No offense intended to Mads Mikkelsen, who is by all accounts a lovely man, but there’s just something about his face that makes him ideal for playing sinister villains who present a facade of charm and charisma to disguise their true intentions. That’s not to say he can’t portray a variety of different roles, and most recently he gave an incredible performance as a school teacher experimenting with alcoholism in Danish dramatic comedy Another Round, but in big budget Hollywood projects, he tends to be the bad guy.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is a notable exception to the rule, of course, as in Casino Royale, Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Doctor Strange and upcoming Wizarding World prequel Fantastic Beasts 3, he’s been asked to use his particular set of skills to break bad.
With that in mind, we’re now hearing from our sources – the same ones who told us Green Lantern, Justice League Dark and the Snyder Cut of Justice League were all heading to HBO Max before any of the three were confirmed – that Warner Bros. are also eying him to play an older version of the Joker, though he’s not the only contender, as we’ve heard that Jude Law and Jim Carrey are being looked at, too.
According to our intel, the Joker universe established by Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips will see many people inspired to slap on the face paint and indulge in their more sociopathic tendencies, with Arthur Fleck serving as the inspiration. It’s unclear yet who the “real” Clown Prince of Crime will end up being, but we’re told that we will indeed get an older version of the iconic villain at some point and Mikkelsen might just be the one to bring him to life.
