All week long I’ve been sharing coverage for Marvel’s new film – Doctor Strange. Don’t forget it hits theaters everywhere tomorrow, November 4th! Be sure to check out my exclusive interview with Benedict Cumberbatch, Rachel McAdams, Tilda Swinton and Director Scott Derrickson! And today I’m excited to share interview coverage with Mads Mikkelsen for his role as Kaecilius in the film.
Mads Mikkelsen Interview
There were a few Pop toy figures on the table. Mads plays with them for a second, and then is asked: Will you be collecting yourself as a toy figure? Mads responds, “I’ve been waiting 51 years for that!”
Q : Which was your favorite scene to shoot?
Mads Mikkelsen : There were quite a few scenes that I loved shooting, but the great encounter I have with Benedict, which starts out with a long fight, and ends up with me making [a] speech. I thought that was a brilliant sequence to do.
Q : When was the first time you saw yourself in makeup, costume, everything?
MM : It was fantastic. I mean, we went to do some of the tests and I insisted on [bringing] the costume and have it on when we do the makeup, just to see how it looks together. We were sitting in there for hours trying out this makeup, and I was like, “Oh god, do I really wanna do this every day?” [LAUGHS] But then it turned out so fantastic, I was like, “Yeah, that’s it. Three hours every day, we’ll do it. It’s worth it, really.”
We asked Mads what he would do during the 3 hours he sat in the make-up chair, because it was quite a long time. He said he often went through the scenes for the day.
Marvel’s DOCTOR STRANGE..Kaecilius (Mads Mikkelsen) and his Zealots..Photo Credit: Jay Maidment..©2016 Marvel. All Rights Reserved.
Q : How does it feel to not only have your name cemented in Marvel universe, but also the Star Wars Universe (he is in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story releasing later this year)?
Mads Mikkelsen : It’s, it seems appropriate. [LAUGHTER] No, it feels fantastic. I mean, I never imagined that I would work in America at all or that I would work in a Marvel film. So it feels as if I’m a very fortunate person.
Q : Do you feel like you’re being typecast as a villain due to your phenomenal performance in Hannibal?
Mads mentioned he’ll gladly take the villain role to be in a Marvel film. Adding, “luckily I do a lot of different things back home in Europe, so I’m not starving in the sense of like, why am I always the villain? If it’s this kind of villain, I’ll take it any day.”
Q : Is there anyone particularly who has influenced you in your villainous roles? You have more than one.
MM : Yeah. I think – not to compare at all – because some of my favorite actors have been playing villains as well. Christopher Walken is a hero of mine, and I think he has the ability to somehow make the villains likeable. Whether it’s his personality, or whether it’s that he chose a part that was dualistic written so it makes sense, I don’t know. The joker is a fantastic example. We love to hate him, you know?
Q : Did you have a favorite Marvel superhero as a kid?
Mads Mikkelsen : Obviously Spider-man. It was oh he’s a kid, and he’s fun, and he can do stuff, that’s cool. So I think that was easy to identify with as a kid.
Q : Why did you wanna take on this role?
MM : It’s Marvel. You know, I remember Scott said, uh, “And then, a lot of Kung Fu stuff, flying, but don’t worry, we got stunt guys for that.” I was like, “Wow, hold on, what’d you say?” Kung Fu, I’m in.”
[LAUGHS] So, it’s like Marvel and flying Kung Fu. Yeah. I’ve always wanted to be Bruce Lee when I was a kid.
Q : Did you find anything extremely challenging when you were on set?
MM : Yeah, I mean the logistics is obviously upside-down mirrored. So when we try to kind of cope with all that, and we might be hanging upside down on the ceiling, and so it’s like, “Wow, where’s Strange now? Is he on the left side or the right side? And we constantly had to go see the previous videos of what we’re doing. So, it was very tricky to get that right. Yeah.
Q : Your costume seemed like it was pretty heavy with a lot layers, did that cause any difficulties?
MM : It was quite heavy. And obviously we just go in shape. The more you were wearing it, the stronger you got.
Q : What’s next for you?
MM : Actually, just this doing the press and promotion on Doctor Strange. And in a couple of weeks we have Star Wars coming out. They own me.
Mads was happy to take a photo with our group after interviews. He plays a really good villain in the film. Check out the trailer below and don’t forget Doctor Strange is in theaters this Friday! To learn more about Doctor Strange, head to marvel.com.
