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Viggo on Live Chat Tomorrow (April 8)
7 April 2020 23:04:51Quote:
Crave and TIFF announce new virtual chat guests for Stay-at-Home Cinema
© Bleecker Street.
TORONTO — Bell Media's Crave and the Toronto International Film Festival announced Tuesday this week's lineup of virtual chats and screenings as part of their Stay-at-Home Cinema initiative launched at the end of March. On Wednesday, April 8, Academy Award-nominated actor Viggo Mortensen (pictured) takes over the @CraveCanada Instagram page for a virtual Q&A with TIFF artistic director and co-head Cameron Bailey. Following the chat, audiences are invited to screen Captain Fantastic on Crave.
© Cartt.ca. Images © Bleecker Street..
Iolanthe's Quotable Viggo
21 March 2020 14:20:14 Found By: Iolanthe
This week we have the third part of our look at Viggo’s work with Actor/Directors. Viggo was nominated for an Oscar for his role as Ben Cash in Matt Ross’s Captain Fantastic, taking the role a little away from Ross’s original concept but delivering a performance full of authenticity which Ross loved. An actor giving another actor space to truly create something remarkable. Not for nothing was Viggo Ross’s first and only choice.
I often ask actors what it's like to work with directors with an acting background but, strangely, so seldom get to ask actor-turned-directors what it's like to work with actors.
[Laughs] I think it makes them comfortable because I'm an actor. I think a lot of directors don't understand the acting process. I think they feel alienated from it. They're either overtly respectful or overtly disdainful of it, you know? It's very hard! Good acting is seamless, right? That's why everyone thinks they can do it. Good acting should look absolutely seamless. It's like ducks: the feet are really moving under the water. I think I understand the process because I've been an actor my whole life. Truthfully, I love acting and I love actors. Not all directors do.
A Conversation with Matt Ross & Viggo Mortensen
Anthem
20 May 2016
"Viggo was an easy first choice, casting him was intuitive."
Matt Ross
Film takes audience on 'Fantastic' journey
Jay Meehan,
The Park Record
21 January 2016
“Viggo was a central collaborator in terms of his ideas about the script. He had wonderful and insightful ideas about everything, including adding his own original music to the film. For me, he exemplifies a very high level of artistry and integrity. That is one of the things that made him my first choice to play Ben, Physically and temperamentally, he was absolutely right.”
Director Matt Ross
Cannes Press Kit
May 2016
‘I've been around long enough to know to know that this was one of the best things I'd read in a long time. But I have to say, when I met Matt Ross, I said, "This is a great script, a near perfect blueprint for a story, but I don't know how you can make a movie as good as the script unless you find six genius kids." He said, "Well, we will try!" I was nervous. Fortunately, he included me in the process of the final auditions for each of the kids' roles and they were all so talented.’
Viggo Mortensen on Captain Fantastic, Being Typecast, and the Long-term Benefit of Being in Lord of the Rings
Vulture
7 December 2016
…almost as soon as they began talking about the movie, Mr. Mortensen sent Mr. Ross a 10-page list of factual questions. "He was very interested in the family compound," Mr. Ross said. "He wanted to know all about the sanitation, the water source, the food supply — things like that."
Viggo Mortensen Goes Off the Grid With 'Captain Fantastic'
By Charles McGrath
The New York Times.
28 June 2016
What are the distinct differences you see in being directed by someone who is also an actor? Are there things Matt did as a director that made your job easier?
You don't have to be a great actor to be a good director of actors. But I haven't seen anybody do a better job of than Matt did of going the extra mile every day to make sure everybody was comfortable, and not just the kids. This was only his second full-length film. It was very ambitious. We're talking about an indie movie where we are changing locations almost every day, you have a lot of child actors who have limited working hours legally, and you are shooting outdoors a lot of the time. That would be challenging for any director, even a seasoned one. But he was great at creating the illusion. That's how good an actor he is: Inside, he was probably ready to curl up and die. [Laughs.]
Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Mortensen on Captain Fantastic, Being Typecast, and the Long-term Benefit of Being in Lord of the Rings
Vulture
7 December 2016
The director sent Mortensen a huge box of books of recommended reading, including texts by Tom Brown, the renowned naturalist and author of ‘Tom Brown’s Field Guide to Wilderness Survival; linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky; and Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist and writer Jared Diamond, all of which he felt Ben would be intimately familiar with. “I thought that was a great way to frame some of the knowledge that this family would have,” Ross says. “It turned out Viggo had read all the books already.”
Cannes Press Kit
May 2016
How different was the character from the page to what Viggo Mortensen brought to it?
Ross: I think the character as originally conceived was a little bit more… he had a bit more of a twinkle in his eye, a little more of a trickster. Not a jokester because that implies a broad comedic performance. What [the character’s] doing is so extreme and rigid, I thought one of the ways he would counter balance that is with a real ‘joie de vivre’ – a real playful, fun father. So he was constantly mocking his children and playing with them and poking at them. It was different kind of energy. More like Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. A guy that you love and want to be around. Not obnoxious but playful. But that’s just not Viggo’s energy and I never really talked to him about it. I just let him reflect and interpret [the part] as he would. I liked what he did because what he does is bring credibility and an authenticity. I thought that was just as valid of an interpretation.
Matt Ross Reveals How ‘Captain Fantastic’ Changed from the Page to the Screen
by Tommy Cook
Collider.com
7 September 2016
“...what was surprising to me about working with him is that I could never catch him acting. He doesn't have any false moments."
Matt Ross
Dr. No: Viggo Mortensen Has Made Turning Down Roles Into an Art Form
By Oliver Jones
The Observer
6 July 2016
‘…for me, I can have no better faith than in Viggo Mortensen.’
Matt Ross
Captain Fantastic: Viggo Mortensen and Matt Ross Interview
Jason Gorber
Dorkshelf.com
14 July 2016
“I’m thrilled that CAPTAIN FANTASTIC has been included among this year’s Academy nominees! Our movie has heart and brains. It entertains, inspires, and encourages honest communication in equal measures. I’m extremely proud to represent Matt Ross’ extraordinary story. It is one of the finest collective efforts I’ve ever been a part of. YES WE CAN! I wish my mother, who loved movies and taught me about them, was still here to enjoy this moment.”
Viggo’s reaction to his Oscar Nomination
Entertainment Weekly
25 January 2017
How much of Viggo Mortensen is there in the movie, since you also have a farm, make cheese...?
Viggo Mortensen: I don´t make cheese, that comes from a lie told by Karl Urban three years ago, he said I had a farm in Segovia, something I would love.
Matt Ross: He makes all his clothes and shoes. I´m going to continue making myths about you.
More on Viggo’s goat farm...
Hablamos con Viggo Mortensen y Matt Ross por el estreno de 'Captain Fantastic'
By Mikel Zorrilla
Blog de Cine
19 September 2016
Viggo Mortensen’s dedication to his craft and to the world of the story he’s telling have been an inspiration to me for years,” said Ross. “There is a depth to his art that I greatly admire. Any film he’s in is a film I want to see. He’s one of the greats. Getting to collaborate with him on Captain Fantastic is quite literally the best thing that’s happened to me since my wife asked me to marry her.”
Matt Ross
Viggo Mortensen To Star In Electric City’s ‘Captain Fantastic’
By Mike Fleming Jnr
Deadline.com
20 February 2014
You will find all previous Quotables here.
© Viggo-Works/Iolanthe. Images © Eric Simkins/Bleecker Street.
Iolanthe's Quotable Viggo
27 April 2019 12:41:49 Found By: Iolanthe
Captain Fantastic is being broadcast on BBC 2 in the UK tomorrow night and although I have it on Blu-ray, I won't be able to resist watching. Which is just the excuse I need for some my favourite Fantastic quotes!
The clan's father isn't a superhero, but because he's played by Viggo Mortensen he's the next best thing.
Manohla Dargis
New York Times
7 July 2016
‘Viggo demonstrates the aspirations of the movie, what kind of movie are you hoping to make, and for me, I can have no better faith than in Viggo Mortensen.’
Matt Ross
Captain Fantastic: Viggo Mortensen and Matt Ross Interview
Jason Gorber
Dorkshelf.com
14 July 2016
“Getting to collaborate with him on Captain Fantastic is quite literally the best thing that's happened to me since my wife asked me to marry her.”
Matt Ross
Viggo Mortensen To Star In Electric City's Captain Fantastic’
By Mike Fleming Jnr
Deadline.com
20 February 2014
Viggo Mortensen gets the role he may well have been born to play, not as a superhero, but as a super-dad determined to raise his kids on his own terms.... The inspired choice of casting Mortensen, a natural Papa Bear, who taps into both his physical strength and spiritual gentleness.
Peter Debruge
Variety
23 January 2016
Mortensen, looking his most mountain-man handsome, is winning and charismatic, walking on the knife's edge between principled and unhinged.
Brian Moylan
The Guardian
31 January 2016
The director sent Mortensen a huge box of books of recommended reading, including texts by Tom Brown, the renowned naturalist and author of Tom Brown's Field Guide to Wilderness Survival; linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky; and Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist and writer Jared Diamond, all of which he felt Ben would be intimately familiar with. “I thought that was a great way to frame some of the knowledge that this family would have, Ross says. “It turned out Viggo had read all the books already.”
Cannes Press Kit
May 2016
“...we had this two-day, one-night wilderness survival camp, with just the six of us kids and a guide, she said. “We each were given a knife and had to figure out how to survive. We had to track down our food, purify water, build a shelter. I love being outdoors, but this was pretty extreme.”
“We were building fires because in the forest it was so incredibly dark, Isler said. “All of a sudden, we heard these sounds and saw this shape coming toward us through the forest. It was Viggo, who said he wanted to bring us beef jerky and dried cherries. And we were all like, How in the world did you find us?’ ”
Tulsa teen actress Samantha Isler talks about her role in 'Captain Fantastic'
By James D Watts Jnr
Tulsa World
29 July 2016
‘I like gardening and I grow my own vegetables... I could say to Matt, If it's this time of year, this is how big the vegetables would be. This is what would grow in such a small clearing.” All those things you only see in passing, but it was important to him and to me that the way this family lives be completely credible.’
Viggo Mortensen goes 'extreme' in 'Captain Fantastic'
Josh Rottenberg
LA Times
30 June 2016
‘For Ben, you can alternate between what a great father and this guy's a maniac.’
Viggo Mortensen Goes Green: ‘I Trust Hillary About as Much as I Trust Donald Trump’
Marlo Stern
The Daily Beast
16 July 2016
He looks like the kind of guy who, yes, would worship Noam Chomsky, but he also looks like the kind of guy who would eat him for breakfast. It’s the ruggedly paradoxical, gentle-but-brute presence of Viggo Mortensen, more than anything else, that makes Captain Fantastic a twisting Rubik's Cube of blue and red.
Owen Gleiberman
Variety
13 July 2016
Making it endlessly watchable is Viggo Mortensen, here in his fully bearded, hippie-Viking mode.
Stephen Whitty
NJ.com
8 July 2016
“We rented a hotel room for him, but he never stayed there. We just knew he was in the forest somewhere. That kind of commitment really shows in his work.”
Producer Lynette Howell Taylor
Viggo Mortensen
Cannes Press Kit
May 2016
When he appears, caked in mud, looking like a kind of eco-Rambo, splashing barefoot through a river and cutting the heart out of a deer, you'll be thinking: Well, that's just Viggo Mortensen's life, isn't it?
Wild man Viggo Mortensen lets it all hang out in Captain Fantastic
Neala Johnson
Herald Sun
8 September 2016
“Just because it's not possible to be a perfect dad or to be Captain Fantastic, that doesn't mean it's not worth trying.”
In Captain Fantstic, Viggo Mortensen found more than a modern-day Mr. Mom’
By Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
15 July 2016
…the movie truly belongs to Mortensen; fierce and tender and tremendously flawed, he's fantastic.
Leah Greenblatt
Entertainment Weekly
7 July 2016
You will find all previous Quotables here.
© Viggo-Works/Iolanthe. Images © Wilson Webb/Bleecker Street.
Iolanthe's Quotable Viggo
19 January 2019 14:07:51 Found By: Iolanthe
Now we’re once again in Awards Season, I thought it would be great to take another look at why Viggo received so many nominations in 2016-17 when his performance took a small budget, under-the-radar film into the Oscar spotlight with Matthew Ross’s wonderful Captain Fantastic. Could Ben Cash possibly be further from Tony Lip?
Viggo Mortensen overcomes every intrusion of doubt with a performance that is informed, inspired, ideological and overwhelming. He's so sensational that he makes the film's title come true with no strings attached.
Super-Dad: ‘Captain Fantastic’ Enthralls the Senses and Engages the Mind
By Rex Reed
The Observer
5 July 2016
The clan’s father isn’t a superhero, but because he’s played by Viggo Mortensen he’s the next best thing.
Manohla Dargis
New York Times
7 July 2016
Mortensen is outstanding in the film giving one of those rare performances that deserve the term breathtaking.
John H Foote
Thecinemaholic.com
2 August 2016
...The beauty of the film lies in its refusal to paint Ben as a deluded tyrant or principled pioneer. He doesn’t have two faces — thanks to the script, as well as Mortensen’s squirrely brilliance, he has hundreds.
Charlotte O'Sullivan
Evening Standard
9 September 2016
Mortensen sets about captaining this ship so well, with such fine shadings of distant grief, self-reproach, humility when it’s necessary, defiance when it’s not, that you can’t imagine anyone else in the role, and wouldn’t want anyone else near it.
Tim Robey
The Telegraph
8 September 2016
I really can’t say enough about the work Viggo Mortensen. He’s able to give this character so much life that you’re under his spell; whether you agree or disagree with Ben’s view of the world and outlook on raising his children. We see the best and worst of him, with Mortensen showcasing that brilliantly.
Joey Magidson
awardscircuit.com
7 July 2016
Viggo Mortensen gets the role he may well have been born to play, not as a superhero, but as a super-dad determined to raise his kids on his own terms.... The inspired choice of casting Mortensen — a natural Papa Bear, who taps into both his physical strength and spiritual gentleness — shows through best when interacting with the kids, though the actor also shines when forced to defend his choices to others.
Peter Debruge
Variety
23 January 2016
Every now and then, a movie comes along that plays out almost entirely on a gifted actor’s face; you feel as if you could watch the whole thing in quiet close-up, and catch every nuance of the story. I think of Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine,” Brie Larson in “Room,” Denzel Washington in “Flight,” to name just a few — and now, Viggo Mortensen in “Captain Fantastic.”
Moira Macdonald
Seattle Times
14 July 2016
Mortensen gives the performance of his life in the film’s final act, visibly aching, filled with callously crushed desires and a deep well of sorrow.
James Robins
The Listener (NZ)
3 October 2016
At the heart of it all is the ever-brilliant Viggo Mortensen. Ben is a complex character that has every fragment of thought etched into Mortensen’s expression. He’s taken a hold of this character unlike any since Aragon. He embodies Ben perfectly, and the film can’t be imagined without him.
By Amie Cranswick
Flickeringmyth.com
9 September 2016
Mortensen imbues Ben with such an easy, thoughtful, virile confidence that it is easy to see why his wife Leslie (Trin Miller) and children would think that hiding in the forest with him seems like the best possible option.
John Lui
Straits Times
12 July 2016
Mortensen, a spellbinding leading man who’s got as firm a grip on the audience as his character does on his brood. He sells and sells and sells, and we buy, buy, buy; every idea Ben projects onto his kids, even the zany ones, sound perfectly logical when spoken by a voice so even and wise and alluring. He’s so convincing that when he finally comes to the realization that he may actually be a much bigger threat to his children’s health and safety than capitalism, smartphones or even Kanye West and the Kardashians, our hearts break for him.
Bernard Boo
wegothiscovered.com
11 July 2016
With any luck, Mortensen will get an Oscar nomination for his wonderfully soulful performance. As a real-life renaissance man (Mortensen is also a painter, author, photographer, and musician) with an intellectually rebellious streak, it’s a role he was born to play…
Jonathan Kim
Huffington Post
15 July 2016
It’s the ruggedly paradoxical, gentle-but-brute presence of Viggo Mortensen, more than anything else, that makes “Captain Fantastic” a twisting Rubik’s Cube of blue and red.
Owen Gleiberman
Variety
13 July 2016
You will find all previous Quotables here.
© Viggo-Works/Iolanthe. Images © Wilson Webb/Bleecker Street.
Last edited: 31 May 2023 15:42:13