Mads Mikkelsen is known for playing a variety of characters in multiple tentpole Hollywood films. But it can’t be denied that general audiences are most familiar with his role as Le Chiffre in 2006’s James Bond film, Casino Royale. Over the years, Mikkelsen and his co-star Daniel Craig have shared multiple interesting incidents related to the film. One of them was the fascinating and hilarious first meeting of Craig and Mikkelsen, where the former accused the latter of sleeping with someone to get the role.
Daniel Craig And Mads Mikkelsen’s Surprising First Meeting
Mads Mikkelsen and Daniel Craig once sat down to interview each other for Variety’s Dream Teams series. During the interview, Mikkelsen commented that their first meeting was during the costume fitting day on the sets of Casino Royale. He described it as a day of chaos. The actor reminisced:
“You might remember at a fitting, our costume fitting, I was there and they dressed me in a tuxedo. But I was supposed to do the casting, the torture scene, with you. That was it. So I was just waiting around and waiting around, and you were casting the Bond girls. So it was a day of complete chaos. At that point, I’m not sure I can say this, you were smoking.”
The actor continued and said that he was suddenly offered the role of Le Chiffre without having to go through a single audition. This made Craig accuse Mikkelsen of definitely sleeping with someone to bag the role. As per the Danish actor:
“So we had a cigarette, all of a sudden, together. And then Martin Campbell came up, and he was just so stressed out, walked up to me, and said ‘Hi Mads. I’m sorry, I don’t have time for you. Welcome aboard,’ and then he left. I was a little confused, and he came back and said, ‘Mads, you don’t understand. You’ve got the part, I don’t want to see you. Just f*ck home.’ And then you took a drag of your cigarette, and you said the famous words, ‘Who did you f*ck? I did six castings for this.’ That was our first meeting.”
Looking back, casting Mikkelsen opposite Craig as the villainous Le Chiffre was obviously the right choice. It gave the newly rebooted James Bond a formidable adversary and the super-spy franchise an envious start. However, the Danish actor almost didn’t get cast because he forgot his script on the plane.
Mads Mikkelsen Forgot Casino Royale’s Script On A Plane
In an interview with Vulture, Mads Mikkelsen revealed that he almost lost out on the role of Le Chiffre because he forgot to take the script of the 2006 James Bond film home with him after a flight. As per the actor:
“I got the script before I did the casting, and it was the first time I got a script where your name is printed on every page. I fell asleep on the plane, and I forgot it on the plane. I panicked. I was out of the plane. I’d walked maybe a minute or something. I realized, Oh, no, and I went back, and they wouldn’t let me in. I think I was just lucky. I think somebody who cleaned up that plane had no idea what it was and threw it out. But that is obviously a complete disaster if it ends up on the front page of The Sun. I mean, this is the worst way of blowing it. I got a hold of those scenes somehow, and I went and did the audition.”
However, he was ultimately able to land the role. Since then, the actor has played multiple villain roles like Kaecilius in the first Doctor Strange film. Now, he is all set to play one again in Indiana Jones 5 as Jürgen Voller.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny releases on 30 June 2023.
Source: Variety
