Mads Mikkelsen received a feature in the July issue of GQ (the one with Drake on the cover) to promote his role as the titular cannibal on NBC’s “Hannibal.” To be certain and as the token vegetarian writer of this site, cannibalism is particularly gruesome in my mind, but then again, I love horror movies, so what do I know? I have been duly informed by my colleagues at Pajiba (read: Cindy Davis) that the program is indeed a must-see experience. For one thing, the show features Hugh Dancy as Will Graham and Laurence Fishburne as Jack Crawford along with lovely ginger Gillian Anderson as Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier; and that right there is enough to qualify as swoonworthy, but Davis poses the theory that Dancy’s performance is just as compelling as Claire Dane’s “Homeland” character without the requisite crumple-faced cry. So maybe I should check out “Hannibal” after all. On an empty stomach.

Ms. Davis also provides enough detail to convince me that Mikkelsen himself is utterly terrifying by way of a barely-there smile, and this, of course, reminds me of how I recall Mikkelsen best — as the villain Le Chiffre in Casino Royale with his cold smirk and promise that his bleeding eye was “not sinister.” Right. In GQ, Mikkelsen appears in a spread that pushes the mediocre appeal of “the brown suit” (which is supposedly set to rival the grey suit this season) but he works it for all it’s worth.

Mads Mikkelsen has a different take on Hannibal Lecter than the rest of us. Whereas we see a sociopath who, you know, eats people, he just sees a sophisticated dude living his best life. “He’s actually one of the more positive characters I’ve ever played,” says Mikkelsen, the latest actor to portray the iconic killer, this time for NBC’s lush, surprisingly well-done drama series “Hannibal.” “He’s not haunted by anything. He loves everything that’s beautiful about life–food, wine, fine art.” It’s not that Mikkelsen likes Lecter–he just thinks it’s his actorly duty “to find the good in a bad guy.”

Mikkelsen has had a lot of practice at that. Here in America, his very Scandinavian features–icy gaze, preposterous cheekbones–make “scary guy” job offers fall from the sky. (He was the bloody-teardrop villain in Casino Royale.) But back home in Denmark, Mikkelsen (his first name, a variation on Matthew, is pronounced mahs) tends to get cast as an Everyman, like the kindergarten teacher wrongly accused of pedophilia whom he plays in The Hunt. Over there, women’s magazines have repeatedly crowned him the country’s sexiest man. Why do they see killer looks and we just see a killer? “Let’s attribute it to the funny accent,” he says. Oh yeah, sure, it’s totally the accent.

[From GQ]

Mads isn’t conventionally handsome by any means, but he does possess a certain subversive appeal. Plus, those cheekbones are to die for … even though, historically speaking, cheekbones have always gotten me into a load of trouble. Do any of you watch “Hannibal” on NBC, and is it worth checking out as either an omnivore or a vegetarian?

Photos courtesy of GQ