Over on SHUDDER you might have caught the stunning cyber punkish crazy short movie that is ‘Blood Machines’ (if you haven’t you really should) the movie features Danish actor Anders Heinrichsen who will also be seen soon over on the BBC in DNA and upcoming movie Breeder – we got to catch up with the actor.

Lets starts with ‘Blood Machines’ – this was such a visually spectacular feast for the eyes – what was it actually like filming and how did the project come about?

I remember having a short Skype meeting with Raphaël and the casting director Annette Trumel, before going to Paris for a table reading on a Friday, went back home to Copenhagen for the weekend, and Monday we started shooting north of Paris. So it was quite a quick start. 

I must admit that I was a bit challenged by the fact that I didn’t speak French and the director didn’t speak English… It sometimes meant that I had five or six people speaking to me at the same time in a combined effort to translate to me what we were doing in that particular scene. In any other project I would probably have imploded within a day or so, but everyone was just so ambitious, friendly and hard-working and we simply just had a lot fun every day. One of the first shooting days the MUA had to cover me with tons of bloody slime, while I was only wearing half(!) a g-string. It served as a pretty effective ice breaker. They also served red wine every day for lunch, which I thought was as French as I could get!

I was also totally blown away by the set pieces they had built. It was just extremely humbling to see how much work and thought there had been put into the design and construction and the level of detail on such a limited budget. It’s also the reason why I to this day still feel bad about how I accidentally broke off a speed lever of the spaceship during a take…

All in all, I’m just so proud to have been a part of BLOOD MACHINES and I can’t wait to see what Seth Ickerman comes up with next – those guys are insanely talented!!

Tell us a bit about your character in the movie?

My character, Vascan, is a bounty hunter who tracks down spaceships where artificial intelligence has taken over control and gone rogue. He’s a misogynistic douchebag and the embodiment of all male macho clichées.

What else have you been working on and having coming up (we spotted Breeder and DNA which we would love to hear about)?

In the words of our writer Sissel Thomsen, BREEDER is a ‘pro sex feministic, sadomasochistic horror love story’… It deals with the dark sides of bio-hacking: How long are we willing to go for eternal youth? It’s about a stem cell company where women and their unborn babies are treated like animals so that clients of the company can achieve eternal youth, so let’s just say we shot some pretty gory scenes… DNA is a Danish-French crime series about a Danish police officer who discovers a fatal flaw in the DNA database. I play a criminal investigator in the series. Unfortunately, the great Charlotte Rampling and I didn’t have any scenes together – the closest I got to her was when I one day had a look at her costumes in the trailer…

At the moment, I’m shooting a feature film, PAGTEN, directed by Bille August. It’s a historical drama about the Danish author Karen Blixen based on a true story. I play a wealthy patron of the art, a man who later went on to establish the world-renowned Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. After that I’m doing a WW2 drama about the German occupation of Denmark. So no more spaceships in the horizon – for now.

You are based in Denmark – what places do you love about the country and recommend as a visit when this lockdown eases?

Copenhagen is a really nice city. It’s easy to get around – especially if you’re on a bike, which most Danes are. The weather is pretty unpredictable though, we usually say that summer is the best day of the year. So bring flip flops and a warm sweater. I would definitely recommend going for a walk in the Royal Danish Horticultural Society’s Garden! It’s such a beautiful and quiet little gem. I go there almost every day with my girlfriend and our kids.

What have you been watching, reading, or listening to recently – have you any recommendations? (For example movies, podcasts, tv shows, books and albums)

We have a 3-year-old daughter, so let’s just say we-re quite familiar with the soundtracks of Frozen I and II in our home…  I’m a sucker for British drama and will definitely recommend Broadchurch, The Crown, Patrick Melrose, The End of the F****** World, etc etc. Book-wise, I would recommend reading Sarah Kane’s Complete Plays – she was a phenomenal playwright..

Finally, what is your tip for the day?

No touching.

Interview by: Alex Minnis

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