Leading Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen has returned to the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival to present his latest film The Promised Land which is the Danish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
Accompanied by the producer, Louise Vesth, he said that while the film is based on true events which happened in the 1750s, it’s very relevant to what is happening in the world today.
“One of the messages is about our obsessions with certain things and how we forget, or ignore, what is really going on around us and that is very relevant today.
“It’s about emotions, how intense life can be and how we’re prepared to burn down the world to achieve our goals,” he said.
“It’s a brutal story.”
He and the producer explained that the characters are all very stubborn and Mads admitted that, in the American film industry, he has more often that not been cast as the villain beacuse of his “funny accent”.
“I’ve played Germans, Russians, Britons and now a Dane, which I’ll take,” the main antagonist of Casino Royale and more recently Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny joked.
He also spoke of his love for Mallorca.
“We’ve been coming here for many years and decided to buy a small house on the island. Whether it’s probably the best place to live in the world (in reference to the Carlsberg adverts he fronts) they’re two different things. But I love the ocean, the mountains, the people, the food, the weather and cycling here, it’s a beautiful island and I would love to film here.
“I’m surprised there isn’t a bigger Mallorca-based film industry and that bigger productions aren’t coming to film here.
“I was on the other side of the island the other day, the mist was hanging and the cloud was down and I thought this is Uganda, then there are streets in Palma which could be Morocco. There is such a vast variety of locations on the island, I think more needs to be done to support and expand the island’s film industry beacuse it has got so much potential.
“And, this excellent festival is one way of making that happen,” Mads, who won the Evolution Icon award in 2018, said.
“This festival has and is putting Mallorca on the map in the global film industry while also helping to encourage Mallorcans to engage more in the film industry and watch more films,” he added.
Unfortunately, Mads was not accompanied by his dog Messi.
“To be honest I didn’t want a dog, my wife did and eventually she found a small one, sent me the picture and I agreed but I said we would call him Messi in honor of the great footballer. However, when we finally got round to collecting the dog, it turned out to be female, so I have a ‘chica Messi’, that said, she too is a great with a football.”
His new film The Promised Land will be screened tomorrow (Sunday) at Cineciutat at 6pm and 6.30pm, one will be with English subtitles and the other with Spanish and who knows, he may well be there.
Full interview in next week’s Mallorca Bulletin.