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INTERVIEW


Realising people keep an eye on


my work, makes me accept this award with great humbleness


started off as a dancer and choreographer, which may explain why he moves so easily on screen. Eventually, he decided to make the transition to acting. He was still at Aarhus drama school when he won his breakthrough role in Pusher. “I did the audition and [the director] liked that,” says Mikkelsen. “Nic got up and talked about the fi lm. In his short pants and his glasses, he talked about the street environment of Copenhagen, where he had never lived.” By contrast, Mikkelsen knew the streets fi rst


hand. The son of a union organiser and a nurse, he had grown up in humble circumstances. His friends all dreamed of either becoming football players or movie stars like Steve McQueen. Not that he held Refn’s


naivety against him. Mikkelsen immediately warmed to the director and his absolute conviction in


his own work. “I just love the way he works,” says the actor. Refn also had a maverick quality which Mikkelsen found inspiring. So inspiring, in fact, that he was prepared to take on as arduous a role as his Viking warrior in Valhalla Rising. The fi lm shot in the remote, midge-infested Scottish High- lands. Mikkelsen describes day after day on which he and the rest of the crew had to set off into the wilderness to reach their locations. “It was by far the toughest shoot physically I’ve


ever done,” he says of Valhalla Rising. “We went up there in a car. Then we started walking for an hour, bringing the kit, the equipment…and bringing the nurse! Once we got there, we stripped down and killed each other for eight hours and then we walked down the mountain again. You can do that for a couple of days but we had to do that every day [for weeks].” Whatever the privations he endured during


the making of Valhalla Rising, Mikkelsen is keen to keep on working with Refn. He envisages their collaboration will last throughout their respective careers. Like Refn, Mikkelsen has worked frequently


internationally while also returning often to Den- mark. He has done huge budget Hollywood movies and gruelling European arthouse fi lms. The Dane’s approach to which roles he


will take is refreshingly uncomplicated. “You read the script. You meet up with


some people and if you fi nd that doesn’t work, you don’t go any further. If you fi nd it interesting, you go for it.” He speaks about his role as Le Chif-


Bond was like


a little family. It felt like doing a little Dogme to be honest


(Clockwise) Mikkelsen’s diverse talents on display in the Bond fi lm Casino Royale; Nikolaj Arcel’s A Royal Affair; and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Valhalla Rising


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