Westerns are usually a dusty, American affair. You think of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and wide-open Montana skies. But then you look at The Salvation (2014), and things get weird. It’s a Danish-made Western, filmed in South Africa, starring a guy who played a Bond villain and a woman who didn't say a single word for 90 minutes.
Honestly, the The Salvation movie cast is one of the most eclectic groups ever assembled for a revenge flick. It’s not just a movie; it’s a masterclass in "how to look cool while being absolutely miserable."
If you just watched it on a streaming service and went, "Wait, was that the guy from The Walking Dead?" or "Is that a famous soccer player?", you aren't crazy. The casting director, Joyce Nettles, clearly had a very specific, very gritty vision.
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The Stoic Soul: Mads Mikkelsen as Jon
You can’t talk about this film without starting with Mads Mikkelsen. He plays Jon Jensen. Most people know him as Hannibal Lecter or Le Chiffre, but here, he's a Danish immigrant just trying to survive the 1870s.
Jon is a veteran of the Second Schleswig War. This isn't just "flavor text." It explains why he’s so efficient at killing people once everything goes south. Mikkelsen doesn't do "heroic" in the traditional sense. He does "exhausted." His performance is mostly in his eyes—heavy, bloodshot, and eventually, completely devoid of hope.
It’s a brutal role. In the first fifteen minutes, he watches his wife and son get murdered in a stagecoach. Most actors would scream. Mads just... hardens. It’s that Danish "Dogme 95" sensibility bleeding into a Hollywood genre.
The Silent Powerhouse: Eva Green as Madelaine
This is where the movie gets polarizing. Eva Green is Madelaine, a woman whose tongue was cut out by Native Americans years prior. She doesn't speak. Not once.
A lot of critics at the time, like Jordan and Eddie, argued that casting a powerhouse like Eva Green and then making her mute was a waste. I disagree. Green has the most expressive face in the industry. She communicates more with a slight tilt of her head than most actors do with a five-minute monologue.
She’s trapped. First, she’s the "property" of the villain’s brother, then she’s claimed by the villain himself. She’s the financial brains of the operation—a detail most people miss. She keeps the books for the oil interests moving into the territory. She isn't just a victim; she's a survivor waiting for the right moment to burn the whole house down.
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The Villain We Love to Hate: Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Before he was Negan on The Walking Dead, Jeffrey Dean Morgan was Henry Delarue.
He plays a former Union Army Colonel turned land pirate. He’s basically a mob boss in a cowboy hat. Morgan brings that signature "relaxed menace" to the role. He’s charismatic, sure, but he’ll gun down an old lady in the street just to prove a point about "taxes."
Delarue isn't a complex guy. He wants land, he wants oil, and he wants revenge for his brother. Morgan plays him with an "ornery glint," as Jonathan Romney famously put it in The Observer. He's the perfect foil to Mikkelsen’s quiet stillness.
The Supporting Players You Definitely Recognized
The rest of the The Salvation movie cast is a "Who's Who" of international talent.
- Eric Cantona (The Corsican): Yes, the Manchester United legend. He plays Delarue’s main enforcer. He’s surprisingly intimidating. He doesn't have a lot of dialogue, but his physical presence is massive. He looks like he was born in a 19th-century saloon.
- Mikael Persbrandt (Peter): He plays Jon’s brother. Persbrandt is a huge star in Sweden (you might know him as Beorn from The Hobbit). His chemistry with Mikkelsen is the only warmth in the entire movie. When they’re together, you actually believe they’ve spent decades leaning on each other.
- Jonathan Pryce (Mayor Keane): He’s the spineless mayor and undertaker. It’s a far cry from the High Sparrow in Game of Thrones. He’s oily, weak, and pathetic. Pryce plays "cowardice" better than almost anyone.
- Douglas Henshall (Sheriff Mallick): The lawman who is also a pastor. He’s caught between a rock and a hard place, and Henshall plays that internal conflict beautifully. He’s not a bad man, just a terrified one.
Why the Production Location Matters
Believe it or not, this "American" Western was shot in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The cast had to deal with intense heat that wasn't actually the American West. Director Kristian Levring used the South African landscape to create a "hyper-real" version of the frontier. It looks more like a Sergio Leone fever dream than a historical documentary.
The colors are pushed to the extreme—deep oranges during the day and "ink-soaked denim" blues at night. This affected how the actors moved. Everyone is squinting. Everyone looks like they’re covered in a thin layer of permanent grit.
Actionable Insights for Your Next Rewatch
If you’re going back to watch The Salvation, keep these things in mind to get the most out of the cast's performances:
- Watch Madelaine’s Eyes: Since Eva Green has no lines, notice how she watches Delarue. Her plan for betrayal starts way earlier than the final act.
- The Soldier's Posture: Look at how Jon (Mads) and Peter (Mikael) hold their rifles. They don't hold them like cowboys; they hold them like European infantrymen. It’s a subtle touch that shows their history.
- The Mayor’s Hands: Jonathan Pryce is constantly fidgeting or touching wood/coffins. He’s a man obsessed with death because he’s surrounded by it and profits from it.
- Listen to the Soundscape: There’s very little dialogue. The "cast" includes the wind, the creaking wood, and the spurs. The actors had to perform against a very quiet backdrop, which makes every grunt or sigh mean more.
The movie isn't exactly reinventing the wheel. It's a classic revenge story. But the The Salvation movie cast elevates it from a standard B-movie to something that feels like a grim, dark folk tale. It’s a movie about what happens when "good" men are pushed past their breaking point by men who never had a breaking point to begin with.
To truly appreciate the nuances of the performances, watch the film in a dark room with the volume up. Pay attention to the background characters in the town of Black Rock; many of them are South African locals who bring a weariness to the screen that you just can't fake with Hollywood extras.
Check the credits for names like Sean Cameron Michael or Langley Kirkwood—they are the "texture" of the film. Once you see the effort put into the casting of even the smallest roles, the brutal world of The Salvation feels a lot more real. After finishing the movie, look up the director’s earlier work in the Dogme 95 movement to see where that "no-nonsense" filming style originated.