Mads Mikkelsen: I’ll get revenge on Benedict Cumberbatch for my brother's Sherlock death
The Danish Doctor Strange actor is making things right after his brother Lars faced a sticky end at the hands of Arthur Conan Doyle's super sleuth
Oh, those Mikkelsen brothers, always causing trouble for Benedict Cumberbatch. First there was House of Cards star Lars, who popped up in series three of Sherlock as blackmailer Charles Augustus Magnussen only to have his head blown off by the detective, and now younger brother Mads is taking him on as villainous sorcerer Kaecilius in superhero movie Doctor Strange.
Clearly, this enmity is a family affair – but did the elder Mikkelsen pass on any tips for the role of Cumberbatch arch-enemy? We asked Mads himself backstage at London Film and Comic-con this weekend, and he was pretty emphatic…
“No – we’re bound not to win either film, yeah?” Mads Mikkelsen told RadioTimes.com. “So much for tips.
“But I did get some kind of revenge for what happened to my brother, I must say.”
Details of said revenge were sadly unforthcoming – Mads clearly remembers all too well his other slip-up about major film role details earlier this year – but he was happy to discuss in vague terms the challenge his supervillain would give Cumberbatch’s sorcerer hero Doctor Strange this October.
“It’s very hard for us to talk about at this point, but it’s a character, as I said before, who is a believer, a very powerful person,” he told us.
“He has got an enormous inner strength, which is growing throughout the film. And he is the believer of a better place, that the world can be a better place. His means and his path to make that happen are quite different to the ones Doctor Strange has. So obviously we have conflict there.”
Speaking more generally about being a part of Marvel’s superhero universe, he added: “I think I’ve seen all the Marvel films – I can’t remember one I haven’t seen. It’s a universe that we grew up with, even my generation, even before me I guess! But the comic books.
“So it’s always been an enormous part of our lives, and suddenly at the age of 50 you get to be a part of it – it’s actually a dream come true.”
Though maybe not his FIRST superhero dream…
“Well, my first love has always been Spider-Man, in the Marvel universe,” Mikkelsen revealed.
“And who knows? Maybe they’ll want to do a middle-aged Spider-Man one day! Who’s VERY physical.”
So watch out Tom Hollander – Mikkelsen is coming for you, and he’s clearly an expert on revenge. We’d keep the web-shooters locked and loaded at all times.
Doctor Strange is released in UK cinemas on 28th October
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
