Mads Mikkelsen Quotes

I'm someone who started in the theater and really couldn't stand repeating the show. My favorite part of acting is the five or six weeks of rehearsal that you get. I like doing previews; I like the opening week because my friends and family come, and then after that, I don't want to do it anymore.

I became known for surprising audiences. Except now, if I surprise them every time, they expect that.

We would make songs, and the producers said we should play it for my dad. I was kind of scared, I didn't know what to think cuz we were just joking around.

There's probably a lot of people wondering if I can play.

I almost feel more anxious lately about, 'Here's your opportunity, now you've got to make something of it.'

Whether you do stand-up comedy or write a story, you have a duty to deliver. As a comedian, you walk out on stage, and you have a minute to hook them, or they'll start booing. As a writer, it's very similar. A reader doesn't have time to say, 'I'll give him 50 pages, as it's not very good yet, but I hope it'll get better.'

Shows are really strange. Sometimes you really don't know what to expect.

I don't like improv at all. It terrifies me. I like to know exactly what I'm going to say. Being surprised does make me a better actor. Anytime I'm afraid of something that makes me rise to the occasion, it scares me, but it's what makes great actors - being in the moment.

My greatest fear: repetition.

I'm always taken aback by things that are successful that I think are just crap, and then I'm completely surprised when things I do end up being successful because you walk into things and you never know... It's just really remarkable.

The play is always fresh to me. It's not the audience's fault that I've said the words before.

Acting is a strange job because your control is very limited.

When you're feeling very comfortable with an actor, you are doing nothing.

Getting that audience approval is always a question mark, and it's always that flag that flutters in front of you.

I'll tell you what I love about directing: the surprise. You never know what's going to happen with your piece until an audience weighs in.

The only time I have a good hunch the audience is going to be there is when I make the sequel to 'Jurassic Park' or I make another Indiana Jones movie. I know I've got a good shot at getting an audience on opening night. Everything else that is striking out into new territory is a crap shoot.

Surefire things are deadening to the human spirit.

My whole career is just terror, from beginning to end. That's kind of my thing. A lot of happy accidents happened.

I think it's an actor's responsibility to change every time. Not only for himself and the people he's working with, but for the audience. If you just go out and deliver the same dish every time... it's meat loaf again... you'd get bored. I'd get bored.

You have to keep surprising your audience.

I'd like to be settled into somewhat of a normal life. Somewhat. I know it's never going to be completely normal.

It's thrilling to be onstage and to not know, literally, what the next moment is going to bring. To just submit to the not-knowing-ness of it.

The way you deal with a scare is the way you deal with a laugh. The timing has to be perfect. When you're dealing with fear or laughter - emotions that happen spontaneously - you hope it's working. But in the moment, you really have no idea.

We promise in proportion to our hopes, and we deliver in proportion to our fears.

People root for me in such a way that when they come to a show, the experience of not knowing what's about to happen is a great thing.