Trivia / Flickering Lights

• Fake Nationality: The Swedish actor Peter Andersson plays a Faroese gang-leader, known simply as, well, "Færingen" ("the Faroese").
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Nikolaj Lie Kaas as a subordinate of Søren Pilmark in a world of crime? They'd end up making a series of movies precisely about that - only this time not as lifelong gangsters, but as lifelong policemen. Twice as hilarious when considering their personalities in the Department Q are basically the exact opposites of what they are in Flickering Lights, with Kaas playing a tough man of few words, and Pilmark a calm, collected high-ranking official.
• Playing Against Type: Basically all the four main characters. It helps they generally reached stardom with this movie (barring already very popular Pilmark), so they weren't able to get typecasted yet.
  • Nikolaj Lie Kaas, whose virtually every other role was a tough, silent, no-nonsense Perpetual Frowner, plays a meek, henpecked husband that doesn't know when to stop talking.
  • Ulrich Thomsen, who'se most famous roles are a tough, silent policeman and a no-nonsense antagonist on Banshee, plays a weak, soft-spoken drug addict, who's even worse at keeping his mouth shut than Kaas' character.
  • Mads Mikkelsen, yes, that one, now famous for playing sophisticated villains in Hollywood, plays a mentally unstable, extremely violent and poetry-hating criminal. He's not just different, but basically the opposite of every role he's now known for playing.
  • Downplayed with Søren Pilmark, who was always a versatile actor that never got typecasted. However, most of his roles still put him in positions of some formal and high-ranking authority (i.e. doctor on The Kingdom, police director on Department Q film series etc.), so seeing him play a street thug is still quite against what one would expect.

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