Viggo Mortensen: A Life In Pictures

Viggo Mortensen is our goal in the Lord of the Rings the heroic role in a career playing of something outsiders and villain what did you have it always turned in challenging roles like the former friends why to get evidence in colitas way really the mild-mannered diner only hinder husband an angel of death Rodin's one in a history of violence would be better if you just leave and the Russian gangster which was in fact a nomination compromises raised in four countries bigger stones have Maidan famous around the world this is his life ended [Applause] Vigo world up in Manhattan Argentina Venezuela Denmark all this changing of countries learning new languages adapting to new cultures did it give you something of the observer that made you perhaps be more inclined to be an actor I guess being total different cultures means you're also being exposed to different points of view maybe the main interest for me in acting or telling stories in the movies occasionally in theater and doing something we do quite naturally as children you know just dive in and really try honestly to look at the world from points of view sometimes you know very different from our own that's part of the fun yeah I probably have something to do so you have this degree in Spanish but then you went to war in Robertson theatre workshop and then a political science okay for this corner but let's get right back to the beginning I mean you had you did have very small parts in films not all of which actually got to the screen working with Jordan Demi in Woody Allen and suchlike was aware to see you call Susan witness in 1985 for Peter Weir but your first and lead role was in fact in Sean Penn's directorial debut Indian runner now was there already right at the beginning of an affinity between you and Penn was there something similar about the way you work do you think he was an actor that that was his first movie the director had also written the screenplay he was wise would such an undertaking having those two roles not take on I think you know the acting responsibilities as well which so many times when an actor - let's say if I wanted to direct a movie there might be a question for me to be in it because otherwise while you're maybe a proven quantity is an activity might not be as it you won't be the director so it's almost not quite like starting over but it was smart but he didn't do that so you give this full attention to the storytelling and your character Frank was very troubled and occasionally violent character military story two brothers and it almost like two sides of the same personality and so I get in in there there was a there was a kind of presentiment of some characters to come yeah there certainly what if you do something that comes to people's attention so they see well that works he can do that so well from something similar and that does happen but it's not that I'm drawn to people who behave badly or commit acts of mayhem but it's interesting it's as interesting to me to play someone who's on the page it's a very good person behaves decently one of the attempted to do otherwise you know and I've been lucky in recent years for example I where comes to mind history of violence you know it's a role that has both things and you know we always whether you're an actor or not I think you wake up in the morning and you do create whether you're conscious of it or not some sort of persona and you adjust that persona every day in every moment according to circumstances and especially according to the people you meet and we all do that a little bit you know we gauge how much we reveal and how we want to reveal how we present so what happened pretty soon after in Gonzales you actually worked and Sean Penn again but in a different context of actors on Fri dipalma's Khalifa's way from 1993 and we're going to see little excerpts is that how liter plays caused by Al Pacino with it again through who is trying to be good with not a great excuse of success at this stage and your character Marlene is an old friend and general I should put this business associate listen I mean with some new people now my kalyan decide it's rush week dealing or something wherever plus revenue no downtown anyway they got the money they got an item on some heavy paper they goes to 2514 you can go digging and it won't go to the street people painted wire you know all school all my friend of guys like cars are lovely yeah old school baby so we say you and me just like old times man and you bring in the people you win out and win over toward us and connect a normal oh come on man you forget what you're talking to simpler lowliness for every other character do you create a backstory oh yeah you know he'd been in prison had been shot and paralyzed from the waist down and I figured out that he was a guy public in Puerto Rico he was about 14 so forth and Latinos character took him under his wing and although I speak Spanish I likes expansion was a very different accent earlier and that's Henderson much Dixon one Spanish to him but it needed to be sounded like Caribbean Spanish also that was just a world to explore a lot of fun also that period so I listen to tons of salsa music and I just spent a lot of time in East Harlem and I after I you know fear is for an actor for anybody really it's one of the it has been big obstacle I think it conquers more people than any other one thing you know it so part of the thrill is the scary part is okay I'm just going to do this whatever people think so I went up eventually took my wheelchair and I'd rode the subway and I had to get people to help me and all this kind of stuff and and then I'm riding around in this wheelchair that had things who were from Puerto Rico those religious cars and I people training different and it's kind of nice no wait I help you cross the street I drink and you know but it was interesting but what about the characters were it's harder to provide the backstory I mean the obvious example that comes to mind you have to played the devil in the prophecy yes I do much research there it was a very expensive ticket the fare is out of reach but no but I had the honor I don't know how many people can say they ripped Chris Walken heart out and eaten it in front very rare privilege and and he was laughing the whole time I mean it was hard the hardest thing about doing that with him was that between taste he would get up and dance King Elvis song Heartbreak Hotel I think because older and older and older like some kid and he was also eating his bowl of whole raw garlic cloves and just kept the Americas character over the health I sang in his picture quite a long night very entertaining but would the devil affect okay well what is the devil you know the devil couldn't be anything can do anything you know and why does he have to be he doesn't have to yell doesn't mean he has power so I remember thinking lessons play with that so right it's a nicer here the more of a gentleman here huh why not so there's a whole series of roles I mean with Nicole Kidman and Christopher lady and Demi Moore and Vij where you were bringing I suppose a degree of that kind of ambiguity that the bursting of the charmer who may be dangerous or on the other hand the person who seems quite aloof who may in fact have a wolf as well but nothing in the end I think there's always the risk that the role that is going to be said to define your career well the star is going to be looted rings Aragorn is going to be there but at the point when the Jacksons approached you you had not read the book I do but your son has is that was my son nervous story and the long and complicated story and I just thought it was crazy on their part you know when they were already underway shooting to have someone play the part of it no I knew what it was about even if I hadn't recognized many of the themes and the sense of the foundation of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is a Nordic literature and mythology and Celtic as well but it's something that was very familiar with so even though you like to have the students extensive research and how about preparation you felt sufficiently familiar with the material to be able to say yes on the airplane I was grasping anything anything I could and when I realized oh this reminds me of that saga and this reminder that that I wasn't one of the first things I did after you know in between the crash course I had with sword where sword play training with Bob Anderson dialect coach and the costume fittings and everything else and I found as many copies of sabers also Masada and progress to reread them well it's remind us of a bit of that performance and this is an extract from the first little fellow ship of the Ring Aragorn has just arrived on the scene of a dreadful battle where an orc has fatally wounded his comrade Boromir whose pain I shall be I do not come with strings I swear to you I will not wait [Music] our people [Music] [Music] my brother [Music] which [Music] and be I have such good memories of working on a team we worked really hard on st. Joan and I and what department he was a member was very nervous about getting it right and we did that scene in two halves you know before lunch we shuttled Sean's coverage and everybody went down to lunch and you know he's done such a beautiful job drivers I didn't really want to leave that stage he could go you know not that he wasn't going to work hard and she did very much for me as well after lunch but but I know that to live up to what he was doing I really had to stay focused and I remember everybody laughed at the mob on brings down if you want another hundred and they left and so I lay there and I actually fell asleep right there where he was working for a week and forever and it was so beautiful how does somebody woke me up and I'm a tree and then everybody showed up and then but by because I stayed in those woods I felt calm and because Sean was generous and focused one more easily when I collec oh you know the afternoon I enjoyed playing that saying another thing I thought of now is it listening to a speaking man I am I'm having this idea because the character over three movies you know to gradually reveal himself for whom we live is it wasn't just way he would he called himself and how he dressed and its behavior but it was also that he was a ranger nears around certain people from part of middle-earth to me that's why would speak that way that was part of his disguise and had them for quite some time and I wanted to make a gradual transition of it by the end by the chlorination theme that his his accent was gradually changed and become more refined and he would let all those masks and followers of being it's partially work but automotives really powerfully in that excerpt and I think it's the emotional motor for the film and in something that innocence was quite unfashionable in film at the time is this idea of self-sacrifice which is so important in the whole order the ring prisoner people who are prepared to give up their lives and the freedom which is for the greater good and I think probably that something more initially thought of London brings us a big epic haven't realized what comforted strongly the food yeah I mean I think that due to the kinds of actors that the Peter Jackson cast but also his approach you know as much as certainly after the first movie he became more and more interested in pursuing something that he's very good at which is special effects and sort of more fantastical visual aspects of the storytelling he did maintain an interest in you know the emotional two lines of the characters their worries their fears and you know here again on the page you know could could easily play that part when a certain stoicism that would have been devoid of any real serious doubt of course none of the rest like the other English it is fantastically violent it within a kind of mythical framework I don't know does that make violence difference if it's difficult now I mean I want is ever excusable it's most often a metaphor for something that's going on in a relationship or in the person's understanding or misunderstanding of their their place in society which is an ideal time to talk about David Cronenberg which came along next and history of violence that from 2005 so what was it that coin about how to use that so intrigued you about this project he was in Toronto where he lives and usually works I initially said well you know you needn't fly all the way to Los Angeles because I don't think it's the kind of story the way the violence was handled that I don't I mean I respect him a great deal - but it I wasn't that into it but he's welcome in Los Angeles anyone has to do this in that and which I think was true as it turns out some spot it sounded like it was true and he has you know why shouldn't have lucky thing to do with David Bromberg and so we had breakfast and he came in I was no match for his I was a seduction to be on three and as it turned out amazingly connected us right away is that the concerns we had what was potentially underneath some of the violence was something a lot more interesting that had to do with this idea of manufacturing a persona and lying to himself and lying to others which everybody to some degree does it was sort of survival mechanism and what it turned out to be a great experience and the thing that was most memorable about the process of of shooting the movie and then seeing how he carefully put it together with a read to my character and the characters was his attention to the subtle reactions that people have details performance you know there's so many things that tell you what's happening the transitions that make from one persona to another and then back again and then that middle ground are very subtle things there's just a look with just a glance its body positions you know so paying attention to that and shooting and knowing that he had it when it looked like that was maybe not doing much and then being very careful with in the editing with everything otherwise would be nothing there and that that was I've never seen a director understand every little thing that we were doing as well as he obviously does for the factors I think we get an example to see the official religious violence and where Tom your character is living in a quiet town running is very nice little diner but he has an unexpectedly violent past and consequences of that past are brought literally to his first door as he can functional dentistry put it down come closer [Music] no further go back to the house jack huh you see how cozy it can be when you decide to play nice now come on Joey get a car you won't need your toothbrush we'll take care of there would be better if you just leave this Lord of the Rings has allowed to you freedom subsequently to make all sorts of choices to follow your own enthusiasm that's always a bit of a mess know that people may go well they they can do whatever they want now it still has asked if you want to do it what I do have is I am offers more things than I was say 10 15 years ago cinema and once you put you can do something and more importantly that that story you're involved with makes it's my bag should I change it we offered another job but if you have all these other things because you're a poet in the photographer and a painter or musician and publish it to you how do you see the balance your activities I mean I've always appreciated more and more as the years have gone by the fact that the moviemaking contains of all the arts really writing design fashion photography obviously work on accents in all ways there are so many things to to to learn from at the complete university artistically when David credible cool again with another presumably you know you will look more keenly at that and when Eastern Promises came along which you mama native for an Oscar humorless little I remember and that sensibly you knew straightaway you were you interested in the melee of the tech email so there was not it hasn't been particularly well explored enough word no I mean it had a lot on but there were caricatures I was aware of that in at the time that I accepted the role not knowing in Russia you know the script was quite good and any doubts I had I already knew having worked with David did but my questions would be answered to a degree greater than I could imagine always the case for David you can explore as much as you want he's not afraid of questions from anyone so we're failing but now it's a promises and we're going to see Nikolai here talking to Larry watts of Anna if it comes entangled with Russian mafia in London after she discovers a diary Nikolai's working way up through the crime organization currently Russian as a driver and here he's returning Anna's motorbike which is broken down so you read story I can keep doing what you're doing I'm just as I thank you bringing it mama I was passing your uncle so he wasn't KGB I got it Hayley will you I'll fix it should be okay now there's something about making those sounds as there is within an accent that have a direct effect whether you're conscious of are not on your body language and your physiognomies on your facial expressions even on your way of thinking but everyone knows your legs still the road which is from collects prize-winning kamikaze novel within level in 206 had you read the book at the point when director John Hill critical approach to know I read a script and then migrate to the bookstore to buy the book that I had said joke been haunted a really good job of selecting what in a book works in a movie might seem like a redundancy as far as we've seen that BP already we've seen that well maybe we should see a little bit first of all it's essentially a story of a man and his sons who are making their way through this post-apocalyptic landscape and to surviving by what they can find him anything we're going to see instances demonstrates the extremes of the predicament because the man and the boy have just had all their belongings stolen from them by a thief and this is the point where they catch up with the thief lead you if we left it how many Porter Porter I think what happens when Karla we're gonna be around forever or later you have to look after yourself help me with god damn car you stop talking he's gone God do you wanted to do helping Baba just help us hungry you can stop by anyone scared I'm scared you understand I'm scared it's a pivotal moment because it it's the moment granny where the boys got beat becoming the man and this the rolls very violent I get to dude every parent's right what everybody's nightmare is this idea that you you're welcome a tradition to protect and help the ones that you love it's natural for a child pre-adolescent and listen whatever to make that transition and to come to that realization that basically my father is not a god you know and we see that happen in this in this story and what we also see as unfortunately is that the father understands that you know it's very beautiful and in any healthy and child relationship and you often also get the next transition which is the child on becoming an adult realizes that they're not gods either but that sometimes takes takes a lot for giving our parents to go forth and yeah unfortunately the character I play in the story doesn't get to witness that happens I've just got one more question I wanted it those particular actors of directors over yeah did you'd like to work with Goodwin there were two actors that I just thought of two roles that they play and two directors the directors directed women as well as they were very good one was in Visconti's death and Venice their low guards performance was something that was one of the one of the things that made me want to try it yeah just to try it and the other was a Maria Falcon Eddie's Passion of Joan of Arc with a unity many times and it's a movie I actually watch before we shot the road just for the emotional intensity to total nakedness of her performance and this both Wisconsin called dryer as directors were directors who obviously understood that in a way say a Cronenberg understand was the smallest gesture I still you know long after 27 years after starting in this career I still admire those roles and I think there's two for me the highest standard of that type of that job they're worthless thank you very much thank you [Applause] you

Channel: BAFTA Guru

Views: 35,711

Rating: 4.9178643 out of 5

Keywords: BAFTA, BAFTA Guru, British Academy Of Film And Television Arts (Award Presenting Organization), creative, career, film making, TV, gaming, actor, advice, movie, movies, movie making, viggo mortensen, acting, interview, a life in pictures, lord of the rings, cast, aragorn, a history of violence, eastern promises

Id: Q2wF8psma08

Length: 29min 54sec (1794 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 23 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/MidnightCladNoctis]

Viggo is SIXTY?! woah man

[u/SmoothRide]

Not a lot of love for Hidalgo. I enjoyed that movie ;(

[u/[deleted]]

Wait, he's 60?!

[u/whogivesashirtdotca]

This retrospective was presented back in 2009, to mark his BAFTA nomination for Eastern Promises. Since then, he's given us many more memorable performances.

For anyone wanting a deeper dive, here are my favourite Viggo films:

• Sex-on-legs Viggo: A Walk on the Moon

• Acting master class Viggo: A History of Violence

• Crowd-pleasing Viggo: Eastern Promises

• Actor/composer/producer Viggo: Jauja

• Soulful Viggo: Captain Fantastic

• Comedian Viggo: Green Book (out in November)

And last but not least,

• Low-budget indie film Viggo: Lord of the Rings :D

(Honourable mentions: Scheming Viggo The Two Faces of January; cunning linguist Viggo Far From Men; Viggo en Español Alatriste)

[u/NewClayburn]

I hope he does a Putin biopic after Putin dies next year.

[u/sankarawiz]

I would really love to see Vigo and Mads Mickleson work together. They seem like they would have great chemistry.

[u/LtGr1zzly_adams]

Good old Viggo. Time to watch A History of Violence on the old VHS today

[u/steambotwolf]

one of my favourite actors

[u/SeattleSuperHawks]

Had no idea he was that old wow