Doctor Strange's Mads Mikkelsen: I had to get on well with Benedict Cumberbatch so I didn’t kill him

Jennifer Ruby26 October 2016
The Weekender

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Mads Mikkelsen says he had to make sure he was comfortable with his Doctor Strange co-star Benedict Cumberbatch so they did not kill each other during filming.

The Danish actor, 50, plays villain Kaecilius opposite Cumberbatch’s surgeon-turned-superhero in the new Marvel movie, which also stars Tilda Swinton.

Mikkelsen said: “We needed to be very comfortable in each other’s presence because obviously we have a lot of fighting going on and we had to make sure we didn’t kill each other.

"And for that reason it was really nice to be friends.

Doctor Strange - London Premiere

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“I don’t remember if we had a hug … maybe we did. Obviously with the fighting it’s unavoidable that you’re bound to make mistakes. Sometimes an elbow lands the wrong place or finger in the eye so maybe there was a little hug in there.

"We were [worried about being hurt] ...But once they say ‘action’ we can’t think too much about that, we have to go for it and hopefully we’ve learnt skilfully enough to miss each other’s face by an inch.

“There were no major accidents, but you definitely bruised up. You have a hard time finding one spot on the body where you can actually lie down and sleep.”

Mikkelsen added that it was important to get out of character: “I do believe that one of the jobs we have as actors is to enter a character really fast but also to leave really fast because if you don’t it will be more like a disease than a job.”

Co-star Rachel McAdams, 37, said: “It’s very intense material. As much as it’s a fun romp, it’s also got an intense emotional spine to it.

"So we had to keep it light ... Benedict’s hilarious and does keep it light. He’s got that great British humour.”

Doctor Strange is in cinemas now.

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