Mads Mikkelsen is an excellent Danish actor known best for his versatile and compelling performances in both the Hollywood and the European film industry. Not only has the actor starred in multiple complex and intense characters, but he is particularly well-regarded for many of his villainous roles. Recently starring as a Nazi scientist in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the actor sat down to chat about his life, movies, Danish cinema, and more.
Known best for playing the bad guy, the actor revealed that he would not want to be like Marlon Brando for one interesting reason.
Mads Mikkelsen Is Not Interested To Be The Next Marlon Brando
A groundbreaking performer and a versatile actor, the late Hollywood legend Marlon Brando is best remembered for his intense yet charismatic performances. An iconic figure in the film industry, there hasn’t been any actor yet who has the same depth and influence as him. However, Mads Mikkelsen, a Danish star, known best for his depraved portrayals in Hollywood is slowly emerging as one of the best actors to portray complex protagonists.
Despite the fame he has received, The Hunt star does not want to be labeled as the next Marlon Brando or even be placed under the same label as the typical American villains. In an interview with GQ, the actor revealed the reason,
“To combine it—to do something real and also be a cutie pie—I don’t really find it interesting… I’m not into the ‘hair falling in your eyes, be cute in a corner.’ Not me. The losers are fun. Because we know them. You might have been in that situation yourself sometimes.”
Instead, the actor likes to keep them as believable and real as possible. Something that he did with his Indiana Jones character as well, a fact that even James Mangold agrees with.
James Mangold On Mads Mikkelsen Being A Villain
Mads Mikkelsen, much like Brando, deeply immerses himself in his characters and brings out the perfect emotions, motivations, and flaws, making his characters deeply authentic. However, it isn’t just authenticity that he brings, but also adds a deep sense of ‘humanness’ to them, making them appear truer in nature and form, a fact that James Mangold also agrees upon.
The director, while talking about Mikkelsen, stated (via GQ),
“Mads inhabits whatever character he plays with a hundred percent commitment to their perspective. This takes a certain kind of artistic bravery, a fearlessness that Mads possesses. In all honesty, I think he has been offered the roles of ‘villains’ in movies simply because he is so fearless about taking them on and humanizing them.”
And perhaps, it is his non-American approach that makes the actor surpass his contemporaries when it comes to being the ‘bad guy’.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny can be streamed on Disney+.
Source: GQ
