Mads Mikkelsen: Horses are a wonder

Mads Mikkelsen "forgot himself" while working with horses in his new film.

The Danish actor stars in historic drama movie Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas as title character Michael, a horse dealer who raises an army against his lord after he is treated unjustly.

For the role Mads had to form a deep bond with the mammals to gain their trust and put on a believable portrayal.

"There’s something beautiful about it because you tend to forget yourself, as an actor. If you’re focused on the horse... you might forget yourself to a degree where you act way better than you normally do because you’re focused on something else. Horses are a little bit different. If you’re a horseman, you don’t pay any attention to the horse. It’s just a part of you," he explained to Collider.

"So, I just spent as much time as I could with the horses and the horse people, day in and day out. I spent a lot of time with the female horse who was giving birth to the foal, later on, so that she got used to me and my smell, and she wouldn’t be afraid of me, once I started helping her with labour."

Mads' alter ego speaks about the prospect of death throughout the movie, and how he finds knowing how he will die more scary than the event itself. In real life the 48-year-old star is sceptical about fortune telling and prefers to be unaware of what the future holds.

"I’m terrified about psychic people who have their little shops. I always walk across the street and go somewhere else," he admitted. "Imagine if one of them came out with their face all pale and said, 'Hurry up and enjoy yourself.' No one wants to know that."