Mads Mikkelsen Quotes

I'm looking for challenges, and as always, what matters is the script, the character and the director.

People think that I have some idea about how I choose my films. I make sure that I am doing the kind of films that I want to watch. You hear so many stories, and one of them will stand out and connect to you somewhere.

Many times, what's in the script doesn't make it to the film these days, and when you choose a job, you take it based on genre and whom you're going to work with, if you believe in them.

I've worked with some really great directors, and I'm really choosy about them because they're telling the story at the end of the day.

I pick different projects for different reasons. Usually, it's a combination of things. I admire the director, and I am interested in working with the director. Or, it's the cast. I can be moved by the story. The ideal situation is you love the director and you love the cast.

As a filmmaker, I'm a collaborator first.

The creative process on 'Margaret' was incredibly satisfying. I loved the cast; I had a great time writing the script. I liked making the movie. Believe it or not, I actually like editing the movie. It was all the rest of it that was such a nightmare.

I would say doing film is all about trust and conviction. It's about believing in an idea.

I think that making a movie is not just making the movie - it is also about having thoughtful ideas and embracing all the aspects of its launch.

'Avatar' means so many things to so many different people. When I think of the creation of it, I think of me and Mike at the computer in a little apartment in Burbank.

It's such a gift when you know who you're writing for and you know that that actor is capable of so much that you can relax a bit.

My dad, before he passed away, never understood what I did. What I say is that I'm responsible for translating the director's vision, hopefully turning an idea into something people can connect to and relate to.

Every film is a human encounter. It's people trying to collaborate and create something together.

When I'm in a session with an artist, my job is to help execute their vision - so it's whatever story they're telling, and the news doesn't specifically affect that.

Whenever I like a character or a script, I take up the project and leave the rest to the audience.

As a director, when you embrace a project, you try to understand as much as you can about its world, and you do that by embracing and engaging with people who are in that world. Then it's down to your best instincts, which is what most directing is about anyway.

I guess I gravitate towards stories that I like and directors that I want to work with, and I hope that it works out.

Ultimately what I try to do is work on stories I love with people I admire, and sometimes they get made and sometimes they don't.

I feel like we always kept our core philosophy of making content that we would wanna watch, and there's definitely a different scale we are offering that at today.

I always knew the script was important, but I didn't realize how important until you get out there and just deal with the issues of putting a movie together. It's amazing that anything works, to be totally honest.

Before 'Memphis,' I had never considered working on a musical. But when Joe DiPietro sent me the script, I heard the entire score in my head.

As a filmmaker, the only way that I understand how to make a film is holistically.

I think a project is full of charms if it's a good production or has a character that I'm greedy for.

Doing something like 'Bushwick,' a lot of people need to agree that the piece is working with what's going on on the screen. So it's a lot of tweaks and re-works, just kinda moving pieces around and getting things to hit right.

I think making a film is as much knowing what you don't like as what you do like, and avoiding the things that you don't like like the plague and making sure that they never appear onscreen in any shape or form.