Mads Mikkelsen has “never seen anything like” Death Stranding in his entire career.
Mikkelsen has been in a lot of movies — 47, to be exact. And that’s just the ones he gets credited for on Wikipedia. He’s also done TV, advertising, and even video games. He played the Le Chiffre in both the movie and game version of Casino Royale.
But in his entire 23-year career, Mikkelsen has never seen anything like Death Stranding, the recently released magnum opus from Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima.
Mikkelsen recently did an interview with GQ magazine where he explained that he’s not really a gamer, but when he saw Hideo’s vision of Death Stranding, he did something he rarely does: he signed on without reading a full script.
But it did take a bit of convincing from a fellow Dane. “Nicolas [Winding Refn, who plays Heartman in the game]—my good friend, with whom I’m done five films—highly recommended him. When Nicolas does that, he means it. He was very, very impressed with Hideo.”
Another person who was equally impressed was Mikkelsen’s son. “My son is a big gamer, and when he heard I was having a meeting with Hideo, he was like, ‘Daaaaaaaad!’ It was like the coolest thing he’d ever heard. Never mind all the films that I’ve done that I thought he’d find cool. This was the coolest thing.”
Although not really a gamer (Mikkelsen said he only played Death Stranding for about 2 hours), he was impressed by what he saw and experienced. Comparing it to something out of a graphic novel more than a game, Mikkelsen said he’d “never seen anything like it.”
Hideo and Mikkelsen developed a working relationship during Death Stranding’s development, and Mikkelsen says he’d definitely be interested in working with Kojima again. “If Hideo calls me, I’ll be there again. Absolutely.”
There’s more over on GQ.com, including Mads Mikkselen’s incredible singing voice and a website where Mads just “does things.” We highly recommend you check out the full interview.
Source: GQ
