Most North American audiences know Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen as the bad guy with the weird eye that cried tears of blood in “Casino Royale.” But long before he tangled with James Bond, Mikkelsen was already a steady presence on international screens, breaking out in Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Pusher” and earning critical acclaim for his turn in Susanne Bier’s “After The Wedding.” Lately, he teamed with Refn again for the brutal Viking film “Valhalla Rising” and rolled with some Greek gods in “Clash Of The Titans.” But the always-curious actor slightly shifted gears in the sensual romance “Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky,” and as it’s currently making its way to theaters nationwide we spoke with Mikkelsen about the film.
In it, Mikkelsen plays the talented composer who falls into an illicit and passionate affair with the fashion icon. Of course, Mikkelsen was familiar the composer’s works, but the film afforded him a somewhat intense preparation period that found him delving into Stravinsky’s music more deeply than he ever had before, “I knew the Rite of Spring and the Firebird, but I had never dug into it like this. And I was sleeping, literally sleeping, with it. Listening to it in the car, on my way home. I had two weeks of this whole thing—learning to speak French, Russian and play the piano. And of course we pushed the film forward, so originally I had two or three months but that was changed. So I was really occupied—every time I had a minute, I was speaking French, Russian or listening to his music.”
What makes the film so intriguing is that relationship between these two artists is never played for high melodrama, instead the filmmakers take a much more satisfying, subtle and complex approach. Mikkelsen notes it was all in the pages of the screenplay by Chris Greenhalgh and the tone everyone agreed on”…was in the script, and we knew that we wanted to go down that path, and we found that the drama they’re dealing with themselves, in their music, in their art, in their designing—coming up with interesting ideas, being a style icon, whatever—changing the 1920s or the 1910s, was drama enough. We didn’t need some exclusive, teenage falling in love drama. These are two adult people who find each other attractive in different ways, and that’s where the drama lies.”
Ultimately, “It was a very intense relationship with Igor,” said Mikkelsen. And that intensity is revealed on screen. Finding both the stubborn pride and wounded vulnerability of the great composer, Mikkelsen’s turn ranks up there among this best work.
But we might have never gotten to see Mikkelsen on screen were it not for his friend, director Nicolas Winding Refn. Appearing in the director’s debut film “Pusher” as well as its sequel, he has developed a close and collaborative working relationship with the helmer. Earlier this year, Refn mentioned he had Mikkelson in mind for a heist film he was working but the actor reveals the film is still in very early stages, “…the heist film—can’t say too much about it, it’s almost on a pitch level right now for me as well. But it is a heist film, and it sounds very interesting, so we’ll see where that lands.” Asked if Refn has a completed script, Mikkelsen says, “No, he hasn’t got anything complete yet. I think he has a pitch for it.”
Even though we may have a bit of a wait for the next Refn and Mikkelsen collaboration, the actor does have some interesting projects coming up. Later this summer he will begin work in Paul W.S. Anderson’s 3D “The Three Musketeers” where he will be playing Rochefort.
Another intriguing project that still needs financing is “Cut Throats Nine” which we’ll let Mikkelsen himself describe: “It’s a fantastic story, it’s a gruesome Western. Down the alley of Sergio Leone. One guy taking nine prisoners from one place to another to get them executed, and on the journey something happens. It’s really brutal and very spaghetti and I really look forward to it.” A brutal, spaghetti western with Mikkelsen? Sign us up.
So hear that Hollywood? A heist film with Refn and wickedly old-school Western need some help; they sound exciting and we hope they come together. But for now, we encourage you to seek out “Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky.” It offers another facet of Mikkelsen’s increasingly interesting body of work and as we we noted in our review it features “a fascinating, beautifully woven story that’s worth a trip to your local arthouse.” The film is currently making its way around the country, click here to see when it will reach your city.