Mads Mikkelsen is fulfilling a childhood dream by starring in an 'Indiana Jones' film.

The 57-year-old actor plays villain Jurgen Voller in the new movie 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' and explained how the part has extra poignancy as he has been a fan of the Harrison Ford-led franchise throughout his life.

Mads told Entertainment Weekly: "When I was a kid, I had no idea that you could end up becoming an actor. I was just watching (these films) like everybody else. It's always been part of me; it's been with me always, so that is a special thing to be part of now, like 40-something years later."

The 'Hannibal' star's alter ego is a former Nazi turned scientist and mathematician but he and director James Mangold agreed that the antagonist should not have a "full-blown German accent".

He said: "We didn't want to go full-blown German accent because we've seen it a lot, and it can become borderline cliche, right? So we found a few vowels where he's insisting on being German, but that's about it."

Mads was honoured to share lots of screen time with Harrison's Indy and he considers his co-star to be "a legend that is on his A-game" and likened him to silent film icon Buster Keaton.

He explained: "Besides that, he's just a fantastic actor. He knows exactly what he's doing wherever the camera is. And he doesn't use enormous means to tell a story.

"For me, he's like Buster Keaton, who kind of invented the close-up. He didn't run to the camera, he made the camera come to him. And it's wonderful to be that close to see him work. It was just a wonderful experience for me."