On Random: Picture of the Day
Viggo News
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Viggo News
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New Scans from Spain
08 February 2010 12:24:12
Source:
El Pais & Pantalla Seminal
Found by: Viggo Mortensen y alrededores forum
Once again, our mega thanks to the Viggo Mortensen y alrededores forum for graciously sharing these scans with all of us.
Click on scans to enlarge.
El Pais
  
Pantalla
 
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Viggo Mortensen: "In some scenes, I felt like I could die."
Translation by Zooey and Ollie
08 February 2010 12:18:41
Source:
Las Provincias
Many thanks to Zooey and Ollie for translating the Viggo interview at Las Provincias.
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Image Macall Polay.
© 2929/Dimension Films.
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In the world of North American literature and modern cinema, the name of Cormac McCarthy is synonymous with quality. This brilliant author has penned novels that translate into Oscar-winning films like No Country for Old Men and premiering this week in Spain, The Road. The film, directed by John Hillcoat and starring Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron and Robert Duvall, centers on the dangerous journey to the coast of a father (Mortensen) and his twelve year old son. The Road takes place in an apocalyptic world filled with threats for its lead characters.
What attracted you to this film?
It's a love story as well as an endurance contest. Father and son dare to set out on a very difficult journey and it is the father who learns more from the son and not the reverse. I like that lesson because it’s not important how badly things are going if, in the end, something good happens. The story that the film presents is noble, simple and very clear. I believe that one has to see the film to understand it and that each person will come to his own conclusion.
Your character tries to teach his son how he should act as a person. Have you been in that situation?
In simple things. Children tend to be shy and many times don't ask questions. As for my son, I have tried to instill in him that he should be frank and direct, to look in the eyes of the person he's speaking to even when he's giving his order for a pizza in the restaurant. Once you learn to be a good person, you want your father to be one too and if your father betrays you, you get angry and it is that transition that is very well represented in this film.
This film seems strenuous. Did you end up tired?
Yes. To be honest, that was the most difficult thing, the physical part. I want to say that I have participated in films that have been filmed in locations with extreme temperatures of cold and heat, but nothing like this film, where the environment is a consistent character. In some scenes, I felt like I could die, but that helped me create the character.
What was it that bothered you the most?
The intensity. From the trees to the waterfalls. The weather turned into a character because as the director said so well, we had no need for special effects. What the audience sees is what we saw.
What's the purpose of almost losing your life for a film?
It shouldn't be exaggerated. It was an exhausting physical exercise and we made it that way because we wanted to be true to the book on which the film is based.
Is it true that you are thinking of retiring?
No, not all. I don't know where the press gets those ideas. I have no plans to retire because I like acting and telling stories. It is true that I have other interests like my family, my photography exhibitions and my publishing company.
How do you deal with your status as a Hollywood star?
It's strange. For 22 years, I was making films that didn't pay me enough to live on and I couldn't make it to the end of the month, but I enjoyed the acting as much as I do now.
Do you mean that fame has its inconveniences?
On the one hand, it's an honor, because people really admire your work and appreciate what you do, but obviously it's an invasion of your privacy. If I sit down with you having a beer and someone comes up and says to me "Excuse me for bothering you, but" - and they bother you, that seems at the very least strange to me. Does that make sense? Your first reaction as a human being would be to get annoyed, but then you adapt to a new situation and you deal with it diplomatically. Let's say, you get used to it. I'm not going to hit anyone who comes to ask me for an autograph.
What is it that annoys you?
Injustice annoys me, when it's done to me or done to others. It's something that makes me mad, whether as an individual or part of society.
I don't tolerate lack of honesty either, or truths that are used for manipulation. Selfish people or those who don't care about the environment annoy me.
And politicians?
Politicians annoy me with great frequency.
Your son is an adult. As a father, has your relationship changed with him?
I get along really well with my son. He doesn't get irritated about anything and is very reasonable. Sometimes I ask myself how he can be so calm, so sure of himself. My son is a great guy that I feel very proud of.
You are not very conventional, the kind of artist who is known to be different, even walking barefoot through the city. It seems that it's not important to you what people think of you?
Today I am wearing shoes and I've gotten dressed for the interview.
Yes, I worry about what other people say, but it's true that I keep a lot to myself. I walk without shoes because it's more comfortable. People, sometimes, indulge their passions and take them to extremes.
While others exploit their movie star image making one film after another, making the most of the moment, you are thinking of taking time off.
I suppose I have a different point of view about my career. I am not very conventional in that sense. If I wanted to make the most of the moment, I would have made six films in the last two years, but I didn't want to take advantage of that situation. If it's about attention, I've already had more than enough of that. If it's about money to live on, I've done enough that I can even give so that my family and friends live well. I am more than happy with what I have.
What's your priority right now?
To be with my family more. I want to give myself time to get excited about something. I know that I have the ability to do several things at the same time but it's difficult to work and be at peace at the same time.
You are one of the sexiest men in the world. Do you like your reputation as a "playboy"?
If it mattered to me, maybe I wouldn't feel comfortable with the idea. There is not much to say with regard to that because I don't think about it. That people are interested in me for any reason seems fine to me, as long as I don't have to call the police.
Do you receive a lot of letters from your admirers?
There are people who are very diligent. They write to me a couple of times a year and have become part of my life. It's always flattering to hear what people think of you. For me, those letters connect me with the public and are a reason to continue working.
You are a photographer. Are you still exhibiting?
Yes. This year I exhibited first in Denmark and then in Iceland. [sic] I've also published a book of Spanish poetry with my company, Perceval Press.
What effect has Hollywood had on your life?
[Laughter] I don't know. But without doubt it is a place where even the smallest person can make a difference. What you do and what you say has a domino effect on your life and that of your family and friends. When you choose a character, you're never sure you are making the right decision but once you say yes, you succumb to the story, the characters, I never think of the negative things. I believe that the strength of this film is in the strength that all the characters express, something that's far removed from Hollywood.
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Iolanthe's Quotable Viggo
06 February 2010 11:27:43
I have a bit of a mixed bag of quotes this week. There have been some really great ones over the last few months that are just too good to hold onto until I can fit them into a theme. Some, of course, have come out of all The Road publicity, some are impressions from interviewers who have been well and truly Viggoed and some are just quirky, funny or profoundly revealing. Enjoy!
Actor and Artist
MJ: Do you think of yourself as an actor first?
VM: When I land in a country and they ask for “occupation,” I always just put “artist.” I think that covers all of it.
Viggo Mortensen, King of The Road
By Michael Mechanic
MotherJones.com
23 November 2009
Despite his quirkiness, or maybe because of it, Mortensen, a 50 year old who has stubbornly resisted the formula for modern movie stardom, finds himself one of the last great leading men standing.
A History of Defiance
Daniel Mirth
Men’s Journal
October 2009
“Good luck talking someone into that: ‘ History of Violence , The Road – that guy? Forget it.’”
Viggo after the interviewer suggests a comedy
On the Road, signs of the apocalypse hit home
Johanna Schneller
Globe and Mail
27 November 2009
Interviews
Viggo Mortensen doesn’t talk with his hands so much as he batters the air.
On ‘The Road’ and off, Viggo Mortensen walks the walk
By Scott Bowles
USA Today
3 December 2009
Viggo Mortensen is, besides a great actor, an inexhaustible conversationalist, so full of curiosity that he doesn’t hesitate to occasionally take the role of the interviewer.
The Dark Side Of The Hero
By Walder & Castro - translated by Graciela, Remolina and Zooey
Marie Claire (Spain)
June 2009
Viggo Mortensen isn’t just a celebrity, as you’re probably aware. He isn’t even just a fine actor. He’s also a painter, a poet and a photographer, and he makes records, too, often in collaboration with Buckethead, the masked wizard guitarist. In addition, he’s also conversant in half a dozen languages — yet another body blow to an interviewer’s self-esteem. But I soldiered on.
Viggo Mortensen On ‘The Road,’
By Kurt Loder
MTV.com
25 November 2009
The Road
Viggo Mortensen gives a three-dimensional performance in 'The Road' that needs no 3D glasses.
Nicholas Barber
The Independent
10 January 2010
Viggo Mortensen, wounded, vulnerable, tough and tender is a heartbreaking vision of walking life and death. He so fits into the wasteland (perfectly grim and strangely spectacular), that he feels an organic part of this ragged, twisted wilderness.
Kim Morgan
Huffington Post
29 December 2009
I've had a few leads in indies since I worked on "The Road," and it's become an adjective when you do something: to "Viggo up."
Garett Dillahunt
By Paul Gaita
The Envelope
17 December 2009
Reporter: You both had to go to some tough emotional places in this movie. How did you turn that off once the take was done?
Mortensen: He’d tell me I sucked.
Smit-McPhee: Then he went back to his room and had a cry.
Viggo and Kodi joking around at the Toronto Film Festival
Where ‘Road’ takes them
By Jen Chaney
The Washington Post
22 November 2009
There’s a question here for every viewer: could you, under similar circumstances, continue to behave decently? “I find that to be a really interesting question,” Mortensen says. “I don’t know until I am in that situation. I tend to think I would because I am stubborn. I might not know how to live as I should, but I would know why I should try.”
Viggo Mortensen
One for The Road
By Donald Clarke
The Irish Times
8 January 2010
Miscellaneous
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
Not dying.
Q&A: Viggo Mortensen
by Rosanna Greenstreet
The Guardian
2 January 2010
With so many active interests, Mortensen admits he used to be impatient. “It felt unjust that we were given such a limited period on earth, but I don’t feel that way any more. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but I just figure, eh, what’s your hurry?’”
A History of Defiance
Daniel Mirth
Men’s Journal
October 2009
You’re a painter, a musician, a photographer, an actor, a poet and you’re a natural at swordplay. Is there anything you won’t try at least once?
VM: You know what? I’m not so interested in skydiving. I’m not sure why anyone wants to jump out of a plane that’s working perfectly well.
The Last Word : Viggo Mortensen
Canadiens Magazine
8 December 2009
Don’t forget that you can enjoy all the previous Quotable Viggo’s here on our webpages. |
"You never know where despair will take you; you only have to look at Haiti"
04 February 2010 15:49:38
Source:
ABC.es
Found by: Dom and Ollie
Once again thanks to Ollie, Sage and Zooey (with help from Rio) for their translation of the recent article that appeared at ABC.es.
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© 2929/Dimension Films.
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By Susana Gavina | Madrid
Viggo Mortensen finds himself a little removed from the sets and the stage (after two decades he had planned to come back to the theater, in Madrid) but family problems have made him slow down. He is only back to fulfill his commitments to the promotion of his most recent film The Road, based on the Pulitzer prize-winning book of the same name by Cormac McCarthy, also author of No Country for Old Men which earned the Oscar for Javier Bardem.
It's three in the afternoon in Spain, nine o'clock in the morning in New York where the actor carries out this interview. Unlike his last appearances in our country where he was witty and funny, now a sad note can be detected in his voice despite his speech being passionate when he talks about this film which deals so harshly and honestly with the essence of human beings, and how they can react in extreme situations.
Journey after the Apocalypse
The Road tells of a post-apocalyptic journey through the United States, where all forms of life - except human - appear to have died. Everything has been destroyed and only man remains standing, gathered into packs that go out to hunt and capture other men in order to survive, reaching the level of the most primitive cannibalism. A story where the line between good and evil is fading, where circumstances try to justify their behaviour. Nevertheless, a father (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) on their tireless way towards the South, a point of hope in this story, fight to not cross that line.
"This story has made me think about a lot of things: family, the world..., and what I would do in such a desperate situation. It's enough to look at Haiti, where they are living in such an ominous situation, an earthquake, that is going to add to the problems they already had. How do you react to that?" Mortensen wonders, to whom the disaster in the Caribbean country has immediately come to mind. The analogies to some aspects that are tackled in the film are so powerful that the connection springs forth unaided. It seems to be a sad coincidence. A mirroring of the reality of being human that has come to inform McCarthy's terrifying discourse. "In Haiti a high percentage of the population was already ****** up by poverty, and now this. Why? It makes no sense. You can read stories like this in which some characters act with compassion and others don't."
Exploring Emotions
After leading roles like Alatriste, Eastern Promises, Appaloosa...Mortensen recognized that to make this film meant "a challenge" for him. "I was attracted to exploring those emotions. It's a story that has made me think about very personal situations," he confesses. For Mortensen, it's about "a great love story between a father and a son. A tough story, that touches you but which in the end gives you a certain faith in human beings. That was something difficult to achieve as much in the book as in the film."
Premiered already in France and in England, "where it was liked a lot," he deplores the barriers it has suffered in the U.S., "where they have abandoned the distribution of the film and people can't see it." The problem, according to Mortensen, "is that they didn't know how to sell it there. It just needed to be done with honesty."
For his costars, he has nothing but words of praise, especially for the boy, Kodi Smit-McPhee, who bears a striking resemblance to Charlize Theron, his mother in the story. "He was the best partner I've ever had on a shoot. During the casting he amazed everyone because he had read the book, and more importantly, he understood it."
Mortensen emphasizes that during filming, there was no" plot" to avoid difficult situations with Kodi. "He starred in every scene. He understood the difference between fiction and reality perfectly well.” Of course, like the rest of the crew, he had to adapt to the harsh conditions of the filming, which lasted three months, always outside, suffering from the inclement weather. “Kodi was born in Melbourne and had not seen snow. We were very cold but he said it was one less thing to worry about because it wasn’t necessary to pretend.”
According to the actor, the original screenplay for the movie had been almost literal. "The complicated thing was to transfer the poetry of the book to the screen, a poetry that resides in the description of the landscapes and of the characters in those landscapes. A poetry that is also in the feelings between the characters."
The Miracle of Aguirresarobe
The maker of this miracle is the Spanish photographer Javier Aguirresarobe (candidate for the BAFTA award for this work), who immersed the story in a deathly gray color, which reflects the ashes of a civilization. "The work of the director and the cinematographer is very subtle, and it will not be given the appreciation it is due, even in ten years. Javier worked in very hard conditions, with very little light and color, and achieved a very beautiful narrative. Many of the photographers who have seen the movie have said to me that they would be unable to do some of the things that Javier has done."
In spite of the devastating experience that the film can turn out to be, the actor finds something of hope in it. "After seeing it, you realize that life is worth its sorrows. The fact that we are alive, that fact, is what’s important."
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Fotogramas Translation
Translation by: Ollie, Rio, Sage and Zooey
01 February 2010 16:46:31
Source:
Fotogramas
As promised here is a translation of the Viggo interview that appeared in the February issue of Fotogramas magazine. Once again we are grateful to Ollie, Rio, Sage and Zooey for providing this translation.
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© Macall Polay/Dimension Films.
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By Roger Salvans (Sitges)
Viggo Mortensen speaks softly. So much so that instead of one more interview in the endless promotional tour for The Road which has him roaming all over the world, it seems as if this 51 year old New Yorker with a porteño accent is revealing to us, in whispers, some secret he has decided not to keep to himself any longer. Barefooted, with a worn-out pair of jeans and sporting the jersey of his San Lorenzo de Almagro ("we began the year well, we remain undefeated"), Mortensen allows a cigarette to burn away in the only ashtray of the non-smokers’ suite where he receives FOTOGRAMAS. Recently landed from "I don´t know what German airport, with a bit of jet lag," he who was Aragorn and Alatriste has arrived in Sitges, where he is a Grand Prize Honoree at the Festival. And he has arrived, they tell us, having fallen out with Hillcoat, the director of The Road. Maybe that´s so. In fact, the two of them barely meet, but beyond the gossip surrounding the film (delays, disputes, trailers, misunderstandings), Mortensen fights tooth and nail for a film, un cuento, a story, to which he is committed to the end.
It is most appropriate that The Road should bring Sitges to a close, since the movie, really...
...it is a true horror tale. When they take everything from you, when you lose everything, there only remains, as a human being, the choice of being good or bad to your fellow men...
Once again you work yourself to the bone, in a very demanding character.
More mentally. It was a challenge. I had to face myself - without cheating; it wouldn´t have worked if we at least didn´t try to be strong and bear what it meant to be psychologically naked.... That was the challenge that interested me as an actor.
The filming was quite challenging. You shot in post-Katrina New Orleans...
Yes, Javier (Aguirresarobe) takes the credit for that colorless world. We shot mainly in western Pennsylvania, a lot of mountains, forest and a lot of winter. We were very lucky because we had a terrible climate.
Such luck...
That´s the way it had to be: this was helpful, too. Although Kodi (Smit-McPhee, his son in the film), suffered from it most. I have lived in the snow; Kodi hasn’t. He is from South Australia and he had never seen the snow. To him, the cold was something terrible... But he bore up very well and he even ended up admitting that it was useful to suffer a little to give the impression of suffering.
The Mortensen Method
With answers like that, you can understand why they say you’re a very methodical actor…
I don't know what this Method thing is. Sometimes I like to put pressure on those who ask me that. What are you asking me? You have no idea what you are asking me. No one can explain because Method is whatever works. Something that changes depending on the day, the cast working opposite you, your situation … It's good to be prepared, but the rest depends on being in the moment and using what happens.
How was the working relationship between your character and his son, The Boy?
Kodi's father saw that I was no threat and let us travel around on our own. We went off to discover things in Pittsburgh. One day we entered a shop where they were selling insects to eat. We bought worms, cockroaches… and prepared a cold buffet. What’s your opinion on that? I like the other kind better. We suggested incorporating this into the script and the director seemed to like it.
Take to The Road
Aside from additions like this, The Road maintains a reverential respect for the Cormac McCarthy novel from which it was adapted.
I always try to treat what's written with respect. And even more in an adaptation like this.
Faithfulness that was put in doubt following the first trailer, filled with apocalyptic explosions.
They decided to put in things that were not in the film. I understand that they want a bigger audience but I believe that it's better to tell the truth. They do it to sell it, but it's not necessary.
You practice many artistic disciplines. Has cinema become too small for you?
The beautiful thing about telling stories in film is that it's a complete artistic universe. Photography, painting, philosophy, music... I get involved in everything and I learn that way. As a photographer, I admired a lot of what Javier wanted to do; he did his cinematography the old-school way.
Destination: A Good Story
Are you considering making the leap to directing?
I've thought about it... Also, I have the advantage of liking actors, unlike many directors who seem not to like them, for whom we're only tools, nothing more. I like to write, tell stories, photography... I think it's a logical step that I'll end up taking.
Do you follow any fixed course in your career? Are you already planning your next project?
No, not at all... It could be that, within a year, I'll do a small film in Argentina. But for the time being, I'm concentrating on promoting The Road all over the world, something that's already exhausting enough.
What professional goals do you have?
What I'm looking for is to have a little luck. It's hard to put together the money to do a movie, and even more so if it's a film that's that doesn't fit the taste of the majority. The good stories, the original ones, always lead to different stories... That's what I ask for, to find a good story, or to have one find me. Simply that.
Details
At the end of this interview, citing a serious health problem of a Mortensen relative, he confirmed the indefinite cancellation of Purgatorio, the Ariel Dorfman play that he planned to star in, first with Ariadna Gil and later with Emma Suárez, in the Teatro Español in Spain...Despite that, Mortensen did not rule out working in Spain again soon, a place where, he adds, he "feels comfortable."
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