Mads Mikkelsen

Mads' Men

Maxim: What has been your favourite role to date?
Madds: That’s a difficult one. I did two films called the Pusher films with a guy called Nicolas Winding Refn. The second episode of that film was shot ten years later with the same character, and that’s probably my favourite film I’ve done.

What do you do to prepare for your roles? Does it vary a lot or do you do the same thing every time?
As Igor Stravinsky I had to learn French and Russian and play piano, so that was very specific. In normal circumstances I’d just read the script, go over the whole context of what the film is about and my character’s motivations, but mostly what the script is trying to achieve in terms of telling a story. I’ll read the script first, then I’ll work out what to do for my preparation.

Which are the most difficult types of character to play?
Badly written characters are always the most difficult, because you have to do a lot of work to make it happen. So far in my career, there has been no specific character that I haven’t liked or have found especially difficult to play – you have to find the personality of the character and build it from there.

Which of the characters you have played is the most dissimilar to yourself?
I try to find something I can recognise in all the parts I take. Sometimes there’s a little of me, sometimes there’s a lot.  In The Green Butchers, which is a black comedy, my character is the antithesis of my own self, but at the same time, funnily enough, I do recognise some of his sides very clearly.

Do you have a specific role model in the acting business?
No, I try to be individual. Course, I am inspired by people, but that doesn’t mean I want to be acting like them, that would be impossible. The Scorsese period, where people emerged really being themselves was very inspiring. I’m not trying to be De Niro at all, I would never manage to do that, but I am very inspired by his way of adopting a character completely whilst also retaining a lot of himself. You can always see him in there, but the characters are always different – I think that’s very inspiring.

Three quick questions:
1) Greatest ever line from a movie.
“That makes you part egg plant” from True Romance [see video below - Ed]

2) Greatest ever performance in a movie.
That’s very difficult, there are so many. Probably De Niro in Taxi Driver or King of Comedy.

3) Most unexpected performance.
Brad Pitt’s performance in Snatch was superb. It was so far removed from what you expected of him. He could pick any movie role in the world, so for him to do that one and do it so well was really surprising.

Can you please recommend three films for an English audience that they may not have heard of:
There’s a classical Italian film called The Bicycle Thief, which is just beautiful; a film from the 80s, called The Simple Minded Murderer, is a fantastic Swedish film that everyone should see; and, lastly, a Danish film called Applause, with a fantastic actress called Paprika Steen.

Which country has the strangest cinema?
I think that might be Finland. When I was a kid we would watch a Finnish film which was over three hours long where nobody said anything. Someone may slap someone else, but that’s it. They are famous for their very, very slow-paced style.

Which country has the most creative cinema?
It variates a lot. It goes in waves. There’s a fantastic wave of cinema coming over from Japan and South Korea at the moment, but it definitely comes in waves, I can’t single one out.

Is there an actor or an actress you’d really like to work with?
As I mentioned before, I would love to go back to the Scorsese days and work with De Niro or Christopher Walken, that would be fantastic.

If you could play one character from cinematic history who would it be?
When I was a kid I always wanted to be Bruce Lee, so if I could play Bruce Lee in a film that would be the ultimate.

Clash of the Titans is out on Blu-ray, DVD, On Demand and Digital Download on 26 July 2010, courtesy of Warner Home Video

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EXTRAS:
If you were on Mastermind what would be your specialist subject?
Sport.  I watch any sports I can on television and do a lot of sports myself.  I’m glued to the Olympics when it’s on.

What topics would you be desperate to avoid?
Music and literature.

Have you got any crazy fans or followers?
I used to have a Swedish one that was really crazy. It took us a while to find her, but we’ve got rid of her now. You gotta watch out for the Swedish!

What’s your favourite thing that you own and why?
My bicycle. I bought a really cool racing bicycle about a year ago and I just enjoy sitting on it for hours. I never leave it locked anywhere. It lives inside my house.

Describe your perfect day.
Get up early. Do something funny with the kids. Do some sports. Then go to sleep. And maybe have a beer!