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Viggo News
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Viggo News
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Iolanthe's Quotable Viggo
25 July 2010 22:06:02
Although known and respected for years as a character actor, Viggo only became ‘famous’ when fate thrust him into Middle-earth. Suddenly he was in the centre of a very bright spotlight and things have never been quite the same since. Fame, like everything in life, has its ups and downs. You have to try and stay sane when you are recognised nearly everywhere you go, but you are also in a privileged position, able to chose the roles you want, support causes and disappear when you need to. For the man who would rather paint than party there are few places left where you might not be recognised….
If fame came with a report card, Viggo’s would say can do better.
The Man Who Would Be King
By Nick Dent
December 2001
Black & White magazine, #58
His Middle-earth exploits made him a planet-sized star, so what does shy, ungodly handsome Viggo Mortensen do with his shiny new fame? What he doesn't do is cut big deals then hit the clubs. Mortensen would rather work on offbeat art projects and hang out with David Cronenberg.
Viggo Get 'Em
21 September 2005
E!
"If I have a day off, I'm not at a Hollywood party. I'm not the type of actor who lives in the press. I'd rather be home in shorts and a T-shirt surrounded by paint brushes, a blank canvas and have a few candles burning as the day fades into the night."
Superstar Viggo's a serious soul at heart
by Cindy Pearlman,
Chicago Sun Times
9 Sept 2007
"I am what I am and there is nothing I can do. But I have never changed a bit of myself because of my work or, worse, because of the success I have reached."
A Latin Man Comes From The North
By Riccardo Romani - translated by Cindalea
GQ (Italy), May 2007
“Dreams about becoming famous wasn’t what got me into acting to begin with, but the dream about telling stories.”
Viggo Mortensen
Dreaming About Telling Stories
By Einar Fal Ingolfsson - translated by Rosen and Ragga
Morgunblaðið
29 May 2008
When I mention how incredible it must be when as a result of starring in Lord of the Rings, his face is on the side of an Air New Zealand plane, Mortensen shakes his head as though he's bewildered by it all.
"I know, it's scary," he says of the rush of fame that has come with such global success. "It is a little weird but this will pass. As you can probably guess neither my ego nor my sense of worth is tied to all that's happening. So if it goes away it's not going to be hugely depressing to me at all."
Comes A Horseman
By John Millar
Film Review (Special #51) Summer
2004
"If Aragorn hadn't became well known," he smiles, "and I hadn't got that visibility in The Lord of the Rings, there's no way that any production company would let me play Nikolai in Eastern Promises or Tom Stall in A History of Violence, or star in [Spanish movie] Alatriste. I simply wouldn't have got that chance.”
My painful decision to fight in the nude
By Will Lawrence
The Daily Telegraph
19 October 2007
“… Now I'm more well-known and I have to be a little more careful when I go out. But I see it as something positive. Because I also have a publishing house and sell more books thanks to the fame. I publish books by authors that aren't well known, but people see them because they know me from the movies.”
Viggo Mortensen
"I'd like to film in Argentina"
By Fernanda Iglesias - translated by Margarita
Clarín
15 November 2005
“The success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy changed the deal a little. Before then, when I put on a poetry reading, there would just be a circle of my friends around me. Now there are hundreds of inquisitive strangers. If fame can make an under-appreciated art better known, it’s perfect!
Viggo Mortensen
Grazia Magazine
Translated by Chrissiejane
December 2009
What’s the oddest place you’ve ever been recognized?
I was in Iceland with my son [Henry, 19] once in the thermal pools south of Reykjavik. We were floating, and, all of a sudden, this man wearing no clothes comes out of the mist with a soggy piece of paper and asks for an autograph.
That’s scary.
We drifted over to some rock so I could write. Strange.
Viggo Mortensen - Brooding Star of Eastern Promises
By Natasha Stoynoff
People
1 October 2007
How do you deal with fame?
It’s like everything else, if you take it too seriously… It’s part of the job. And if people go to the theater to watch one of your movies, and they like it and applaud… I’m not going to complain! The red carpet and the pictures is weird, and sometimes, blinding. If you don’t take it too seriously, you can be a part of it without buying it.
"I like to observe the world from an artistic point of view"
By J Fiestras - translated by Graciela
La Verdad
5 October 2007
He's… probably the most unlikely star ever to have been made into a fast-food action figure. Although Mortensen now sees LOTR as an unexpected gift, the fame it has afforded him can be "stressful and a little weird."
"Maybe I should go hide myself for a couple of years in Middle Earth."
The King and I
By Julie Hosking
Sunday Telegraph
23 November 2003
To research his role in Eastern Promises, Mortensen went alone on a two-week trip through Moscow, St. Petersburg and country villages, riding public transit and hanging out in coffee shops to photograph, record and study ordinary Russians.
It wasn't until the last day of his research trip, he says, that his cover was blown:
"A little boy started staring at me, then he pointed and whispered, 'Aragorn?' "
The Promise of Viggo Mortensen
By Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail
10 September 2007
'If I were walking down the street without being famous, I assure you that nobody would turn and look.'
Viggo Mortensen
"I'm permanently dissatisfied," by Amelia Enríquez, Lecturas Magazine
30 August 2006
Translated for V-W by Margarita
“If you go out with a big bunch of people, in a big fancy car, then you’re essentially still the face on the side of the bus and you’re inviting attention. But I try to stay low-profile and keep moving. You just have to be more nimble.”
Viggo on avoiding recognition
The happy trails of Viggo Mortensen
Xan Brooks
The Guardian
18 April 2009
No matter how outstanding his work, or how successful his films, it's impossible to imagine Mortensen without that customary reticence that makes him such a fine actor and such a reluctant star. Long may he stay off the radar.
On Viggo Mortensen
By Ryan Gilbey
Filminfocus.com
4 December 2007
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The Creator of The Path of the Condor Granted an Award for Educational Merit
Translation by Ollie, Rio, Sage and Zooey
22 July 2010 10:49:10
Source:
anbariloche.co.ar
Many thanks to Ollie, Rio, Sage and Zooey for translating the news about the recognition that the condor documentary is receiving.
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Through an initiative of Darío Barriga, the president of the Municipal Council, the municipal legislative body approved, in a regular session, the granting of an award for educational merit to the creator of The Path of the Condor.
The documentary film, directed by Christian Holler, head of the production company Altaco Project, and narrated by the actor Viggo Mortenson, tells the story of the investigative journey undertaken by an ornithologist (Lorenzo Sympson) and a hang-glider pilot (Martín Vallmitjana) in search of the secrets of the life and flight of the Andean condor.
“Holler’s work has become a source of pride for Bariloche which is already making its way beyond our city, being shown in various parts of the world, for which reason, this Municipal Council cannot distance itself from such a achievement by a native of Bariloche,” Darío Barriga said.
This Argentinian film has won the Best Picture award at the International Documentary Film Festival held in Spain. The panel of judges of this festival not only evaluates the artistic and technical quality, creativity, and originality of a work, but also seeks to educate the international population about environmental values and at the same time make known and promote the best locations for bird-watching.
The Path of the Condor is the first film in a series of three documentaries and the objective that motivated its director, Christian Holler, to shoot the film is based on four fundamental themes:
First, his constant inner searching led Christian Holler, photographer, director, and producer by nature, to combine the natural environment and the film set.
Second, his passion for telling stories drove him to film documentaries with educational content. In this case, the sportsman and the scientist get together on a research journey in which they exchange experiences that will push them to question themselves and reconsider their ways of coexisting with nature.
Third, their affection for nature made that in itself the propitious scope in which to develop their projects, thus showing Bariloche and Argentine Patagonia to the world.
As regards the fourth theme, Holler is a flying enthusiast. That´s why the idea of this film was born out of his own questions and answers as a hang-glider pilot and observer of nature.
For this documentary, the producers gathered professionals well-known for their experience such as Lorenzo Sympson, an ornithologist residing for years in our city who has dedicated himself for decades to research on condors.
Martín Vallmitjana is a hang-glider pilot dedicated to imparting the secrets of this great sport to those who attend his school in the neighbouring town of El Bolsón.
The voice narrating the documentary in Spanish and in the English version is that of the Argentinian actor Viggo Mortensen, who apart from acting in well-known films is a multifaceted artist who writes, paints, composes music, is a photographer and owns a publishing house.
He is a sensitive artist and passionate about Argentina. He was enthusiastic about the ecological and educational impression that would be expressed in the documentary, The Path of the Condor.
On the other hand, the producer, Altaco Project, signed a contract with Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific. The international company acquired the rights to show the film on its Animal Planet channel.
In this way, the documentary by Christian Holler becomes the first independent production from Argentine Patagonia to be chosen by the number one documentary company in the world.
Japan, China, India, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan will be among some of the countries that will see The Path of the Condor at this early stage.
As indicated above, I consider it appropriate that this Municipal Council grants recognition to director and producer Christian Holler for his educational achievement in the making of The Path of the Condor.
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Viggo-Works Needs Your Help Again This Year
18 July 2010 15:17:38
As with last year, economic times are challenging, and this year, we once again need to ask for your support for the cost of our webserver to keep Viggo-Works running. Those of you who have contributed over the years (and especially last year) have earned our undying gratitude. Thank you all so very much.
Times are still tight and again this year we find ourselves well short of our goal. We are asking for contributions. Please contribute, as you are able, to keep us going so that we can continue to enjoy Viggo-Works everyday and every week.
To make a contribution to our webserver fund and to keep Viggo-Works on the air…please click on the PayPal button you see on the left under the menu.
We will, once again, try to keep you updated on our fundraising progress. As always, we are delighted that all of you visit us daily. We enjoy the pleasure of your company.
Gotta LOVE that Viggo! |
Changes Coming to the Viggo-Works Forums: THE FORUMS ONLY
18 July 2010 15:16:40
One of our expenses earlier this year was to upgrade to the new vBulletin 4.0 version of our forum software. We were forced into it when it became clear they would no longer be updating and upgrading our old 3.8.5 version. As things go, I thought the upgrade to 4.0 was pretty pricey but vBulletin does build wonderful and safe forum software for big forums like ours.
On the bright side, I am positive that this new version will have lots of new hoots, bells, and whistles for all of us to play with.
The down side will be that towards the middle to end of this week we will be converting and things will not look the same for a while and may not feel the same. You may see a different appearance from our famous V-W green as Yoda and I (mostly Yoda )do the conversion. Things may not be in their usual places and you may need to scout around a bit to find your favorite haunts. Yoda and I will try our best to make the transition as smooth as possible so that all you need to do is play with the new stuff. I am sure we will all like and have fun with the end product.
So ... stay tuned! The times (and forums) are a changin'.
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Iolanthe's Quotable Viggo
17 July 2010 14:14:28
Viggo doesn’t seem to know the meaning of the word ‘stuntman’. If it needs doing Viggo’s there doing it – crashing onto tiled floors in the altogether, bouncing along bareback at a gallop, running over half of New Zealand with two broken toes, losing teeth… over the years we’ve winced with him as he’s performed over and above the call of duty. Along the way there have been some scary near misses and moments that have thrilled and astonished. There should be a special Oscar for it, there really should.
Eastern Promises
“… the two guys playing my attackers were good - one guy was a Georgian who had been in the Russian military, and the other guy was a Turkish professional boxer. They were perfect, and perfectly painful."
Viggo on the bathhouse fight
Ties That Bind
By Melora Koepke
Hour
13 September 2007
"I knew at times it would be awkward and vulnerable. It would also be painful because I couldn't wear any pads to protect me. All I was wearing was a bunch of tattoos."
My painful decision to fight in the nude
By Will Lawrence
The Daily Telegraph
19 October 2007
JMA: …I imagine it was difficult to choreograph.
DC: Any fight scene has to be choreographed, because you don't want to hurt anyone. Except I like to hurt him a bit.
VM: And he knows I liked it.
From Russia With Lugs
By Jeffrey M Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
24 August 2007
The Lord of the Rings
The months of night shooting, without break, eventually took their toll on Mortensen.
"He had no knuckles," laughs make-up man Perez. "He'd been virtually slaughtered by everyone because he would not let anyone do his rehearsals. All his knuckles were completely bruised and cut and God knows what else. Every time that he had a scene, I said, 'Okay, now where did they hit you?'"
Filming the Battle of Helms Deep
The Hero Returns
By Tom Roston
Premiere
January 2003
"On the fifth take, Viggo kicked the helmet, screamed, clenched his fists and dropped to his knees. I thought he was just doing some powerful acting. But then I noticed after I said 'cut' that he wasn't saying anything. Finally, he did the next scene limping."
Once they had finished filming, Jackson made the actor take off his boot.
"His toes were broken. Normally, an actor would yell 'ow!' if they hurt themselves, and stop the scene. Viggo turned a broken toe into a performance that's a great moment in the film."
Two Towers 'bloodier, more compelling'
New Zealand Herald
7 December 2002
In one take, Mortensen was battling an Uruk-Hai, a powerful and ferocious strain of orc, when a blade that was jutting from an extra's armour slashed into his face. "I thought, Oh my God, he's lost his face," recalls Perez, who then saw that the blade had somehow missed Mortensen's flesh but split his tooth - literally in half. "I said, 'You lost half a tooth.' And he looked at me and said, 'Look for it. You can stick it on with superglue.' And I said, 'No, come on, don't be silly, you can't.'" Mortensen finally relented and went to a dentist's office, still in full battle armour.
Filming the Battle of Helms Deep
The Hero Returns
By Tom Roston
Premiere
January 2003
"I can remember thinking, 'Oh, I could be dead,' a few times because there were a lot of situations that were dangerous. But there was one time I did come really close," he recalls. "It was while I was crossing a river with all my gear on. I got caught in the current and went straight to the bottom! I remember looking up, thinking it was a beautiful, sunny day. But then I started to black out.
"At that point, I genuinely thought, 'This is it,' because it was pretty far up to the surface. But somehow I kicked against a rock and managed to get out of it. It was close, though. Of all the things that happened during this movie, that was the one time where I genuinely thought I'd had it."
Viggo Mortensen
By Desmond Sampson
New York City, NY
Pavement #62,
Summer 2003-2004
I understand you broke two toes and a tooth during the fight scenes.
Yes, every actor who was involved with fight scenes got hurt, in one way or another. You got stabbed, or smashed-up. It sort of went with the territory. But as in so many areas, you were swept along in the river of the story to such a degree, that you were able to put up with, physically, mentally and emotionally, a lot more than you were accustomed to. A human being can be quite a resilient creature. When people are put to the test and engaged in something, they will go well past what they thought were the limits of their endurance. And all of us, certainly did that.
Hail To The King
By Lawrence French
December 2003
Source: Starburst #305
Hidalgo
"He did things on the horse that the stunt man had difficulty doing. He fell off the horse, he rode bareback, he jumped on the horse at a gallop, which is difficult to do, and he you know, he fell off a few times and he got knocked down and he got kicked a few times, but you know, he also got right back up and wanted to do it again. I think he knew that if there was anything that was really life-threatening, he would come forward and say, 'I don't feel comfortable doing this.' But he never did."
Joe Johnston
IGN gets the behind-the-action goods from the director, writer and star of Hidalgo.
By Jeff Otto, IGN
March 04, 2004
“I've always liked to ride, and it sort of reminds me of when I was a little boy. When you're a kid, you're kind of fearless. You can get afraid of things, but you're not as conscious of your mortality or of getting hurt as when you're an older guy and you're kind of like, 'Well, you know, if I come off goin' full tilt...this is gonna hurt.'”
Viggo on riding bareback in Hidalgo
'King' Star Returns To The Screen, Riding High
By Todd Camp
Star Telegram
6 March 2004
There's a part of the body that we weren't aware of called the 'nacho'. In other words, it's sort of right in the middle, it's not your, uh, you know, up front and it's not your...and that got pretty sore. We got a nacho pad, but it was a little too late.
Viggo Mortensen on riding bareback
'King' Star Returns To The Screen, Riding High
by Todd Camp
Star Telegram, 6 March 2004
Is it true that you and your British co-star, Zuleikha Robinson, could have been killed while shooting Hidalgo?
That was scary! We were both riding this horse, and it just took off and headed for this really high wall. I knew that there were trucks and equipment on the other side, and two huge storage jars on top. I was sitting behind Zuleikha, just hanging on. Somehow we stayed on, but Zuleikha lost the reins and I jumped off and grabbed them, and miraculously no one - not even the horse - got hurt. We could easily have been killed. Zuleikha was giggling - I think the shock hit her later. It wasn't caught on camera, but it would have looked like a great special effect. It was unbelievable!
Our Kiss Was Just a kiss
By John Millar
Hot Stars
27 March 2004
GI Jane
"She actually got me in the balls a couple of times," he recalls with a laugh, "but it was unintentional, I'm sure."
Viggo Mortensen on fighting with Demi Moore in GI Jane
The Man Who Would Be King
by Nick Dent
Black & White magazine 2001
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