At the Cannes red-carpet gala premiere for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Mads Mikkelsen seemed right at home, which is no surprise since he’s a festival veteran. But just because he seemed to be the one guiding other members of the film’s cast—which includes Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge—that doesn’t mean he wasn’t overwhelmed by it all.

“You’re standing this way doing photos, and [the photographers] keep screaming. It’s just fucking insane,” he tells me. “And it has also a fraction of it that’s just embarrassment.” 

Mikkelsen has been to Cannes multiple times, with films like Another Round in 2020, The Salvation in 2014, Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas in 2013, and Casino Royale in 2012. He was a member of the jury in 2016 and won the Cannes Film Festival best-actor award in 2012 for his work in Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt.

Even so, The Dial of Destiny has been something special. “Everybody loves Indiana Jones, and for good reason,” he says. “The charm of it, the skill of the filmmaking, Harrison himself, the music. It’s everything. It’s just the full package.”

With his special ability to play villains—he’s done so in a James Bond film (Casino Royale), a Marvel film (Doctor Strange), and a Harry Potter film (replacing Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore)—playing the baddie in an Indiana Jones film—a genius scientist and former Nazi named Jürgen Voller—was a major check on his bucket list.

Vanity Fair caught up with Mikkelsen the day after the Cannes premiere of the James Mangold film to talk about how he crafted his villainous character, what it was like working with Ford, and what he and Depp said to each other when they ran into each other on opening night.

Vanity Fair: Were you an Indiana Jones fan growing up?

Mads Mikkelsen: I grew up with it. I was just 15 years old, rented the movie box, watched them all with my brother. We watched Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark 10 times. It had a mind-blowing effect on us. We'd never seen anything like it. I've been fans of other things, like Bruce Lee, but as a film, it was just out of this world. We wanted to be up there on the screen, finding artifacts. It had an enormous impact. 

How did this project first come to you?

I have a funny story because the week before, a friend of mine was just listing the franchises I've been in as a baddie. He was like, "surreal." I've been in that and that and that. And I'm Danish, it doesn't make sense. What the fuck? How did that happen? And then he said, "So now all you need to do now is Indiana Jones," and he laughed. And then a week later, I got that call, so I couldn't wait to hang up to tell him.

Your friend is psychic, apparently. 

It's really funny. I did read the script, but on the first instinct, it was like, "Yeah, you want to be part of that." Then I read it and then I thought that the adventure was there, the charm was there. And they took into consideration his age in really appropriate ways. They didn't step on it constantly. They just bumped into it occasionally, which I thought was great because if it was too much, it would be annoying. And then the ending was just beautiful. I was like, "That's interesting. This is quite touching for an Indiana Jones film."

Portraying a Nazi in film can be difficult as they can often come off as cliched. How did you shape this character?

I think that obviously there's a story to be told about somebody who's just draped in ideology, but that's not the story we're telling. We're telling a story about a man who is a scientist in the 30s and 40s in Germany. He's German, and so obviously he will be part of that party. There's no way around that. But his love and his dreams are in the scientific department. But if the ideology can be part of it, it's a good day at the office. But first and foremost, he is not unlike Indy: He's driven by his passion for his science.

Was there a lot of research you had to do for this? I hear you’re a history buff already.

No, not so much research. It's obvious that it's built on a few characters that are well known. One is Wernher von Braun. There was never a secret who he was, von Braun, and what he was working on. It's moderately built on mostly his look actually, because he had this really nice curved hair from the 50s and 60s. And I really enjoyed it. In terms of clothes, we wanted him to be stuck a little in the past, a little like Indy. Both him and Indy did not move so much, but the world moved. But it was so funny because I really loved the hair when I was not moving too much because that was exactly like von Braun's hair. But the second I started moving, it just fell down and I looked like a boy band. 

As your friend mentioned, you’ve played all baddies in these big franchises. Is there something similar about the way you approach villains when it comes to projects like this where they have this sort of legacy to them?

I think one of the first things you have to do is understand the universe you're in, whether it's Star Wars, Bond, or Indy. There's a certain tone. You can’t always put a finger on it, but you can tell when it's not there. For us, it's like, "Let's stay within the frame. We can push the frame a little, but let's not break out of it." That universe has to be part of it. But in general, I'll just approach a character with both sides of the coin as much as we can. You look at Harrison's Indiana Jones: He's a hero, but he's as flawed as they come. He's lying, he's cheating, he's drinking, so he becomes human. And so you desperately have to find that humanity in the villain as well, somehow. You don't often have that many scenes to make sure that it happens. You try to find little things, not justify them, just recognize them. You have got to find something so it doesn't become completely alien. 

The first part of the film is a flashback, and de-aging technology was used. Though it doesn’t even look like you really needed it. 

[Laughs] No, it's all these little things [points around his eyes]. But I was nervous because they did talk about that they didn't have to. Let's say dyeing my hair when I was 28, completely black, would be not crazy. But when I'm 57, I just look like an old woman. But they did something. It's not the same technique as they used on Harrison, I believe. Because they had all these frames of him as young Indy, so they had to do something else.

Is it strange for you to see?

It's a little weird. I think they did a hell of a job. I sense a smell of plastic, but it's amazing they can do it. It's great for this kind of film where we jump in time. It's obviously not something that any of us will be huge fans of if they don't need us anymore. This is not what we want. But Harrison did all the scenes though, so they just changed his look, so they still need us for now.

Do you have a favorite memory from all your years here at the festival?

Hard to get around when I won the award here for best actor. This was obviously a fantastic, wonderful, beautiful day for me. I didn't have too much time to enjoy it because I was leaving 15 minutes later, going to Romania to shoot. But I love that day. And then I was on the jury. That was awesome. Fantastic to watch all the films and understand the drama behind the scenes. It was  like, "Can we really disagree this much?" Yes, we can. It was interesting.

I imagine when you are here promoting a film you don’t get to see too many other movies.

No, you don't have a chance. And I'm not a big movie buff from the beginning. I watch sports. I just tend to find sports very dramatic.

This year you went to the opening night film, Jeanne Du Barry. Fans noted that you and Johnny Depp said hello. Is there any awkwardness in the fact that you took over his role in Fantastic Beasts?

No, not at all. I met him some years ago, and we spent dinners together with a lot of people. He just came across as a really nice guy. And then all that happened, then I got that offer. I didn't have his phone number. The court had to speak. If it goes one way, that's the way it is. If it goes the other way, that's the way it is. And it went that way, so he's back. It was nice to see him back, really nice. He did actually just say, “I was so fucking happy that it was you that played him.” It was sweet of him.