2016 was a big year for Mads Mikkelsen. Not only did he have a major role as Galen Erso in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story , but he was also the main villain, Kaecilius, in Marvel’s Doctor Strange . In anticipation of the upcoming Doctor Strange Blu-ray release, Mikkelsen talked to IGN about what it was like shooting the film, diving into the mind of Kaecilius, and his role in one of Marvel Studios’ most ambitious films to date.

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Note: the interview does contain somefor those out there who have not seen Doctor Strange yet, as Mikkelsen talks in detail about filming some of the biggest and most talked about sequences from the film.I think it exceeded everyone’s expectations, in the sense that you can only imagine a certain amount of what’s going on when there’s so much green screen there. We know what we’re doing in the interactions with each other, we know what we’re doing in the stunts and fight scenes, we know what the scenes are about, and obviously we know what we did, but such a big part of the film’s story is the visuals. Because it’s such a graphic novel, and I think honestly I can say that we were all blown away when we saw it. We were crossing our fingers it was going to be great, but this was more than great I think.That was beautiful for us as well, we built that entire street twice actually, because we came back and revisited it, it was an amazing set to be in as well. There was a lot of tricky things going on during that sequence. First of all, we were all upside down, everything was spinning, time was reversed and then it was actually forwarded again, for some of us. So it was actually quite tricky to keep track on things like, you know, ‘Is that woman still in her car? Or is she being thrown out of it now?,’ and a lot of things like that. We were shown an animated version of everything to keep track of it, but it was so difficult for us to get our heads around. But it was beautiful as well, and we shot it in different layers and then put it all together. Sometimes we had people doing it backwards, and other people doing it forwards because some of the stuff was tricky. You can’t really run backwards, it doesn’t really look like running then. But there was a couple of things that we had to get our heads around.It honestly wasn’t super surprising to me because I learned everything about him the second I read the script. But I mean, all actors have to believe that our characters have a point that makes sense. Hopefully, they make sense to the crowd watching it, but at least he has to make sense in his own mind, in his own universe. I think the days are over where we were okay with bad guys just doing the pirate laugh and eating kids just for fun. There has to be a goal, you know? They have to have a point, and they have to make sense, and he is right. I mean, eternal life? Life without pain and suffering for everyone? What’s not to like, and why should she [The Ancient One] be the only one having it? It’s a valid question, and when it’s a valid question, it also gives our hero something to think about. It gives him a dilemma.[Laughs] It was super nice. Obviously, I knew what was going to happen my character, so it was a very nice moment for me as an actor to get the upper hand, you know? He’s a legend, she’s The Ancient One! But she’s not immortal, and I think it’s one of these things where there’s a lot of emotions about doing that. He doesn’t want to kill her because he’s evil, she disappointed him so much. He was a broken man when he came to her, and he was getting healed and then all of a sudden, she lets him down so heavily by lying to him, and I think that breaks him completely. So there’s a lot of emotions there. It’s a love-hate relationship, once he finally, finally gets her.Yeah, you can always go back, and it’s always interesting to see these character’s stories, and yes, I wouldn’t mind going back and doing that. But obviously, you also can’t do that in a ‘Doctor Strange’ film because it would be like eight hours long of everyone’s backstory. But obviously if there was a chance to do it, it would be fun. But for the actors, it’s not a big checklist thing. We know what the story is and we’ve talked about it, but we just take off from the moment when the story starts and then have to carry that responsibility ourselves from then on.Doctor Strange will be available on Digital HD on February 14th, and Blu-ray/DVD on Feb. 28th.