Mads Mikkelsen: "I wanted to be Bruce Lee, and for a while, I was."

Mads Mikkelsen has the power to never disappoint; he is a born entertainer, even before being an actor full of charisma. Just look at his career, which began with Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Pusher', and has since spanned memorable roles: 'The Hunt' and 'Another Round' by Thomas Vinterberg, moving from “Bondian” villains (Casino Royale) to those of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (see Doctor Strange), to Grindelwald in 'Fantastic Beasts', even venturing into the Star Wars galaxies (Rogue One). Great successes on one hand, quality of choices (and stories) on the other. And it is further confirmed by what he achieved in the recent 'The Last Viking', written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen (with whom he had already worked on 'Adam's Apples'), which premiered at the last Venice International Film Festival and is in cinemas (from March 26) distributed by Plaion Pictures (here is our review).

A dark comedy, capable of blending heist movie tension, grotesqueness, and incredible emotional depth, halfway between tragic and comic, punctuated by improbable chases, surreal encounters, and situations bordering on the absurd. At the center of the story are two brothers, Anker (Lie Kaas) and Manfred (played by Mikkelsen himself): they share a difficult past and little else, given that the former has spent the last fifteen years in prison for a robbery. When he gets out, however, he returns to look for the loot he entrusted to his brother, but Manfred, who in the meantime has developed a dissociative identity disorder and is convinced he is John Lennon (a brilliant idea), apparently no longer remembers where the money was buried. A treasure hunt that slowly transforms into a journey of emotional repression and reconnection, marked by a childhood of violence and wounds, and which in this case will bring them back together.

How did you prepare for this role?
As a character and an actor, the story is the hat someone wears, but in this case, I played him as a seven-year-old child, with all the emotions that come with it, with his way of seeing the world and his reaction patterns; for him, it's very simple. Everyone loves John. I'll be John, and then my brother will love me again.
Anders Thomas has a different vision from others.

If you think back to your splendid career and your many roles, how difficult was it to find your identity?
That's an important question. I think most actors spend their whole lives searching for that technique, that way of approaching things; throughout our careers, we acquire some tools, and that helps us. But finding a simple solution on how to approach a script… it will never be the same. The director will be different, the colleagues, the actors, the story, so something new always happens, and you have to figure out how to fit into that world. I think it's easier now, but at the beginning, I also worked with people who, like, had just left school, or with whom we were at the same level. We liked the same types of films, so we didn't think too much about how to approach them; we just tried to create something we liked. And in that way, we started to learn small tools and techniques, I guess. For me, it's very difficult to define precisely.

The film's tone mixes humor with important themes. What did you bring of yourself to it?
I love seeing things that make me laugh; for me, they are specific elements, and the same goes for Anders Thomas. The approach is to take humor very seriously; it's what we grew up with; it's not enough to just tell jokes. Somehow you have to have a character who is really sad or really happy or really angry, but the situation they're angry about is so absurd that it makes it funny, right? I think that's always been our approach: we are faithful to the characters, and if that can be funny because what they do is crazy, then we're fine with it. But here the story is also sad; there's a lot of heart and poetry.

What makes you laugh today?
People who take themselves too seriously or who lie to themselves.

Here you believe you are John Lennon. What is your relationship with music?
ABBA was part of my childhood; I grew up with them; they were always present. And then the Beatles arrived, although they were actually there before. In short, I love them both for different reasons.

Who would you like to be, if you had to choose another character?
There are skills that some people have had throughout history that I would like to have:
Messi, Roger Federer, Usain Bolt, for me they are pure poetry. Ultimately, I love being myself.

No actor?
Bruce Lee.

Why?
I wanted to be Bruce Lee for two, three years. I was him, dressed like him, I had his shoes. I don't remember it well, but maybe I was 8, 9, 10 years old. I was simply obsessed with him; he represented this tiny guy, and I was very tiny, yet he could beat anyone; this was very, very important in the neighborhood where I grew up. I was fast, but it would have been helpful if I had been faster. So I just became Bruce Lee, and it worked.

Did you practice karate?
No, I didn't need to. I was simply him; I just made his abilities my own. Just like John.

Among all the characters you've played, which one has left the biggest impression on you?

None of them stay in my heart. I feel great affection for many of my characters, even some of the really bizarre ones. Manfred is one. I think there's an admirable purity in him when you see the world as clean as he sees it, but at the same time, he's hyper-narcissistic; his way of reacting is simply too immediate; he also sees things that no one else perceives. He's one of my favorites right now, but I wouldn't want to be him.

What is the main difference between the biggest box office success you've starred in and “independent” films?
The intimacy that is created by working together. It's like saying: “Oh, he can call me at 3 in the morning.” It's like saying: “I was thinking about it, I can do the same, right?” Oh, I had this idea. You don't do that in large-scale films; you can still have nice and pleasant conversations about the story, about the character, but this bond is much stronger: it's as if everyone lives in this script now, and we can call each other at any time of day. That's the biggest difference.

And regarding Italian cinema?
Aside from the great classics, authors like Visconti and Fellini, my relationship with Italian cinema began with one of the first films I remember in my life; my father showed it to me, I think it was on television: Vittorio De Sica's 'Bicycle Thieves'. Now I realize how typically Italian it is, but it was truly poetic in a very concrete sense. I mean, yes, there's a bit of violence and stuff like that, but it's also so true. I was just a kid, yet I was struck by it, then I saw it again as an adult; it's a great masterpiece.