Interview with Mads Mikkelsen and Anders Thomas Jensen, Star and Director of RIDERS OF JUSTICE

The careers of international performer Mads Mikkelsen and Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen have always been linked. Jensen‘s first feature – the 2000 robber restaurant comedy, Flickering Lights – was Mikkelsen‘s fifth credited performance in a full-length film. And no matter where Mikkelsen went, from the cinematic universes of James Bond, Doctor Strange, or most recently, Indiana Jones, he’s always returned home for a Jensen project. Out of the director’s five feature films, Mikkelsen has starred in, you guessed it, five.

Their latest is the existential thriller-comedy, Riders of Justice. The cooky, campy characters Jensen has built his career around take the sideline role to Markus (Mikkelsen), a no-BS military dad whose particular set of skills make a homeland appearance after a tragedy breaks apart his family.

Film Inquiry recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jensen and Mikkelsen about the film and their collective experiences together, including the film’s paramount meanings, and how they stay fresh in their collaboration. Mikkelsen also addressed another one of his films, Vinterberg‘s Oscar-winner Another Round, and its to-be DiCaprio remake.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Luke Parker for Film Inquiry: This film follows a group of people whose lives separately but simultaneously crumble before them. Anders, for you, what was it about that collective feeling of loss that made for an interesting start to a story?

Anders Thomas Jensen: Loss is always a good base for drama. Funny enough, this idea came up during the pandemic – the idea of people coming together as a crew and that no matter how lonely you are, or how much of an outcast you are, there will always be people for you. As the film suggests, that’s pretty much as close to the meaning of life as we can get.

And you’ve said that with Riders of Justice, you wanted to merge a “real drama” with your aesthetic. What challenges came with that?

Anders Thomas Jensen: Well the challenge came with this guy, Mads, playing a totally, or almost naturalistic character. The story between him and his daughter could be a part of any Sunday drama on any TV channel. And then, then there are these three, larger-than-life geeks that very much derive from what I’ve done before.

To make the audience believe that they’re in the same movie and the same universe was hard throughout the process: the writing, the acting – the actors are fortunately very good – and the editing. My main focus was actually finding that balance.

How did you bridge the gap between the quirkier characters and the dramatic story from Mads’ character?

Anders Thomas Jensen: First of all, Mads is not 100% naturalistic, so there’s an opening to that other side of him, and the other characters are not all 100% cartoonish, so there’s an opening to their other sides as well. The character Otto (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is the glue in between them.

Mads, the way your character handles his loss is quite different from the others, to say the least. When Markus isn’t reacting violently to a situation, he’s either stubborn or completely closed off. You’ve said before that the keyword behind a good performance is identifying. So, can you talk about how you identified with Markus, an incredibly impersonable and difficult character?

Mads Mikkelsen: I don’t have to identify, I have to understand him. He’s a soldier; he’s got PTSD like nobody’s business. But he’s also old school, so he doesn’t believe that someone at the age of 25 can sit down, talk to him, and make him feel better. That’s just not going to happen. So, for him, it’s something he has to take care of himself.

It’s the same thing when disaster hits his family. He goes through the same routine. It starts out with him not being able to help his daughter a lot, to put it mildly. But for him, it’s like “tomorrow is a new day, we’ll have to move on. Forget about God. We are fixing this ourselves.”

I can identify with that, maybe not to such an extreme degree, but I can. And luckily, Thomas places a scene late in the film where everything holding this world together just collapses, and Markus implodes. That’s also part of the reason why you can be so firm with a character the entire way: you know there is a scene that will show something else later on.

One of the reasons I was so excited to talk to you two is because you guys have enjoyed a long collaboration together. Markus is a different character than any you two have built together before. Anders, how did you know Mads was the right man for the job?

Anders Thomas Jensen: Well, I hate to say nice things about Mads but what can I say? He can play anything. He can do comedy and drama, and he’s shown us that several times.

It was pretty much Mad‘s choice. I sort of let him choose what he wanted to do because we’ve done the other [cartoonish] characters four times, and for me, I thought it’d be interested.

With that said, of course, you feel like that when you’ve done the movie. But even before, I couldn’t really see anybody playing this but Mads, because it’s tough. There are some nuances in Markus. He’s so unsympathetic that you really need a good actor to pull the audience through the 80 minutes before he shows emotion. It was a no brainer for me.

And Mads, I know a general concern for you with working with the same directors is that you may become too comfortable in your performance and your dynamic. Working with Anders, or with any recurring director, how do you avoid falling into that trap?

Mads Mikkelsen: It’s not really a worry, but it’s something we have to keep in mind always. I think that the ones I work with a lot – and Anders is the one that I’ve worked with the most – we’re good at pushing the envelope. Instead of just falling asleep and pulling out the old drawer, we are constantly backing each other up and taking a step into unknown turf. I think we need to keep each other on that track. If not, we’ll just be doing the same old musical.

I wanted to transition really quickly because some Oscar congratulations are in order! Mads, like everybody, I loved Another Round. But even I was surprised by the news last week about Leonardo DiCaprio picking up the rights for an American remake. What was your immediate reaction to that?

Mads Mikkelsen: To be honest, that always happens. It doesn’t mean that it’s going to be remade. It just means that they’ve bought the rights for it.

Listen, if he wants to do it, I think he’s a great actor. I think he can pull anything off, and I would really look forward to seeing it, as long as they can grab the essence of the film – which is about four people reclaiming their lives; it’s a tribute to life – then they can do whatever they want to do culturally with the alcohol. If they grab the essence, I think they can make their own film. They have to move away from our film and be inspired by it. I think that’s the best approach.

Yeah, I was wondering what the cultural differences would be between America and Denmark.

Mads Mikkelsen: There are some.

Anders Thomas Jensen: It can be called “Marijuana” in LA.

Mads Mikkelsen: [laughs] There you go, exactly.

Film Inquiry greatly thanks Mads Mikkelsen and Anders Thomas Jensen for their time.

Riders of Justice is now playing in select theaters and available to stream on VOD.