Lord, he's taking it pretty seriously. That would be actor Viggo Mortensen, who really got into his role of Aragorn in "Lord of the Rings."

"I took my sword with me everywhere,""

Said Mortensen, who plays a human warrior saving the Middle-earth in the much-awaited flick, due out Wednesday.

"I remember one time a cop in New Zealand, where we were filming, stopped me because I was walking out of my apartment in the middle of the night carrying a huge sword. I guess it was an alarming sight, but I was just walking to work. "

He can go one better. Mortensen actually slept in his suede costume for months, so it would smell as ripe as a real warrior who wore the same outfit for years.

"I wasn't leaving any stone unturned."

Or ripe smell unsmelled. During interviews last week in New York, Mortensen arrived shoeless.

"It was the Middle-earth thing to do,"

But what about blisters? Athlete's foot?

"You don't worry about those things. It's about the role."