Viggo Mortensen | 10 Questions | TIME

I'm Molly Steffi with time.com we're here with Theo Mortensen who's in town promoting his new film good Vigo thank you so much for joining us we'll start with our first question Janice karate in Newburgh New York wants to know how do you think you've dealt with fame in the past ten years do you think you would've been able to handle such attention in your early 20s I don't know maybe I think probably what would have happened as I would have got tired of the whole circus now you know I've had a chance over the years to learn how to do the job make mistakes on film but in roles that not some of many people saw and by the time I got attention and the others and what are the rings got all that attention I don't know if I was ready for it but I understood it well you know let's find all the attention but then the next job you're gonna have to work at it and I also have had a lot of good experiences there's not very many actors that can make a living for years as I have so it all ends right now I'm flying from Ariel Davis in New York City who writes you've explored poetry painting photography and music in addition to acting which art form is your favorite you know I don't really separate them they're all the same thing you know I don't think children separate different artistic they don't separate themselves either they don't say as adults do well there are artists and then there are other people kids if they want to draw they draw they want to sing they sing they want to pretend they're The Lone Ranger or Aragorn or an elf or a monster they just do it they don't think about it it's only adults that that make that distinction and I think that everybody even when they grow up is an artist it's just a way of living being an artist and that's why I don't separate different artistic endeavors it just has to do with paying attention you know remembering filtering what you see and answering back participating in life this next question comes from Frank Penn assini in Bayside New York if you go many of your films deal with a significant amount of brutality like your recent movie Eastern promises what's it like exploring characters with that level of unhinged violence well a lot of time the violence because expressed on screen is a metaphor for as he says what's going on inside it has to do with things other than the actual violence but I take it seriously and I respect directors who if you're going to depict violence we do it responsibly they don't dress it up they don't make it look like some beautiful choreographed dance it's brutal and it has serious consequences it's not a game you know really even though it's make-believe it's not really it's not funny to me violence and there are a lot of directors are very talented who kind of make too much of a joke out of it sometimes or too much of a stylized exercise that removes it you know it may it's too easy they let's the audience off the hook I like movies that did that pull me and movies that I believed movies it when they end I wonder what's going to happen next where there's something to talk about well one of one of your more famous fight scenes is from Eastern Promises in the in the bathhouse so how would you describe what it was like filming that and how you think it turned out uh I was painful and you know once we got gone I wasn't really about being embarrassed or any of that it was just let's make it work and hopefully nobody gets hurt too much and I really was being thrown around and it was a painful and I know it would be I just figured the sooner it's over with the better so this question is from Krakow Poland I noticed that some people follow you around the world attending your screenings and exhibitions what's it like getting that kind of attention is it flattering or unnerving both you know it depends you know I'm flattered that there will be people from Germany and Japan it will show up when I have a photo exhibition in Iceland or a movie premiere in Spain or or Canada or whatever yeah of course it's flattering but sometimes I worry about I said well you guys could have waited till the movie came out in Japan every once in a while there'll be a person who steps over the line though in a way where they assume that I'm only speaking to them even some people that take it a step further and assume that I'm in a relationship with them and are writing letters a button that's I worry about them and sometimes I worry about myself in those situations you know so it's a it's a mix this is from rusev Oy and Lady Lake Florida you once said the person should embrace their heritage in light of this and your new movie good what advice would you give to someone born during that era in Germany Germans are people too um I don't remember saying that I should you should embrace your heritage I'm not saying that's not true or that I didn't say it but I yeah I think it's it's a good thing you know it's part of who you are where did you come from the character I play is Professor he's particularly fond of Proust the writer and he's teaching that in one scene in class and he said something that I think is really true he said that wisdom is not something that one receives it is something that one discovers for oneself on a journey that no one can take for us and no one can spare us I think that's pretty good life is a game that keeps moving you know even as you're playing that the rules change all the time you got to be flexible

Channel: TIME

Views: 697,892

Keywords: Viggo, Mortensen, TIME, 10, Questions, Eastern, Promises, Good, Lord, of, the, Rings, Bus, Fix, Red, Return, Session, Viggo Mortensen, Time.com, Time (Magazine), The Lord Of The Rings (Book), Actor, Viggo Mortensen (Author), Hollywood, Interview, 10 Questions, Show Business, ArtistTime, time magazine, magazine, time (magazine), time.com, news today, world news, interview, science, technology, health, politics, entertainment, business, news, breaking news, live, lifestyle, video

Id: dWexFvaC5n4

Length: 6min 6sec (366 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 20 2008