For the title spread of the L’OFFICIEL HOMMES USA Fall/Winter fashion issue, Charlie GRAY c/o LGA MANAGEMENT photographed Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, who is busy promoting his new film ‘The Promised Land’.
Mads plays a Danish soldier in the 18th century who is attempting to tame the heath of Jutland to make it fertile and must stand his ground in the world of the wealthy and the aristocracy. The film is based on the novel ‘Kaptajnen og Ann Barbara’ by Ida Jessen. Its original title is ‘Bastarden’, and it was submitted to the 2024 Academy Awards in the International Feature Film category.
L’OFFICIEL writes : “Most will recognize Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen as the sadistic Le Chiffre who cries tears of blood from his scarred eye in ‘Casino Royale’, the first James Bond installation starring Daniel Craig. The film opened the doors of Hollywood to the then 40-year-old actor, who had never seen a 007 film before auditioning for the role.
Others associate him with the NBC series Hannibal, in which Mikkelsen convincingly played the titular cannibalistic psychiatrist. In fact, the actor is so believable in his roles as a villain that he also portrayed one in the music video for Rihanna’s ‘Bitch Better Have My Money’. True to form, Mikkelsen candidly admitted in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel that he had never heard of the global powerhouse singer before being contacted by her team.”
Ever since shooting the James Bond film ‘Casino Royale’, Mikkelsen has pursued poker as one of his hobbies; promptly landing him on the pages of tabloids at the end of 2006 when he participated in an illegal tournament in Copenhagen that was raided by the police. According to his testimony though, he had not been aware that it was illegal.
The magazine explains : “The actor prefers a slower pace of life, splitting his time between Skovshoved, a former fishing village north of Copenhagen, and Majorca. Born in a working-class neighborhood in the Danish capital, Mikkelsen trained as a gymnast and worked as a contemporary dancer for ten years before transitioning to cinema, studying at the Danish National Theatre School. His film debut as a drug dealer in the 1996 crime thriller ‘Pusher’ was a runaway success, and the actor went on to star in several Danish films and TV shows before gaining global recognition.
His latest film, ‘The Promised Land’, which premiered at the 80th Venice Film Festival, is a period epic set in 18th-century Denmark. Mikkelsen stars as Captain Ludvig Kahlen, an impoverished war veteran who answers the King’s call to clear and attempt to cultivate the barren and lawless Jutland heath on the promise that, if successful, he would receive a royal title. This is Mikkelsen’s second project with director Nikolaj Arcel, coming eleven years after ‘A Royal Affair’, the true story of the relationship between a doctor and Queen Caroline Matilda, played by Alicia Vikander in her first major role.
As ‘The Promised Land’ begins its festival circuit, Mikkelsen looks back on his decades-long career.”
Read the interview with the actor in the latest issue. Styling: Jay Hines.
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