If you think of Mads Mikkelsen as the actor that always plays bad guys, then you’re probably most familiar with his work in Hollywood productions like “Hannibal” and “Casino Royale.” But in his newest film, the Oscar-nominated “Another Round,” Mikkelsen’s character is far from a complete villain, though he is very flawed. But for many, the actor will always be a James Bond villain. And in a new interview with Vulture, Mikkelsen talks about a couple of his most famous villainous roles and how he almost ruined the entire production of “Casino Royale” by accident.
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As mentioned, Mikkelsen first broke out with American audiences thanks to his role as the villain in Daniel Craig’s first James Bond feature, “Casino Royale.” And for the actor, this film marked his first major blockbuster work. But that was almost ruined after a simple mistake on an airplane, leading to the script for the Bond film almost leaking to the public.
“I fell asleep on the plane, and I forgot [the ‘Casino Royale’ script] on the plane,” said Mikkelsen. “I am the reason why they put your name on the script. This is what they’re trying to avoid. I panicked. I was out of the plane. I’d walked maybe a minute or something. I realized, ‘Oh, no,’ and I went back, and they wouldn’t let me in. I think I was just lucky. I think somebody who cleaned up that plane had no idea what it was and threw it out.”
Another major role for Mikkelsen, in terms of US notoriety, came as the title cannibal in the acclaimed NBC series, “Hannibal,” inspired by the character from “Silence of the Lambs.” And in that series, which was canceled before the fourth season, fans began to catch onto a potential physical attraction between Mikkelsen’s Hannibal Lecter and Hugh Dancy’s Will Graham. But as viewers know, the tension never turned into physical affection. That said, it’s something that even Mikkelsen and Dancy felt on set.
“Yeah, but not necessarily something that would become physical,” said Mikkelsen about the Hannibal/Will Graham relationship. “We actually did a couple of takes of the very last scene where we were looking at each other, and it was a little too obvious — it was almost a kiss. Me and Hugh were like, ‘Why not? We have a couple of takes. Let’s do one. It might be cool.’”
But that kiss never happened, and Mikkelsen added, “[Showrunner] Bryan [Fuller] loved it, but he was like, ‘Too much, guys. It’s too obvious.’ And he was absolutely right. But I think we were just stuck on that. And a lot of the Fannibals wanted it as well. It’s been a subject of homoerotic fan art. And for good reason, because they are so united as twins in many ways. But we never wanted it to be a physical thing. It was something much bigger than that.”
And as he’s said time after time, Mikkelsen would “love to go back” if a Season 4 of the NBC series is eventually picked up.