Actor Mads Mikkelsen and producer Nikolaj Arcel fired back at an unnamed reporter at the Venice Film Festival on Friday over a question regarding cast diversity in their new film, “The Promised Land.”
The movie is set in 1750’s Denmark. Mikkelsen, 57, stars as an army captain struggling to raise his social status and maintain his values in an increasingly hostile climate.
“This is a cast and Danish production that’s entirely Nordic, and, therefore, has some lack of diversity, you would say,” the reporter pointed out during a Q&A session.
“There’s also new rules implied in Hollywood,” the scribe continued, causing an unamused, Mikkelsen to interrupt, asking the man: “What are you on to?”
The reporter was alluding to an Academy decree that films hoping to be nominated for the Best Picture award at Oscar time must now meet strict diversity and inclusion guidelines.
“It’s not because of artistic reasons, it’s because of a lack of diversity, are you worried about it?” the man asked.
“Are you?” Mikkelsen shot back. “You’re putting us on the spot so you answer the question.”
Arcel intervened to suggest that the movie does include an ethnically diverse character who was a victim of racism.
“We do have a big plot line about a girl of color who is being subjected to racism … she was probably at the time the only [person of color] in the entire country of Denmark,” he explained.
“It wasn’t a thought in our mind, I think it would be a little weird — it’s just historical — how it was in the 1750s,” Arcel reasoned as Mikkelsen sipped a cup of water.
The Post has contacted reps for Mikkelsen and Arcel for comment.
Elsewhere at the 80th annual festival, Woody Allen called cancel culture “silly” after being dogged by decades-old sex abuse allegations from his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow.
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