Mads Mikkelsen Opens Up on Replacing Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts: ‘It Was Chaotic’
Mads Mikkelsen has opened up about replacing Johnny Depp in the Fantastic Beasts films, calling the process “chaotic.”
Mikkelsen took over the role of Gellert Grindelwald as Depp was ousted in 2020 after the British High Court ruled against him after he sued The Sun newspaper for defamation.
The court ultimately determined that The Sun’s claim Depp was a “wife-beater” was “substantially true.”
“It was quite chaotic,” Mikkelsen said of the replacement process while speaking to the Hollywood Reporter’s James Hibberd.
The actor explained that he had to watch the first two films and read the script for the third installment, Secrets of Dumbledore, after he was cast.
“You don’t want to copy anything [Depp was] doing — that would be creative suicide,” he said. Even if [a role has] been done to perfection, you want to make it your own. But you still have to build some sort of bridge between what came before.”
Mikkelsen also shared that the franchise’s decision not to address the switch was “very deliberate,” adding, “Everybody knows why [the actors changed]. The entire world knows why.”
“It would almost be like an Easter egg to reality to point out we swapped actors,” he continued. “Hopefully we drag them in with the first scene and from there they accept this world.”
Not only did the actors playing Grindelwald change, but the film’s team also decided to alter the character’s appearance.
Mikkelsen’s Grindelwald had a less striking look than Depp’s, as the team toned down the character’s albino right eye and his platinum blonde hair.
“We didn’t really focus too much on the eye thing, no pun intended,” the actor said. “In general, doing something to an actor’s face will often end up being something with the eye for a number of reasons: It’s recognizable, they’re the windows to the soul, it’s easy to control while a prosthetic piece often will crack or fall off, and, finally, it’s cool.”
Director David Yates also addressed the change, saying, “I wanted Mads to explore a version of Grindelwald that suited his strengths as an actor — and that inevitably meant a departure from what Johnny brought to the role.”
“Mads has an extraordinary range, he can be terrifying as well as vulnerable, and he’s sexy,” added Yates.
Mikkelsen later addressed a previous interview, in which he said he wished he spoke to Depp before taking over the role, as the comment ended up going viral.
“I wasn’t like, ‘Oh please let me talk to him,’ ” he told Hibberd. “It would have been great to touch bases, ‘clean the room’ in a sense. Maybe I’ll see him in the future.”
