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When it comes to playing an antagonist, very few can do it as well as Mads Mikkelsen. While some play such a character a few times in their career, he has been in the moral black and grey more than he has in the moral white. Having different shades of villain in every character he has played, Hannibal Lecter’s evil certainly does not match Le Chiffre’s evil.
While he has frequently been on the giving side of torment, there are the occasional films where Mikkelsen plays somewhat of a good character. The perfect example of this would be 2019’sPolar, where he played a retired assassin trying to outrun the grasp of his former employer.
Interestingly enough, the actor had another torture scene in this film, only this time he was on the receiving end.
Mads Mikkelsen’s Past With Torturing
One of the most infamous moments in Mads Mikkelsen’s career has to be his character inDaniel Craig’sCasino Royale. Having played the role of Le Chiffre, the actor was one of the most interesting villains in the history of the James Bond franchise. One of the more interesting parts of his character was how he left Bond in a very tough spot, something that audiences were not used to seeing.
This can all be narrowed down to one scene, where Mikkelsen’s character tortures Craig. The scene is almost difficult to watch at times, with his methods being simple but very effective. Using a rope, he reduces Bond to his skin and forces audiences to watch what he is doing to him.
Mads Mikkelsen Revealed the 1 Scene of Casino Royale He Couldn’t Stand Because of Daniel Craig: ‘This is wrong’
During an interview withThe Hollywood Reporter, Mikkelsen talked about filming this scene. Having made jokes about it in the past, he mentioned that he prefers doing the torturing when he is on a project, having a lot more fun like that.
I definitely prefer to be on the other side.[Craig] had a tough day at the office. I’m sure I enjoyed it a bit more than he did.
He even joked that he seemed to have enjoyed filming the iconic scene a lot more than Craig did, who was naturally too busy being on the receiving end of the pain.
Mads Mikkelsen Did Not Have Fun Being Tortured
In a change of events whenMads Mikkelsenwas starring inPolar,his character was also subjected to torture at one point. His character, Duncan Vizla, or “The Black Kaiser,” was tortured for three days straight, coming out of the experience covered in blood and very little clothing covering the damage that was done to him.
Considering the fact that Mikkelsen has been on both sides of a torture scene, he was asked during an interview withSYFYwhich one he preferred. This was even more interesting to think about with his history of playing cannibalistic serial killers. The actor confessed that he found the entire shoot to be extremely brutal for him.
Oh, yeah. That was pretty brutal, to be honest.
Real Reason Why Mads Mikkelsen Refused to Join Leonardo DiCaprio’s Dream Project: ‘It can never happen’
Since it took place in a very cold environment, he was left freezing with very little clothing to get warmth from. His character was also hanging off chains during this time, making it very challenging for the actor to come out unscathed.
We had two or three long, long days in that dungeon there. It was freezing cold, of course, which is always the case. Even though they had something hidden to take the weight off my shoulders, it was brutally tough to make it look right. It was quite brutal. It took me quite a few weeks to recover from that. But it looks good. It was worth it.
Mikkelsen revealed that also the production tried its best to make sure that his shoulders weren’t taking the brunt of his weight, but he still had to endure a lot to make sure that the scene looked realistic. Although the shoot was very challenging for him, he found the struggle to be worth it since the scene ended up looking amazing.
Polaris available for streaming on Netflix.
Ananya Godboley
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2219
Ananya Godboley is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on TV shows, with over 2,000 articles published. She has been an entertainment journalist for the past two years. Currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in psychology from K.R. Mangalam University, Ananya also likes to fangirl as a full-time job. She covers news and analyses on anything from Rick and Morty to Hannibal and even Arcane. In between these lines, she also enjoys superheroes and Taylor Swift.A philosophy enthusiast, Ananya enjoys digging deeper into the media she consumes, trying to understand the root of her favorite characters' behavior.
