Mads Mikkelson

Mads Mikkelsen (Photo by Joel Ryan)

Last fall, I talked to Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, 46, about his romantic role in the 18th-century romance “A Royal Affair,” (opening today) the Danish entry for Best Foreign Film. Despite his high profile in Scandinavia — and a standout role as the Bond villain Le Chiffre in “Casino Royale” — Mikkelsen’s career has reached a new high this year. He won best actor honors at Cannes for “The Hunt” (out this summer) and he has the title role in “Hannibal,” which premiered last night.

While in “A Royal Affair,” Mikkelsen plays a doomed hero; he’s equally adept at playing villains. Enter Hannibal Lecter, the TV series. The NBC show is set in contemporary America. It takes place before the FBI arrests Lecter for his serial crimes. “That was a nice shift of gear for me,” said Mikkelsen of being cast in an American TV series. “Like wow, why not stick with something for a long time and see how it goes?”

Certainly Anthony Hopkins, who won a Best Actor for playing Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs,” throws a big shadow over the character. “You can’t avoid that,” agreed Mikkelsen. “He made it iconic and for a good reason. He’s absolutely outstanding in that character. We cannot move away totally from the fact that he is what he is, if not a little decadent then at least a man full of taste. But this takes place before he’s captured. Before anyone knows what he is.”

Mikkelsen offered a thumbnail of the plot, which is a prequel. “Lector is hired to help Will Graham [Dancy], who is a genius FBI profiler. But unfortunately Will suffers from too much empathy. It means he cannot deal with the cases. He’s putting himself in the shoes of the killers and he cannot handle that situation. So, the FBI hires me to help him deal with his job.”

Big mistake, right? “Right,” Mikkelsen continued, “I’m a psychiatrist. And all of a sudden I find myself in this candy store where I love being in the middle of every investigation that comes in. It means I can do pretty much what I want. I can manipulate the cases that Will’s running. I can get away with anything.”

Does this Lecter commit murders or just solve cases? “There’s a lot of solving cases and I do eat stuff occasionally,” Mikkelsen said. “A man’s gotta eat.”

For the full article go to Yahoo! Movies.

The movies of Danish Director Thomas Vinterberg (“The Celebration”) are like an empathetic yet unsparing novel — he sets his sights on an extended family or a community and he parses them with a surgeon’s precision. And through that closely observed human behavior, his movies become universal. Here, in what I’d call “We Need to Talk About Klara,” a reference to “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” a kindergartner accuses her teacher of exposing his willie. And the close-knit rural community unravels with accusations false and true. At its core, as the accused teacher, is the brilliant actor Mads Mikkelson, who is also in TIFF’s “A Royal Affair.” He won best actor honors at Cannes this year, and will be honored at Telluride along with Marion Cotillard for “Rust & Bone.” He’s a cross between Viggo Mortensen and Ciaran Hinds — intellectual, physical, sexy. I’m calling a best actor nomination for Mikkelson now.

Yahoo! Interview: Mads Mikkelsen talks following Anthony Hopkins’ bloody footsteps as TV’s ‘Hannibal’

TIFF Countdown – 6 Days – Movie Trailer “The Hunt”