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That hero will have Viggo Mortensen's face forever. Challenging and tender. Big blue eyes and proud look.

The Court of Alatriste
By Rocío García, El País Semanal, 6 August 2006
Translated for V-W by Paddy



"No longer can we imagine another Alatriste that is not Viggo".

Unax Ugalde
20 Minutos, Frank Marta, 26 the April 2005



"We were enormously lucky with the appearance of Viggo Mortensen; it could be no one else! Even Arturo took things from Viggo for the next novel. That´s where we succeeded with the followers." He notes that we believe that film directors invented everything, "but to a great extent you depend on your actors. Viggo was so extraordinary that he surpassed everything that Arturo, and obviously I, could have thought. His physical presence on screen is tremendous, " he says emphatically."

Diaz Yanes
The Biography of Captain Alatriste
By Jose Edurado Arenas - translated by Ollie, Rio, Sage and Zooey
ABC.es
6 June 2010



....a perfectly wicked blue eyed Alatriste

Alatriste Fights in the Streets, By Rocío García
EL PAÍS 1st Aug 2005
Translated by Elessars Queen



'....its perfect for him: this tender and complex man is not afraid of anything.'

The Desired One
By Ester Aguado, Women Magazine, August 2006
Translated for V-W by Graciela



'It's like he had always been Alatriste! And the truth is that I think that Alatriste has made Viggo a Spaniard."

Pérez-Reverte
A Look of His Own
By Juan Cruz, El País Semanal, 6 August 2006
Translated for V-W by Paddy



"He is Alatriste, the one I thought, the one I wrote! He's almost the one from the drawings!"

Pérez-Reverte
A Look of His Own
By Juan Cruz, El País Semanal, 6 August 2006
Translated for V-W by Paddy



'Later, during a break in filming, I shake hands with Viggo, stained with special effects blood. We chatted for a while and then went to eat underneath the tent that protected us from the sun, while I observed his soldier's moustache, his scars, his doublet covered with dust and blood, his light and engrossing eyes that looked only like those of veterans, more beyond life and death. He wasn't an actor, I suddenly thought. He was the exact image of the tired hero........

.......I understood that I could never repay Viggo Mortensen the debt of gratitude that I felt towards him during this long and complex adventure of filming.'

Arturo Pérez Reverte
Viggo, The Captain
El Semanal 20 July 2005
Translated by Elessars Queen



"it was a show of its own to see Viggo Mortensen, because he is such a perfectionist in his acting". Anyway, he said that the actor, "like all the great ones, is a bit crazy, and during the shooting Viggo believed he was Alatriste, and when he wasn't shooting, he still kept his sword and hat. I think he still believes he is Alatriste."

Pérez-Reverte
"En España no hay suficientes actores jóvenes buenos para rodar 'Alatriste"
By L.M.-L. Alatriste conference in Murcia
El Faro de Murcia



Among clouds of dust and in the middle of a group of officers I see the Captain's gallant figure, leant on the musket fork, without the hat on his head, while smoking with pleasure his umpteenth cigarette of the morning. He doesn't speak. He looks at the crowd with half-closed eyes, and stays imperturbable exhaling puffs of smoke. Heat is crushing.

Reunion with Alatriste in Uclés
Diario de León, by Miguel Ángel Nepomuceno - translated by Paddy
26 June 2005



"There's nothing more respectful with the original texts. Nothing more straightforward, fascinating and terrible than the mirror that, through Viggo Mortensen's masterly performance - he looks impressive on the screen, that son of a bitch - is put before our eyes during the two hours and a quarter that the film lasts. "

Arturo Pérez-Reverte after seeing the film
That Captain Alatriste
XL Semanal, 20 August 2006
Translation for V-W by Paddy



"Alatriste...is a politically incorrect hero, a murderer, a mercenary, and I was afraid that, in the film, he would lose his harshness and would be more tolerable, but fortunately both Agustín and Viggo crossed that boundary and kept a dark and ambiguous hero, giving him that dark and terribly tragic look. Viggo has made the character human, and even more Spanish".

Pérez-Reverte: "I have no doubt about Alatriste being from León"
By Miguel Ángel Nepomuceno, Diario de Leon
30 August 2006



"From the first moment you start to see the film, you realize that Viggo is not playing a Spaniard, the thing is that he is a Spaniard."

Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Mano a Mano
XL Semanal, 20 August 2006
Translation for V-W by Paddy