Mads Mikkelsen always wanted to be the suave spy, not the villain

11-Nov-2006 • Casino Royale

Mads Mikkelsen has fond memories of the first James Bond movie he ever saw. And like most other boys in the audience, he envisioned himself as the super spy who saves the world - reports the Star Tribune.

It turns out that he was relating to the wrong character, he realizes now. He should have been focusing on the movie's villain, because that's who he plays in "Casino Royale," which opens Friday.

"My first James Bond movie was 'The Spy Who Loved Me,' " he said. In that movie, released in 1977, Richard Kiel played the bad guy, a character named Jaws. "I was just a little boy [age 9], and Jaws scared me. That's what I remember about him."

The young Mikkelsen (prounounced "Megelsen" in his native Denmark) never dreamed he'd end up in a Bond movie someday. In fact, at that stage of his life, he never dreamed he'd end up in any movie.

"I wasn't interested in acting," he said. "I spent most of my time in gymnastic and dancing, But when I turned 18, my body started to wear out. I realized that I couldn't take the pounding. I had done a lot of dramatic work in dance, so acting seemed like a natural choice."

Even as an adult, Mikkelsen, 40, never thought that he'd end up in a Bond movie.

"I got a call asking if I was interested in auditioning, but I was making a movie in Denmark at the time," he said. "I figured that I was just one of 2,000 people they were thinking about, so I passed.

"Then I got an airline ticket and a letter asking me to fly to London to audition. That's when I started to think that maybe they were serious. So I flew to London, but when I got there, they didn't have the audition because they were too busy."

Director Martin Campbell ("The Legend of Zorro"), who had seen Mikkelson's movies, eventually offered him the job anyway. That basis for a decision surprised the actor, because he hasn't made that many films in English. (The most recent was 2004's "King Arthur.")

"It turns out that he had seen a couple of my Danish movies," he said. "Apparently, he liked my work."Casino Royale" introduces a new Bond, with Daniel Craig taking over the role. Mikkelsen said that he isn't worried about 007 fans adjusting to the new face. On the contrary, he thinks the evolution of the series is a good thing.

"One reason the franchise has survived so long is that it is changing all the time," he said. "This is very much a movie for 2006. Yes, it's got all the trappings of a Bond movie: It has the girls, it has the cars and it has the gadgets. But I think people are going to appreciate that it is a very different movie" from earlier ones.

The curiosity factor is huge. Even Mikkelsen admits that he couldn't wait to see what the movie looks like.

"I never watch dailies," he said of the collections of the raw footage. "But there were a couple of scenes in this where Daniel and I couldn't resist. We had to see what it looked like."