First, I have to read something and find it interesting and like the story. If I don't understand it fully, but there is something in there that is interesting, then it takes a director to convince me. If he can't do that, then I don't go with it. It doesn't matter where the project comes from.
— Mads Mikkelsen
The script is always the main preparation for me. Sometimes you have a period piece where you have to research around it, but if the writers have done their homework well enough, the information is all in the script.
I never even thought about being an actor. Somebody asked me if I'd like to learn the craft, and I said, 'Okay.' I was a gymnast in a show at that time, and somebody asked me afterwards one night. I performed as a gymnast for nine years, and then I did acting after that.
We have no chance to comprehend what goes on there - it's so dramatic, and people are so poor. We all felt bad about being there. Filming in India felt like we were going to borrow something knowing that we were never going to give it back.
I'm very proud of 'Valhalla Rising.'
The problem is that you can't really read a script saying, 'Hmmm, I'll just see what this is.' You have to go right into it; you have to get engaged with it, and once you are engaged, you want to do it! It's really difficult to get uninvolved.
I never really planned a career. I've tried to avoid it. I've tried to do this stuff I felt for, the stuff I like. So, I've just been meeting these fantastic directors who've offered me a variation of different parts and different films.
I like 'The Three Musketeers.' I like those kind of cool things where they were having a robe and a sword.
A solid family, as they say. They join me on location if they have a chance, but I can also be home three or four months doing nothing, so I probably see my kids more than people who work constantly all year long. If that changes, we'll have to have a family meeting.
If I do my very best, then the camera and the audience will follow me, and eventually they will somehow feel like I feel. I don't have to show it to them. I don't have to speak it out loud.
I did a crazy version of 'Romeo and Juliet' once, and I played Romeo.
Once in a while, when I'm out on the lawn, I'll jump around and do a couple of things. Here's a secret: The older you get, the more difficult it gets. The smallest little injury stays with you for so long. But that's how it goes, and it doesn't stop me. I'm always ready to do something that hurts a little!
If I was doing 'The Hunt' constantly, I would get very old, very fast.
I was a late bloomer, but I had a career as a contemporary dancer before that, so I had some kind of connection to this world. But I was always a little more in love with the drama of dancing than the aesthetics, so I thought, 'Why don't you give it a chance if you think you can do it a little different?'
I was very energetic and very small. I didn't start growing until the last year of high school.
I haven't watched that much TV, to be honest. To be honest, I don't watch that many films anymore - partly because I don't have time; secondly, because I watch a lot of sports, and I love watching sports.
I fancy myself at being pretty good at understanding a script and finding the weaknesses, and then making them more radical than they are. People tend to listen to me.
I've always been extremely physical. I was a gymnast for 15 years, and then I was a dancer for nine, so I was kind of looking for these parts. But we have a tendency in Denmark not to do many action films.
I have an older brother who is an actor as well.
I was into sports and swimming as a kid and didn't spend a whole lot of time sitting down. I was a gymnast.
'Clash Of The Titans' is one of the biggest movies I've done; it was certainly the most effects I've worked with.
I will never be a fan of any kind of political correctness: I think it's instant death to creativity.
When I was a kid, I wasn't looking at the small-budget films myself. I was looking at 'James Bond' and all the major films, so I still have that energy. I still love those films.
It was never a plan to be an actor.
I was not into sci-fi, science fiction, at all. I was into some of the old pirate films with Burt Lancaster and stuff. I liked them.
Once you do one bad guy, usually all you get offered is bad guys. But I've been able to do different things.
I do read some of the scripts from America and, even though the themes or subject of the film is very interesting, and some of the scenes are very interesting, there is a tendency that they have to explain everything. There will be no dilemma.
I always wanted to play some kind of instrument - piano, saxophone, whatever. I took it up for a while, then forgot about it because I didn't have the time.
I can be intense in a lot of ways, but not the way you see the guy in 'The Salvation.'
Before we made films about gangsters, everything was about the royal families. They contain so much drama.
I've never been a big fan of making telepathy to the audience. That would be too much a wink in the eye. That would make people around me fools, right?
I don't want to be the stupid blond. I want to be an actor.
I always work with the tempo of the energy of the character, whether he's fast or slow, or heavy or light.
I felt perhaps 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' was a little premature. It was a huge hit around the world - it was still running in the theatres - and the Americans at that time were already shooting the remake, and I was like, 'Whoa! Give it a break of five or six years and get a little inspired, and then do it.'
I think they tried the 3-D revolution at least five times throughout history, and it never seemed to work. However, finally, 'Avatar' did it.
Sometimes you're trying your best and you still can't find a solution, but I try not to waste my life living in a dark place.
The day before I was famous in Denmark, nobody looked my way. The day after, everybody wanted to talk to me.
I don't necessarily prefer playing villains. I know a lot of people say they are more fun, but if the scriptwriter has done their work well, you can find something realistic in a villain and find the mistakes in a hero - it's all down to the writing.
We were in love with 'Mean Streets' and 'Taxi Driver.' We had no idea why nothing remotely like that was done in Denmark.
There's no such thing as easy, but it's easier when a script is good.
I love working back home, but it is a small country, and we do get tired of watching each other.
I know a little about Greek mythology. It's not that far away from the Nordic mythology.
Awards mean absolutely nothing if you don't get it. If you do get it, they're the best thing in the world.
Denmark is a small place. We all know each other.
Being physical and doing my own stunts - it is fun to do these kind of films once in a while, especially before you get too old.
I go to the pub, hang out with my family - that's pretty much it. I also do a lot of sports when I get the chance. I'm actually a pretty mellow guy.
I'm engaged to Hollywood. If there's something I find I have to do, I'll do it. Otherwise, I'll just stay home and have a vacation.
I like to stay home with my family. But travel is good in a way. It makes you redefine each other each time you see each other. Also, it helps that I think my wife is the hottest woman in the world.
If people need to be informed by lines, then there's no reason why the actor is saying the line except for information for the audience; I think there's something wrong.
We are filmmakers, and we are specifically trying to entertain people.
