Mads Mikkelsen Would Much Rather Play a ‘Loser’ Than a ‘Cutie Pie’

Actor Mads Mikkelsen is someone who has been credited with bringing some humanity to dastardly characters, making viewers even feel some sympathy for the villains he plays. It’s been seen time and again with various roles from the actor, and that even includes playing the cannibalistic murderer Hannibal Lecter in Hannibal. Mikkelsen’s latest role sees him portraying a Nazi in the latest Indiana Jones sequel, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which is now playing in theaters.

In a new interview with GQ, Mikkelsen spoke about the kinds of roles he likes to play. He explains how he’s drawn to characters who aren’t so much clear-cut villains as they are “civilians in extreme situations.” He says characters are often more ambiguous in general in Danish cinema, though there still are the “rough guys” comparable to Marlon Brando and James Dean. Mikkelsen says he could have gone that route with his breakout role as a drug dealer in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher, but he also felt that doing so would make the performance less believable. The actor says he chose to make the character a bit of an “idiot” instead, who surprisingly ends up breaking the hearts of viewers, perhaps because these characters are more relatable.

“To combine it—to do something real and also be a cutie pie—I don’t really find it interesting,” Mikkelsen explains. “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.”

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Mads Mikkelsen Nails His Role of Voller in Indiana Jones 5

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold also spoke about Mikkelsen’s abilities to make filmgoers care about the characters he plays, even the more dastardly ones. It’s a unique skill that Mangold praises Mikkelsen for having, noting how rare this can be with actors.

“Mads inhabits whatever character he plays with a hundred percent commitment to their perspective,” Mangold says. “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.”

After Indiana Jones 5, Mikkelsen will appear in the upcoming film Dust Bunny, which reunites him with Hannibal creator Bryan Fuller. In the movie, he plays a man enlisted by a neighbor child to kill the monster under her bed that she believes ate her family. When his casting was announced, Sierra/Affinity’s Kristen Figeroid similarly praised Mikkelsen for what he brings to his characters that other actors can’t.

“Mads brings such a unique quality to every character he brings to life and his role in Dust Bunny will be no exception,” Figeroid said. “We’re excited to bring a throwback to the family horror films of the 80s, a beloved genre for many.”

You can catch Mikkelsen on the big screen by watching Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, now playing in movie theaters.