Viggo Mortensen Doesn't Need to Make Big Movies Anymore
17 May 2016 07:53:21Source: IndieWire.
Found By: Kath
A very good article. Thanks to Kath for the find.
Quote:
The "Captain Fantastic" star is happy to make one good movie a year, but that's not all he's doing these days.
Image Indiewire May 17, 2016.
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Viggo Mortensen's turn as Aragon in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy gave him the potential for a couple of cinematic identities, all lucrative: He could be an action hero. Or the smart woman's sex symbol.
However, in the 13 years since he left middle-Earth, only two of the last five leads were in English. And he has a fondness for turning familiar genres inside out in films like the Athens-set thriller "The Two Faces of January" and the experimental period drama "Jajua." He's also continued his work as a painter, photographer, poet, and publisher through his own Perceval Press, the independent publishing house he launched in 2002.
"I guess you could call the movies I do off the beaten track," the actor said by phone from Spain, where he was spending some time working on his poetry career before heading to Cannes for the international premiere of "Captain Fantastic," where it screens this week. "I'm not willfully ignoring studio movies. I'm just looking for stories that I think are worth telling." ...
... "I'm happy to make one really good movie a year," he said. "The process does take a toll. It's hard just to get a movie made and find attention for it."
So far, that hasn't been a concern for the acclaimed "Captain Fantastic," the only Sundance title selected for the official Cannes lineup this year. The movie finds Mortensen playing hippie patriarch Ben, whose idyllic life raising his five children in the Pacific Northwest forest comes to an halt with news of his wife's sudden death. Back in civilization, Ben must confront the shortcomings of his radical parenting. ...
However, in the 13 years since he left middle-Earth, only two of the last five leads were in English. And he has a fondness for turning familiar genres inside out in films like the Athens-set thriller "The Two Faces of January" and the experimental period drama "Jajua." He's also continued his work as a painter, photographer, poet, and publisher through his own Perceval Press, the independent publishing house he launched in 2002.
"I guess you could call the movies I do off the beaten track," the actor said by phone from Spain, where he was spending some time working on his poetry career before heading to Cannes for the international premiere of "Captain Fantastic," where it screens this week. "I'm not willfully ignoring studio movies. I'm just looking for stories that I think are worth telling." ...
... "I'm happy to make one really good movie a year," he said. "The process does take a toll. It's hard just to get a movie made and find attention for it."
So far, that hasn't been a concern for the acclaimed "Captain Fantastic," the only Sundance title selected for the official Cannes lineup this year. The movie finds Mortensen playing hippie patriarch Ben, whose idyllic life raising his five children in the Pacific Northwest forest comes to an halt with news of his wife's sudden death. Back in civilization, Ben must confront the shortcomings of his radical parenting. ...
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