Mads Mikkelsen Talks The Hunt, Winning Best Actor At Cannes, Hannibal And Kung Fu Panda 3

Actor Mads Mikkelsen is becoming a household name due in part with NBC’s Hannibal. During a phone interview to collider, the actor talked about The Hunt, for which he won the best actor award at Cannes 2012, Hannibal and Kung Fu Panda 3.

Excerpt:  

“How did you get involved with this film?

MADS MIKKELSEN:  Denmark is a small place.  We all know each other.  Thomas [Vinterberg] and I have known each other for many years, on a surface friendly basis, but we’d never worked together.  He had this film and he called me and said, “I would love to work with you.  Would you mind reading this script?”   Obviously, I wanted to work with him because I think he’s done some brilliant things.  And when I read the script, I was absolutely not in doubt.  It was a beautiful and heart-breaking and very frustrating thing to read.  I was enchanted, right away.

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When you bare yourself so emotionally for a film like this, does it make you extra proud when you get recognition, like winning Best Actor at Cannes, or are awards just surreal for you?

MIKKELSEN:  We’re prepare for any part, as much as we always do.  But, I’m really proud of this film and being proud of this film, I was extremely proud of getting that award.  I think the film deserved that award.  If not me, the film did.  You can only be as good as the film is, so Thomas deserves at least half of it.  I was very proud.  Awards mean absolutely nothing, if you don’t get it.  If you do get it, they’re the best thing in the world.

You’ve done fantastic work on Hannibal, and it’s been fascinating to watch that character be both charming and chilling.  One of the things that made people most nervous about that show is the actor that would end up getting cast as Hannibal Lecter and how they would play the character.  Did you hesitate, in taking on that role?

MIKKELSEN:  Oh, very much so.  I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t, for obvious reasons. [Anthony Hopkins] has done it a couple of times, to perfection.  The only thing that swayed me was that this is before he was captured.  He’s a man who’s out there, in the real world, and he’s making friends.  It humanizes him.  Whatever evilness he has inside of him, we will see in his private moments.  I cannot sit there and be evil, and wink to the audience.  We have to believe that these two cops didn’t see it.  If the audience sees it, the cops will see it.  We had to have that fragile balance.  Because it was a different nature, we could get away with it.  I thought it was an interesting challenge that, at least for the first season, we didn’t have to step directly into the shoes of Anthony Hopkins.

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Are you going to be voicing a character for Kung Fu Panda 3?

MIKKELSEN:  I think I am.  They asked me to, almost a year ago.  As far as I understand, it takes them a couple of years to do the production, and then they’ll call us back.  I have to wait to see what happens, but that’s going to be interesting.”

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