mads mikkelsen Archives - Addicted to Writing

Complicated Conflicts, (Un)Acceptable Character Reactions and What This Means For Your Screenplay

Posted on June 20, 2015 Written by Pinar Tarhan

The Hunt, Mads Mikkelsen — Mads Mikkelsen’s character in The Hunt. His so-called friendly countrymen did that to him. Image via cynic critics.com.

I love interesting conflicts and dilemmas. So much so, I often pick my favorite movie conflicts and analyze them on this blog:

The Ledge: Kill Yourself or Your Loved One Will Be Killed
The Hunt: Your Daughter’s a Liar or Your Best Friend’s a Pervert
Return to Paradise: Spend 6 Years in a Hellish Prison or Your Best Friend Hangs
Equilibrium: Live Numb or Die Feeling (Die Being Yourself)

Look at these conflicts!

You either have to commit suicide, or someone will murder the person you love.

You will either live with the guilt of your friend’s death, or you’ll “live” 6 years in prison. Right. And that is if you trust the authorities who gave such an option in the first place.

You either suppress every single emotion and live, or fight for the right to feel and die trying. Ouch…

The Hunt, though, is probably the most heart-breaking one of them all. Either your young daughter was molested by your best friend or she’s lying and you’re screwing up his life for…nothing. Holy Crap!

It is a great, albeit expectedly depressing movie. This 2012 Danish film is still on the top 250 list on IMDB, and I’m shocked it didn’t get the Oscar for best foreign film. (Mads Mikkelsen’s luck, always the nominee movie, never the bride winner).

LET THERE BE SPOILERS FOR THE HUNT and RETURN TO PARADISE

So what would you do if you were the father? What would you do if you are the friend? Because guess what? She’s lying, and he is innocent.

The whole town turns on him for nothing. They don’t even bring in an actual child psychologist. And this almost drives our protagonist insane. I don’t get that when it’s revealed that he’s innocent, he stays in that small town where some people still don’t believe him.

What the f…?

Seriously. Look, I get that he grew up there. His teenage son is there. But are your friends still your friends after they believed the worst about you? And it’s not like he lives in a third world country. There are many more towns and countries he can go to, find work and make money, while minimizing the homesickness. Yes, he has a son, who could in a few years join his dad wherever.

But that is me. I grew up in a big city. I don’t feel homesick much. I don’t mind living abroad. I tried hard to put myself in his shoes. I still don’t agree with what he decided. I wouldn’t look twice at those people.

And the ending doesn’t quite indicate he made the right choice if you are honest about last scene.

However, while the ending might not be the most believable (to me at least), it creates the biggest impact. The director Thomas Vinterberg is also the co-writer, so that presents an advantage. He could shoot the movie the way he wanted.

What does this mean about your screenplay’s conflicts and characters’ reactions?

In my drama feature, I have a story conflict that’s hard to sell. In other words, one of the main character’s actions is extreme, though in line with what he’s going through, and what he has experienced.

And not only are some readers having trouble with the conflict (despite enjoying the premise), they are not particularly fond of how a certain character handles the conflict, which puzzles me.

Because if I were that character, I’d do exactly that.

When I ask people around me what they would in that situation, they choose my character’s way.

So how come some readers aren’t into it?

Well, for one, our personalities and outlooks on life determine a certain percentage of how we react to movies (and screenplays). Remember, a couple of years after seeing The Hunt, I’m still singing the “I would so get out of there!” tune.

Whenever a character takes a cheating spouse back, I’m disappointed until that movie/story ends. Cheaters don’t deserve a second chance in my book, unless the situation is extreme, like the person being cheated on is a complete psychopath or something. You can enjoy my fun cheating-condoning posts on my movie blog.

Some found Death Sentence unrealistic. I tend to love revenge flicks. I cheer for parents who go down the extreme route. Even well-educated, seemingly mild-mannered ones. Because:

Don’t be afraid, I approve of regular folk taking justice into their own hands only in revenge movies
I can relate to the pain that will result in losing a loved one. Of course they will go crazy and do drastic things. So while the level of Bacon’s character’s success might not necessarily be the realistic aspect of his movie, his losing it over the not-so-certain outcome of the trial makes sense to me. Yes, Braveheart and The Crow are among my favorite movies. How did you know? 🙂

Anyway…

The point is, we react, judge and interpret differently. I find my character’s action, and the other’s reaction completely in line with their personalities, life experiences.

Would I react the same way if I were in the same situation? Yes. But would I be in the same situation? Not likely. For one, I’m not a musician, and my crow-like voice wouldn’t earn me any fans. So I have my characters, my obsession with the rock music world and my imagination to guide me.

So, we again come back to listening to your gut.

But am I to blame a little? Of course I am. Chances are, I couldn’t reflect the extremity & uniqueness of the situation, as well as I should have.

It feels like mission impossible to balance exposition, good dialog, enough (but not too much) backstory while capturing and holding everyone’s attention in a freaking drama. No matter how engaging I try to make it, it’s still a drama, albeit a glamorous and larger-than-life one at that.

So what do you do?

You work on your craft and draft until the story, the story you know is the right one to tell, shines and eliminates (or minimizes) doubts and let everyone enjoy the ride.

I immensely enjoy the stakes in Return to Paradise. I can honestly say I wouldn’t trust the authorities and go back to save my friend, love or no love. But then again, I wouldn’t do drugs so I wouldn’t be in that situation. That doesn’t stop me from rooting for these characters.

You hear stories about screenwriters who can only sell their 11th script. Then you hear the ones about the first/second or third script they wrote being sold. Who wants to bet there were like 30 drafts of that sold script before it got the greenlight?

Happy rewriting!

Your Daughter’s a Liar or Your Best Friend’s a Pervert: Most Enthralling Story Conflicts 2 – The Hunt

Posted on November 16, 2012 Written by Pinar Tarhan

The Hunt-Jagten-Mads Mikkelsen — Mads Mikkselsen stars as Lucas, a role that won him the Best Actor award at Cannes this year. Image via phdacademy.org.

Since there is no story without a conflict, I started an article series on my favorite conflicts. The more you can raise the stakes, the more you can involve and intrigue your audience. So I’m not going to involve simple situations where the decision won’t scar anyone horribly, whether literally or physically (or both.)

The first article covered The Ledge’s story, a movie where the protagonist was forced to choose between his own life and his lover’s.

The second one is about the premise of a Danish movie I’m dying to see. Jagten (The Hunt) presents one of the most difficult choices one needs to make- and the wrong one will destroy the other party.

Conflict: Your little daughter told her female teacher that she was abused by her male teacher (the protagonist). The teacher, Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen), is your best friend. The girl never lied before. Lucas is one of the nicest guys you know.

Door Number 1: Your daughter is telling the truth, and your best friend is a pervert. You can’t believe you have loved and trusted him for so long. You can’t wait to make him pay.

Door Number 2: Your very young daughter told a very disturbing lie, and started the destruction of Lucas’s life and career. He may not recover from this.

While we won’t know for sure that Lucas is innocent until we see the movie, the trailer sure suggests it. It also tells us which door the guy chooses: he chooses to believe his daughter and things get very complicated and dangerous after that.

As far as conflicts go, this just might be the mother of all. In the end, only one person is innocent, and you are going to have to live with yourself afterwards. Of course the person that will get hurt the most is the person you chose not to believe.

I don’t know where writer/director Thomas Vinterberg got the inspiration from, but it is one hell of a conflict.

* Just because you’ve known your friend for decades may not mean he is not keeping things from you.

* But just because you think your daughter doesn’t lie, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t. Sometimes kids can go to disturbing lengths for the most trivial reasons.

What would you do? Who would you trust?

How do you feel about this conflict as a writer?

PS. I’d love comments, but please don’t give any spoilers if you have seen The Hunt.
PPS. This post contains affiliate links.

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How Mads Mikkelsen and Gerard Butler Can Motivate Writers Like Hell: The Ultimate Gerard Butler and Mads Mikkelsen Guide to Freelance Success

Posted on October 31, 2012 Written by Pinar Tarhan

What can two popular actors possibly have to do with us writers, our careers and motivation levels? First let’s take a look at who and where they are:

Mads Mikkelsen played the James Bond villain in Casino Royale, won Best Actor at Cannes this year, and he’ll also be starring as Hannibal Lecter. Yep, the very one played by Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. Oh, and did I mention he’s Danish?

Gerard Butler is probably the one you are more familiar with. After all he’s that actor who shouted “This is Sparta” before kicking a cocky Persian right into the bottom of an endless well in the movie 300. He’s known for his dedication to his parts (that Spartan body was really his!), diversity (the guy played the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera), and ability to tackle accents. Why else directors would cast him as American or Irish instead of hiring equally or more popular American or Irish actors?

But whether you like them or their movies isn’t the point. The point is what they accomplished, how they accomplished it and what you can learn from it.

Writers are prone to depression, lack of motivation, bouts of self-doubt, fear of ruts and writer blocks. They also worry about their age, nationality, talent, the competition, rejection, income…and that’s why I like to look at Mikkelsen and Butler when I experience any of those.

1 ) Nationality:

Mads Mikkelsen is from Denmark. Gerard Butler is Scottish. None of them grew up in L.A. Now, if they can make it to Hollywood, you should definitely not be discouraged about your nationality when it comes to your writing.

While your location or citizenship can prevent you from submitting to some magazines (for instance some Canadian publications only work with Canadian writers, or some contests require you to be a legal resident of the country the publication is based in), there are tons of other contests and markets that don’t really care about where you are from. They just want good work.

2) Age:

Butler was 25 when he decided to really pursue acting, instead of just wanting it. He was 28 in his first onscreen appearance.

Mikkelsen studied acting, but his first onscreen appearance was in 1996, in a short film. He was 31.

Granted, late 20s and early 30s can seem very young, or young enough, depending on how old you are (or how you look at things), but remember that they didn’t start a writing career-they started an acting career, from other countries and competed against people who had been building industry connections since they were pre-teens, whose family members were in the business and so on.

Your queries and manuscripts don’t give a damn about your age. Neither do your editors.

Even if you are trying to write for a magazine whose target audience is way older or younger than you are, it is still all about getting the tone of the publication, understanding what the editors need and coming up with an attractive idea.

Your age doesn’t matter. Not that this is an excuse to delay your career efforts for decades. Make your move now-just don’t obsess over your birth date.

3) Industry connections

Like I mentioned above, Butler and Mikkelsen weren’t born into Hollywood families. I’m not saying the good actors who knew the right people don’t deserve to be where they are. But let’s face it: all things equal, the guy who knows people will be one step ahead of you. He doesn’t even need to be getting favors-he’ll know how things work, he’ll know who to talk to. More studios will know his name. And there is a big chance he has started before you. More experience, better CV and all that.

Imagine you started your writing career without knowing much, if anything, about writing queries, markets, genres, networking….Most of us did. We had to familiarize with ourselves with the process, jargon and fight against people who thought we were dreamers…

The point is that it can be done, whether you initially know someone or not. But once you get started, you have to start building that network of yours. Gerard’s first connection came from a theater backstage gig he got after deciding not to be a lawyer.

4) Background

Not all dancers win Best Actor at Cannes, nor do they get to play Bond villains. And I’m not sure there are many Danish dancers, if any, that got worldwide critical acclaim for their acting, leading and supporting roles in many different countries (not just Denmark, or the States.)

Butler has a law degree from Glasgow University. He just hated his job the moment he started working as an intern.

This is not to say their careers didn’t benefit from those backgrounds. Mikkelsen always has a certain amount of grace he carries around him, and he is not camera shy when it comes to interviews.

Butler always seems like he is chatting with his best friends and having the time of his life during interviews. And the fact that he knew a bit about persuasion and body language didn’t exactly work against him. And hey, knowing what contracts are about can’t have hurt either. Oh, and one of the reasons he was chosen to play the phantom in The Phantom of the Opera was that he had a rock’n’roll voice? Complements of singing in a rock band.

Whatever your day job is/was, there is always something you can use about it to come up with ideas, build relationships, form an audience, etc. You may want to check out Carol Tice’s “How My Crappy Day Jobs Made Me a High-Earning Freelancer” post on Freelance Switch for tips.

Of course your day job doesn’t have to be crappy to help you. John Grisham is a lawyer, in addition to being one of the most famous bestselling authors, who comes up with brilliant legal thrillers and dramas. Needless to say, he doesn’t ever have to worry about using the correct words, seeming off with his descriptions or doing that much research. He also created his first book, second bestseller, A Time to Kill, based on a real life court case he witnessed. A bestseller that went on to become a movie starring A-List actors.

Not that my success is anywhere near his, but I did get published on Carol Tice’s Make a Living Writing with my article “One Freelance Writer’s Surprising Strategy for a Revved-Up Career”,detailing how my part-time job (one that I still have) helped my writing career in so many ways. Just thought this example might be a tad more relatable than John’s.

5) Persistence, dedication, hard work

If there is any other job that comes with the risk of rejection at least as much as writing, it has to be acting. It’s audition after audition, trying to persuade the director and/or the casting people or the starring actor that you are the best person for the job. It is not easy to pick up your courage and motivation after hearing no, but you do it anyway because the award awaiting for you will make you so much happier than the rejection made you miserable.

Butler’s director in the movie One More Kiss Vadim Jean was quoted to say that he never knew anyone that worked so hard to make his career happen.

That’s the attitude that got him where he is today: sought-after, successful and easy to work with. You are easy and fun to work with if you really want to be where you are, and put in the work where you are. And editors, as well as other clients, love easy and fun to work with.

P.S. John Grisham could only get A Time to Kill published after he finished and found a publisher for The Firm. A Time to Kill wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t put himself out there again and fight back with another manuscript.

6) Going from fighting for gigs to gigs being offered to you

Gerard Butler played Attila The Hun in the mini-series Attila in 2001. The producers originally wanted someone more famous. And maybe someone with less of a Scottish accent. But they couldn’t find someone they liked better than Butler, and he showed them he could change his accent. 2001 was way before 300, The Phantom of The Opera or P.S. I love You. Before nobody really knew who he was.

People joke that any Danish director casts Mikkelsen whenever they want to secure box office success or awards or both.

More familiar names are not always the best choice. More established writers may not always provide the better ideas.

Or you can improve your blog, establish yourself in the areas you are writing about and have them come to you with offers. Look at Bamidele Onibalusi (of YoungPrePro)’s post to see how he does it.

7) Room for self-improvement, fun and other important things in your life

Mads Mikkelsen speaks Swedish because he lived in Sweden for a while and they couldn’t understand his Danish so he learned Swedish. He speaks German because a German director wanted him as the German lead. He speaks French and Russian because he played Igor Stravinsky in the French film Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky. He is obviously fluent in English, having had roles in American movies and constantly giving interviews. And his favorite method for learning languages? Watching movies.

He is also married and raising 2 kids with his wife.

You were saying you couldn’t find the time for…what?

So you are working hard. It doesn’t mean you can’t take time for hobbies, learning, family and friends. Living a full life will make you happier, more full of ideas and more equipped.

8) Proving talents in more areas than one.

Mikkelsen has done drama, romantic drama, period movie, comedy, action, adventure and fantasy, horror, romantic comedy…

Butler has done musical, action, adventure, thriller, horror, drama, romance, romantic comedy, fantasy…

You don’t have to choose between business writing and article writing. Between fiction and non-fiction. You don’t have to pick topic to write about. Go out there, show your best work and keep trying until you get the gigs that make you happy. I don’t know about you, but variety makes me happy.

9) International success

Well, you all have a pretty good idea what these two actors accomplished so far. Why not set your sights on writing for the most established magazines worldwide, writing a best-selling book or being sought-after by well-paying clients worldwide?

You know what it takes. You know it is all about how much (and well) you work, improve and motivate yourself. And you know it doesn’t mean you are not going to have time for other things. In fact, it is all about benefiting from all areas of your life, even things that initially seem like obstacles or motivation-busters so you need to live a life outside of your office too.

So go ahead. Work. Live. Have fun. Make it happen. Gerard Butler and Mads Mikkelsen made it happen, and they are only few examples in a very, very long list. Why shouldn’t you?

And don’t worry, I’m a big fan of practicing what I preach. I’m taking my own advice as I keep pitching to publications, running various blogs, having a busy social life and working on my fiction.