Rihanna Let Mads Mikkelsen Keep a Unique Souvenir From Her Music Video Set
Veteran actor Mads Mikkelsen is on a roll. His latest movie, Another Round, is up for two Oscars and he just joined the cast of Indiana Jones 5.
Mikkelsen brought Hannibal Lecter to life for the small screen, and some of his movie achievements include Casino Royale, Doctor Strange, and The Hunt.
But the part that earned him praise from his children is directly linked to pop star Rihanna. He once starred in her music video and left with a one-of-a-kind souvenir.
Mads Mikkelsen was Rihanna’s accountant
Turn the clock back to 2015 when Rihanna released the video for “B*tch Better Have My Money,” otherwise known as “BBHMM.” The song sends a lyrical message to the accountants she sued for millions for stealing and other illicit practices.
Rihanna’s graphic video features her exacting revenge — in the form of kidnapping and torture — on the fictitious version of an accountant played by Mikkelsen. She snatched his wife from an elevator, put her in a luggage trunk, and she her homegirls subjected the woman to all types of unpleasantries.
When it came to Mikkelsen’s character, not much is seen between the time she ties him up and when she’s resting in her trunk of cash, covered in blood. The video has an age requirement due to its violence and nudity, but it remains one of the singer’s most talked-about creations. Mikkelsen reveled in playing a villain.
In real life, Rihanna sued her accounting firm in 2012 and the drama played out for several years. She accused the company of poor bookkeeping and profit-stealing, which led to her near bankruptcy and constant IRS audits.
Mikkelsen kept fake fingernails as a memento
Mikkelsen’s relayed the story about the “BBHMM” shoot a few times, and he recently spoke to Vulture about his extensive acting career and working with Rihanna. He said the call for the music video came out of the blue.
“I just showed up on set. She was super-sweet — ‘Mads, finally, here you are.’ I think she had seen something, and she wanted me in it,” Mikkelsen recalled. “But she acted as if we had known each other forever. And — the coolest part — she had fake nails with my face on it for the video. To remind her who the b*tch is she’s hunting.”
Those nails turned out be one of the many high points of the experience. Since they bore his likeness, he asked if he could keep some when they were done filming. Mikkelsen remembered saying, “I have a few friends who’re going to be so jealous when I show them this.”
Rihanna’s NSFW video sparked a huge reaction
At the time of its release, the “BBHMM” visual drew raves and some criticism. But RiRi took it all in stride. During a 2015 interview with NME, she said her intention was to make it like a mini-movie.
“I wanted people to feel like they’d got more than they’d expected,” she said. “But not in a shocking way – in the sense of ‘wow, this is a real mini-movie’. You know? I wanted to go deeper. Mostly what I wanted was for people to get it.”
Despite some of the negative feedback Rihanna received for the video, she stood by her work as art. On YouTube, the video has more than 150 million hits and continues to live on.
