Don't worry, Viggo Mortensen is not quitting acting. He sent his fans into a scare when he suggested he was finished with his craft. Reports of his retirement have been greatly exaggerated, Mortensen now says.
Somebody I think wrote that because they asked me and I just gave them an honest answer, What do you have lined up next as far as a movie? Mortensen said in a roundtable interview. I said, I don't. There isn't anything right now. I could've said, Oh, theres a bunch of things I'm not at liberty to discuss at this time or something like that, like people say, but it was the truth. I didn't have something lined up. They say, Ah, he's quit! The next thing I'm going to do is a play which is as terrifying as doing The Road to me because I haven't done a play in over 20 years.
Purgatorio by Ariel Dorfman is coming to Madrid in February but Mortensen's latest bravura performance has been committed to film for worldwide audiences to see. In The Road, based on Cormac McCarthy's book, Mortensen plays The Man. Several years after an apocalyptic event, The Man is one of few survivors. He and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) search for whatever food remains in the burnt out wasteland, and there's not much of it.
When you commit to a role so deeply, you should brag about it. Mortensen deprived himself of minimum daily calories to wither down to The Man's bone thin appearance. It's not about credit though. He just wants to talk about the films message, as he did so nonchalantly while he hand rolled his own cigarette.
Suicide Girls: Why do you think The Man doesn't just give up on this world?
Viggo Mortensen: I don't think he has a clear answer at first. She asks him that, doesn't she? [His wife] says in the flashback, Well, how are you going to do that? Survive no matter what, how are you going to do that? He doesn't know so he doesn't say much. He just looks kind of perplexed, at a loss for words. She also asks him, Why? Most importantly, she says, I don't want to just survive. No culture, no humanity, whats the point? Apart from all the threats they've had. He doesn't really have a clear answer for that either. By the end, he does though. I think he understands, that kindness in and of itself just for it's own sake is worthwhile. Also, you never know. As you see in the story, just by keeping going until the very end, it provides an opportunity that he could never know about for his son, that his son wouldn't have had had he not kept going. He makes mistake along the way but that's not a mistake, wanting to keep going. That's hopeful I think.
SG: Have you always been a nice guy in real life? Is there a certain spirituality that leads you that way?
VM: Well, like anybody else, I have bad days, I get worn out or I get short tempered with myself or with other people. Generally, its not that I'm nicer than anyone else but I do try to make a conscious effort just because I've learned that in the long run, it's better. It's always better, you have less regrets if you've treated people fairly and give people a chance because if you don't, you're going to regret it later. You can't really go back. You can apologize, that's true, but you can't undo certain things. So its better to think twice before acting, or speaking rashly. Not that I don't do it once in a while but I try to be careful about it.
SG: There's a lot of writing out there about positive thinking or just being present, like The Secret or Eckhart Tolle. Has that informed you?
VM: Well, Eckhart Tolle has written some interesting things and he's had an interesting life. His journey to get to the point where he could actually help people in some way was a hard journey.
SG: Are you in an elite club of actors who have been through extreme weight loss like Tom Hanks for Cast Away and Christian Bale for The Machinist?
VM: I don't know. I know that it wasnt a big deal. I mean yeah, it was something I had to be disciplined about in order to get there, but it was not some whimsical choice on my part. It was obvious to me that I had to look the part. Looking the part meant being thin the way Kodi is thin for it to be credible. If I looked like I do now, like I'm well fed, unless I lost a certain amount of weight, there's no amount of makeup that's going to make me look like I'm starving I guess. So I had to do that. It wasn't the hardest thing. The hardest thing was the emotional challenges that Kodi and I had.
SG: Do you seek out roles where you have to do something extreme, like also the tattoos and physicality of Eastern Promises?
VM: One of the things about the movies is you get to travel a lot, you get to learn to do things that on your own you'd either be too lazy to do or it wouldn't occur to you to even try, like learning to speak a little Russian, physical skills. There's just things you wouldn't try. In the case of The Road, it was putting myself through I guess a certain emotional test, a journey that I wouldn't have embarked on willingly. Why would you want to feel that badly and think so much about things that are difficult to think about, people in your family that have passed away, all those kind of things. This movie evokes how fragile life is, how important it is. I did get something really good out of it. I became refocused on something that I think we all have inside anyway, an appreciation of life, people we know and understanding that life is relatively short and it's worthwhile paying attention.
SG: Most actors get into this business because they like attention. Are you an anomaly for an actor in that you usually keep to yourself?
VM: Well, I'd be dishonest if I didn't say that I'm pleased or I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it was satisfying to hear from you or anybody else that they were touched in some way by this movie and that they felt that my performance was believable and effective. After all, just as an actor, as a professional or an artist, my job is to contribute to the storytelling team. It's a team sport and I have to pull my weight. If I feel like I did that or a certain amount of people tell me they feel that I did then I'm obviously pleased and flattered. In that sense, if that's attention, I guess I'm not immune to being attracted to that or to being flattered. As far as the things that go with it, just being famous for being famous's sake like some people seem to be into even more than doing the job properly when it comes to what they're famous for in the first place - unless it's just looking nice which is something that some people are just concerned with, or getting prizes for what they do - in the end, that might serve as some kind of encouragement but its not really going to help you do your job well. I find that a lot of that attention is distracting. It's counterproductive for me to doing a good job so I just instinctively try to mind my own business.
SG: Are you in an interesting position where youre bankable enough to carry high profile films but directors know you can do difficult roles?
VM: Well, it's not like they're going to offer me any old part but it has to be things that they think I'm right for. If I really feel strongly about a part that they don't think I'm right for then I have to really fight for it, just like I would've when I was first starting in this career. I am aware that I've been lucky. There are a lot of actors who work just as hard as I do and they just dont have the same luck. Im lucky in that I'm part of a relatively small group of people that are at this time sometimes given the privilege of playing a lead role in a good story. There's not that many people that the people that make movies, that finance them would say, Oh yeah, that's bankable or That's an okay investment or We can count on him. It's like saying, I'll recommend this plumber to you because he does a great job and he's very efficient, he doesn't make a mess and you wont have to call him to come back and fix it. At least they know that even if I'm terrified and not sure I can do it, they think I can because they've seen me do it before. So it's nice to feel like people trust you with their stories.
SG: Do you expect The Weinstein Company to make a big push for Oscar nominations for you and the film?
VM: I don't know. Time will tell. We're getting close to the release. We're certainly speaking to you and others who write about the movies but you can't make people like the movie. They have to like it and I'm encouraged, and I think they probably are, by the reaction we've gotten in screenings. For me, its a relief because I'm going to be working hard doing my interviews and meeting my obligations because I think it's a good movie. Its something I don't mind at all doing.
SG: Have you spoken to Guillermo del Toro about The Hobbit at all?
VM: Ive never spoken to him about it. I know theres a lot of speculation out there. I think he's a great filmmaker and I'd obviously rather finish the job than see another actor do my role, if in fact they make a second movie to tie the two books together.
SG: It would have to be The Hobbit 2.
VM: Yeah, because The Hobbit, I'm not in it.
SG: Back when you did Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, did you give that your all like you do A History of Violence or The Road?
VM: Absolutely. They cut a lot of that out. The humor, being that kind of movie, was tied to some pretty horrible things, events and so they were all cut out. It's a movie that barely makes any sense. That movies 60-something minutes long. It was New Line who made that movie but that was back when they were a very small horror movie sort of company. People tend to think that the censorship system or the rating system for movies where you get an R or an X or a XXX or a PG, PG-13, that that's fair and objective. In reality, it's just a bunch of guys who are not beyond being influenced by major studios. At least that's how it's been historically. At that time when we made Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part III, they submitted the movie several times and it kept getting XXX and XX. It was unreleasable in theaters in the opinion of the ratings board because there were so many gruesome things in it. In reality there were no more gruesome things in it than you would see in Friday the 13th or those sorts of movies that were coming out from big studios, Paramount or whoever at the time.
The Road opens November 25.
Somebody I think wrote that because they asked me and I just gave them an honest answer, What do you have lined up next as far as a movie? Mortensen said in a roundtable interview. I said, I don't. There isn't anything right now. I could've said, Oh, theres a bunch of things I'm not at liberty to discuss at this time or something like that, like people say, but it was the truth. I didn't have something lined up. They say, Ah, he's quit! The next thing I'm going to do is a play which is as terrifying as doing The Road to me because I haven't done a play in over 20 years.
Purgatorio by Ariel Dorfman is coming to Madrid in February but Mortensen's latest bravura performance has been committed to film for worldwide audiences to see. In The Road, based on Cormac McCarthy's book, Mortensen plays The Man. Several years after an apocalyptic event, The Man is one of few survivors. He and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) search for whatever food remains in the burnt out wasteland, and there's not much of it.
When you commit to a role so deeply, you should brag about it. Mortensen deprived himself of minimum daily calories to wither down to The Man's bone thin appearance. It's not about credit though. He just wants to talk about the films message, as he did so nonchalantly while he hand rolled his own cigarette.
Suicide Girls: Why do you think The Man doesn't just give up on this world?
Viggo Mortensen: I don't think he has a clear answer at first. She asks him that, doesn't she? [His wife] says in the flashback, Well, how are you going to do that? Survive no matter what, how are you going to do that? He doesn't know so he doesn't say much. He just looks kind of perplexed, at a loss for words. She also asks him, Why? Most importantly, she says, I don't want to just survive. No culture, no humanity, whats the point? Apart from all the threats they've had. He doesn't really have a clear answer for that either. By the end, he does though. I think he understands, that kindness in and of itself just for it's own sake is worthwhile. Also, you never know. As you see in the story, just by keeping going until the very end, it provides an opportunity that he could never know about for his son, that his son wouldn't have had had he not kept going. He makes mistake along the way but that's not a mistake, wanting to keep going. That's hopeful I think.
SG: Have you always been a nice guy in real life? Is there a certain spirituality that leads you that way?
VM: Well, like anybody else, I have bad days, I get worn out or I get short tempered with myself or with other people. Generally, its not that I'm nicer than anyone else but I do try to make a conscious effort just because I've learned that in the long run, it's better. It's always better, you have less regrets if you've treated people fairly and give people a chance because if you don't, you're going to regret it later. You can't really go back. You can apologize, that's true, but you can't undo certain things. So its better to think twice before acting, or speaking rashly. Not that I don't do it once in a while but I try to be careful about it.
SG: There's a lot of writing out there about positive thinking or just being present, like The Secret or Eckhart Tolle. Has that informed you?
VM: Well, Eckhart Tolle has written some interesting things and he's had an interesting life. His journey to get to the point where he could actually help people in some way was a hard journey.
SG: Are you in an elite club of actors who have been through extreme weight loss like Tom Hanks for Cast Away and Christian Bale for The Machinist?
VM: I don't know. I know that it wasnt a big deal. I mean yeah, it was something I had to be disciplined about in order to get there, but it was not some whimsical choice on my part. It was obvious to me that I had to look the part. Looking the part meant being thin the way Kodi is thin for it to be credible. If I looked like I do now, like I'm well fed, unless I lost a certain amount of weight, there's no amount of makeup that's going to make me look like I'm starving I guess. So I had to do that. It wasn't the hardest thing. The hardest thing was the emotional challenges that Kodi and I had.
SG: Do you seek out roles where you have to do something extreme, like also the tattoos and physicality of Eastern Promises?
VM: One of the things about the movies is you get to travel a lot, you get to learn to do things that on your own you'd either be too lazy to do or it wouldn't occur to you to even try, like learning to speak a little Russian, physical skills. There's just things you wouldn't try. In the case of The Road, it was putting myself through I guess a certain emotional test, a journey that I wouldn't have embarked on willingly. Why would you want to feel that badly and think so much about things that are difficult to think about, people in your family that have passed away, all those kind of things. This movie evokes how fragile life is, how important it is. I did get something really good out of it. I became refocused on something that I think we all have inside anyway, an appreciation of life, people we know and understanding that life is relatively short and it's worthwhile paying attention.
SG: Most actors get into this business because they like attention. Are you an anomaly for an actor in that you usually keep to yourself?
VM: Well, I'd be dishonest if I didn't say that I'm pleased or I'd be lying if I didn't admit that it was satisfying to hear from you or anybody else that they were touched in some way by this movie and that they felt that my performance was believable and effective. After all, just as an actor, as a professional or an artist, my job is to contribute to the storytelling team. It's a team sport and I have to pull my weight. If I feel like I did that or a certain amount of people tell me they feel that I did then I'm obviously pleased and flattered. In that sense, if that's attention, I guess I'm not immune to being attracted to that or to being flattered. As far as the things that go with it, just being famous for being famous's sake like some people seem to be into even more than doing the job properly when it comes to what they're famous for in the first place - unless it's just looking nice which is something that some people are just concerned with, or getting prizes for what they do - in the end, that might serve as some kind of encouragement but its not really going to help you do your job well. I find that a lot of that attention is distracting. It's counterproductive for me to doing a good job so I just instinctively try to mind my own business.
SG: Are you in an interesting position where youre bankable enough to carry high profile films but directors know you can do difficult roles?
VM: Well, it's not like they're going to offer me any old part but it has to be things that they think I'm right for. If I really feel strongly about a part that they don't think I'm right for then I have to really fight for it, just like I would've when I was first starting in this career. I am aware that I've been lucky. There are a lot of actors who work just as hard as I do and they just dont have the same luck. Im lucky in that I'm part of a relatively small group of people that are at this time sometimes given the privilege of playing a lead role in a good story. There's not that many people that the people that make movies, that finance them would say, Oh yeah, that's bankable or That's an okay investment or We can count on him. It's like saying, I'll recommend this plumber to you because he does a great job and he's very efficient, he doesn't make a mess and you wont have to call him to come back and fix it. At least they know that even if I'm terrified and not sure I can do it, they think I can because they've seen me do it before. So it's nice to feel like people trust you with their stories.
SG: Do you expect The Weinstein Company to make a big push for Oscar nominations for you and the film?
VM: I don't know. Time will tell. We're getting close to the release. We're certainly speaking to you and others who write about the movies but you can't make people like the movie. They have to like it and I'm encouraged, and I think they probably are, by the reaction we've gotten in screenings. For me, its a relief because I'm going to be working hard doing my interviews and meeting my obligations because I think it's a good movie. Its something I don't mind at all doing.
SG: Have you spoken to Guillermo del Toro about The Hobbit at all?
VM: Ive never spoken to him about it. I know theres a lot of speculation out there. I think he's a great filmmaker and I'd obviously rather finish the job than see another actor do my role, if in fact they make a second movie to tie the two books together.
SG: It would have to be The Hobbit 2.
VM: Yeah, because The Hobbit, I'm not in it.
SG: Back when you did Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, did you give that your all like you do A History of Violence or The Road?
VM: Absolutely. They cut a lot of that out. The humor, being that kind of movie, was tied to some pretty horrible things, events and so they were all cut out. It's a movie that barely makes any sense. That movies 60-something minutes long. It was New Line who made that movie but that was back when they were a very small horror movie sort of company. People tend to think that the censorship system or the rating system for movies where you get an R or an X or a XXX or a PG, PG-13, that that's fair and objective. In reality, it's just a bunch of guys who are not beyond being influenced by major studios. At least that's how it's been historically. At that time when we made Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part III, they submitted the movie several times and it kept getting XXX and XX. It was unreleasable in theaters in the opinion of the ratings board because there were so many gruesome things in it. In reality there were no more gruesome things in it than you would see in Friday the 13th or those sorts of movies that were coming out from big studios, Paramount or whoever at the time.
The Road opens November 25.
VIEW 17 of 17 COMMENTS
paulnikon:
It finally came to town last Friday. Saw it today. Really liked it.
fitzsimmons:
I'm planning it this weekend. Great interview.