Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. /ˈviːɡoʊ ˈmɔːrtənsən/is an American actor. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of subsequent years, including The Indian Runner, Carlito's Way, Crimson Tide, Daylight, The Portrait of a Lady, G.I. Jane, A Perfect Murder, A Walk on the Moon, and 28 Days...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMovie Actor
Date of Birth20 October 1958
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
In my opinion, the vast majority of scripts written - as well as most movies that are released - are not very original, well-written, or interesting. It has always been that way, and I think it always will be.
It's very rare you get a great script just handed to you, or sent to you, by someone you don't know.
I'm an optimist; I always hope that each new script is going to be a great story.
This basic thing I always do: 'What happened between the character's birth, and page one of the script?' Anything that's not in the story, I'll fill in the blanks.
What keeps the film from being by-the-numbers has a lot to do with David. A lot of directors would have made an exploitation movie.
When you say mainstream, that usually implies mediocre. And this is not mediocre. There's probably a good chance that it could be the most widely seen of any of his movies, but he's still peeling the layers away, looking at how weird we are, looking at how strangely we look at the world, looking at how prickly we can be, looking at how paranoid we can be.
I have never been in a natural place and felt that was a waste of time. I never have. And it's a relief. If I'm walking around a desert or whatever, every second is worthwhile.
You get all these things, there are all these letters and gifts, sometimes strange ones; most of the time it can be really nice. But at the same time, it's overwhelming. Because I know I'm going to have to look through it. Most of it is filling the corners of my house and I can't respond to it all right away.
there he is, I'm watching him, there he goes.
I've been told that I've arrived many times over the years so I take it with a grain of salt. It's a relatively new situation obviously, but if it all went up in smoke tomorrow, I wouldn't really care that much. There are a lot of things that interest me. As for my fortunes, it's really a crap shoot.
Any ordeal that you can survive as a human being is an improvement in your character,and usually an improvement in your life.
The way we present ourselves is a veneer, and beneath that, there are a lot more unpleasant things. Other directors might have missed a lot of the subtleties of this story and made a meal out of the violence.
I mean, I've been around a long time compared to a lot of other actors. I mean, I've been working on and off for 20 odd years.
I like naturally occurring film grain, and what happens to film when it's under- and over-exposed.