‘Another Round’: The movie decision Mads Mikkelsen was “firmly against”
As far as Danish movie stars go, there are few figures in the film industry who have enjoyed global success quite like Mads Mikkelsen. After coming through in his native country with performances in the Pusher trilogy, plus Open Hearts and After the Wedding, Mikkelsen announced himself on the worldwide stage with his effort as the Bond villain Le Chiffre in Casino Royale.
From there, Mikkelsen’s filmography began to glitter with quality, and his performances in the likes of Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, Hannibal and The Hunt have drawn widespread acclaim. With an ability to truly embody his role, Mikkelsen has become the face of Danish cinema, a genuine acting talent capable of revealing the damaged psyches of his varied characters.
In an interview with The Talks, Mikkelsen explained how there can often be a conflict on a movie set where the actors and crew feel differently about how a scene ought to go down. “Our self-awareness as actors is pretty missing in that way,” he said. “There are plenty of times where I thought, ‘That was something…’ And then nobody thought that was anything.”
Naturally, there are other times when Mikkelsen has had doubts about a particular facet of a film despite many other members of its production being in its favour. Revealing such an instance, Mikkelsen noted, “For example, you remember the dancing scene in Another Round? I was firmly against this.”
Another Round, the black comedy-drama by Thomas Vinterberg, was released in 2020. Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang and Lars Ranthe star alongside Mikkelsen as a group of high school teachers who come across a study that posits an optimum level of alcohol in the human bloodstream.
The four teachers then conducted their own experiment to maintain a constant state of intoxication throughout the working day, with varying results. The won ‘Best International Feature’ at the Academy Awards and several other prizes, but the end scene, in which Mikkelsen’s character starts dancing out of nowhere on his student’s graduation day, split audiences down the middle, with some loving its joyous nature and others thinking that it seemed out of place, spoiling the narrative, with Mikkelsen himself seeming to be in the latter camp.
Thankfully, though, according to Mikkelsen, he used to be a gymnast as a child, so he found it relatively easy to pull off the dance moves, as did his co-star Lars Ranthe. However, it appeared that Mikkelsen was unable to accept that a dancing scene should be in a realistic movie, especially just appearing out of nowhere at its conclusion.
“I was arguing with Thomas Vinterberg, the film’s director, day in and day out,” he said. “‘Why are we doing this? This is insane. We cannot have this in a realistic film.’ And he just kept saying, ‘Man, I’ve tried to explain it to you 150 different ways. Can you just shut up?'”
Mikkelsen signed off on his thoughts about the scene with a moment of concession, noting, “He [Vinterberg] was absolutely right! But my thinking head could not get around how we could squeeze that into a realistic film. And now, when my thinking head is gone, I know it was insane that I ever said I didn’t want to do that. So sometimes it’s like that; it’s easier to see it afterwards.”
Check out the scene in question from Another Round below.
