many major films such as these: war of stars forerunner Villain one, Harry Potter follow up Fantastic animals and miracles Doctor Strange (“Magical and Flying Kung Fu – who am I to reject that?”). What is it like to be a part of a big franchise? Is a cool Danish temperament useful?

“I realized early on that everyone on a film set is very human,” he says. “For example, you meet Daniel Craig, who is about to become the next Bond, and he’s also shaking in his pants because that’s how it is, but he’s also an actor, so he has the same background as me. He does his best and tries to concentrate and make the experience an intimate one. What I mean by that is, yes, it’s a big movie, but we have to get it out there.’

However, these international films were a godsend. “Denmark is a small country,” he says. “If you make one movie a year, people get very tired of you. One film a year is two months of work, right? Of course you can’t live off that.” However, if you do The Promised Land shows Mikkelsen still enjoys working from home, and despite all his big-budget studio work, the scene that will haunt him forever is the dance he did at the end of Thomas Vinterberg’s bittersweet 2020 International Oscar -winner output. Another round. “I’m so glad Thomas pushed through,” he says, “because I insisted on not having that part of the film. I wanted a different ending.”

Serious? “I didn’t like the idea of ​​dancing. I thought it was wrong, I thought it was pretentious. It was a realistic film, and I just couldn’t imagine how we were going to translate it into a realistic film. He tried to convince me in many ways and in the end he just said, ‘Listen, I’m the director.’ Quiet.’ I said, ‘Okay. Justify. Let’s do it.’ He was so right. It’s the best ending of any film I’ve been in and as you say, it has a life of its own. Boy was I wrong and I’m glad he insisted.

As for the future, Mikkelsen doesn’t have a wish list; He says he makes the most of every opportunity that comes his way. “I haven’t got a bit of Hamlet in me,” he grins. However, it is “no secret” that Martin Scorsese is one of his biggest heroes.

Do they know each other? “A few times. He’s amazing. Absolutely great. I swore not to talk about it.” taxi driver. Then, after a few beers, I recited the monologue from the movie, the whole thing I learned when I was, I don’t know, in my twenties. I knew I was making the biggest fool of myself, and I’m sure he’s heard it a million times, but I couldn’t help it.” He smiles. “I just love that monologue.”

But whether Scorsese calls or not (“He’s got my phone number”), Mikkelsen is quite happy with his lot, especially in a year when most of his colleagues couldn’t work. “I was very happy,” he says. “Of course the Danish film I promoted was not affected by this – even though I’m SAG, they made an exception for some foreign films – and then I shot an American indie film in Budapest and it also got the green light got light They didn’t want to destroy the whole industry, so they greenlit a whole bunch of indie films and I was lucky enough to be a part of one of them.”

The film he shot in Budapest is mentioned Dust Rabbitand it’s the directorial debut of Bryan Fuller, the creator of Push daisies and a prolific genre writer. Mikkelsen describes it as “a family horror film” which represents another departure for him. “It’s a very charming story,” he says. “Bryan’s brain works on a different level than the rest of us, but it’s really sweet when you can say that about Bryan’s stuff. It’s a very sweet, funny and rather grotesque story about a little girl, a grown man and a monster under the bed.”

However, there is currently nothing on the calendar. “I don’t mind taking a break,” he says. “As a new grandfather, I’ve been pretty busy, so I’m enjoying the rest of the year by doing as little as possible.”