Mads Mikkelsen has said that he wished he had spoken to Johnny Depp before replacing him as dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in the Harry Potter spinoff series Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them. Mikkelsen will step into the shoes of Johnny in the third installment of the franchise.
Speaking during an interview with an international daily, the actor shared his complicated feeling around taking the part over from Depp, who had stepped down from the role last November after losing the libel court case against a daily for defamation. Depp had featured in the first two films, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald.
Mikkelsen said, “They called me and they were obviously in a hurry, and I loved the script and so said yes. And I know it was controversial for many people, but that’s just the way it plays out once in a while. I don’t know what happened (in his private life), and I don’t know if it was fair, him losing the job, but I just knew that the show was going on, and I would’ve loved to have talked to him about it if I had the chance, but I just don’t know him in that sense.”
Mikkelsen also teased about the way he would play the role and said, “I think he’s a masterful actor, so copying him would’ve been creative suicide. I had to figure out something that was definitely my own, and yet also act as a bridge to what he had done. My take is different, and the look is a little different, but we’ll have to wait for the film’s release (next year) to find out.”
(Source: The Sunday Times)
