Mads Mikkelsen Reveals His Role in ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY
Spoilers ahead for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Mads Mikkelsen was absent from the awesome first trailer for Gareth Edwards' new Star Wars film, leaving fans wondering exactly what his role will be in the film. But now he's revealed that information in an interview with Sky News:
“I read the script, and it was very beautiful, and Felicity's playing this lovely, young, strong woman, and I play her…father. That was too much, I’m sorry.”
First off, just to get this out of the way, this video shows that even the actors can get confused about the Star Wars timeline. Rogue One does not take place "before anything you've ever seen in the Star Wars universe," it takes place after Revenge of the Sith but before the events of A New Hope. Moving on.
Secondly, his admission that he's playing Jyn Erso's father is confirmation of an old rumor that he'd be playing an Oppenheimer-esque scientist. Here's what that rumor stated:
Mads Mikkelsen (Galen appears to be his name in the film) is kind of the key to the film in a way. He is a scientist that took over the Geonosian Death Star project. He solved several of the flaws the Empire could not and is sort of a revered person in the Empire for his contributions. However, Mikkelsen’s character is a Robert Oppenheimer-type character. Oppenheimer helped design the atomic bomb only to say, “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” The guilt “Galen” feels for his contributions to the Empire become too much and he defects, attempting to make things right. In order to do this, he enlists the help of his only daughter….
Mikkelsen's claim validates at least part of this rumor, so it's a pretty good bet the rest of it is true as well.
Via: The Mary Sue