Nicolas Winding Refn’s Copenhagen Cowboy takes place in Denmark’s criminal underground world. It follows the mysterious and seemingly supernaturally talented Miu (Angela Bundalovic) as she seeks to defend the victims of gender-based inequity while being one herself too. She has been sold to a Serbian immigrant and sex trafficker, who’s convinced Miu’s presence in her home will bring her luck and get her pregnant.

 

Enter Andreas Lykke Jørgensen as Nicklas. He is a malicious young man who comes from a very affluent family. When we first meet him, he is in the process of killing a young woman in a pig farm full of screaming pigs. The role of Niklas is Andreas Lykke Jørgensen’s first and he hopes it isn’t his last. He talked to the HFPA via Zoom from Copenhagen, where he is visiting his sister following a photo shoot.

What is it like entering Nicolas Winding Refn’s imaginary world? How would you describe it?

It is a pretty artistic world. It is a beautiful world. Nicolas has this amazing ability to get ideas on the spot. It was a really wild world.

The world he has created is not reality but maybe a comment on reality. Do you recognize Refn’s version of Denmark? 

It is a very small part of the Danish world that he created. It portrays a certain kind of people in Denmark and not Denmark as a whole. It tells a story about a world that also exists in Denmark or how this world could be. It is not a world that is close to reality. There is a bit of magic, and this and that added to it. 

So it is not the world that you would commonly see. I have not experienced anything like the world that he depicts. I have experienced some tough parts of Denmark and I have experienced rough things myself, but I have not experienced that kind of world.

 

You have not acted before and this is your debut role. How did you get the part of Niklas?

I was not an actor. I was visiting Copenhagen with my sister and we were partying with some of her friends. A couple of months later, one of her friends called me and asked if I wanted to audition. In the beginning, I did not want to. I did not have the money to go. But I was told I would get a train ticket and decided I would go. A free ticket to Copenhagen sounded like fun.

Then I did an improvised scene where I acted as a psychopath. I taped it in my bathroom. I spent twenty minutes recording a three-minute scene. I sent it to Nicolas and it just took off from there. He was certain he wanted to work with me when he saw the tape, he said.

What is Refn like as a director?

He is excellent to work with. He understood very quickly that I also had artistic ideas and he saw the artist in me and thus he was very open to hearing my view on how I saw my character. He is a perfectionist at heart and so am I. We did a lot of takes to make sure we got it right. He would ask me if I was happy about it or if I needed a few more takes. He was very open with me and I felt confident speaking with him. I could be myself, I felt. Some people were more careful how they spoke to him but I felt it was very easy to communicate with him.

I come from an artistic family. My mother is a painter and my brother is a tattoo artist and my sister is also in the world of art, so we have that mindset, and even though I had not expressed that part of me before, it is part of me for sure.

What was your first reaction when you saw Copenhagen Cowboy?

I laughed a lot. It was so obscure for me to watch it. It was very exciting. I had this unnatural feeling in my body when I saw myself on the screen. I was also overanalyzing my own performance and debating with myself about what I could have done better or differently. I was still in the professional mindset of wanting to do better.

Nicklas is not exactly a heroic character. How would you describe him?

When I explain to friends what kind of character I play, I normally say that Nicklas is a multimillionaire psychopath who loves killing women. He is from a family that has a really weird sexual obsession with each other and everyone else. He is a really weird person, and he is very far from who I am.

Were you able to sleep at night when you came home from a shoot?

He did not stay with me at all. I could not sleep but that was because of the adrenaline. I was hyped and excited about working. Some days could be rough and I needed some time to get out of the mindset of being at work.

You were also among pigs a lot. What was this like?

I had to search for shampoos to get the smell out of my hair. I bought three different kinds of shampoos but I could not get the smell out of my hair.

Nicklas’ affluent father has a rather uncommon interest in the male genitalia and when Nicklas is attacked by pigs and his genitalia is bitten off, this seems to be the father’s main focus. What do you make of this?

I loved watching my character’s father. The insanity of the whole family was just out of this world. I thought it was funny that this male character’s whole world is to spread his semen and have sex with as many people as he can. He thinks of his son as a god and when he loses his genitalia it is a breaking point for him. Watching them discuss what they should do about his missing body part was one of my favorite scenes. I laughed so hard. It was just hilarious.

You worked with Lola Corfixen, Nicolas Winding Refn’s daughter. She plays your sister. What was that like?

We had a lot of fun on set. In between scenes, we were cracking jokes and having a good time. It felt very easy and natural to work with her.

What is next for you?

I am lucky to have an agent now. I have auditions lined up. So, I hope to be able to tell you more soon.