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Monday, April 6, 2009

Viggo Mortensen taking a break from acting

Viggo Mortensen in GoodIn an interview with Kevin Maher published April 2, 2009, in the London Times, Viggo Mortensen talked about the grueling schedule of travel associated with film promotion and stated that he is taking an indefinite break from movie acting:

"In the past week I've been from LA to Japan to Korea to Poland to here," he hisses, describing in near disbelief the travel itinerary for his current promotional tour. "It's ridiculous! It's not a healthy way to be. But, as it happens, I'm taking measures to change that." Which are? "No more movies. I haven't said yes to one in over a year. I've been in all these well-received movies and it seems like I should be doing some more, but there's other things I want to do. It's not the right time."

When asked when it might be the right time to come back to film-making, he could only answer that he didn't know. This doesn't mean that Viggo will be idle.

He says that, of course, life goes on, and that he’s a busy man. As well as a new collection of published poems, called Songs of Winter, there is also a Spanish language production of Ariel Dorfman's play Purgatorio that he plans to perform in Madrid this winter. "I haven’t done theatre in 20 years," he says. "And that terrifies me more than death."

Viggo Mortensen also talks about the just-released Good, which he is currently promoting.

"Everywhere I've seen this movie play, it ends, the lights go on, and people are completely unsure," he says, beaming with pride. "They don't know what to think. And I'm like: 'That's OK. This movie doesn't give you that tragic finale so common in the Holocaust genre. That's because it’s as much about us, the viewers, as it is about Germany or the Germans.'"

Mortensen gets a kick out of this. He likes the way the movie tricks us, and asks us what we would have done, and at what point we would have said no to the Nazi war machine. He also likes the tricks that the movie plays with his image, how people expect a square-jawed hero on screen, and how shocked they are to find Middle Earth's unswerving Aragorn as a dithering Nazi puppet. "People have expectations of me, I suspect," he says. "And here those expectations are, um, subverted."

We suspect that anyone who has seen Viggo Mortensen in his wide range of roles, from the whiny Lalin in Carlito's Way to the seductive hippie Walker in Walk on the Moon to the tough, disciplined and even brutal Master Chief Urgayle in G.I. Jane, would not be at all surprised at his ability to play this character—or any character, for that matter.

For more on the film, visit our Good page. For the full interview (well worth reading), visit the Times Online.

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Thursday, September 4, 2008

Gospel According to Harry now on DVD!

Gospel According to Harry DVD coverThe Gospel According to Harry is one of the most unusual films Viggo Mortensen has made — and that's saying something! Called "A highly visual, beautifully shot striking film ... where the director's maverick vision creates a metaphor for our times against a barren landscape," by Piers Handling of the Toronto International Film Festival, the film is dreamlike and surreal.

Polish director Lech Majewski shot the film in English in the California desert, but it was released in Europe in 1993 as Ewangelia wedlug Harry'ego, with Polish subtitles. Some determined folks taped it off of European broadcast television, making low-quality copies available in the U.S., but the film was not released on video tape or DVD. As of August 18, 2008, this has changed, with a Region 1 DVD release. Read more about The Gospel According to Harry, or just rush off and order it from Amazon.

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

More Appaloosa photos

Viggo Mortensen & Ed Harris in AppaloosaThe publicity for Appaloosa, starring Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris, is building fast. According to Rope of Silicon, "Warner Bros. just sent in their preview kit for their Fall/Holiday 2008 season and it includes new pics and information for seven of their upcoming films including Appaloosa." The same article gives the release dates as "In theatres on September 17 (NY/LA/Toronto) and October 3 (wide)," which is earlier than previous reports.

We've added several new stills to our Appaloosa photo gallery, along with links to more.

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Monday, May 26, 2008

Image of Viggo Mortensen in The Road

Viggo Mortensen in The RoadFrom Row Three, one of the first images of Viggo Mortensen in the upcoming movie, The Road. Viggo plays "Father" in this film version of Cormac McCarthy's novel. With Mortensen is Kodi Smit-McPhee, who plays "Son."

The film is scheduled to be released in the USA in November of 2008.

(Click on the image to see a larger version.)

Added: This image also appears, along with another shot, in the May 30, 2008, issue of Entertainment Weekly. See details and scans on our The Road page.

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Thursday, September 13, 2007

Fresh Air: Cronenberg & Mortensen, Making 'Eastern Promises'

David Cronenberg, Viggo Mortensen and Vincent Cassel on the set of Eastern PromisesViggo Mortensen and David Cronenberg appeared on NPR's Fresh Air from WHYY today. Host Terry Gross had a great time asking them about the making of their new film Eastern Promises. Topics included Viggo's Russian accent, the tattoos, how to best photograph blood, and of course the steam bath scene in which a naked Mortensen fights several assailants. Listen to the show online or subscribe to the Fresh Air podcast. More about the film on our Eastern Promises page.

Photograph by Peter Mountain for Focus Features.

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Sunday, August 12, 2007

Updates to Vanishing Point page

Viggo Mortensen in Vanishing PointThanks to Christopher for pointing out ways to clarify the difference between the original 1971 movie, Vanishing Point, and the 1997 remake starring Viggo Mortensen. See our Vanishing Point page for the updated information.

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