Viggo Mortenson: Movies to Art to Politics

Moviehole.net reported May 8 that Viggo Mortensen is the directors' pick to replace Kevin Costner in The Holy Road, sequel to Dances with Wolves.

Director Simon Wincer (The Man From Snowy River, Free Willy) is on the search for a new "Dances with Wolves" and the name we've heard that's the favourite to play the role right now is Viggo Mortensen. If Mortensen can stand pulling himself away from David Cronenberg for a couple of months, the role might do him so good. I think he'd be rather super in it, too. ...

The Holy Road, which is on target to film sometime in 2009, picks up eleven years later, with Dances with Wolves married to Stands With Fist — they have kiddies, too — and the white man encroaching further on the lives of the Sioux as they build a railway, the titular "Holy Road."

Visit Moviehole.net for the complete article by Ramius.

Labels: Dances with Wolves, Viggo Mortensen

I'm finally going to see Viggo Mortensen in person! He has been filming The Road in the Portland, Oregon, area, and will be reading this Friday evening, May 16, as part of the Voices of a People's History tour.

(I'm driving up Friday afternoon from Corvallis. If you are interested in car-pooling, please contact me!)

In addition to Mortensen, the evening features readings by performance poet Staceyann Chin, poet and musician Tevino Brings Plenty, singer Shontina Vernon, Portland student activist Sarah Levy, actor Michael Ealy, teacher, actor, and musician Eric Levine, editor and author Anthony Arnove, and other fine actors and activists.

They will be reading from Voices of a People's History of the United States, edited by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove. Voices is the primary-source companion to Howard Zinn's best-selling A People's History of the United States. It features the words of rebels, dissenters and visionaries from our past — and present.

Here is a video excerpt, read by Viggo Mortensen:


The performance is sponsored by the Illahee Lecture Series and is a benefit for Voices of a People's History of the United States, a 501c3 created to encourage civic engagement and to further history education by bringing the rich stories of dissent and activism in the United States to life through public readings.

For more information, visit HowardZinn.org. Tickets are available online through the Illahee Institute. As of Monday morning, May 12, they have about 50 tickets left.

If you can't make it to Portland, consider visiting Democracy Now! for video and audio of one of a May, 2007, show. An audio CD, Readings from Voices of a People's History of the United States, is also available. And see Wikipedia: A People's History of the United States for in-depth discussion and analysis of the books.

Labels: appearance, Viggo Mortensen, Voices

Native American infants in South Dakota need your support. 1, 2, 3... Hi Baby! is a nonprofit organization committed to reducing the incidence of infant mortality of the Indian people on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation by providing services and education regarding healthy lifestyles, healthy pregnancies, healthy children and families, and positive parenting to the entire family. This includes the nuclear-immediate family as well as the extended family.

Clients of the 1,2,3 ... Hi Baby! program are spread out over the vast area of the Pine Ridge Reservation which is approximately 2 million acres and a reliable means of transportation is vital so the needs of the moms and babies can be met. Currently those needs are challenged and occasionally go without being met with an unreliable source of "wheels".

Friends On Board is working to raise $50,000.00 to purchase a reliable vehicle for this project. Brego.net joins other Viggo Mortensen websites, including Just Viggo, Obsession, Viggo-Works, and Virtual Viggo, in supporting and endorsing this campaign. All donations are tax deductible. Please visit Friends On Board to donate today. Thank you!

Labels: Pine Ridge Reservation

This month marks the fourth anniversary of Brego.net. The site grew like gangbusters the first year and then tapered off. My dad moved in with me in mid-2006, rearranging my priorities somewhat. So updates to Brego.net have been sparse since then. But I've never been willing to let go completely. I faced a decision point recently. Hosting the site is costing me around $25-30/month, which adds up, and money is tight. The Amazon & Netflix ads only bring in around $5-10/month. So I had to decide whether to let go of the site or see if it can pay for itself. So I'm going to do more updates and add in the material I've been collecting on disk the past year. But I'm also going to make some space on the site for more ads. I hate to do it but I don't see a choice!

Viggo Mortensen is featured on the cover of the March 2008 issue of Men's Vogue. It's out in New York and LA this week and nationwide next week.

Written by Phoebe Eaton, the article includes an extensive interview. Synopsis:

Viggo Mortensen can swing a broadsword as Aragorn or neatly fillet a Russian mobster. But off-screen, the Oscar contender is a life-giving force, playing big brother to a band of poets, painters, and searchers like him.

Read the feature article online.

Photo ©copyright 2088 by Norman Jean Roy for Men's Vogue.

Labels: article, interview, Viggo Mortensen, Vogue

An individual recently bought out the stock of Illuminati Press, the publisher of Viggo Mortensen's first book Ten Last Night. He is offering for sale on eBay the original manuscript, the proof/galley (loosely bound), alternate covers, and correspondences between Viggo Mortensen and his publisher. Many items are personally signed, annotated or decorated by Viggo. The sale ends October 30.

Labels: book, Ten Last Night, Viggo Mortensen

We've posted 43 captures of Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises, taken from the super high-resolution trailer (1920px x 1056px), to our new Eastern Promises page. You'll also find other high-resolution stills from Eastern Promises on this page. We'll continue to add more links to reviews and other resources over the next weeks.

Labels: Eastern Promises, photos, screencaps, Viggo Mortensen