Mads Mikkelsen says that the mysterious villain of the Doctor Strange movie “has a point.”
Den of Geek: So Kaecilius is not based on a major villain in the Marvel Universe.
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Mads Mikkelsen:Nope.
Is that kind of freeing in a way, that you dont have expectations to deal with?
Yeah, I think it is, because obviously everybody has this specific expectation of what Dr.
Strange is or Mordo or The Ancient One.
Nobody is going to say, but he didnt walk like that.
He didnt have that accent.
So were free in that sense, right?
Yes, there was a Kaecilius in the comics, but did they suggest you look at anything else?
You read comics when you were a kid too?
Absolutely, completely dedicated.
Did the American comics get over to Denmark?
DC, Marvel, they all came.
I was also a big Will Eisner fan.
I dont understand where it came from.
It was something I fell upon when I was a kid.
I was just into graphic novels in general, European as well.
I was a big fan of Tin Tin.
So that was my whole universe, aside from being a gymnast, I was reading comic books.
That was all I was doing.
Were there any great Danish comic books?
It was not as brutal as Marvel.
Youve had a little bit of experience playing villains.
Whats the key to you of making a villain successful as a character?
So you have time and you spend time, you identify, you start having emotions for the character.
Something that my character says is not out there.
It makes sense, he has a point.
And that is where Strange has to back up and become a human being again.
And then we have to go, I dont like it but thats a point in that, right?
I think thats interesting in a villain.
We have to something we relate to.
Eternal life and life without pain, I think we can all buy that.
Theres a great shot where you have tears in your eyes as you explain yourself.
Its not that we should have sympathy, its just that we see the passion of the man.
I mean I dont have to fight him.
He can just come to me and we will make this journey much faster.
Speaking of the eyes, how much of that was prosthetics and how much was put on digitally?
I mean its a two, three hour job every day.
Its different layers and they did fantastic work.
One of the other things thats interesting about Kaecilius is that he has a sense of humor.
He has a few quips back and forth with Strange.
You dont want to take it too serious.
Then nobody really cares.
But that at certain times where you might allow it and still keep the tension, it works.
I think they found a good balance in that.
Obviously Benedict was carrying a lot of it.
I think its appropriate but its such a fine balance.
If you do too much, you get, ome on guys, move on.
If theres too little, it doesnt feel like Marvel.
Whats it like being on the Marvel set and how much is physically there for you to work with?
There were a lot of sets that were there and there was obviously a lot that wasnt there.
It didnt interfere too much our job.
They made an animated version of some of the fights actually.
Is he there, is he there, where is he?
What can you say about being in aStar Warsfilm?
But you cant do in the moment.
You have to focus on what youre doing.
Were any of these on your bucket list when you started out 20 years ago?
No no, not even close.
I mean I couldnt imagine anyone wanted to do make a run at redo Hannibal Lecter.
I didnt think about it.
I never thought I would work anywhere outside Denmark.
It was never something I was approaching at all.
It just happened and so I could not have imagined that I would sit here now.
Doctor Strangeis out in theaters on Friday (November 4).
