A Dangerous Method

"A bond that has pushed me to give my utmost."

Viggo talking about Cronenberg
Viggo Mortensen: Interpreting the soul of Freud
By Giovanna Grassi
Sette Magazine - translated by Ollie
September 2011



"I think my cast has great need of psychoanalysis, which is why I cast them actually, to introduce them gently to the idea that they needed help, a lot of help....And you can see they are much better people. Before they were messes. When I found them, they were neurotics, hopeless," Cronenberg said to great laughter.

Mortensen played along. "Now we dress ourselves," he retorted.

Venice Film Festival Press Conference
Cronenberg 'cures' cast in Freud-Jung drama
Rssbroadcast.com
2 September 2011



So Viggo, why weren't you initially down to play Freud in the film?

DC: Well, I had a better actor.

VM: He had asked me to do it and I wasn't available at the time. He found someone else and that person...

DC: Waltzed. Christoph Waltz waltzed.

VM: ...and David asked me again.

Cronenberg and Mortensen - Dangerous Minds
Shortlist.com
10 February 2012



What was it that got you interested in A Dangerous Method? Was it mostly working again with Cronenberg, or the psychological theme ? Or both?

Firstly, working with David Cronenberg again. Secondly, the bait that David threw my way, in the form of an elaborate system of undergarments that Sigmund Freud was reputed to have employed on some of his summer excursions deep into the Alps. They included an elaborate system of miniaturised pulleys and wires that assisted in muscular stimulation for the steeper climbs. I was allowed to wear these undergarments in all scenes whether I was climbing or not.

Viggo Mortensen
Empire On-line Web Chat
31 January 2012



"He felt that if I thought he could play Freud then he could do it. We have that trust. Despite the fact that I love him personally and we are very close friends, you don't do an actor a favor by miscasting him just to have him around."

Viggo Mortensen
How Viggo Mortensen Got Inside Sigmund Freud's Head
By Rachel Dodes
The Wall Street Journal: Speakeasy
18 November 2011



Would you say you enjoy a similar intellectual relationship as Freud and Jung have on that epic first 13-hour date-slash-conversation?

Mortensen: We can have a conversation about baseball statistics as readily as we could have about psychoanalysis.

Cronenberg: We are readers, and we do get excited when we say, "Oh, I read that same book!" and things like that, so there is that intellectual connection.

Mortensen: I think one of the things about you that I most like, other than just the exchanges we have intellectually and just the silly jokes we sometimes enjoy, is the fact that, each time you're making a movie, you get as excited as I do or more so about the subject. . . . You have the eternal beginner attitude. Which I think is a great thing to have for an actor, for a director, anybody.
If you enjoy what you're doing, no matter how serious the subject matter, I think you feel that when you watch the movie. I think you watch this movie -- and I'm subjective because I'm in it -- but I think you can see we had a good time making it.

David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen talk about 'A Dangerous Method'
By Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
12 December 2011



David Cronenberg said that you and Freud both had a mischievous sense of humor.

He said that? That's nice. I see that in him too.

Viggo Mortensen
How Viggo Mortensen Got Inside Sigmund Freud's Head
By Rachel Dodes
The Wall Street Journal: Speakeasy
18 November 2011



"He's got a sense of humor that I share, a sense of the absurd, a sense that there's nothing that is sacred. He treats every subject matter with curiosity and respect, but he's very witty, the kind of guy who can say something very funny without even cracking a smile."

Viggo on Cronenberg
Viggo Mortensen Wants the Oscars to Start Noticing David Cronenbe
By Kyle Buchanan
New York Magazine
22 November 2011



"In the three movies I've filmed with David (A History of Violence, Eastern Promises, and A Dangerous Method), something pretty strange happens to me. There are movies I like from the first scene, but with Cronenberg's, that never happens to me. During the first ten minutes, his movies always make me feel profoundly uncomfortable. It takes me a while to decide if I'm believing what he tells me, if I'm liking it or not. Until, suddenly, I'm caught up and I can't escape."

Viggo Mortensen
"Freud was a great public relations person"
By Alex Vicente
Público.es - translated by Ollie, Rio and Zoe
4 September 2011



"I know that the three movies I've done with him are probably my best work or close to it, and I think there's a reason for that. He understands and likes actors."

Viggo Mortensen
On the couch with the former King Of Gondor
By Matt Maytum
Total Film
9 February 2012



"We are in tune in considering cinema as the meeting point between painting, philosophy, literature and social analysis; a careful exploration of the outer and inner aspects."

Viggo talking about Cronenberg
Viggo Mortensen: Interpreting the soul of Freud
By Giovanna Grassi
Sette Magazine - translated by Ollie
September 2011



'He never forgets no matter how serious or how intense the movie is, and how much pressure there is to get the day's work done, to have a good time.'

Viggo Mortensen
By Peter West
Leeds Student
6 February 2012



"When you work with him the excitement is contagious. You feel like you're with a recently graduated film student who is absolutely brilliant. He acts like a kid about shooting every day. It helps you feel excited about it too."

Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Mortensen Reveals How He Became Freud in 'A Dangerous Method'
by Thelma Adams
Yahoo Movies
16 December 2011



"We really trust each other's sensibility. I did talk to a director once who said, "You know this guy Viggo you worked with? I sent a script to him, and he sent me notes!" I said, "Yeah? Well, were they good notes?" He looked at me like I was crazy."

'Dangerous Method' helmer talks working with Pattinson, Giamatti on 'Cosmopolis'
By Christy Grosz
Variety
13 December 2011



"I just go back to work with David and he fills up all my neuroses..."

Viggo Mortensen
TIFF Press Conference Diaries: It's game on for the stars of A Dangerous Method
Ben Kaplan
National Post
10 September 2011



DC: As I look at his nose, it appears much more Freudian than it used to.

VM: It's getting bigger, isn't it?

DC: Yeah, it is.

Cronenberg and Mortensen - Dangerous Minds
Shortlist.com
10 February 2012



You've said that you used David Cronenberg as part of your inspiration for Freud. Is that true? If so, what part?

David is very well read like Freud was, very intelligent and a very good conversationalist. He also has a similar kind of wit. David is the kind of person, who, like Freud, might say something scathingly funny--making fun of someone else, a situation, or even of himself--and if you don't get the joke, he may have not even smiled but he'll just keep going. If you do get it then you have a connection. If not, then you just skate right on. It's a dry, stereotypically English humor, that dry wit that can be really brutal.

Viggo Mortensen
How Viggo Mortensen Got Inside Sigmund Freud's Head
By Rachel Dodes
The Wall Street Journal: Speakeasy
18 November 2011



"Like Freud he's someone who is capable of making a brilliant aside with irony and humour, and a lot of times people don't even get it. And he doesn't care. He doesn't bother to go 'No, no - wait a minute! I was just making a joke.' That's stuff that maybe you realize when you go home: 'Wait a minute. That guy was just having me on.' Or, your at his movie six months later and you go 'Shit, that's funny! That's really disturbing. That's great!' But it takes time."

Mortensen lauds Cronenberg's subtlety
By Seán Francis Condon
Canada msn
12 September 2011



"I think he's probably by far the most talented invisible man in directing history."

Viggo on Cronenberg's lack of awards
Viggo Mortensen and 'Dangerous Method's' Fate
by Melena Ryzik
The Carpetbagger / New York Times
15 December 2011



'I would've nominated him for all three movies I've done with him. No question.'

Viggo Mortensen on Cronenberg and the Oscars
Viggo Mortensen: 'A Dangerous Method' Taught Me How to Talk in a Movie
By Michael Hogan
Moviefone
23 November 2011



Viggo -- we hear you're a fan of horses. Is it true that you took some horses from Lord Of The Rings?

DC: But he's a horse thief, that's why he did that. He basically had sex with all the horses in the movie. That was his way of dealing with it.

VM: It wasn't great with every single one. But I did my best.

Cronenberg and Mortensen - Dangerous Minds
Shortlist.com
10 February 2012




"It's over," he said of his relationship with Cronenberg. "This film was the last straw."

Viggo Mortensen joking at TIFF
TIFF Press Conference Diaries: It's game on for the stars of A Dangerous Method
Ben Kaplan
National Post
10 September 2011