Mads Mikkelsen says his roles in Death Stranding and Hitman both had “one thing” in common: “I had no idea what was going on”
Everyone’s favorite Danish actor, Mads Mikkelsen, is returning to video games after his role as Clifford Unger in Hideo Kojima’s critically acclaimed Death Stranding. As announced at Summer Game Fest this weekend, Mikkelsen is adding a new addition to his video game credits, playing the latest celebrity target in Hitman World of Assassination. At the IOI Showcase earlier this weekend, Mikkelsen shared a fascinating behind-the-scenes tidbit for both this new role and his role as Unger.
“I had no idea what was going on,” he admits, when asked if approaching this role was different at all from Death Stranding, or if he just “jumped right back into it.” Apparently, this is the one thing both roles had in common. He initially explained how odd it was when recording for Death Stranding to be in a room with no set and wearing the mo-cap gear, which he described as “green tights” and “dots on our faces.” Despite being out of his element, Mikkelsen had no problem delivering a solid performance as Unger.
For his performance in Hitman, Mikkelsen is actually stepping back into some familiar shoes, as he’ll be playing his Casino Royale character, Le Chiffre.
Ultimately, Mikkelsen answered the question by saying that “there was a difference for sure,” before admitting that their core similarity was that he was kind of clueless about what was happening around him. Normally, that wouldn’t exactly incite confidence in an actor’s performance, but Mikkelsen is the type of person many can agree will deliver regardless of whether he’s thrown into an empty studio wearing some tights or is in costume on a set. Besides, this lets the rest of us know that even if we never have any idea what’s going on, clearly, we can achieve anything – Mads Mikkelsen is now definitive proof of that.
“I got to shag his wife and kill him, so let’s see what happens in the game”: 26 years before becoming David Bateson’s target in Hitman, Mads Mikkelsen worked with the Agent 47 actor on a Danish short film
