2_1_ScanMag_80_Sep-Oct_2015_Q9_Scan Magazine 1 15/09/2015 16:54 Page 20
Lars Mikkelsen – the great Dane of stage and screen International audiences have grown to love Lars Mikkelsen for his captivating portrayals of memorable characters such as the Russian President Viktor Petrov in House of Cards, Charles Augustus Magnussen, the villain from season three of BBC’s Sherlock, and Copenhagen mayoral election candidate Troels Hartmann in the Danish drama series The Killing. In his native Denmark, however, his career has extended far beyond these iconic TV shows to include a myriad of premier stage and screen performances. Mikkelsen joins us to share some insight into his exciting career to date and future projects to watch out for. By Helen Cullen | Photos: Mathias Bothor
Mikkelsen speaks to us as his criticallyacclaimed role in the Copenhagen theatre production of Tribadernes nat (The Night of the Tribades) by Per Olov Enquist draws to a close. Mikkelsen starred as the playwright Strindberg, alongside Marie Bach Hansen of The Legacy. “Strindberg was quite the character to play,” Mikkelsen says. “He alienated everybody and lived in total conflict with the society of his time; he was very tragic but also very funny.”
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Despite the incredible success that Mikkelsen has enjoyed on screen, maintaining his connection to the theatre remains immensely important to him. “As actors we continuously learn our craft at the theatre because the process is so long and the ongoing collaboration gives us great insight into how we perform,” he says. “In TV and film, it can be more difficult to have a profound knowledge of what you are doing when you have to
produce work very quickly, but the two ways of working are a gift to each other and I could never choose just one.” From Europe to Netflix Fans of Mikkelsen will most recently have enjoyed his role as Harald Bjorn in The Team, the European TV drama that follows a group of investigators who trace organised crime across the borders of Europe. The show is a unique collaborative production between Denmark, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany. “It was pretty apparent that we should explore doing a co-production such as this and that we should do our best to make it happen,” he explains. “I was very pleased to be part of it, and my character Harold is interesting because he is really a modern take on a Scandinavian guy. He’s very good at his job but maybe not so good at his feelings.” Fans of The