Danish manager Anders Thomas Jensen makes Mads Mikkelsen look bad. literally.
“It actually comes from him. Everyone thinks about Mad as this iconically beautiful man, so part of him wants to be ugly,” he tells diversity.
“(2003) I thought “Green Butcher” was bad, but now I’ve taken it to the next level. His manliness is gone. But having these glasses and curls was his own idea. ”
“The Last Viking,” created by Zentropa, is sold by Trustnordisk and premiered on Venice and Tiff. Mikkelsen plays Manfred and wants to welcome his brother Anker after being released from prison. Years ago, Anchor (Nicolaji Lee Kaas) asks him to fill in the money from the robbers. The problem is that traumatized Manfred has forgotten almost everything.
“When the character is as nasty as Manfred, you need to go with it. Also, I’m sure this guy exists. He could be sitting next to you on a train, right? But he’s not very pretty,” he insists on another philosophy instead. If everyone is broken, then nobody is broken.
“In Northern Europe, you need to be good for the economy, so you need to be good. But people aren’t. I always like someone, it’s not because of their talent – it’s because of their flaws. It’s easy to love perfection.
Things get dark when the brothers try to find money accompanied by a gallery of strange characters. They’ll be interesting too.
“That’s the whole thing. I’m trying to find a balance between truly, really annoying, deeply unstable drama and the fun and comedy of “massage.” It’s something that we’ll continue to investigate with the actors. How far can I go?
In his films, such as “Adam’s Apples” and “Riders of Justice,” he approaches what is often considered inappropriate.
“I trick myself by saying I don’t care, but of course I’m affected by it. I have four kids who are always yelling at me. “Dad, you can’t say that!”
“I try to act, but I want to push boundaries. I think it all comes down to your intentions. Some people may still be offended, but you have to feel human under all of that.
Despite the animated intro, robbery setup and violent sequences, “The Last Viking” is truly a family drama.
“And all Danish films are about family, and why is that because there is drama. Denmark is so sophisticated. There is no natural disaster or poverty. Nothing happens unless you have cancer or died in a car accident.
Amazing twists and turns, or even a musical intertwining.
“We have great directors who have made 70 films without surpriseing the audience. That’s fine. These don’t work. But I like things happening on screens that I didn’t expect.
Over the years, Jensen has developed a style of black humor for signatures. But he doesn’t mind going in a different direction.
“Every time I finish a movie, I go: ‘OK, I’ll do a black and white drama next time.”
But who am I, do you know? I want to do Western or sci-fi, but it always ends with a group of men trying to find a family,” he says.
“Maybe they can do that in space.”
