Actor Mads Mikkelsen’s experience of working with Daniel Craig in 2006’s Casino Royale was amazing but he was only ticked off by one thing: Craig’s poker skills. In a past interview, Mikkelsen recalled the big card game scene in the movie, revealing that everyone was well-versed with the game of poker except Craig.
The worst part for Mikkelsen was that Craig, the only person in the room who didn’t understand poker, managed to beat him, taking all his money. In the scene, Craig’s James Bond attempts to defeat Mikkelsen’s Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker game. The bets for the scene were placed by the actors as they wanted the nature of the betting to be realistic and believable.
Daniel Craig managed to beat Mads Mikkelsen in a game of Poker
Earlier this year, actor Mads Mikkelsen appeared for an interview with GQ to talk about his most iconic characters. During the conversation, the actor talked about his character, Le Chiffre, from 2006’s Casino Royale. The actor also revealed that the high-stakes poker game in the movie was an authentic game and his co-star, Daniel Craig had no idea what he was doing and yet, he managed to beat him,
“Everybody knew how to play poker around that table, except for one, Daniel. He had no clue. He sucked. And it was the worst thing ever that he, of all people, had to beat [my character] and win all my money. It was like, ‘This is wrong.’ Well, I got him back with the rope, so that’s good.”
Mikkelsen wasn’t new to the game as he had played the game since he was a kid, so it was obviously frustrating for him when a beginner managed to beat him.
Mads Mikkelsen believes his villain was different
Talking about his character, Mikkelsen explained that Le Chiffre is a different kind of villain. His character was a banker who serviced many of the world’s criminals and terrorists and an associate partner of SPECTRE. The actor said,
“He’s a normal person, he’s not taking over the world. He’s not one of those guys. He’s in it for the money, and if Bond didn’t bump into his way, they would never have met. It’s not that he’s after anyone. He’s vulnerable, there’s people above him, people who are used to violence in a different way than he is. He’s a different kind of villain, that’s for sure.”
Le Chiffre was a mathematical genius and expert chess player and used these skills when playing poker. Mikkelsen’s performance was praised and the film also proved to be a success, grossing over $616 million worldwide.
