Casino Royale villain Mads Mikkelsen talks about his role (some spoilers)
26-Sep-2006 • Casino Royale
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What makes this villain different from the other 'Bond' villains?
Mikkelsen: Well, the answer would be slightly vague because I think the villain is different and I think Bond is different. I think that everyone and the whole film is slightly different. It's still 'Bond.' It's still the badie, but it's 2006 now and it's more gritty, it's more realistic with less gadgets. There are still gadgets in there don't worry, but my villain isn't taking over the world. He's not a mad scientist. He's in it for the money and I think that's something that a lot of people can identify with. Having said that the whole film is different for 2006. Everything is thrown there.
The Le Chiffre in the novel is a Soviet agent who's made a bad investment in brothels with his patrons' money. How is he different in this post-9/11 version?
Mikkelsen: He's not Russian at all. He's working for anyone â anyone that can bring him money and, in this case, it's terrorist organizations. He doesn't have a political agenda at all. He's in that for the money and he's losing a lot of money at that as well, like in the book. We don't know where he's from. He might be from Albania, Algiers, Montenegro. Somewhere around down there. We don't make it specific.
What do you think that Martin Campbell is going to bring to this 'Bond' that hasn't been brought before?
Mikkelsen: Well, as I said before every 'Bond' has it's time â the '60's, the '70's, the '80's and '90's. There were so many different Bonds and so many different villains and they were all fantastic for that specific episode, but now it's 2006 and I think that we all realized that we have to bring it in there and that's what Martin is doing. He's dragging Bond and the whole magical universe into 2006. It's still magical, but it's slightly more realistic.
In the beginning of the filming, and now that you've worked with him as well, what has made Daniel Craig the perfect Bond for this film?
Mikkelsen: First of all he's a fantastic actor and he's been that for many, many years. So for him it's the character that he's playing. I don't think that Daniel looked at it as this taboo, sort of untouchable thing. It was just a character to him and I believe that he went in there and made a character out of it. Of course it's built on the Fleming books and it's a James Bond character too. Daniel looks like he's a man that kill anything with his bare hands, and he looks great. He's got this beautiful English language and has a very easy way of throwing a joke as well. I think that he's got all the ingredients it takes to be the perfect Bond.
No Bond villain would be complete without their crew of cronies or a henchwoman. Can you tell us anything about them?
Mikkelsen: I have two. I have a girl called Valenka in the film. She's my little Nikita. Beautiful, long legs, blonde hair, Croatian girl. And that's my power ace. Then I have my right-hand man called Kratt, who is a very brutal-looking guy.
How long ago did this project come onto your radar? I know the Bond producers are very tight-lipped and that there was a lot of auditions and casting that went on long before any of the press ever got wind of it.
Mikkelsen: With big films like this it's always like that, and when exactly in the process I wouldn't know. I don't know when the process started for them. I think I was approached sometime in October for an audition and I couldn't make it because I was shooting in Prague on a different film. So they called me back a month later and we hooked up and did the audition
Thanks to `Pierce - Daniel` for the alert.
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