By Devin Zydel on 2006-10-02
SuperHeroHype has scored an interview with Mads Mikkelsen, who plays the villainous Le Chiffre in the upcoming Casino Royale.
Here, Mikkelsen speaks about the casting process, playing a Bond villain, the poker scenes, the torture sequence, and much more. Presented are selections from the interview, click here to read the entire article.
James Bond Hype!: I met the casting director in the Bahamas earlier this year, and she said that she was familiar with your previous work, so I assume they approached you to play Le Chiffre. What was the audition process like?
Mikkelsen: Well, the thing is that I couldn’t make it for the first couple of auditions, because I was working on a revenge film in Prague, so I just thought that I might be number 2,000 on the list, but they kept calling me back three times. Eventually, I made it. I was dressed up and I was about to do a scene with Daniel [Craig], but at that time, they’ve all seen my work and they were quite busy, so I got the job without doing the casting, which was kind of an anti-climax, but still, I enjoyed that.
…..
JBH!: Did you get to go down to the Bahamas at all or were you mainly in Prague?
Mikkelsen: No, I didn’t do Bahamas. I was there last year on a different thing, but everybody came back from there with a tan, and I was waiting for them in Prague. Isn’t that terrible? Well, my character is a little more vampiric. He stays inside. He doesn’t like the sunshine, so that’s fine. I’m just pale and that’s good.
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JBH!: By the way, I’m going to play poker later tonight, so do you have any tips you can give me, either as an actor or as LeChiffre?
Mikkelsen: Fold. Fold, fold, keep folding. Don’t think you’re going to get lucky. Just play the odds. Fold, fold, fold, especially if you’re playing a lot of people. If you’re playing four people, it’s a different situation. If you play ten people, fold, unless you have good cards.
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JBH!: I played poker with Catarina Murino in the Bahamas, and she was very good, so watch out for her.
Mikkelsen: Oh, yeah? I never played with her. I’ve played with the rest of the cast, basically every night. We all practiced, but everybody was fairly good at this. [Producer] Michael Wilson was there playing us all the time as well; he wasn’t a bad player. We were just stealing each other’s per diems every night and that was the funny part of being there.
SuperHeroHype
Keep checking out CBn for all the latest Casino Royale coverage.
Casino Royale is the 21st James Bond 007 film produced by franchise holders Eon Productions. The MGM/Columbia Pictures production began shooting in January and is due for release worldwide on 17 November 2006. Casino Royale will premiere on 14 November in London. Starring Daniel Craig as James Bond; locations include the Czech Republic, the Bahamas, Italy and the UK.
The film co-stars Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Jeffrey Wright, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini, Caterina Murino, Simon Abkarian, Tobias Menzies, Ivana Milicevic, Clemens Schick, Ludger Pistor, Claudio Santamaria, and Isaach De Bankole.
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