Viggo Mortensen & Matt Ross On "Captain Fantastic" | BUILD Series

what we created here may be unique and all human existence all the way to top we created paradise who are doing out here so incredible kids are amazing it is not mine needs to be in the hospital right now has she gone family this is your fault Leslie had a disease whatever you are stay there you sure I will have you arrested we can't go to mommy's funeral let's do what we're told we want to see you mom grandma can't oppress us sela right now this is your first real test remember your training they have hot dogs what's Cola poison water so happy our family is together all local and organic how did you kill those chickens with an axe fair night why did the rotisserie chicken so you buy it on it's already dead the kiss Dean's truck you need to go to a real school I sincerely hope you am in demand I think you've been doing your daughter has taught me many things just now will you be my wife what this comes out of a book I don't know anything even if they make it through whatever it is you're doing to them they're gonna be totally unprepared for the real world and I happen to think the opposite is true it's child abuse they're almost handy if I wanted to hit you I would have hit you Abbey and I have decided they were gonna file for custody of the children so they take us away few that's passed Melanie our children shall be philosopher Kings makes me sell and describe what we have thanks everybody guys thank you so much for being here thanks for having us absolutely uh my sincerest congratulations on this movie I mean I you know showered you with the compliments in the green room and I'll do it now and again in front of an audience I haven't cried this much at a movie and so long and it was a wonderful cry it wasn't a sad cry it's a really really beautiful film laughs a little bit - oh I laughed a lot yeah it's often crying that's we're going for you do a really wonderful job of consistently peeling back layers and never leaving anybody to be a stereotype of any kind and I think a movie like this so often in our culture in the sort of world of moviemaking could fall into easy stereotypes and I just congratulate you so much on being brave in the film making choices that you had thank you um so I want to talk about how this movie started where where this came to you Matt how this I heard that you grew up in a kind of communist is sort of where it came from yeah there are a couple things that are autobiographical in the movie it's really not ultimately autobiographical it's more aspirational I'm a father I have two kids there was a time in my life my kids are still pretty young and I was thinking a lot about my values and what I wanted to pass to my kids you know our children are in our homes for such a brief period of time I mean I think my daughter is going to be in my house for five more years she's 13 and it just goes by so quickly and I was thinking a lot about conscious parenting and just being present in the moment and what I wanted to teach them what I wanted to pass on to them what was really important to me you know not in when you have kids you're you're responsible for this the soul this being and and and from everything from what you allow them to eat or read or watch just them in the logistics of some of those things but on a deeper level like what do i what do I really care about what's important to me whether you're a religious person or not what do you want to pass on to your kids and I had a lot of questions ultimately I had a lot of questions and so I put them into the form of a movie that I would hope one day would start of you go Munson and no Berkley apparently we were hesitant to do the movie at first is that true not to do the movie but it was just schedule thing I have I had there was two movies coming out at that time which I needed to promote and I thought I can't really leave them in the lurch I mean part of making a movie as a director an actor you got to prepare it oh can I can I choke him sale it was very rare among actors who commits to the promotion of a film you know in our in our world where everyone we all have to work to survive and and as it's so difficult to make a living no matter what you do actors booked jobs back-to-back frequently and aren't available to promote the film and I'm not blaming them but he's unique I think and certainly rare among actors who commits to helping the film have a life not just making it but but to selling it and that's really important because well it's easy one of movies as good as this I mean I have to say when I say don't I didn't doubt the movie it was just scheduled and unfortunately Matt waited for me because when I read the script I thought well this is not only perhaps the best most well-rounded layered character that I've read in a long time if ever that that someone was interested in me for but just in terms of all the characters I'm up for those of you who haven't seen the movie I have six kids all of which you saw on the trailer six incredibly smart and you know physically fit curious about life I mean I just love the script like I liked the movie because in part it's about it makes it cool to be an intellectually curious kid a family that's engaged in improving themselves however they can taking chances too sometimes and which means making mistakes improving themselves mentally and physically at all times there's real dialogue as crazy as you might think this family is the foundation of this family is not only intellectual curiosity but it's it's a constant constant dialogue which can be annoying to get sometimes like you know but then when you grow up how do you remember your parents well it seemed annoying at the time they're like what if you know let me see your grades or what are you reading or shouldn't eat that or what time you coming home and you know like that but now I remember them as they were there you know and you know as a parent if you were there or not you I think you probably relatives in part as well what would it be like to give a hundred percent of your time and energy yeah that's an example of extreme conscious parenting you know we I mean there's the Buddhist concept of mindfulness or really you know it doesn't have to be Buddhist but just being present I mean so many of us in our lives are constantly distracted by our devices and I mean I use a computer I have an iPhone I love them both but they also pull me sometimes into a virtual world when really what I need to do is be talking to another person and as a parent you struggle with that any parent knows that I mean the truth is we've all been hanging out with a friend and you're in a car and the phone rings like I got to take this and they you know they're on their phone and you're sitting there waiting for them to be done and that's part of our lives but when you have kids there's there's an impact of that and and you know you can extrapolate that idea that in a deeper level and just you know trying to be present and being with them when you're with them and not just be willing for kids it's but really be willing for parents these days more and more with all the new ways of communicating and technology and all these things but but I think I think that you can either take the easy way out which is well I just want to be friends with my kids I want them to like me and maybe to think I'm cool so yeah you know I'll find them out to their iPhones or tablets or whatever and they can come and go as they please eat whatever they want and that's one way and at the time to catch a like that's great I can do whatever I want or the other model which you're engaged in the way in an extreme way the father I play in this story is you know he's not the kind of dad who says no because I said so he's the kind of dad who says maybe not and I'll explain why and then if you disagree I'd like to hear your opinion that second model takes a lot more energy and time but it's worth it in the end those kids will grow up and as young people they'll look back and go yeah I thought my parents were pain in the ass but but now I see that they were there there's gentlemen contact with them still because of that there's definitely an element I mean you said the family some people would consider the family crazy or like just sort of kind of kooky but I think for a person like me and maybe even for what seems like you guys there's an element of just like pure wish fulfillment with this family like well it's aspirational yes certainly it's a father I want to be you know in many ways and a lot of my values but I think also it's you know we're talking about parenting in the film really is about parent to it I guess in many ways for me about being a father but it's also about being part of a family I don't think you have to be a parent to enjoy the film or to have an experience it's a fictional family that goes on a journey it's a transformational journey when many of their values are called into question and I think if you you know you can be seventeen and relate to being a child of a family you know we're all part of a family and like all good stories it's not what it seems at first you know at first you look at it maybe even from this you know the trailer you saw you go okay I see what this is it looks like it's probably like a left-wing liberal you know utopian fantasy to living out in the woods and I guess the enemy is going to be all these conservative people and ideas that they're going to come across and say well okay you know what if you are really conservative let's say and you get roped into going in or you walk into the wrong movie theater you know you or your girlfriend your wife your husband says come on let's see here it's good it's like oh my god in the first few minutes you go oh my god it's gonna be that it's gonna be this left-wing crazy family celebrating noam chomsky we all that but you soon realize it's not that at all you know that family model and the other ones you see in the movie none of them are perfect they're all flawed they're all flawed people which is a hard thing to write that's why it's such a good script and what's beautiful is that the character I play and other characters but especially since he's the one who's pushing the envelope so much with the way he's raising these kids there comes a moment of self-reflection or several where he realizes you know I am on the wrong track and he makes an effort to adjust to communicate with people and even though this movie has nothing to do directly with politics or ideology or what's going on in the country I feel like more than any new who we have seen a long time it's really tied in to what's happening in the country right now and there's no question that we have a problem as US citizens it's not just that the you know presidential candidates are saying ridiculous things that are isolating people that are polarizing people and that the media keeps talking about that because it sells and so what do you think about what he said and what do you think about what she said or is she honest all this stuff it really reflects it echoes I think this movie in some way the problems with not communicating was with isolating you know in this country I think that people nowadays are really split they're not even talking they're like in their camps based on religion race socio-economic class a lot of stuff we're not this is I I don't remember something like this the climate in the country since maybe the 70s being this intense there were moments in the 90s the culture wars and all that but I think this movie touches on on that and says you know it's important to talk it's important to be flexible to be able to make compromises and adjust what you see the guy playing this story do when other people do I would also say that it presents the idea of thoughtfulness that he's also raising an extremely thoughtful family and yes we have politicians saying crazy things and we have the media echo in it but we also have is we don't have a culture that's sort of built - were educated to process things and think about them and adjust to them or toddler like you said talk about them and I think the wonderful thing that he's doing with this family is maybe it's in isolation and there needs to be some moderation which which we see you can make mistakes you know but he's trying he's - he's teaching critical thinking exactly see you see examples of that and I mean I you know if we take one topic religion for instance I mean I think that he's a father who's made them read the Bible and the Quran and the Old Testament and probably introduce them to every major world religion and said you know if something affects you then you can believe in that pick one pick all of them pick none of them and but be able to back it up yeah an argument let's have a discussion about let's talk about it and he does that with everything and I for me that's aspirational because absolutely non-judgmental I mean if we want our politicians to be able to explain themselves and their ideas then we have to be able explain our ideas you know based on fact let's talk about facts Oh what an NC one of the things that I that I love about your character is his stoicism at times where you would imagine the father to be extremely filled with pride there are moments where he's really challenged by his children not just about books or any sort of like cultural analysis but about how he raised them and the way that he approaches those situations I find to be far more mellow is the wrong word but stoic then I would expect someone who's devoted so much of his life to this and I was wondering just as a sort of viewer if you guys shot different versions of that while you were shooting different takes of like okay maybe he can react a little more forceful in this situation to his son or do we just know that this guy is gonna approach these moments with his children completely thoughtful and mindful about honey man have no idea what I was going to do or what the kids were gonna do no no nobody but hit that which was great he was okay and sometimes he might say that's an unusual way to do the scene why don't we we have time let's try it again in a different way no but he was open he I mean he really created which is helpful when you it's an independent movie you know it looks beautiful beautifully shot yeah action wise it's but it's done it's still a limited budget limited shooting time and you got kids who legally can only work you know limited a certain hours of the day and so forth and they need to study and they need to take breaks you don't have time he was probably flipping out inside going out of time but he never made it inside him always like Mayday Mayday yeah there you go he did I know that was his passive I knew that had I knew that had to be going on with him that he was you know really more you know dying inside but but he never gave that off you know the example he led by was we're having fun here we have all the time in the world not true but he made us feel like we did and he inspired each of the kids and me all the actors individually you know to get the best other characters but collectively I mean it really was like a family and then and a shame the kids aren't here today but we presented the movie in their kick and cam Film Festival Sundance and Los Angeles you know big premiere we had recently and it's great every time we see each other it's really like seeing my own real family you know and part of the half the question is that I think for me at least from my perspective I you know acting as an interpretive art and you hire people who are better their job than you would be at their job whether it's the acting department - the acting department or the camera department the DP its Stephan Fontaine and in the case the DP for the cinematographer this movie or the costume design or the production center and and you you have this document the script that they all reflect on and hopefully their ideas are make your ideas better it's it's a collaborative medium and so my feeling is we show up it's set to play you know Vigo says that let's play and it's true it's like you know we the word for the piece of literature that you do in the theater is a play and that must come from the idea of playing and so I'm not I don't show up on set to prop up this dead object the dead object being the script I mean I spend a lot of time laboring over it and I want I think it's going to work so let's shoot it but let's also play and and your ideas are valid and you there's only one Ben cash and that's Viggo Mortensen it's you know he can't be wrong so I couldn't imagine another actor inhabiting this role it's imperfect casting it amazing in it well it's it like I said it's a great it's a it's a one of the best ones I had read as far as the things that the journey he takes you know but what he just said is a great thing I tell myself that when things are not going right because acting whether it's a movie or a play is the is the most enjoyable in some ways easy job in the world if I things going well and you're playing well with the others and your it can be like pure flow like people who play improvisational jazz or just in the pocket or support yeah we're like I do jujitsu well when it goes last skiing you're just in the pocket it's like but when it goes badly because it's so public it's the worst most humiliating embarrassing thing and it's and sometimes you come up against because you can't play the scene the way it's supposed to or you can't get the right emotion whatever it is or connection with the other actors and I often tell myself that well I am the only person playing this role and so I'm whatever I do is right it's not really true and it's not really true for a director to say the actor can do no wrong like you just said but but it is or the actor it is under feel that is that it's well you can say well that's a mistake that the character made not that the actor made it so what it's really about but really ultimately what it's about is exploring right so we think this scene is about him chastising his children I'm just making that up I don't know it's not genocide in the movie so he approaches it that way because it's written that way and we play that and then we play that for a while and then we might play a different volume levels sometimes it's gentle sometimes it's aggressive and then once we've done that then if we have time we're like well maybe it's the opposite of that let's try the opposite and see what happens and then when I'm in the Edit room I can maybe take a moment that's a different note and play that for that one take and then I match it with all the other stuff that's a different volume levels and really what you're doing is just you're rehearsing in front of the camera you're exploring in front of the camera things that you would do if it were a play over a five-week period of time you don't have to do that because it's not a play but what you do want to do is you need we want a photograph as many varieties as possible that makes sense and sometimes it doesn't make sense and you're like it's only going to be this and I really think it should be this but frequently when you think that you're wrong you get into the Edit room and you're like we thought this scene needed to be this but actually because of a look that he did a moment before we don't need that note now we need something else and so you're just exploring and exploring I guess that's kind of where the question came from is that those moments that I'm referring to to me felt so complex and they could go in so many different ways I could see as a storyteller you would get to the set that day and want to get catch as many varieties as that as possible because when you're crafting tone of the film suddenly you could get to a point we'd like oh I thought he would only be stoic in this moment but the movie really needs to be more force that's right or funny but it's also yeah funny yeah that's right funny in the movie and then in the a and you might have thought in shooting well that's it's probably not a funny moment but you have it and then you're in the editing room something you know it's perfect it's not expected being funny in that that's right and I think my noticing of that came from the final edit to the screen that I saw it being so totally perfect and noticing these sort of complex moments where different directors wouldn't know how to really find that the the perfection of that tone one good thing about Matt is I never heard him say ever and I have heard some directors say this let's do it again what do you want me to do just do better no I never heard him say that which is really no I'm cursed when it when it came to writing this film there are six kids in the movie and the film does a really great job of crafting characters out of each kid even if one of the kids doesn't get nearly as much screen time as the oldest child who is not every character has a full arc you know there's two out of the six that I think start one place very distinct and then ended another place but I think when the film ends you still have a clear idea as to who each of those kids are there individuals you've got to know them and and they each have a relationship that's specific with the father and with the grandparents that wasn't that was in the script there was certain things I wanted to do I think when you're talking about you asked me originally about what the autobiographical nature of this I did live on some communal or collective living situations my mom started some in the in Northern California and Oregon I lived on summon I always say they weren't hippie communes because it was the 80s not the 60s and the people that live there were not hippies it wasn't like you know it's very different I'm some of the homes had electricity and plumbing some didn't I did sleep in a teepee in the summertime you know there's some and the journey of Botev in who's played by George we shot the movie his hair was actually down to his ya know he's in power wrong no um lies but the journey of the older character you guys haven't seen the movie but his characters journey is very much mine wanting to leave the forest and be around kids my own age I felt very isolated when I was younger but why am i rambling about this what was your question developing all the other care of the kids yeah so I mean I was I was conscientious of certain varying to make each kid distinct you know my son said some of the things that the littlest boy said in the movie like at one point when he was six he said to turn to his sister and he said I'm writing down everything you say in my mind and I felt like that's awesome so I wrote that down he didn't know I was like his six-year-old mind was like I'm gonna get you but I don't know how so I'm saying I'm writing it down in my head I thought that was great so that goes in there um the two the two stick of the man was someone said - it's um one of our friends said that part of the people stick the man's were put on the script but um uh Sri crooks who plays the girl right there the young girl with the gas mask she's really obsessed with death in the movie and my son went through a period of time when you find out you die you know like like wow wait wait wait wait you mean we all die you know at some point any parent was a kid realizes at some point the kid realizes it starts really about definitely my son became really obsessed with death for a while and like was really into reading about I don't know orrible things and so she has that I really wanted to make two teenage girls who are badass and don't define themselves by boys you know what I mean that are like capable young strong intelligent women so I I tried to do that and you know um so yeah they were all I try I mean that's you know it's kind of your job and I think George was kind of like me and in the sense that like he was a he needed to see a young man in need to seek his fortune in the world and that I think he do a just a great job of defining the characters without making them be one trope so at the end of the film you're not like oh that's the young kid and she's the karate master that every of them feel very even though a missing amount of time master he's the karate master yeah I'm gonna open up to the audience for some questions mmm any questions we're gonna start with a question from an online viewer so Suzanne from the UK wants to know for Viggo what life experiences if any informed your portrayal of this character I mean every part you do you bring something of yourself obviously you bring your body in your voice in your mind - every part and no matter how different then you a character is there's something you you add you bring some characters you have more of the tools beforehand in this case yeah I was familiar with that part of the country I used to live in the Inland Northwest of the United States I was raised by my dad you know going camping and fishing hunting stuff like that so some of that was familiar but a lot of the skill I wasn't that familiar with and also I haven't had six kids and I've not been that rigorous with my one child I mean I think I've communicated fairly well with him but I've also made a lot of mistakes which I identified with you know it's been make some there were some things I mean I was comfortable in that environment I like the woods and that was great fun but there were a lot of things that I think for all of us that tested us but because Matt got us together early on and we we bonded so well we did a pretty extensive boot camp was amazing I mean wherever one was like every wilderness skills and survival about climbing martial arts yoga so we it was easy nobody was left out nobody was made fun of for screwing up so it was a I don't know what I brought to it some things other things I had to learn I can answer that deep intelligence and really good acting skills 20 next question hey guys sod the film last night and holy cow um the swells of emotion with the family like what you're talking about with boot camp and taking you know getting to know each other as a cast how like when the father tells the kids that the mom is gone that swelling emotion people were too sobbing in the theatre how in the world you get all of those kids and how do how do you make that happen like um that you know there's certain moments when you're making a movie would matter what the film is where everyone who's involved in making it is a little apprehensive whether it's a stunt or there's like there's some time ended like we don't know if this is going to work or how it's going to work and and it was a defining moment I think in the movie because we didn't shoot it in exactly chronological order but we did shoot the forest part first the suburban part with Kathryn Hahn and Steve's on second and the final bit with Frank Langella and doubt later so we did kind of sequentially and that was a really difficult and important moment even for grownup actors and for those of you don't know the father says to the his kids that the mother is dead and and they cry and it's really an intense scene and it was written that way you know you're it said I think the script said something like it was like Greek tragedy cathartic and open and very deep but you don't know what's going to happen and I think Vigo's idea originally was hey what if I bring in a poem was it it was the the mermaid Yeats poem is that whereas he brought in a poem and he said I'm going to read this poem because this is a family that maybe either yeah they're there they're very attached to literature and this is maybe a way to contextualize this experience for them so he read this poem and some of the older kids started you could see them understanding and the other kids had no idea what was going on and we shot that and that helped I think actually ease in the filming of it because it allowed them to acclimate to what was going on warm up emotionally and some of the kids were I mean George Mack I had had a recent tragedy in his life where he knew someone who died and so he was very raw and very open and very ready to grieve on film some of the little kids you could see them and you can see it in the movie they don't know kind of what's going on they've never dealt with death in that profound level six years old and and so they kind of reel - which is real yeah and so they're sort of looking like what women what do you mean what mom's what you know and and I tried to allow them all just to have their own experience really and sometimes I talked to them I talked to Sammy isler who plays Keeler about breathing at one point that helped her kind of relax into it and the truth is they were surprisingly emotionally in touch for kids for children I mean I think it's a challenge for grown-up professional actors to do a scene where you're required to cry because with anything you watch you got to remember we're filming that for four hours so they're like in this state of incredible grief it's incredibly difficult to pull off and I've done it before and eventually at one point you just can't do it anymore you can't you just don't have anything left and so we shot multiple cameras so that we didn't require them to kill themself to do it over and over again but we have do we still dot did it and they were really I think you know I can't take credit for it they're great kids they're great actors and they're emotionally available and they understood the script on a deep level they understood the situation on a deep level and they just stepped up to the plate in a really profound way I mean I was delighted obviously I'm really glad that you asked that question because I don't have note cards and I had planned a question for that completely forgot until she asked that so thank you and I have a bit of a follow-up for that I mean the the performance I also got them all drunk oh yeah it's water hot guys water Daniel Plainview whiskey in the mill ice I didn't do that um the performance isn't that scene or amazing but what's also really striking is your bravery as a filmmaker to hold on that scene for as extent for as long as you did I think most movies that are trying to create a sort of comic tragic vibe usually establish the tragedy you get it here cut away so the audience doesn't have to Luger that long with this where you really sit with how tragic this moment is for these kids was there ever a moment for you when you were in the Edit room where you were scripting when you were shooting that there were people around you or even you doubted yourself and how long you can hold that scene for an audience to stick with you well you're making it I don't know I don't know I'm just your sort of collecting material and you're exploring like I said we're just exploring let's see what happens let's push it and pull it in different directions than the Edit it's about how much is enough and how much is too much you know movies should be in a way like a meal that doesn't over stuff you that you want more and there's just enough to have you be affected I mean really the goal for me and this is partly answering your question partly not is I want to try and create films that are emotionally moving that you laugh and cry but also have an intellectual experience that allow you to read the film and parse the film it doesn't tell you what to think that you become an active you know you're active in the film meaning an active participant in a way you don't you know our culture is very good at making pieces of entertainment and I love going to have a fun rollercoaster ride I see all of them I see everything but I want I don't will only want that but with regard let's just me pontificating forgive me but with regard to what your that your specific question I don't know the answer to you get into the edit and then it's really about you know finding what feels most truthful and each scene has a different requirement each moment and for this one particularly The Crying I mean we stay with them for a while because the movie is bookended by grief in a way all the characters are operating under this tragedy that's happened and we don't always behave in admirable ways when we're suffering and you see that in his character and other characters and so there's that's the underlying also as a viewer I think that I mean is what you refer to the early on and in this conversation about the balance you know how its structured in terms of the Edit but that's the foundation is the script that script felt that way when I read the script the first time normally I make notes you know I have my pencil my dog your the pages and stuff to talk about if I like what I'm reading and a directors interested me to play a part in the story I'd note so that I can in our conversation what I think I want to bring up questions I have I didn't make any I was just reading meaning I would stop I would laughs I would stop I'd be really moved I think about my own family I think about any number of things I was so engaged and I finished it and I was just like wow not what I expected it never faded it's really complicated but it's also really simple and there are many moments that I was uncomfortable and I think it's like the in the editing room it's a whole art form of finding striking that balance which you you did so well and I don't like by myself editor dick joke rings who's an amazing editor either it's a collaboration just like Viggo and I have a collaboration I have a collaboration with the DP with the Kosmas IRA with Joe and Joe was there but when you're editing when you're putting the movie together I guess it's like how many times can I make the audience like the scene you're talking about how many times going to make the audience really uncomfortable by by staying with something or something that's funny too I'm laughing but I'm laughing thinking oh my god or in saying or this father what is he doing to these kids or moments of God what am i doing I'm doing nothing I'm lazy I mean you know oh I have you can follow you can feel envy right because most of us if not practically all of us are not as energetic and committed in our efforts as this family but it's aspirational for me as well I mean I think many films can teach us how to be or how not to be I mean how many times can you can you throw people off and that also has to flow it has to be lyrical has to be if it can be organically funny and moving and also beautiful the places they're in in the story so it's a real art I mean putting it together in the end I was amazing what you guys did I think that time for one more question right here how's it going guys hey so I know that's possible for someone to be a film fan and not be a filmmaker do you guys believe it's possible for someone to be a filmmaker and not be a film fan uh anything's possible I am a fan and I also make films I don't know I mean I'm not sure that's a good question I think I think many of us no matter what you do whether you're a songwriter a musician a novelist a painter a writer don't you all don't we all start as fans in a way when we're children you're like I learned from somebody right yeah I mean when I mean I I just I was a voracious reader but I also sucked up every movie I could see and I and I was so curious about the process and what the directors did what the writer did the DP and the actors and I was I was an ardent fan and that was the beginning and I still AM I've still gig out when I watch certain people talk about things or I'm the first to go see Star Wars and you know I mean like I think it's for me it starts there and I think I think I am I think most movies I mean whether it's a comedy or a drama or combination like this movie is that really get to you where you walk out of here going oh wow today time I'm in the city I thought I was in the you know in the forest or something or you know I I think when you're transported in that way it's because basically no matter what the story is you're seeing people that you can on some level identify with I mean I think anybody whether they in the woods a lot or never the human dilemmas presented in this story the family models that the obstacles you know the mistakes made the efforts made you you can relate ok these are people these are humans like us or sort of ordinary people on some level or just people who are suddenly faced I think this is any any good story suddenly something unusual something extraordinary happens a turn of events how do they react do they react do they have a good sense of humor about it do they react with courage do they freak out do they make mistakes and if they do are they able to rectify all you know that's where I get sucked in and I always did before I even thought of being an actor and I think for me the reason I got I wanted to be part of movie storytelling actively was because that what happened once in awhile and then at some point I guess I asked myself well technically how is that done that I'm walking out his movie theater crying or laughing or both or that I'm just sitting in my seat afterwards in the credits roll oh god I got to call my mom you know yeah I got to talk to my kid like right now you know things that happen to you when you watch a movie like this that's why and and I continue to do that and I'm often disappointed because I think since movies began 90% or more maybe 95 percent of all the scripts and all the movies that you see all the TV stuff you see a low TVs got much better in recent years is not crap but it's it's it's not surprising it you don't walk out of you don't turn off the TV or walk out of here going mmm while I'm questioning things truly or I'm inspired to do something improve my life in some way most of them aren't that way but every once in a while and I and I still I have I think everybody that walks into a movie theater gives any movie ten minutes you know you walk in because you go in you want it to be good you want we'll play you want it to work about 10 minutes and if they haven't really done anything then you start to fidget Oh some of the people say like my wife will say I just wanna watch something I don't want to think you know and I think but I think that's actually not true I think on some other we want to be entertained but really we want to be transported we want to go to another world but you want to you want to have it doesn't have to wreck you it it's not to destroy your soul but you want to have an experience that's illuminating about the human condition in some way I mean I was joking about Star Wars but I think Star Wars does that you know I mean you know there that's it's also incredible entertainment but I think otherwise why do we go you know it's not just distraction you know the Internet can do that you know yeah um so you know I can do that for a long time yeah absolutely yeah and for your question I once saw Verner Hertzog get asked the same question and he said no very stark German Way he just said no I agree with him that was I gave a variety a long tongue answer I think he's probably right let's try that again this is take two but no guys um Captain Fantastic is one of the most beautiful films of the year I'm so glad I got the chance to see and I'm really looking forward to seeing it again and recommending it to people and I'm a huge fan of yours Vigo's thank you for stopping by go see Captain Fantastic and if you've never seen the Indian runner it is one of my favorite movies it is one of his most incredible performances true gratulations guys when can people see the Indian runner it's in New York in LA right now the Indian runner all right but you can't get it on task ably yeah I've been fantastic is in New York in LA this week and then it opens wider next week definitely blew that ramp no no no Sean Penn will be very happy everyone removal are gonna be showing up to the theater being one for the Indian runner no okay guys congratulations thank you so thank you thank you all Thanks you

Channel: BUILD Series

Views: 63,360

Keywords: AOL Advertising, AOL Inc, AOL, AOLBUILD, #Aolbuild, build speaker series, build, aol build, content, aolbuildlive, Captain Fantastic, Viggo Mortensen, Matt Ross, The Lord of the Rings, LOTR, American Psycho

Id: UFswYs1q9EI

Length: 38min 53sec (2333 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 13 2016