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It was such a crazy experience. There were things that were not in the script and you were asked to do on the day, like improvising with Viggo Mortensen [who plays Old Bull Lee], which is quite crazy. He's a very cerebral man. He turned up with these beautiful old antique books from the time, like Baudelaire, and things that his character would have had. He had a bag of goodies that he brought with him and a hat, a tie and a shoulder holster. I thought, 'this guy is f**king cool.' I was quite intimidated.

Sam Riley
Sullivan on Cinema: Sam Riley
By Chris Sullivan
Redbull.com
9 June 2011



The most difficult scene, Mr. Riley says, wasn't about nudity or sex, but playing across Viggo Mortensen, who plays Old Bull Lee, the William Burroughs character in the film. "I was nervous about improvising with Viggo because he is particularly well read, and a poet himself."

Sam Riley
Sam Riley Hits the Road
By Lanie Goodman
Wall Street Journal
4 October 2012



Knowing Mortensen (as the William S. Burroughs-inspired Old Bull Lee) was well read, Riley was "terrified during improvisation that he might ask me something about Nietzsche, like, 'What do you think about the Ubermensch?' The night before he arrived, I spent hours Wikipedia-ing Jean-Paul Sartre and others just in case he threw me a curveball." (He didn't.)

Why Kristen Stewart Slashed Her $20 Million Paycheck, Plus More Making 'On the Road' Stories
By Stephen Galloway
Hollywood Reporter
9 May 2012