Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy Talk Hannibal, Advice On Set, and New Roles At New York Comic Con
The 2013 horror series Hannibal took fans into the deeper mind of the Silence Of The Lambs villain Hannibal Lecter. It follows a gifted criminal profiler Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) as he enlists the help of psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) to catch villains. However, to Will’s surprise, Lecter is a deranged psychopath himself. Mikkelsen and Dancy met up at New York Comic Con to discuss the series and future projects.
During its three season run, horror fans found themselves enthralled by the series and its characters. “It’s more the way people talk about it. It’s affected them or been significant in moments in their lives,” Dancy said about his thoughts on the fan reception. “That's a lot to take on because obviously it's not something you're aware of or thinking about when you're making the show and then years later somebody says it meant this to me and it's kind of astonishing.”
“The sense of belonging has become a keyword,” Mikkelsen added. “These two characters are somehow in the outskirts of society and they find each other in a strange combination of where they at least can find a path through life, right? And it seems as if that has hit a hallmark for a lot of people. Yeah, the sense of belonging has been very important to a lot of people which is fantastic that a TV show can help people out with.”
Between the gore and horror, Dancy and Mikkelsen reminisce on their favorite moment on set — aside from the epic season two finale. “I was thinking the other day of the scene at the end of season one,” Dancy said. “We’re in Garrett Jacob Hobbs' kitchen and it dawns on me that I'm pointing the gun in the wrong direction. That was pretty great to film. I remember feeling like it was a cap on it. It felt like a summation of that whole season.”
For Mikkelsen, he found a lot of fun with a dummy of Dr. Sutcliffe on set. “Apparently somebody kills him and opens up his mouth from here to there,” he said. “So there was a dummy of that and it was on set for a couple days. Let's put it this way, we had a lot of fun with that dummy. It was extremely flexible.”
Though the series was canceled in 2015, both actors continue to travel to different conventions meeting hundreds of fans and filling rooms with special Q&As. “It would be the people,” Mikkelsen mentioned as his favorite memory of their con tour. “I mean, it is rare for actors to do a theater thing or you do a film, it’s over after a while. But this lasted three years. And I know that a lot of people have done TV shows that last longer than that, but I haven't. And it just becomes family. You're just glued together whether you like it or not. So many friendships from so many fantastic actors who came and visited us, directors that I've never met again, but I would love to meet one day.”
Up next, Mikkelsen voices Kiros in the upcoming Mufasa: The Lion King film, while Dancy has a recurring role on Law & Order. “I haven’t seen the entirety yet,” Mikkelsen said of Mufasa: The Lion King. “It was one of these working processes where they have some stuff animated, we do some stuff, they go back and animate more, they bring us back, and we do it again and again, over a span of three years or something. I haven't seen the final product and I can't wait, but what I've seen so far looks absolutely amazing.”
Dancy added on what we can expect from his character in Law & Order. “Lots and lots of murders,” Dancy joked. “Actually I think they're trying to open it up a bit because the structure of that show is so familiar and unbending, so I think they're trying to crack it open just a little bit. So, for example, I think we're going to meet a member of my family, which was verboten until now.”
Ending off the panel, Mikkelsen recalled a piece of advice he was given on the set of Hannibal by Laurence Fishburne that stuck with him. “He had seen a lot of my Danish work and he was surprised that it didn't feel as if it was my office, and I totally agree. I was on thin ice in the first two weeks doing this show for many reasons,” he shared. “After the first take, he stopped and said, ‘Mads, come with me,’ and went outside for a cigarette. He said, ‘Listen I've seen you act for the past 15 years. This is your office. Why are you behaving like it’s someone else's office? Don’t listen to the light guys while you stand and sit. Do your thing because you're the boss of your room.’ That was super good advice because I forgot about that.”
