Iolanthe's Quotable Viggo
9 December 2017 14:58:53 Found By: Iolanthe
Two Faces of January is on TV this week with a 4 star rating and seeing it in the listings has reminded me how much I need to see this film again. Viggo gives a powerhouse performance (as does his suit) and Amini is masterly in the way he steadily builds up the tension and dependency between the three lead characters. We loathe and pity them at the same time. We root for them while trying to remind ourselves that we really shouldn't. All that and fabulous locations too!
Was it a thrill when Viggo came on board?
Yes! And a big surprise. I went to see him in Spain and one of the things I remember is the feeling that I was auditioning for a movie star. I expected to be kept waiting for days, but it went completely opposite of what I'd imagined. First, he phoned to make sure I was alright as soon as I'd arrived at my hotel, he walked to my hotel to meet me and took me out to dinner. He paid. He wouldn't let me pay. That's just an example of what a kind and gracious man he is.
Hossein Amini
Viggo Mortensen & Kirsten Dunst Open Up About New Movie, Paparazzi & Being Boring
By Dorri Olds
The Blot Magazine
26 September 2014
"He became almost like a partner, sort of a patron saint to the whole movie. That allowed me to go and get the financing."
Hossein Amini
New director turns to an old favorite, '2 Faces of January'
By Pam Grady
San Francisco Chronicle
1 October 2014
"Viggo is a gorgeous man, so it wasn't that difficult to have chemistry with Viggo. He's really funny, which a lot of people wouldn't expect, and we had a really good time together."
Kirsten Dunst
London Premier Interview
Press Association
14 May 2014
After Viggo Mortensen committed to playing Chester MacFarland, Amini slightly tweaked his conception of the character. "Viggo looks heroic and there's an element of Gatsby in the character, which doesn't exist in the book so much," says the British-Iranian Amini. "I love that element of striking, handsome, charismatic men who are destined to be defeated somehow; Chester struck me as that sort of character, whereas in the book he is a little more wasted from the very beginning."
"The Two Faces of January" - Production Notes
StudioCanal
February 2014
"[Hossein Amini's] process is one of the best experiences I've ever had. "He got us altogether for a month, month and a half, to talk about the script. We could work out these things before shooting and ask questions about the characters. He was really open to changes that we felt were necessary. It was incredible for a director who has spent twenty years fine tuning his script to open up that process to us. It allowed us to work more smoothly and be more invested."
Viggo Mortensen
Press Conference
Cinema Chords
14 May 2014
"Chester is kind of a slob, all sweaty and paranoid; he's crazy from the start, really."
Viggo Mortensen
Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Hossein Amini – The Two Faces of January
By Robyn Candyce
Moviehole
24 September 2014
"He's got a lot of hidden fears. It's a real banquet for an actor."
Viggo Mortensen explains rooting for the bad guy in 'The Two Faces of January'
By Chris Lee
Entertainment Weekly
26 September 2014
'...it's part of his con, the look, he wants to look like he came from money and all that. I don't think his origins are those clothes that you see.'
Viggo Mortensen on "Lord of the Rings" — and playing an American at last
By Andrew O'Hehir
Salon
24 September 2014
"It was kind of fun to speak with an atrocious accent. He's speaking in a muddle of Greek and Italian; that was sort of a funny little touch."
Viggo Mortensen
The many faces of Viggo Mortensen
By Karl Quinn
Sydney Morning Herald
5 June 2014
'...they lie, steal, cheat, murder - they deserve any bad thing that happens to them. But as an audience member you find yourself cheering them on. You want them to get away with everything. You want them to get away from the cops, you want them to get away with the girl, with the money. It's a contradictory thing, it's a strange thing, but it's a dynamic that happens a lot, at least to me as an audience member. When a movie, a film noir thriller, works I want the bad guy to get away with it.'
Viggo Mortensen Talks The Two Faces Of January
Adam Miller
Entertainmentwise
15 September 2014
"Viggo really embraces the ugly side of characters… not a lot of stars do."
Dave McNary
Variety
22 June 2014
"There was a brotherhood of masculinity then," Mortensen says with measured admiration. "Those men, they prized self-sufficiency. You cared about how you presented yourself, drunk or sober; I love those pictures of guys, working-class guys, going to a ballgame in suits and hats. But there's another side, too. There was a certain intolerance of foreigners. And if you yourself had any kind of leanings or unusual interests — jazz, say — you could be a little suspect, too... It was interesting to look at all that, my father's generation, through a magnifying glass."
Viggo Mortensen on 'Two Faces of January,' LOTR and what his movies teach him
By Stephen Whitty
The Star-Ledger
21 September 2014
Soaking up the highlights of Ancient Greece, Chester MacFarland resembles a spick-and-span palace. In fact, as becomes apparent, he's a ruin. Every time he gets drunk another partition collapses; when he sobers up, the grand edifice dazzles again.
It's the best thing Mortensen has done in years.
Charlotte O'Sullivan
London Evening Standard
16 May 2014
The voice on the phone is husky, familiar, and just a little menacing. "I was told to call this number," the speaker says. I give a little shudder before realising it's Viggo Mortensen, calling as planned to talk about his new film, The Two Faces of January. Phew.
The many faces of Viggo Mortensen
By Karl Quinn
Sydney Morning Herald
5 June 1014
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© VIggo-Works/Iolanthe. Images © StudioCanal/Working Title.