Mads Mikkelsen Shares Theory On Why He’s Cast As The Bad Guy In U.S. Movies – Marrakech Masterclass
25.11.2023 - 15:09
/ deadline.com
Mads Mikkelsen has distinguished himself across his career with his ability to move between arthouse hits in his native Denmark and big Hollywood franchises such as James Bond, Doctor Strange, Star Wars, Fantastic Beasts and Indiana Jones.
The actor was quizzed in a Marrakech Film Festival masterclass on Saturday about the fact that he tends to be cast as a flawed hero in Europe and the bad guy in Hollywood, such as Marvel supervillain Kaecilius or Le Chiffre in Casino Royal.
“It’s quite simple. It’s the funny accent. It’s as simple as that. It used to be Germans, then it was Brits; then the Russians, and then for some reason they fell in love with the Danish accent. That’s definitely part of it,” he said.
“Then if the Americans see something they like, they have a tendency to try and copy it, right. But I’ve been lucky enough to do different villains in different universes. There’s a big difference between Marvel and James Bond… but I never think about it too much. In Denmark, we don’t divide it into bad guys and good guys, we tend look at more complex characters.”
Mikkelsen is a recipient of the honorary Etoile d’Or career prize of the Marrakech Film Festival this year, which is also holding a gala screening of his new film and Denmark’s Oscar entry The Promised Land.
The masterclass saw him talking to a packed cinema filled with a young, lively crowd of predominantly aspiring actors and filmmakers.
One young actress asked Mikkelsen for advice on acting in a non-mother tongue film.
“I’ve done quite a few films in different languages, none of them I speak or at least not fluently,” he said. “The trick the first time I did anything in English was to rehearse it and rehearse it and then, once you shoot the scene