With the role of Kaecilius in Marvel’s Doctor Strange and the on precipice of Star Wars’ introduction to Galen Erso, it has already been a big year for Mads Mikkelsen. To say nothing of his role in Hideo Kojima’s video game Death Stranding, which will feature Mikkelsen’s talents alongside the likes of Guillermo del Toro and Norman Reedus.
All that said, we are not allowed to forget Mikkelsen’s brilliance in the Dutch drama The Hunt or that he was the villain in Daniel Craig’s first turn as James Bond. For our purposes here, though, let’s spend a little time on NBC’s now defunct “Hannibal” series. A three-season run that knocked Anthony Hopkins out of the Dr. Lecter captain’s chair.
In speaking with one of the Horror Honeys recently, an outstanding point was made when she stated “By comparison (to Mikkelsen) Hopkins is vulgar.” A heavy claim to be sure, but no less true considering that everything about the Lecter character revolved around the premise that discourtesy was unspeakably ugly.
In a way, Mikkelsen was provided an opportunity that Hopkins, and Manhunter’s Brian Cox before him were never afforded. While Hopkins appeared in three feature films as the good doctor, two were post-incarceration and a third was post-escape. In short, Lecter had his guard up. Mikkelsen, however, was handed the reigns to a character who was free to shape Lecter as the cultured and manipulative chess master that Lecter was intended to be.
Post-capture, Hopkins played the part with heightened, condescending sarcasm because he had nothing to lose and was forcibly surrounded by dullards. Mikkelsen, on the other hand, was given a wide berth to seduce with his considerable wares.
Though audiences were treated to elegant brutality and the ocular orgasm of Hannibal’s food preparation and death exhibits, the elements that smoldered with the Dutchman’s portrayal were charm and control. Going in, characters and audiences alike knew that Hopkins’ Lecter was sinister and not to be trusted. Even when Hopkins disarmed them with what appeared gentle charisma, something felt off, almost as though it were the calm before the storm.
With Mikkelsen, however, and as his “Hannibal” co-star Laurence Fishburne so brilliantly put it, “(The other characters) don’t know who Hannibal is. The audience does.”
Even when pushed, insulted or exposed to the rude, there were only subtle glances from Mikkelsen. Truth be told, we weren’t even treated to slight facial expressions, there was simply a placidness to his every thought, move and reaction. And that was the point. Everything with Dr. Lecter was from the neck up. Overt reflections of thought or disdain would, in and of themselves, feel rude to Hannibal, so they were stored away in his mind for later use.
Mikkelsen captured the idea of perfection, real or projected, flawlessly. Even when the walls had collapsed around him and the likes of Jack Crawford, Will Graham and the FBI were closing in, nothing that Mikkelsen said as Lecter could be construed as lashing out or even angry. It was composed and controlled. Mikkelsen revealed his disappointment or displeasure with the calm, soothing tone of a man reciting a bedtime story to his child.
Post-capture brought more of the same, which was a pleasant departure from what Lecter fans had seen from Hopkins and Cox. Rather than biting derision and short exchanges, Mikkelsen’s Lecter remained polite and bereft of challenge, though the jabs that he let loose cut deeply and with surgical precision.
When insulted by Dr. Chilton or Alana Bloom, Lecter’s courteous, welcoming smile and demeanor persisted, even thanking them for their time and aspersions. That they were unable to rattle him, even when relegated to a cage made Mikkelsen’s performance all the more horrifying. That was what distanced Mikkelsen’s doctor from that of Hopkins. There were no moments of rage, no revelations of a monster which resided deep within him, Mikkelsen personified the idea that “his blood pressure never got above 85, even when he ate her tongue.”
Lecter’s deeds were those of a psychopath, but fans of the universe created by Thomas Harris will no doubt remember that prior to the doctor’s exodus in The Silence of the Lambs, Jodie Foster’s Clarice Starling noted “They don’t have a name for what he is.” Despite the unique and truly indelible manner with which Hopkins portrayed the character, no Lecter embodied undecipherable charm and unwavering control quite like Mikkelsen.
That Mads’ Hannibal never slipped to a recognizable breaking point but rather stayed a course that was almost mockingly matter of fact, made Mikkelsen’s Lecter the most terrifying of all because it was impossible for any other character to know whether they were ally or appetizer.
