Michael Madsen talks to Empire about his role as Falco

24-Jun-2002 • Die Another Day

Empire Online have released an interview with Michael Madsen, who plays Falco (head of the NSA) in Die Another Day:

While it`s easy to see the lure of Hollywood for British actors - good weather, good money, the good weather - it`s more difficult to understand the attraction that Blighty has in return for L.A`s finest. But for American actor Michael Madsen, it`s more a case of what doesn`t Britain have to offer.

`The Bond 20 thing was what brought me over to London,` he told Empire Online today, after a press conference to raise money for a new British movie he`s hoping to shoot here. `I didn`t know that there was so much history here.` And that`s not all. `I like the people here and the culture that`s around and I`d become a bit tired of angst-ridden Americans.` Finished yet? No, Madsen even likes our climate. `I like the weather - the rain and the moodiness of it all.`

So how did Madsen get roped into the Bond role? [Warning:Spoilers ahead].`Originally they asked me to play a guy that gets killed by a death ray from space. I said no, because I wanted to be part of the franchise. I very much wanted to work in a Bond picture. Pierce is a very good friend of mine - our kids play together, for God`s sakes! But I really didn`t want to be in it as some glorified extra who gets killed.

`So the whole thing went away for a while. Then Lee Tamahori gave me a call and said, `Do you still fancy being in the Bond picture? Well there`s another part we have. It`s not a big role but it`s the head of the NSA, which is a military commander type of a guy.` It wasn`t really in the script yet, so I flew over here blindly and I went over to take a meeting with Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson over at Pinewood and they basically described to me the character and what they thought I could do.` The best thing, for Madsen about the new character, was his longevity. `They could introduce me as a recurring character, so I`d come back in Bond 21 and 22 and then they said if I got tired of it, they`d assassinate me and Bond could use my death as a vengeful reason to do something (laughs).`

So he`s good friends with Bond? `The way it happens in the film is that initially I don`t trust him. I`m like the American M. Like Judi Dench sends out Bond, I send out Halle Berry. By the end of the movie I realise that he`s saved the world from nuclear armageddon, or whatever it is, so we`ve evolved. So now I suppose in the next Bond picture, we`ll probably start out in more collusion with each other.`

Clearly this is an ending Madsen`s family approves of. `I`ve got four boys, they think it`s pretty cool. And I`m glad I don`t get bumped off - you can imagine I`d have to live with; `Dad, why did you get killed. Why did James Bond kill you. I don`t want to live with that for the next 20 years so it`s good that my character survives.` And he gets to come back to Britain again and again and again.

Thanks to Umpire for the alert