Mads Mikkelsen is probably the greatest Dane. But he couldn't care less

It turns out Mads Mikkelsen’s story could still get wilder. Turning 60 this year, he’s not just Denmark’s biggest star, he’s a full-blown pop-culture icon. But here’s the thing—he doesn’t seem to care. In Cannes, amid the whirl of flashbulbs and champagne, he confronts something more elusive: the awareness of time passing.

By: Magnus Fuglsang Søgaard By: Magnus Fuglsang Søgaard By: Magnus Fuglsang Søgaard Photo: Oliver Knauer. Translation: Anders Hjort and Magnus Fuglsang Søgaard

mennesker Euroman

Offentliggjort 26. Sep. 2025

Read the Danish version here.

MADS MIKKELSEN AND NICOLAS BRO stood a few steps back from the wall. Not pressed up against it, but at a distance that allowed them to size it up and reassure themselves it could be done.

It was late, the air in Cannes was still and behind the wall and the fence that crowned it, the party was getting into full swing.

If only they could get over that damn fence, they would find themselves in Danish film paradise: the villa of Zentropa, located on a sloping road at the foot of the mountains in the south of France.

mennesker

Mads Mikkelsen er blevet verdens største dansker. Men han kunne ikke være mere ligeglad

Det kunne åbenbart godt blive vildere for Mads Mikkelsen. I år kan han fejre sin 60-års fødselsdag som verdens største dansker og et internationalt popkulturelt ikon. Men selv rager det ham meget lidt. Vi mødte ham i Cannes, omgivet af blitz og champagne, men også af en voksende bevidsthed om tiden, der er tilbage.