Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen returns with The Last Viking, a masterful blend of pitch-black comedy, visceral violence, and deep emotional resonance. Known for his long-standing collaborations with the cream of Danish cinema, Jensen’s latest feature pushes his regular ensemble into entirely new territory.
We sat down with the director to discuss Mads Mikkelsen’s hesitation over his complex new role, hidden Easter eggs, and why modern filmmaking has forced his notoriously chaotic sets to finally grow up.
The Challenge of Manfred
Alex: Mads Mikkelsen is famous for challenging your scripts. What was his initial reaction when you pitched him the character of Manfred—a man who genuinely believes he is a Viking?
Anders Thomas Jensen: He was nervous. Definitely, he was. It is challenging. I actually told the producers that if Mads is not doing this part, I’m not doing the movie. It’s a very difficult universe. The whole idea of Manfred—a character who thinks he is somebody else—does exist, but people who suffer from this in reality are not as well as Manfred. It’s almost a construction, like a sketch where the uncle thinks he’s Napoleon.
I knew I had to get Mads on board to inflate Manfred with real emotions and make him a human being. He agreed, but at the beginning, he was like, “Shit, how do you do this?” He spent months just thinking about it. We sat down and did a little bit of a rewrite, but he didn’t actually show me the character before the first day of shooting. On the first take, myself and Nikolaj [Lie Kaas] were just like, “Ah, okay. That’s where we are.” I didn’t have any adjustments because he put such an effort into making it emotional. You have to feel with Manfred, even when he reacts completely illogically or jumps out of a window. You have to put naturalism aside and go for the emotion.
“I told the producers if Mads is not doing this part, I’m not doing the movie.”
Nordic Watchlist: We live in a much more sensitive cultural climate than when you released Adam’s Apples. Does that make you wonder if there is ever a concept or boundary that Mads—or the rest of your core cast—would finally turn down?
Anders Thomas Jensen: Nikolaj put it very beautifully some months ago: “We’re very, very bad at being comfortable.” We all like to challenge each other. I wouldn’t do this movie without Mads, but I’m pretty sure he would not do this with anyone other than me. He has said that.
We have an obligation to do it. We’ve been working together for 30 years building these characters, and we tend to work within a universe with similar themes. In order to not just go down the old road we know, we have to try stuff like this. We’ve had a running joke since our first film, especially on The Green Butchers—we always look at each other on set and say, “Nobody is ever gonna get any work again after this.”
Assembling the Collective
Alex: The ensemble chemistry is fantastic, but I wanted to focus on Kardo Razzazi. He fits into your established collective seamlessly. How did he come to your attention?
Anders Thomas Jensen: That was our brilliant casting directors. We auditioned a lot of Swedish actors with Middle Eastern backgrounds. There were many good ones, but when Kardo walked in, there was something about him. He is so emotional and sensible. He was incredibly well-behaved during auditions, and even when I told him to give it a bit more, he kept it down. Then I told him to just yell as loud as he could. Suddenly, he threw out this massive, “DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!” and I thought, Hmm, that’s good. It was one of those castings where you just know the moment they walk in.
Everyone was worried he wouldn’t be able to sing, because his character has to sing. But when he did, he had this incredibly tender, emotional, soft voice. He was a perfect casting surprise.
Nordic Watchlist: Lars Brygmann is another standout. It feels like your actors are constantly stealing the show from one another because the roles are so layered. What is the atmosphere like on set with this group? Is it pure chaos?
Anders Thomas Jensen: Back in the old days, we used to drink more. We don’t do that anymore! [Laughs] The reality is we have much less time to shoot now. On Flickering Lights, I had 53 shooting days. On The Last Viking, I had 33. That is 20 days less because crews and production have become so expensive. We are actually boringly focused because the scenes are tough and we have to be incredibly sharp to nail the humor.
But around Lars, there is always fun. If you do more than two or three takes with Lars, he will surprise you. You can sit in your head before a take and think of ten different ways he might deliver a line, and he will find an eleventh. He improvises a lot. We are simply too busy to have too much fun these days, which I actually like.
“You can think of ten different ways Lars Brygmann might deliver a line, and he will find an eleventh.”
A Hidden Easter Egg
Nordic Watchlist: Lars Brygmann’s character acts as a therapist here, which feels like a culmination of the “therapy” themes running through your filmography.
Anders Thomas Jensen: I can tell you something that nobody else has noticed yet. In Riders of Justice, Lars’s character is named Gahn Nielsen. In The Last Viking, his character, Lothar, has the exact same last name. We literally lifted the character out of Riders of Justice and asked, “What if he had a cousin?”
The idea is that he has another cousin with severe mental issues. The two characters are very similar—they both pretend to be psychiatrists or experts, they both have deep personal issues, and they are both played by Lars. It’s a hidden Easter egg connecting the films.
The Meaning Behind the Fairy Tale
Nordic Watchlist: The animated prologue and epilogue are beautiful additions to the film. What led you down the route of using animation to tell the legendary backing story of the Vikings?
Anders Thomas Jensen: I originally wrote those sequences as live-action. The first 20 minutes of the film are very naturalistic—it looks like one of those Nordic noir TV crime shows. But once we get to the house, the film takes on a fable-like tone. I knew I needed something at the beginning and end to set the premise for the audience that we are entering a fairy tale space.
When I wrote them as live-action, the producers pointed out that to make those Viking ships and battles look properly epic, it would cost more than the entire budget of the rest of the film. One of them suggested a cartoon instead. I was against it at first. But then I built it into Søren Malling’s character—he is a children’s book author, and this animation is his story. Suddenly, it made perfect sense.
I wanted to make a film that reflects the times we live in regarding identity. My kids keep telling me, “You can’t say that,” and then I meet people older than me and think, You definitely cannot say that! I wanted to make a film that was really inclusive, but also show the perspective of the old, heterosexual white guy sitting with his red wine, thinking he knows everything. That is what the prologue and epilogue represent through Werner and his book.
“We’re very, very bad at being comfortable.”
Nordic Watchlist: For some filmgoers, The Last Viking will be their introduction to your work. What do you hope a brand-new audience takes away from it?
Anders Thomas Jensen: First of all, that they are entertained. That is the main purpose of everything I do.
But there is a line in the movie where a character says that no human being is only one thing. That is a very important thing to remember right now. Everywhere I look, I see people defining themselves through a single thing and heavily disagreeing on words. If you realize that you are much more than just one thing, you don’t get as angry when people step on your toes, and you have a much harder time passing judgment on others. We are all a lot of different characters, which is a good thing—as long as those characters can talk to one another.
The Last Viking is out in UK Cinemas from the 26th June – read our 5-Star review and don’t forget to discover Ander’s previous work.
