A Dangerous Method

It is sweltering hot, indoors and outdoors. During a break, Viggo Mortensen enjoys a roll-your-own in front of the door. He seems deeply lost in thought, but not so deep that he wouldn't give a light to one member of the crew without having been asked. No one dares to speak to him. With only roughly outlined gestures and a cigarette instead of a cigar, he memorizes scene and text on the forecourt of the café, touches the lapel, his lapel - signifying Freud's professorial sovereignty.

At The Café Sperl
by Michael Omasta, translated for V-W by Sally
Der Freitag
1 September 2011



"It was a lot of fun. A lot of times that happens, though. The thing that seems like the biggest challenge, and the most: This is not going to work, I don't know how to do it... Once you crack it and get comfortable, it ends up being more enjoyable than the things that come easier."

Viggo Mortensen
The Deliberate Method of Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud in 'A Dangerous Method'
By Stuart Henderson
Pop Matters
17 November 2011



"Well, you know the scenes between Freud and Jung in Freud's home office? That space was amazing, full of all these set details which tried to approximate Freud's actual office. It's all wood and cigars, you know? While we were shooting this one scene, where Freud's sitting behind his desk and I'm sitting right in front of him, and we're having this really deep conversation which turns out to last like 13 hours or something.

And in between takes--at first I don't notice--Viggo keeps pushing these penises, no, what do you call them? Phalluses? Freud's desk had all of these little statutes and things, and some of them were phallus sculptures from different cultures around the world. And Viggo kept pushing them towards my end of the desk. I didn't notice at first until I looked down and saw them all, inching ever-forward, with Viggo smirking, really a prankster, dressed up as Freud. It was surreal!"

Michael Fassbender
Jung and the Restless: On Michael Fassbender's Role as Carl Jung in 'A Dangerous Method'
By Christopher Sweetapple
Pop Matters
23 November 2011