To mark the release of Danish crime thriller The Keeper of Lost Causes, we had the pleasure of speaking to the film’s leading star, Nikolaj Lie Kaas. He discussed with us his own appreciation for the aforementioned genre, and how pleased he is to currently be part of a flourishing, Danish film industry. He also tells us why he loves his craft, and about his forthcoming endeavour, the star-studded drama Child 44.

Of course The Keeper of Lost Causes is based on a Jussi Adler-Olsen novel – was it one you were familiar with before signing up to the project?

No I hadn’t read anything by him before this, I came in to this by accident. But as I became connected to the project I read his books. Though there’s nothing wrong having your own image of how to portray someone, and when I saw the script there was a big difference between the character in the film and the book. Mainly the age, I’m fairly younger than he was supposed to be, so things were different right from the get-go.

Do you feel an added sense of pressure when embodying a renowned, literary figure?

There’s always a lot of pressure when you do things that people have expectations for. But the expectations I have for myself are much more, and the bar is much higher.

The film is very suspenseful and intense at times – are you able to get caught up in that suspense when watching it back as an audience member?

It’s tough because it’s a whodunnit and I already know – but there is a lot of stuff I hadn’t been a part of, so that’s mystical to me, the work that somebody else did in other aspects of the story that you’re not a part of, that’s always interesting.

Carl is a really intriguing character as he doesn’t give too much away and he keeps his cards quite close to his chest. Is that a role you enjoy playing – that brooding, elusive figure?

Definitely, it’s the same for everyone, we like to portray that type of person, who doesn’t give a shit about anything, it’s a person we all love to be every once in a while, but it’s just not possible in a society like this without being alone and miserable. So I think that’s what I like about the character and hopefully that’s also what the audience like and can relate to.

It sounds simplistic to say so – but is that still one of the great joys of being an actor, to embody people you can’t be in real life?

I love to be an actor and I still do after all these years, so I think the joy of being somebody else is just a fantastic escape every once in a while. When I was a kid I remember Madonna talking about how every artist is unable to show their true emotions, and I couldn’t understand that back then and I thought it sounded a bit pretentious, but now I understand it, even if it’s coming from Madonna. The idea that some people just can’t accept the fact you’re sitting in front of someone else and telling them how they feel and what their emotions are, people want others to understand the core of who they are. You can do that through music and the arts, and when it comes to acting I find that a lot of my colleagues have this thing where they really want to be understood, completely, even if it’s through someone else, they want people to understand that particular character completely. That’s the distance between the audience and the actor, it’s very small.

In regards to working with director Mikkel Nørgaard on this, had you seen his previous film Klown? If so, what was it about that which led to you feeling confident he’d excel in the thriller genre – because they couldn’t be more different!

Yes, I had. But I didn’t know Mikkel at all, but I saw the TV show that went on for many years, and then the feature, which was so honest to the show and at this point I knew that, even though it’s a completely different genre and a different world, I could see that this was a guy who had the tools to hold on to what he started. This could have gone completely haywire, these were the two most famous comedians in Denmark at the time and to control that… I could see he had the professionalism to do something big.

Danish cinema has always been very prominent, and lately it’s really elevated itself again – what with A Royal Affair, The Hunt, A Hijacking, Northwest… Does it feel like quite a good time to be part of the Danish film industry?

Things are hopefully, definitely changing and a lot of good things are happening and a lot of new people are coming in to the business which is relieving, for it not to be the same crowd, that’s something we always like, for others to come in with completely different ideas. So things are changing in a good way these days.

Child 44 is your next one – and there’s a huge Scandinavian presence in that, what with Daniel Espinosa at the helm, and Joel Kinnaman and Noomi Rapace and Fares Fares – was it always your intention to make the move across to the States?

No it wasn’t my intention, though as a boy I always wanted to one day go overseas. But basically I think now is just the right time for me. I’ve done all kind of genres and all kinds of stuff and there’s really nothing I haven’t tried as an actor in Denmark so the obvious step from here is to go overseas. To do something like Child 44 is a fantastic experience and I hope to do more abroad.

The Keeper of Lost Causes is out in cinemas now, and you can read our review here.