Iolanthe's Quotable Viggo
31 January 2021 06:31:43 Found By: Iolanthe
Categories: Media
Quotable Viggo
A recent comment from a journalist about talking to Viggo on Zoom made me giggle. True to form, Viggo had a lot to say and was running over with all his interviews. As the journalist said, ‘he can go on a bit’. And I remember another journalist once called him a 'regular Chatty Cathy in person'. Lucky for everyone involved that he is always worth listening to…
He can go on a bit, which is why I’m waiting for 30 minutes to now reconnect with him on Zoom to talk about his directing debut Falling.
I’m in no doubt he has over-run talking to a journalist before me and, sure enough, my own allowed time with him goes over, too – when the PR woman interrupts the Zoom to say time is up, Viggo politely tells her: “Oh don’t worry about that, we have much to speak about still, we can go on a bit…” And we do.
Viggo Mortensen on his new film and the mystery of cinema
by Jason Solomons
The new European
5 December 2020
He's shy, but a bit of a motormouth (and can run on in at least six different languages).
Viggo Mortenson is complicated
By Micjelle Devereaux
San Francisco Bay Guardian
12 September 2007
In conversation, Mortensen doesn’t indulge in niceties. Doesn’t do small talk. But get him going on football, or his about-to-be published Spanish-language poetry collection, or indeed Green Book, and you can easily lose 10 minutes to his enthusiastic observations and tangential musings. Attempts to redirect his thoughts are about as effective as trying to stem the flow of a raging river using an ironing board.
These verbal deluges don’t derive from a feeling of self-importance, or of high-mindedness, but of generosity. He is trying to answer my questions as fully and considerately as he can – to a fault.
Viggo Mortensen: intellectual nourishment in a world of artery-clogging culture
By Dan Masoliver
Shortlist.com
20 December 2018
[He] speaks quietly and thoughtfully, and often at length, on every question, hammering his subject from all sides until it submits to the truth.
Viggo Mortensen v the apocalypse
By Kevin Maher
The Times
3 October 2009
Viggo Mortensen is, besides a great actor, an inexhaustible conversationalist…
The Dark Side Of The Hero
By Walder & Castro - translated by Graciela, Remolina and Zooey
Marie Claire (Spain)
June 2009
A conversation with him tends to lead wherever he wants it to go. Try to ask a follow-up question or change the subject, and he’ll gently, politely raise his voice and continue talking over you.
Rocky Road
By Ben Kenigsberg
Time Out Chicago
13 November 2009
Here’s the thing about Viggo Mortensen: I could listen to this man speak on just about any topic for hours.
Viggo Mortensen Will Hypnotize You With His Intensity As He Dissects What’s Wrong With Our Polarized Country
By Mike Ryan
Uproxx
7 November 2016
Is Viggo Mortensen the most interesting man in the world?
Viggo Mortensen: Still here, still fantastic
The Film Experience
By Nathaniel Rogers
24 April 2016
Mortensen speaks slowly and in each one of his answers it seems there are endless concepts that could need an extra explanation.
Viggo Mortensen tiene un plan
By Justina Berard
Vos/La Voz
25 May 2011
I’ve had four or five conversations with Mortensen over the years, and they’ve all followed the same pattern: He takes your measure for a minute or two, just to establish some basic comfort level and make sure he’s not talking to a total idiot, and then it’s hard to get the guy to shut up.
Viggo Mortensen: Lay off the pope
By Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
20 March 2013
Ostensibly, Mortensen is in town to promote his role as a conflicted, compromised German professor in Good, a small-scale drama that – in his words – “needs all the support it can get”. He could have got away with delivering the sales spiel. Instead, he’s content to go lolloping off after his own train of thought and in the end, the best option is to give up and drift along for the ride. In Mortensen’s view, the journey is always more entertaining than the destination anyway.
The happy trails of Viggo Mortensen
Xan Brooks
The Guardian
18 April 2009
He speaks with a softness and strength at the same time. The depth of his tenor and the thoughtful, unhurried way in which he expresses himself makes his words a visual, spoken poetry.
Native Voice Interview with Viggo
By Lise Balk King
Pine Ridge Reservation
South Dakota, December 2003
…he’s a soft spoken guy who can fill a digital recorder with wall-to-wall perspective.
Kris Tapley
In Contention
10 September 2009
You will find all previous Quotables here.
© Viggo-Works/Iolanthe. Images © Getty & Elena Sanchez.