Interview by Paul Salfen, Text by Christine Thompson for AMFM Magazine
In an exclusive, laugh-out-loud chat with AMFM Magazine, Mads Mikkelsen beams about the sheer chaotic fun of The Last Viking, his sixth wild ride with writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen. The Academy Award-winning filmmaker’s latest dark comedy finds Mikkelsen as Manfred—a man-child emotionally stuck at age six: equal parts charming, narcissistic, and utterly impossible to live with. Fresh out of prison, his brother Anker (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) needs him to remember where he buried the robbery cash. What follows is a hilarious, heartfelt journey about identity, brotherhood, and discovering who you really are. “We always worry we’re never going to get work again because it’s always pushing the envelope a little,” Mikkelsen laughs. “But that’s exactly why we do it.”
Mikkelsen lights up when the conversation turns to one of the film’s most unforgettable moments—the hospital pickup scene that had the entire cast buzzing. “I think I was looking very much forward to when he picked me up at the hospital, and he just says the wrong word, and I jump out of a window,” he recalls with a grin. “It’s a surprising scene. Nobody sees it coming. And I think we were all looking forward to that, and we approached it very much Buster Keaton like. It has to be not a big spectacular thing. It just disappears.”
He pauses, then laughs: “Yeah… that was definitely a day we were looking forward to. And I was thinking, oh man, how great is this going to play in the theaters.”
The cast couldn’t wait to shoot it—and audiences won’t see it coming either. That perfectly timed, deadpan leap captures everything that makes a Jensen-Mikkelsen collaboration so addictive: mayhem wrapped in precision comedy, with a surprising emotional punch underneath.
Mikkelsen describes embracing the role’s tricky balance: “This person is stuck in life as a six-year-old boy… We love it. But there’s also impossible to live with. There is a narcissism and a certain insanity that’s just you can’t spend more than half an hour with them.” Yet he defends Manfred fiercely while admitting the character is both lovable and maddening—exactly the kind of layered, off-kilter hero fans have come to expect.
Looking back, Mads shares career wisdom for aspiring actors: “Pick up the camera… Get started. It’s much easier now than it was 26 years ago.” His own Hail Mary? The low-budget cult hit Pusher, shot with friends, their own cars, and zero money—“Rock ‘n’ roll. See what happens.” It launched everything.
He’s still having the time of his life on set: “Every time you look in the mirror it’s like… what am I watching?” And yes, he’s already eyeing the next Jensen project while wrapping a dream gig with Martin Scorsese. “I get paid to do this,” he grins. “I win.”
The Last Viking is the perfect mix of unpredictable twists, dark laughs, and heart—exactly why we keep coming back for more. Go see it and thank us later.
