Mads Mikkelsen continues his seeming quest to appear in every major franchise out there.
The celebrated “Another Round” and “Hannibal” actor has recently been filming the third “Fantastic Beasts” film and will soon begin shooting a fifth “Indiana Jones” movie.
In a new interview with Collider, Mikkelsen talked up the new Indy saying he’s very happy with the film’s script:
“I’m very, very excited about it. I rewatched Raiders of the Lost Ark the other day, it is so well-done and so charming, and it’s such great storytelling. So yes, it’s a great honor to be part of that franchise that I grew up with…I’m in a lucky position where they let me read the script before. And yes, it was everything I wished it to be, so that was just great.”
Mikkelsen goes on to say he is very happy with the genre mix of the franchise’s various entries and with the new one he’s being “invited in to create a character” that harkens back to a certain “M” and “The Maltese Falcon” star:
“There is something that is a little larger-than-life, almost back to the 1930s with a Peter Lorre kind of feel, and then you have Indiana Jones who kind of is a straight man.”
Mikkelsen also spoke about taking over the Grindelwald role from Johnny Depp in “Fantastic Beasts 3” and says he needed to develop his own take:
“Nobody’s interested in me going in there and trying to copy anything, that would be creative suicide immediately, especially when it’s been done before and masterfully. So everybody’s expecting us to find a different path.
Having said that, we need a bridge between what he did and what I’m gonna do, so those bridges you have to find together, whether it’s a certain look, whether it’s a certain attitude in certain situations, but you have to make it your own. Anything else would be plainly just creatively stupid.”
The third “Fantastic Beasts” is scheduled for July 15th 2022 while the James Mangold-directed “Indiana Jones 5,” which will feature Harrison Ford’s final performance in his iconic role, arrives two weeks later on July 29th 2022.
