Mads Mikkelsen met Indiana Jones before he met Harrison Ford

There are few movie characters as legendary as Indiana Jones. So we can imagine that seeing Harrison Ford in the costume is quite a moment, even for an actor who has worked on Bond, Star Wars, and Marvel. 

Mads Mikkelsen tells 12DOVE that this was exactly what happened when he first saw Ford in the iconic get-up on the set of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, he also reveals that this was the first time he met Ford too.

"I got confused," Mikkelsen recalls. "I was supposed to meet Harrison. We had to read through the script. I was just jumping into my trailer, we had a costume fitting. I went out and he came out of his trailer – hat, whip, jacket. I was meeting Indiana Jones instead of Harrison. That was it! Standing there, grumpy, 'What am I doing here?' With the whip. Dan-da-dan! I was smiling all over."

It certainly made an impression on the actor who plays villain Jürgen Voller in the movie, a former Nazi scientist working on the 1969 Apollo program. Mikkelsen was thrilled with the opportunity to work with Ford too and adds that he doesn’t think another actor could take on the iconic role after the character's swansong.

"The only thing that reminds me a little of Indiana Jones was way back in the '40s, '50s with Burt Lancaster and the pirate films he did," he explains. "I was glued to the screen… it was charming. Harrison and Indiana Jones take it to a completely different level. So yeah, you can’t copy it. You can get inspired and find something else that makes us fly off into our imaginations."

You can read more about Indiana Jones 5 and our interviews with Mikkelsen, Ford, Etthan Isidore, Boyd Holbrook, and director James Mangold here. 

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hits UK cinemas this June 28 and US theaters on June 30. For more upcoming movies, here are all of the major movie release dates for 2023 and beyond.