ROM STAR WARS to Marvel, from
prestige TV (Hannibal) to high-profile
Oscar contenders (At Eternity’s Gate),
Mads Mikkelsen can be seen stretching his
dramatic skills across the board these days.
But longtime Mikkelsen fans will know that’s consistent
with what he’s always done.
Making his debut in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher in
1996, Mikkelsen fit almost immediately into the intimidat-
ing, darkly comic mode in which
fellow Danish talent Refn works.
By the mid-2000s, he had not
only continued to collaborate
with Refn, but also received much
acclaim for his role in fellow Dane
Susanne Bier’s After the Wedding and crossed the Atlantic
to Hollywood with a heroic role in King Arthur and a turn
as a Bond villain in Casino Royale (2006). His versatility
has continued in the years since, exhibited in his portray-
als of a serial killer, a swooning, romantic costume drama
lead, and even a half-human, half-chicken hybrid.
Mikkelsen’s willingness to take a shot at every part
continues with Arctic, a survival thriller set in the titular
landscape. In the role of Overgård, stranded with no one
to help him, Mikkelsen treks across the wilderness, with-
standing natural threats along the way. Matching the feral
physicality he honed in Refn’s Valhalla Rising, Mikkelsen
crafts a performance as resilient as his character.
MovieMaker caught up with Mikkelsen at the 2018
Evolution! Mallorca International Film Festival—where he
received the Evolution Vision award for his extraordinary
body of work. The actor offered up some wisdom to navi-
gate moviemaking’s own endless tundra. —MM Staff
18 WINTER 2019 MOVIEMAKER.COM
F
METHODS TO
THE MADNESS
Ten ways to command your audience and
your career by thinking and acting radicallyBY MADS MIKKELSEN, AS TOLD TO HUS MILLERTHINGS I’VE
LEARNED AS
A MOVIEMAKER
COURTESY OF BLEECKER STREET- Raise dilemmas and questions in your
work, rather than providing answers.
Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese
are masters of that. Growing up,
I lived and breathed kung fu
movies, but my favorite film, by far,
is Taxi Driver. It changed the way
I viewed good guys and bad guys. - It’s dramatic for audiences to want
to intervene in your character’s life, but
at the same time to not be able to stop
watching him. My character in the
Pusher films is like that. There’s some-
thing fascinating about watching an
idiot who believes in what he’s doing. - With great actors, the audience can
tell that something is going on inside their
heads. I’m extremely intrigued by both
Bruce Lee and Buster Keaton’s faces.
They’re both very physical, but one look
or expression from them can make you
feel something you never expected.
They contained so much emotion in
the movement of an eye, or a forehead
shrug ... or even by doing nothing at all
in reaction to what’s happening. - Be radical. That’s what my peers and
I did as we came onto the film scene
in Denmark. Don’t listen to the older
generation. Do your own thing. - Your goal with every project is
to put a fingerprint on your work that’s
like no one else’s.
6. When you’re seeking out moviemakers
to work with, what’s written on the page
should speak to you. Does their work
have an edge? Is it something unique,
a creative way of telling a story?
That’s what you’re looking for.
7. Be sure you’re working with a good
director. Don’t settle.
8. Work with directors who respect
your ideas. Even if they don’t always
use them, they should always respect
them. As an actor coming up, I was
lucky enough to have been “brought
in,” and to have my voice heard as an
important part of the creative process.
You can get that much more when
you’re working on independent mov-
ies. I love the rock ’n’ roll style of mov-
iemaking: “Let’s see what we can do...
let’s try a bunch of different things and
see what sticks.”
9. Let whatever project comes your way
be your ambition. I never wanted to
be an actor. It was not a childhood
dream. Everything that has happened
to me has been coincidental. But the
longer I’ve been doing this, the more
ambitious I’ve become.
10. Take chances. You never know how
something will turn out. MM
Arctic opens in theaters February 9,
2019, courtesy of Bleecker Street.FREEZE FRAME: IN
WRITER-DIRECTOR
JOE PENNA’S FROST-
BITTEN FEATURE ARCTIC,
MADS MIKKSELSEN IS
ARRESTING AS EVER