Today more than ever franchise filmmaking is dominating the industry. Sequels and spinoffs are a big part of major movie-making, and all those movies need actors to take on new roles as their worlds expand. Some actors become major stars in one franchise or another, but Mads Mikkelsen has started to make a career out of appearing in all of them.
Mikkelsen has been a Bond Villain, an MCU villain, a Wizarding World villain, and, in a rare twist, a Star Wars character who was not a villain. It turns out even Mikkelsen’s friends tease him about all the major film franchises he’s been a part of. The actor tells Variety that one of his friends even pointed out that just about the only franchise he hadn’t been in was Indiana Jones. And that conversation that took place about a week before he was offered the role of the newest Indy villain. Mikkelsen explained…
For a Danish guy, it’s insane to be in these films. My friend made a list of all the franchises I’ve been in and went: ‘This one you haven’t done.’ It was ‘Indiana Jones.’ A week later, I got the phone call.
Mads Mikkelsen may see his high-profile success as a shock “for a Danish guy” but clearly the actor has something that all of these franchises have wanted. When the Fantastic Beasts movies needed somebody to replace Johnny Depp as Grindelwald, Mikkelsen was who got the call.
He was also the man that James Mangold called when it came time to cast his villain in the new Indiana Jones movie. Certainly, that was a franchise Mikkelsen likely thought he would never be part of. And since only one movie announced it would also potentially make him the last Indy villain. Even Mikkelsen gets starstruck when he thinks about the movies he’s in and the actors he gets to work with, but he’s clearly happy to do his job. He continued…
It’s surreal when you think about it, so I try not to think about it. Sure, it’s Harrison Ford and he is a legend, but I will kick the shit out of him anyway.
There are even more franchises that Mads Mikkelsen has been part of that many might not be aware of. He’s been part of two different Pixar franchises in another language as he lent his voice to the Danish dubs of both Cars and Monsters Inc.
Offhand, now I can only think of one modern movie franchise that Mads Mikkelsen hasn’t been in. He has yet to make a Fast & Furious movie, and while Jason Momoa is the current villain, he could always play against type and not be a bad guy in one of the upcoming Fast & Furious films.