Mads Mikkelsen met Indiana Jones before he met Harrison Ford

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EXCLUSIVE: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’s villain tells us about his first meeting with the Hollywood legend

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
(Image credit: Disney)

There are few movie characters as legendary as Indiana Jones. So we can imagine that seeing Harrison Ford in the costume is quite a moment, even for an actor who has worked on Bond, Star Wars, and Marvel. 

Mads Mikkelsen tells GamesRadar+ that this was exactly what happened when he first saw Ford in the iconic get-up on the set of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, he also reveals that this was the first time he met Ford too.

"I got confused," Mikkelsen recalls. "I was supposed to meet Harrison. We had to read through the script. I was just jumping into my trailer, we had a costume fitting. I went out and he came out of his trailer – hat, whip, jacket. I was meeting Indiana Jones instead of Harrison. That was it! Standing there, grumpy, 'What am I doing here?' With the whip. Dan-da-dan! I was smiling all over."

It certainly made an impression on the actor who plays villain Jürgen Voller in the movie, a former Nazi scientist working on the 1969 Apollo program. Mikkelsen was thrilled with the opportunity to work with Ford too and adds that he doesn’t think another actor could take on the iconic role after the character's swansong.

"The only thing that reminds me a little of Indiana Jones was way back in the '40s, '50s with Burt Lancaster and the pirate films he did," he explains. "I was glued to the screen… it was charming. Harrison and Indiana Jones take it to a completely different level. So yeah, you can’t copy it. You can get inspired and find something else that makes us fly off into our imaginations."

You can read more about Indiana Jones 5 and our interviews with Mikkelsen, Ford, Etthan Isidore, Boyd Holbrook, and director James Mangold here. 

James Mottram
Freelance writer

James Mottram is a freelance film journalist, author of books that dive deep into films like Die Hard and Tenet, and a regular guest on the Total Film podcast. You'll find his writings on GamesRadar+ and Total Film, and in newspapers and magazines from across the world like The Times, The Independent, The i, Metro, The National, Marie Claire, and MindFood. 

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