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Quotable Viggo 2019
Quotable Viggo: 21 December 2019
Merry Christmas Viggodom - time for our Festive Quotable (where did the year go?). I'm sure many of us have been traipsing around the shops trying to find lovely Christmas presents for our nearest and dearest. Viggo, a year-round one-man Father Christmas, doesn't need any excuse. He is an incurable gift-giver.
© ITV.
Viggo Mortensen has come bearing pancake mix. We are curbside at the tiny airport in Syracuse, New York, on a truly dreary day (even by Syracuse standards), and within seconds of hopping into his rented Ford Fusion, I learn two things about him: He's the kind of guy who picks you up at the airport, and he's the kind of guy who brings presents. Pancake mix is a delicacy in upstate New York. "Do you like maple syrup?" Because he brought me some of that, too. He's prepared a gift bag.
Why Viggo Mortensen Is Off the Grid
By Lisa DePaulo
Esquire
25 May 2016
"There's rarely a day he doesn't show up bearing gifts of some sort from his different weekend jaunts," says his Appaloosa costar Renée Zellweger, "where he'll go find some really obscure village behind Taos somewhere and visit an artists' colony and bring back some wares to share. And there was never a day that he wasn't plying us with dark chocolate. It was ridiculous. Bags full. Bags full! Bacon–covered truffles. Where was he getting it? He was the chocolate crack dealer."
Renée Zellweger
The Great Dane
Men's Vogue
By Phoebe Eaton
March 2008
"A favorite moment was seeing Green Book star Viggo Mortensen pulling out a copy of a vintage Don Shirley LP that he had found. "This record is for Mahershala. You can't get it anywhere. It is so rare," he enthused about his gift for Ali, who plays the concert pianist in the film. Well, we know at least one Governors Awards guest got a really cool parting gift last night."
Lovely Moment from The Governor's Awards
Pete Hammond
Deadline
20 November 2018
"Viggo is such an amazing guy. He's the gentlest, kindest person you'll ever meet. All the 'family' members got along but I think the strongest bonds that were made were between the kids and Viggo. He would come on set every day with different books for all the kids to read. I ended up having about 10 books that I've never gotten around to reading. He really is a generous, amazingly kind man."
Nicholas Hamilton
Captain Fantastic and the Sundance Kid
By Matthew Lowe
Filmink.com
20 January 2015
Viggo Mortensen is waiting for me in a parking lot on the Pacific Coast Highway near Topanga Canyon.
He thought it would be nice to walk along the beach, watch the sunset and the deepening pink clouds and the dolphins at play in the surf, and talk, you know, maybe have a drink or two. He is barefoot on the asphalt, in jeans. His hair is sandy-red, floppy-perfect, the provocatively dimpled chin brushed with stubble. He kisses me hello on the cheek. My vision goes blurry for a second, then--steady, steady--rights itself.
"I brought you some things," he says, sitting down on a bench overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
He opens a large cardboard box at his feet. There are about a dozen books: one of pictures by a Cuban Santeria practitioner turned photographer; one of poetry that comes with an owl-shaped pewter trinket; one containing sketches by Lola Schnabel, an ex-girlfriend; and then several by Mortensen himself - of paintings, poetry, and photographs. All are published by Perceval, a small press he runs with a partner. Then he pulls out a DVD of The Passion of Joan of Arc, a 1928 silent movie. He informs me that the original negative was destroyed in a fire, and that the filmmaker died believing his masterwork had been obliterated. But a complete version was found in a closet in a Norwegian mental institution in the early 1980s and was restored.
"You published this too?" I ask.
"Nah," he says. "You should just see it."
Finding Viggo
By Alex Kuczynski
Vanity Fair magazine
January 2004
He gave presents every day.....An example of what Viggo Mortensen's participation in this Spanish project has been like is explained by Unax Ugalde: "When he knew about my big childhood fondness for Sugus sweets, one day I found on the floor of my dressing room the shape of my name all made out with sugus."
Unax Ugalde
The Court of Alatriste
By Rocío García - Translated for V-W by Paddy
El País Semanal, 6 August 2006
Before we part, Mortensen insists on buying me Blake's "The Complete Poems," marking the passage he read. A moment later, he's back with Pablo Neruda's "The Book of Questions" and Perceval Press' "Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation." I protest mildly, accepting his presents but telling him, "Please, no mink coat.''
King of the big screen a champion of poetry: Blake's poetry makes an impression on Mortensen
By Ruthe Stein
San Francisco Chronicle
20 February 2004
Looking tanned and lean and sporting an impressive 'stache, he was soft-spoken and friendly. It didn't hurt that he came bearing gifts -- before I even sat down, he placed a shrink-wrapped copy of Exene Cervenka's book of collage, 666, on the table in front of me.
You Go, I Go, We All Go For Viggo
By Michelle Devereaux
San Francisco Bay Guardian
12 September 2007
To Viggo [Cindy] Sheehan sounded like the kind of person he admires: sincere, courageous, willing to question authority. But on the AM dial, she was getting flayed. Sean Hannity cast her as a nut job, an outcast from her own family, a bad mother. Bill O'Reilly called her 'a radical who does not like her country.'
Viggo has a credo he lies by: Go see for yourself if you can. So he packed a bag, flew from Los Angeles to Dallas, rented a car, and drove ninety miles to Crawford. He came alone and without warning and - as he almost always does when meeting strangers - bearing gifts: fresh vegetables, some bottled water, and a copy of George Orwell's Animal Farm.
The Appealingly Weird World of Viggo Mortensen
By Amy Wallace
Esquire
March 2006
He… presents me with two large chocolate squares, one wrapped in pink paper that has a handwritten "Venezuela" on it, and another in orange paper that has a handwritten "Indonesia".
I am not sure whether he handwrapped them himself or whether they came from a hand-wrapped chocolate shop. I imagine him travelling the world with a suitcase of wrapped chocolates.
Sympathy for the devil
By Chrissy Iley
The Observer
19 April 2009
MJ: What's up with you and chocolate?
VM: I love it!
MJ: You also tend to come bearing gifts. Is that a product of the cultures you were raised in?
VM: Maybe. Maybe it's just a product of the way my family is.
Viggo Mortensen, King of The Road
Mother Jones
23 November 2009
A few days later, as evening fell, he returned to Valdeteja bringing with him an enormous bag of goodies for the town's kids who by now know that Viggo never arrives empty-handed. There, in Anabel's bar, he resembled Jesus among the children. Scores of kids cavorted around him, watching eagerly as Viggo pulled out shirts from his bag, then candies, chocolates and caramels that he distributed like Santa Claus to each child, all under the astonished and pleased gazes of the customers who by now consider the 'American friend' as one of their own.
Miguel Ángel Nepomuceno
Diario de León
20 August 2006
Translated for V-W by Margarita
© ITV.
Viggo Mortensen has come bearing pancake mix. We are curbside at the tiny airport in Syracuse, New York, on a truly dreary day (even by Syracuse standards), and within seconds of hopping into his rented Ford Fusion, I learn two things about him: He's the kind of guy who picks you up at the airport, and he's the kind of guy who brings presents. Pancake mix is a delicacy in upstate New York. "Do you like maple syrup?" Because he brought me some of that, too. He's prepared a gift bag.
Why Viggo Mortensen Is Off the Grid
By Lisa DePaulo
Esquire
25 May 2016
"There's rarely a day he doesn't show up bearing gifts of some sort from his different weekend jaunts," says his Appaloosa costar Renée Zellweger, "where he'll go find some really obscure village behind Taos somewhere and visit an artists' colony and bring back some wares to share. And there was never a day that he wasn't plying us with dark chocolate. It was ridiculous. Bags full. Bags full! Bacon–covered truffles. Where was he getting it? He was the chocolate crack dealer."
Renée Zellweger
The Great Dane
Men's Vogue
By Phoebe Eaton
March 2008
"A favorite moment was seeing Green Book star Viggo Mortensen pulling out a copy of a vintage Don Shirley LP that he had found. "This record is for Mahershala. You can't get it anywhere. It is so rare," he enthused about his gift for Ali, who plays the concert pianist in the film. Well, we know at least one Governors Awards guest got a really cool parting gift last night."
Lovely Moment from The Governor's Awards
Pete Hammond
Deadline
20 November 2018
"Viggo is such an amazing guy. He's the gentlest, kindest person you'll ever meet. All the 'family' members got along but I think the strongest bonds that were made were between the kids and Viggo. He would come on set every day with different books for all the kids to read. I ended up having about 10 books that I've never gotten around to reading. He really is a generous, amazingly kind man."
Nicholas Hamilton
Captain Fantastic and the Sundance Kid
By Matthew Lowe
Filmink.com
20 January 2015
Viggo Mortensen is waiting for me in a parking lot on the Pacific Coast Highway near Topanga Canyon.
He thought it would be nice to walk along the beach, watch the sunset and the deepening pink clouds and the dolphins at play in the surf, and talk, you know, maybe have a drink or two. He is barefoot on the asphalt, in jeans. His hair is sandy-red, floppy-perfect, the provocatively dimpled chin brushed with stubble. He kisses me hello on the cheek. My vision goes blurry for a second, then--steady, steady--rights itself.
"I brought you some things," he says, sitting down on a bench overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
He opens a large cardboard box at his feet. There are about a dozen books: one of pictures by a Cuban Santeria practitioner turned photographer; one of poetry that comes with an owl-shaped pewter trinket; one containing sketches by Lola Schnabel, an ex-girlfriend; and then several by Mortensen himself - of paintings, poetry, and photographs. All are published by Perceval, a small press he runs with a partner. Then he pulls out a DVD of The Passion of Joan of Arc, a 1928 silent movie. He informs me that the original negative was destroyed in a fire, and that the filmmaker died believing his masterwork had been obliterated. But a complete version was found in a closet in a Norwegian mental institution in the early 1980s and was restored.
"You published this too?" I ask.
"Nah," he says. "You should just see it."
Finding Viggo
By Alex Kuczynski
Vanity Fair magazine
January 2004
He gave presents every day.....An example of what Viggo Mortensen's participation in this Spanish project has been like is explained by Unax Ugalde: "When he knew about my big childhood fondness for Sugus sweets, one day I found on the floor of my dressing room the shape of my name all made out with sugus."
Unax Ugalde
The Court of Alatriste
By Rocío García - Translated for V-W by Paddy
El País Semanal, 6 August 2006
Before we part, Mortensen insists on buying me Blake's "The Complete Poems," marking the passage he read. A moment later, he's back with Pablo Neruda's "The Book of Questions" and Perceval Press' "Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation." I protest mildly, accepting his presents but telling him, "Please, no mink coat.''
King of the big screen a champion of poetry: Blake's poetry makes an impression on Mortensen
By Ruthe Stein
San Francisco Chronicle
20 February 2004
Looking tanned and lean and sporting an impressive 'stache, he was soft-spoken and friendly. It didn't hurt that he came bearing gifts -- before I even sat down, he placed a shrink-wrapped copy of Exene Cervenka's book of collage, 666, on the table in front of me.
You Go, I Go, We All Go For Viggo
By Michelle Devereaux
San Francisco Bay Guardian
12 September 2007
To Viggo [Cindy] Sheehan sounded like the kind of person he admires: sincere, courageous, willing to question authority. But on the AM dial, she was getting flayed. Sean Hannity cast her as a nut job, an outcast from her own family, a bad mother. Bill O'Reilly called her 'a radical who does not like her country.'
Viggo has a credo he lies by: Go see for yourself if you can. So he packed a bag, flew from Los Angeles to Dallas, rented a car, and drove ninety miles to Crawford. He came alone and without warning and - as he almost always does when meeting strangers - bearing gifts: fresh vegetables, some bottled water, and a copy of George Orwell's Animal Farm.
The Appealingly Weird World of Viggo Mortensen
By Amy Wallace
Esquire
March 2006
He… presents me with two large chocolate squares, one wrapped in pink paper that has a handwritten "Venezuela" on it, and another in orange paper that has a handwritten "Indonesia".
I am not sure whether he handwrapped them himself or whether they came from a hand-wrapped chocolate shop. I imagine him travelling the world with a suitcase of wrapped chocolates.
Sympathy for the devil
By Chrissy Iley
The Observer
19 April 2009
MJ: What's up with you and chocolate?
VM: I love it!
MJ: You also tend to come bearing gifts. Is that a product of the cultures you were raised in?
VM: Maybe. Maybe it's just a product of the way my family is.
Viggo Mortensen, King of The Road
Mother Jones
23 November 2009
A few days later, as evening fell, he returned to Valdeteja bringing with him an enormous bag of goodies for the town's kids who by now know that Viggo never arrives empty-handed. There, in Anabel's bar, he resembled Jesus among the children. Scores of kids cavorted around him, watching eagerly as Viggo pulled out shirts from his bag, then candies, chocolates and caramels that he distributed like Santa Claus to each child, all under the astonished and pleased gazes of the customers who by now consider the 'American friend' as one of their own.
Miguel Ángel Nepomuceno
Diario de León
20 August 2006
Translated for V-W by Margarita
Quotable Viggo: 14 December 2019
Sometimes, when I’m looking for quotes, a particular word will leap out at me - one that I may have seen coming up many times in interviews. It then sends me off on a rummage to find them all. So, this week we are looking at ‘dreams’. The depths of winter is the time for dreaming, isn't it? Dreams are not only the mishmash of strange events that come to us in the night, but our hopes and desires, our half-formed plans and the stories we tell ourselves and others. Viggo once called himself an ‘optimistic dreamer’ whose dreams are closely bound up with art and story-telling. Films like Jauja, The Reflecting Skin and Gospel According to Harry all have a dream-like quality and the vision sequence near the end of Hidalgo inspired some of Viggo’s most extraordinary, dream-like photography.
© 4L Productions.
“I am an optimistic dreamer who has never been imprisoned by fear.”
Viggo Mortensen, Beautiful Savage
Richard Gianorio
Le Figaro
26 September 2008
“...you know, no one looks at the world like it really is. Everyone looks at the world like they want it to be. When it comes down to it, everyone is in their own 'dream world', we could become crazy if we thought of the world like it really is.”
Dreaming About Telling Stories
By Einar Fal Ingolfsson - translated by Rosen and Ragga
Morgunblaðið
29 May 2008
“Often I remember my dreams during the day. When something particular happens, I realize sometimes that I dreamt of that before. For example it happened a few times that I heard about the death of a beloved person or animal and I was irritated by my reaction – I was less shocked or surprised than I should be. Then it came to my mind, that I'd dreamt about it during a recent night.”
I Have A Dream
By Viggo Mortensen - translated by CoCo and Techadmin
Zeit magazine (Germany)
23 July 2015
“I think that plans are not that different from dreams; they are like dreams with another [kind of] will, conscious dreams. People think that a plan fails or works, or comes to nothing, but it's not like that; plans change because we change, circumstances change.”
"We are all artists" - Viggo Mortensen
By Susana Parejas - translated by Ollie and Zoe
7 Dias
2 September 2012
‘Dreams about becoming famous wasn’t what got me into acting to begin with, but the dream about telling stories.’
Dreaming About Telling Stories
By Einar Fal Ingolfsson - translated by Rosen and Ragga
Morgunblaðið
29 May 2008
'Words were everywhere I looked, filling dreams, giving me names for everything. It was all I could do to keep up with them, catch a few as they drifted through me, fell now and then from clouds, from my eyes to the table, onto my lap or became tangled in horses' manes.'
Viggo Mortensen
Introduction to Best American Non-Required Reading
Houghton Mifflin
2004
"Myth-making is a way of dreaming out loud or dreaming in public…"
Viggo Mortensen talking about Hidalgo
A Man of Many Parts
Teresa Wiltz
Washington Post
2004
“There’s a lot of entering and coming out of dreams [in Jauja], a lot of transitions in the movie. It takes seeing it two or three times before you see all of these moments, from the first scene where the daughter grabs my arm once I give her the answer she wants about getting a dog, and she closes her eyes and never opens them again for the rest of the scene. I think that’s the first dream. By the end of the story, you don’t know if we’re being dreamed, or if the characters are all dreamed, or if it’s a dog’s dream or the girl’s dream. In a way, it doesn’t matter. It’s what it stimulates.”
Interview with Actor Viggo Mortensen
Nick Chen
London Calling
7 April 2015
10 o'clock, Thursday morning. Fifth day of shooting [Jauja]. Only a few hours after Lisandro Alonso has swallowed the last of a long series of Fernets with Coke, Viggo Mortensen, along with Fabián Casas, knocks at the director´s door. When the water for the maté is boiling in the kettle, the actor starts the conversation. Tonight Viggo has dreamt. "When the day is over, we talk about the film, then I think about it and I go to bed," he explains, dressed in a threadbare sweater with the colours of the national Danish team. "I dream a lot. Tonight for example, I dreamt about something that could later be useful for our story." Lisandro corroborates it: "He comes every morning before shooting and he tells me `Che, I thought of this for the film.´
Lost in La Pampa
By Pierre Boisson - translated by Ollie
So Film #10 (France)
May 2013
MP: There was a quote on Perceval's website from Edgar Allen Poe that I adore. It's, "Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."
MORTENSEN: Yeah. I think that's true.
MP: Did you choose to put that up there?
MORTENSEN: Oh yeah. Everything that's up there, I choose.
Viggo Mortensen - For The Good Of The People
By Elliot V Kotek
Moving Pictures
Winter 08-09
“…I have tried to 'capture' the 'ghost dance' as a nebulous memory, an ephemeral dream. It came to me like that, I took my camera and I only shot one roll of film."
Viggo Mortensen talking about Miyelo
A Year in the Life of Viggo Mortensen
by Sophie Benamon
Studio Magazine, 2003
A childhood dream?
He leans his head upon the hand: "Every child dreams of being some important person. You can be in the middle of a city or in a jail and imagine you are the first human being walking in this dark wood. Kids use their imagination this way." He speaks slowly, low voice, long answers.
Viggo Mortensen
By Bernd Volland Translated by JoannaP
Stern Speziel Biografie
April 2003
“This world is a dream we all contribute to, in one way or another. We are part of the dream, if we are aware or not, if we like it or not. These pictures are a part of my dream, of the way I exist and act in the world.”
Viggo Mortensen, The Photographer Of Dreams
By Giovanni Valerio - translated by Cindalea
Panorama First
July 2008
'I wish life was longer. I wish that I didn't have to sleep. I like sleeping, and dreaming especially. But I wish sleep was a luxury, that I could just lie under the covers, listen to the rain but that I didn't have to if I didn't want to.'
The Inner Viggo
By Jenny Ewart
New Zealand's Woman's Weekly
2003
© 4L Productions.
“I am an optimistic dreamer who has never been imprisoned by fear.”
Viggo Mortensen, Beautiful Savage
Richard Gianorio
Le Figaro
26 September 2008
“...you know, no one looks at the world like it really is. Everyone looks at the world like they want it to be. When it comes down to it, everyone is in their own 'dream world', we could become crazy if we thought of the world like it really is.”
Dreaming About Telling Stories
By Einar Fal Ingolfsson - translated by Rosen and Ragga
Morgunblaðið
29 May 2008
“Often I remember my dreams during the day. When something particular happens, I realize sometimes that I dreamt of that before. For example it happened a few times that I heard about the death of a beloved person or animal and I was irritated by my reaction – I was less shocked or surprised than I should be. Then it came to my mind, that I'd dreamt about it during a recent night.”
I Have A Dream
By Viggo Mortensen - translated by CoCo and Techadmin
Zeit magazine (Germany)
23 July 2015
“I think that plans are not that different from dreams; they are like dreams with another [kind of] will, conscious dreams. People think that a plan fails or works, or comes to nothing, but it's not like that; plans change because we change, circumstances change.”
"We are all artists" - Viggo Mortensen
By Susana Parejas - translated by Ollie and Zoe
7 Dias
2 September 2012
‘Dreams about becoming famous wasn’t what got me into acting to begin with, but the dream about telling stories.’
Dreaming About Telling Stories
By Einar Fal Ingolfsson - translated by Rosen and Ragga
Morgunblaðið
29 May 2008
'Words were everywhere I looked, filling dreams, giving me names for everything. It was all I could do to keep up with them, catch a few as they drifted through me, fell now and then from clouds, from my eyes to the table, onto my lap or became tangled in horses' manes.'
Viggo Mortensen
Introduction to Best American Non-Required Reading
Houghton Mifflin
2004
"Myth-making is a way of dreaming out loud or dreaming in public…"
Viggo Mortensen talking about Hidalgo
A Man of Many Parts
Teresa Wiltz
Washington Post
2004
“There’s a lot of entering and coming out of dreams [in Jauja], a lot of transitions in the movie. It takes seeing it two or three times before you see all of these moments, from the first scene where the daughter grabs my arm once I give her the answer she wants about getting a dog, and she closes her eyes and never opens them again for the rest of the scene. I think that’s the first dream. By the end of the story, you don’t know if we’re being dreamed, or if the characters are all dreamed, or if it’s a dog’s dream or the girl’s dream. In a way, it doesn’t matter. It’s what it stimulates.”
Interview with Actor Viggo Mortensen
Nick Chen
London Calling
7 April 2015
10 o'clock, Thursday morning. Fifth day of shooting [Jauja]. Only a few hours after Lisandro Alonso has swallowed the last of a long series of Fernets with Coke, Viggo Mortensen, along with Fabián Casas, knocks at the director´s door. When the water for the maté is boiling in the kettle, the actor starts the conversation. Tonight Viggo has dreamt. "When the day is over, we talk about the film, then I think about it and I go to bed," he explains, dressed in a threadbare sweater with the colours of the national Danish team. "I dream a lot. Tonight for example, I dreamt about something that could later be useful for our story." Lisandro corroborates it: "He comes every morning before shooting and he tells me `Che, I thought of this for the film.´
Lost in La Pampa
By Pierre Boisson - translated by Ollie
So Film #10 (France)
May 2013
MP: There was a quote on Perceval's website from Edgar Allen Poe that I adore. It's, "Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night."
MORTENSEN: Yeah. I think that's true.
MP: Did you choose to put that up there?
MORTENSEN: Oh yeah. Everything that's up there, I choose.
Viggo Mortensen - For The Good Of The People
By Elliot V Kotek
Moving Pictures
Winter 08-09
“…I have tried to 'capture' the 'ghost dance' as a nebulous memory, an ephemeral dream. It came to me like that, I took my camera and I only shot one roll of film."
Viggo Mortensen talking about Miyelo
A Year in the Life of Viggo Mortensen
by Sophie Benamon
Studio Magazine, 2003
A childhood dream?
He leans his head upon the hand: "Every child dreams of being some important person. You can be in the middle of a city or in a jail and imagine you are the first human being walking in this dark wood. Kids use their imagination this way." He speaks slowly, low voice, long answers.
Viggo Mortensen
By Bernd Volland Translated by JoannaP
Stern Speziel Biografie
April 2003
“This world is a dream we all contribute to, in one way or another. We are part of the dream, if we are aware or not, if we like it or not. These pictures are a part of my dream, of the way I exist and act in the world.”
Viggo Mortensen, The Photographer Of Dreams
By Giovanni Valerio - translated by Cindalea
Panorama First
July 2008
'I wish life was longer. I wish that I didn't have to sleep. I like sleeping, and dreaming especially. But I wish sleep was a luxury, that I could just lie under the covers, listen to the rain but that I didn't have to if I didn't want to.'
The Inner Viggo
By Jenny Ewart
New Zealand's Woman's Weekly
2003
Quotable Viggo: 7 December 2019
This week I was telling a friend about one of my Junior School craft traumas when a kid stole my knitting and unravelled it in the cloakroom. The teacher blamed me for not looking after it and my mum had to knit it back up for me to stop me crying. School days – they are not all merry and bright, are they? At least I never had to play the 'ass end of a dragon'…
Watertown High School 1976.
© Watertown Daily Times.
As an 8-year-old, Mortensen played "the ass end of a dragon" in a school play…
The Other Side of Viggo Mortensen
By Paul Young
Variety Life
October 2003
What did teachers write on your report cards?
Anything from "very poor" to "good" or "excellent." One thing a teacher did once -- I still have the drawing -- was sort of disturbing. It was an assignment to make a drawing with pencil and crayon and it was pretty complicated. It's in the woods and Little Red Riding Hood is meeting this wolf and there are flowers and different shades of green. ... And it has written on it in red ink, "Very poor." ... To judge any drawing by a kid and say that is not necessary. There are more constructive ways of making your point. Art is a very subjective thing. To deface the piece of work by writing on it is unforgivable.
Viggo on locusts, life and kissing Liv Tyler
By Molly Woulfe
Northwest Indiana Times thetimesonline.com
3 August 2004
When Viggo was 7, his parents sent him to boarding school in Argentina. "It was a strict school, isolated in the foothills of the mountains," he said. "Other than holidays, I really didn't see my parents. The other kids were miserable, always crying or wetting their beds. But I was pretty self-sufficient. So I guess it must have suited me."
Back in the saddle 'Rings' hero Mortensen is riding high with 'Hidalgo'
By Nancy Mills
Daily News
25 February 2004
Did you go to San Lorenzo matches when you lived in Argentina?
No. I would listen on the radio. I was pretty fanatical about it. At the time it was unusual, because we weren't a very good team. We were interesting, but most of the kids in school were Boca Juniors or River Plate or other teams, and then the year before I left, suddenly we won it all. It was the only time that it's ever happened that we had an undefeated season, so that was a big deal. All of a sudden, the day after [that], a kid at school said, "I like San Lorenzo, too," and I said, "Bullshit. You're Boca Junior. Whatever."
Viggo Mortensen - For The Good Of The People
By Elliot V Kotek
Moving Pictures
Winter 2008-2009
I was 11 when we moved back to the States. I couldn't believe the swear words, the slang, the music - all the kids were into Blue Oyster Cult and Grand Funk Railroad. I was a closet Carpenters fan. I'd sing 'Top of the World' to myself on the way to school, but when I got close to campus I'd shut up.
The Hot New 39-Year-Old
By Dennis Hensley
Movieline magazine, 1998
I remember my first year of school when my family moved to the United States from Argentina, they had this thing in the morning: a pledge of allegiance to the flag. I didn't know the words and mumbled them. The teacher said: "You - you don't know the words!" That was embarrassing. After a few days I realised it was, "Liberty and justice for all". That's it. I know it now.
Before school started each day, the kids used to gather outside on this grassy sidewalk. At that age, the kids tended to be in groups of girls and boys. It wouldn't do at all for you to be by yourself. I would stand near groups of boys so it seemed to the girls, in particular, like I wasn't standing alone. I hadn't grown up with these kids. I was an alien life-form, that's what it felt like.
Viggo Mortensen - Letter To My Younger Self
By Viggo Mortensen
The Big Issue
3 April 2013
"I was 12 or 13 when a friend of mine encouraged me to be an actor, something that had never crossed my mind. I was then living in New York and didn't know anybody. I went up on stage and read the first paragraph from David Copperfield. The only thing I heard before closing the book and fleeing from that inconceivable torture was 'Louder, louder.' And here I am!"
Viggo Mortensen: "The older I get, the more tired I get of Hollywood."
By Rocío Ayuso
El Pais
8 October 2016
In high school, the shy kid began carrying a camera everywhere he went. Structuring his vistas within a viewfinder was a natural impulse. Already he had hopscotched through many disparate worlds, never lingering long enough on any to burn a permanent image. …..
Viggo Trip
By Liane Bonin
Flaunt magazine #39
November 2002
'A teacher gave me the taste for poetry. I like the discipline it imposes, I like the reign of precision and the perfect word.'
Viggo Mortensen: "Travelling is the best anti-war weapon"
By Yetty Hagendorf - translated by Donna Marie
Le Soir (Belgium)
2 February 2015
At Watertown High School in upstate New York… he was captain of both the swim team and the tennis team…
King Of The Ring
By Melissa J Perenson
Sci Fi magazine
February 2004
Unlike some classmates at Watertown High School in the mid-1970s, Viggo Mortensen wasn't convinced that the meaning of life might be found somewhere in the pages of J R R Tolkien's fantasy The Lord of the Rings. "I didn't read it until I got the job… and, in fact, what I'd heard about it and The Hobbit and all that sounded sort of interesting. But I figured it was just a bunch of gnomes and fairies and that kind of story."
On top of all that, "It looked like a pretty thick book."
Ready for Round 2
By David P DeMar, Jr
Watertown Daily Times
15 December 2002
What was a typical Friday night and Saturday when you were [at St Lawrence] as a student?
In the fall, I would like to go out and have fun with my friends. In the winter, I liked to cross country ski. Sometimes I'd go fishing, and I remember taking out canoes on the river. I'd sometimes go home to see my family, because we're not that far from the Watertown area. In the fall especially, I really liked to take a book and go somewhere, like we did today, and read, be by myself. When you're in classes all week, or in the dining halls, you're always around people. And I liked to get away from that and be by myself sometimes, when I had the time, which was on the weekends. And of course, like everybody else, I'd go to hockey games! I remember taking a lot of pictures, too. I would wander around a lot and pick up a lot of information that way. I wasn't in a lot of group activities. The groups I remember being in were mostly classes. I remember during bad weather or walking along the river, or being up late at night, it being very quiet.
Viggo Mortensen ('80) Remembers: A Walk Down Memory Lane (Literally) with the Photographer, Poet and Actor
By Macreena A. Doyle
St. Lawrence University
February 2003
'Now I see things in hindsight and what I learned in those years is what has made me who I am today. And, even though I recognize that I'm a rather strange guy, I don't think the end result has been so bad.'
Viggo Mortensen on growing up in Argentina
"I'm permanently dissatisfied"
By Amelia Enríquez - translated for V-W by Margarita
30 August 2006
Watertown High School 1976.
© Watertown Daily Times.
As an 8-year-old, Mortensen played "the ass end of a dragon" in a school play…
The Other Side of Viggo Mortensen
By Paul Young
Variety Life
October 2003
What did teachers write on your report cards?
Anything from "very poor" to "good" or "excellent." One thing a teacher did once -- I still have the drawing -- was sort of disturbing. It was an assignment to make a drawing with pencil and crayon and it was pretty complicated. It's in the woods and Little Red Riding Hood is meeting this wolf and there are flowers and different shades of green. ... And it has written on it in red ink, "Very poor." ... To judge any drawing by a kid and say that is not necessary. There are more constructive ways of making your point. Art is a very subjective thing. To deface the piece of work by writing on it is unforgivable.
Viggo on locusts, life and kissing Liv Tyler
By Molly Woulfe
Northwest Indiana Times thetimesonline.com
3 August 2004
When Viggo was 7, his parents sent him to boarding school in Argentina. "It was a strict school, isolated in the foothills of the mountains," he said. "Other than holidays, I really didn't see my parents. The other kids were miserable, always crying or wetting their beds. But I was pretty self-sufficient. So I guess it must have suited me."
Back in the saddle 'Rings' hero Mortensen is riding high with 'Hidalgo'
By Nancy Mills
Daily News
25 February 2004
Did you go to San Lorenzo matches when you lived in Argentina?
No. I would listen on the radio. I was pretty fanatical about it. At the time it was unusual, because we weren't a very good team. We were interesting, but most of the kids in school were Boca Juniors or River Plate or other teams, and then the year before I left, suddenly we won it all. It was the only time that it's ever happened that we had an undefeated season, so that was a big deal. All of a sudden, the day after [that], a kid at school said, "I like San Lorenzo, too," and I said, "Bullshit. You're Boca Junior. Whatever."
Viggo Mortensen - For The Good Of The People
By Elliot V Kotek
Moving Pictures
Winter 2008-2009
I was 11 when we moved back to the States. I couldn't believe the swear words, the slang, the music - all the kids were into Blue Oyster Cult and Grand Funk Railroad. I was a closet Carpenters fan. I'd sing 'Top of the World' to myself on the way to school, but when I got close to campus I'd shut up.
The Hot New 39-Year-Old
By Dennis Hensley
Movieline magazine, 1998
I remember my first year of school when my family moved to the United States from Argentina, they had this thing in the morning: a pledge of allegiance to the flag. I didn't know the words and mumbled them. The teacher said: "You - you don't know the words!" That was embarrassing. After a few days I realised it was, "Liberty and justice for all". That's it. I know it now.
Before school started each day, the kids used to gather outside on this grassy sidewalk. At that age, the kids tended to be in groups of girls and boys. It wouldn't do at all for you to be by yourself. I would stand near groups of boys so it seemed to the girls, in particular, like I wasn't standing alone. I hadn't grown up with these kids. I was an alien life-form, that's what it felt like.
Viggo Mortensen - Letter To My Younger Self
By Viggo Mortensen
The Big Issue
3 April 2013
"I was 12 or 13 when a friend of mine encouraged me to be an actor, something that had never crossed my mind. I was then living in New York and didn't know anybody. I went up on stage and read the first paragraph from David Copperfield. The only thing I heard before closing the book and fleeing from that inconceivable torture was 'Louder, louder.' And here I am!"
Viggo Mortensen: "The older I get, the more tired I get of Hollywood."
By Rocío Ayuso
El Pais
8 October 2016
In high school, the shy kid began carrying a camera everywhere he went. Structuring his vistas within a viewfinder was a natural impulse. Already he had hopscotched through many disparate worlds, never lingering long enough on any to burn a permanent image. …..
Viggo Trip
By Liane Bonin
Flaunt magazine #39
November 2002
'A teacher gave me the taste for poetry. I like the discipline it imposes, I like the reign of precision and the perfect word.'
Viggo Mortensen: "Travelling is the best anti-war weapon"
By Yetty Hagendorf - translated by Donna Marie
Le Soir (Belgium)
2 February 2015
At Watertown High School in upstate New York… he was captain of both the swim team and the tennis team…
King Of The Ring
By Melissa J Perenson
Sci Fi magazine
February 2004
Unlike some classmates at Watertown High School in the mid-1970s, Viggo Mortensen wasn't convinced that the meaning of life might be found somewhere in the pages of J R R Tolkien's fantasy The Lord of the Rings. "I didn't read it until I got the job… and, in fact, what I'd heard about it and The Hobbit and all that sounded sort of interesting. But I figured it was just a bunch of gnomes and fairies and that kind of story."
On top of all that, "It looked like a pretty thick book."
Ready for Round 2
By David P DeMar, Jr
Watertown Daily Times
15 December 2002
What was a typical Friday night and Saturday when you were [at St Lawrence] as a student?
In the fall, I would like to go out and have fun with my friends. In the winter, I liked to cross country ski. Sometimes I'd go fishing, and I remember taking out canoes on the river. I'd sometimes go home to see my family, because we're not that far from the Watertown area. In the fall especially, I really liked to take a book and go somewhere, like we did today, and read, be by myself. When you're in classes all week, or in the dining halls, you're always around people. And I liked to get away from that and be by myself sometimes, when I had the time, which was on the weekends. And of course, like everybody else, I'd go to hockey games! I remember taking a lot of pictures, too. I would wander around a lot and pick up a lot of information that way. I wasn't in a lot of group activities. The groups I remember being in were mostly classes. I remember during bad weather or walking along the river, or being up late at night, it being very quiet.
Viggo Mortensen ('80) Remembers: A Walk Down Memory Lane (Literally) with the Photographer, Poet and Actor
By Macreena A. Doyle
St. Lawrence University
February 2003
'Now I see things in hindsight and what I learned in those years is what has made me who I am today. And, even though I recognize that I'm a rather strange guy, I don't think the end result has been so bad.'
Viggo Mortensen on growing up in Argentina
"I'm permanently dissatisfied"
By Amelia Enríquez - translated for V-W by Margarita
30 August 2006
Quotable Viggo: 1 December 2019
A few weeks ago, we took a look back at A Walk on the Moon. This week I thought we'd look at another of Viggo's pre-LOTR films, A Perfect Murder. Like AWOTM, he plays an irresistible lover, and as a bonus we have a heap of original Viggo art thrown in for good measure. When the director wanted to buy in art for David Shaw, Viggo – being Viggo – decided he would do it all himself…
© Warner Brothers.
"Normally I think it's an extreme lack of ideas to make re-makes," Viggo Mortensen says, "but on the other side – when you can make "Hamlet" over and over again why not Hitchcock?"
Nice And Sensitive Movie-Star
By Susanne Johansen - translated by Majken
Berlingske Tidende
10 October 1998
'I played a painter and I needed to have all of this artwork around me, so I asked if I could do some paintings myself. I just went crazy. I couldn't sleep. I did about 45 paintings in two weeks.'
Viggo Mortensen on A Perfect Murder
The Hot New 39-Year-Old
by Dennis Hensley
Movieline magazine, 1998
"If it hadn't been for the role in A Perfect Murder I would have never painted seriously. I used to make some sketches every once in a while, nothing more."
The Painter Hero
By Giulia D'Agnolo Vallan
CIAK
March 2002
'All three of the main characters in A Perfect Murder are ambiguous,' he warns. 'At my first meeting with Gwyneth, I took two photographs of her. I used both of them for the main artwork in Murder. It helped me to believe in my character.'
Versatile Viggo
By Louis B Hobson
Calgary Sun
5 June 1998
'...I'm surprised they let me do that, actually. There was just a little time before we were going to start and I just asked, "What if I did this myself? I showed them a couple of small samples and they said sure if I made this bigger and I said OK. So it was one of those things where you're at a job interview and they say can you speak Chinese? Because if you can speak Chinese you've got the job. And, of course, you go, "Yeah sure. You'll water ski or whatever. Then, you just figure you'll figure out how to speak Chinese between now and next Wednesday. Well maybe it's not that extreme... I like to draw and stuff but the reason they used photography in it was because that was something that I did know and I had a certain stock pile of images I could play with. That helped!'
Viggo Mortensen on doing the paintings in A Perfect Murder
The Fire That Fuels an Artist's Heart
by Carnell, Carpe Noctem magazine #15
1999
Because of his role Mortensen had to face an interesting phenomenon: Would David Shaw's images reflect the artistic feelings of himself, Viggo Mortensen or do they belong to the character of David Shaw? "I think both are right", answered Mortensen, "I didn't have time to occupy myself too much with this duality. I think that the artwork represents on the one hand my own subconsiousness and on the other hand my ideas on who David is."
Warner Brothers German Press Release
Translated by always smiling
"...there's also some other personal belongings in the movie because, as he says, "my movies are a kind of photo album for me. When I look at them some years from now, they'll reflect my feelings and where I was at that time. The pants I wear are some I found in Denmark. Other belongings are some things I got from my aunt in Jystrup. They're just some small things which make me feel at home and more relaxed," Viggo says.
Nice And Sensitive Movie-Star
By Susanne Johansen - translated by Majken
Berlingske Tidende
10 October 1998
"Viggo's ability to go into his part is very special. And his demands on himself are unique. For instance, he lived for a long time in his character's shabby apartment in Brooklyn to identify himself with the character."
Nice and Sensitive Movie-Star
By Susanne Johansen - translated by Majken
Berlingske Tidende
10 October 1998
Interviewer: Is it true that you sang serenades to calm Gwyneth Paltrow before the love scenes in 'A Perfect Murder'?
Viggo: How do you know that?
Interviewer: She has said that herself.
Viggo: That's correct. To calm her and create a certain atmosphere of intimacy I did sing a couple of love songs that I learned in Argentina when I was young. I don't know if that ended up scaring her instead.
Viggo from Hollywood
By Poul Høi
M/S Magazine
August 2001
If you're a woman you will remember the way he slid his hands backward over her cheeks as they made love in his grimy loft.
Talking about 'A Perfect Murder'
Finding Viggo
By Alex Kuczynski
Vanity Fair magazine
January 2004
In the end, the actor who makes the biggest impression is Viggo Mortensen, whose gentle presence seems to be masking some diabolical undercurrents. He's the only character who keeps us guessing throughout, and he manages to steal every scene he appears in by slyly underplaying the role.
Judge Clark Douglas
DVD Verdict
12 June 2012
Viggo Mortensen undergoes an interesting transformation in his key scene with Douglas; we believe him when he's a nice guy, and we believe him even more when he's not; he doesn't do a big style shift, he simply turns off his people-pleasing face.
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-times
June 5, 1998
But Viggo Mortensen, well heck, now there's an actor with some bite!! If you have yet to hear much about this man, open your ears, and listen wide. This guy can act...and act well goddammit! I have loved almost all of his performances, with his role in THE INDIAN RUNNER (5/10) and last year's G.I. JANE (6/10) standing out in my mind, and certainly a force to reckon for all great future character roles. Watch for him...he's hot!
Berge Garabedian
Joblo.com
2 November 1998
In 'A Perfect Murder' he is - in spite of Michael Douglas's and Gwyneth Paltrow's presence - the star.
Viggo from Hollywood
by Poul Hoi
M/S (Danish magazine)
2001
© Warner Brothers.
"Normally I think it's an extreme lack of ideas to make re-makes," Viggo Mortensen says, "but on the other side – when you can make "Hamlet" over and over again why not Hitchcock?"
Nice And Sensitive Movie-Star
By Susanne Johansen - translated by Majken
Berlingske Tidende
10 October 1998
'I played a painter and I needed to have all of this artwork around me, so I asked if I could do some paintings myself. I just went crazy. I couldn't sleep. I did about 45 paintings in two weeks.'
Viggo Mortensen on A Perfect Murder
The Hot New 39-Year-Old
by Dennis Hensley
Movieline magazine, 1998
"If it hadn't been for the role in A Perfect Murder I would have never painted seriously. I used to make some sketches every once in a while, nothing more."
The Painter Hero
By Giulia D'Agnolo Vallan
CIAK
March 2002
'All three of the main characters in A Perfect Murder are ambiguous,' he warns. 'At my first meeting with Gwyneth, I took two photographs of her. I used both of them for the main artwork in Murder. It helped me to believe in my character.'
Versatile Viggo
By Louis B Hobson
Calgary Sun
5 June 1998
'...I'm surprised they let me do that, actually. There was just a little time before we were going to start and I just asked, "What if I did this myself? I showed them a couple of small samples and they said sure if I made this bigger and I said OK. So it was one of those things where you're at a job interview and they say can you speak Chinese? Because if you can speak Chinese you've got the job. And, of course, you go, "Yeah sure. You'll water ski or whatever. Then, you just figure you'll figure out how to speak Chinese between now and next Wednesday. Well maybe it's not that extreme... I like to draw and stuff but the reason they used photography in it was because that was something that I did know and I had a certain stock pile of images I could play with. That helped!'
Viggo Mortensen on doing the paintings in A Perfect Murder
The Fire That Fuels an Artist's Heart
by Carnell, Carpe Noctem magazine #15
1999
Because of his role Mortensen had to face an interesting phenomenon: Would David Shaw's images reflect the artistic feelings of himself, Viggo Mortensen or do they belong to the character of David Shaw? "I think both are right", answered Mortensen, "I didn't have time to occupy myself too much with this duality. I think that the artwork represents on the one hand my own subconsiousness and on the other hand my ideas on who David is."
Warner Brothers German Press Release
Translated by always smiling
"...there's also some other personal belongings in the movie because, as he says, "my movies are a kind of photo album for me. When I look at them some years from now, they'll reflect my feelings and where I was at that time. The pants I wear are some I found in Denmark. Other belongings are some things I got from my aunt in Jystrup. They're just some small things which make me feel at home and more relaxed," Viggo says.
Nice And Sensitive Movie-Star
By Susanne Johansen - translated by Majken
Berlingske Tidende
10 October 1998
"Viggo's ability to go into his part is very special. And his demands on himself are unique. For instance, he lived for a long time in his character's shabby apartment in Brooklyn to identify himself with the character."
Nice and Sensitive Movie-Star
By Susanne Johansen - translated by Majken
Berlingske Tidende
10 October 1998
Interviewer: Is it true that you sang serenades to calm Gwyneth Paltrow before the love scenes in 'A Perfect Murder'?
Viggo: How do you know that?
Interviewer: She has said that herself.
Viggo: That's correct. To calm her and create a certain atmosphere of intimacy I did sing a couple of love songs that I learned in Argentina when I was young. I don't know if that ended up scaring her instead.
Viggo from Hollywood
By Poul Høi
M/S Magazine
August 2001
If you're a woman you will remember the way he slid his hands backward over her cheeks as they made love in his grimy loft.
Talking about 'A Perfect Murder'
Finding Viggo
By Alex Kuczynski
Vanity Fair magazine
January 2004
In the end, the actor who makes the biggest impression is Viggo Mortensen, whose gentle presence seems to be masking some diabolical undercurrents. He's the only character who keeps us guessing throughout, and he manages to steal every scene he appears in by slyly underplaying the role.
Judge Clark Douglas
DVD Verdict
12 June 2012
Viggo Mortensen undergoes an interesting transformation in his key scene with Douglas; we believe him when he's a nice guy, and we believe him even more when he's not; he doesn't do a big style shift, he simply turns off his people-pleasing face.
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-times
June 5, 1998
But Viggo Mortensen, well heck, now there's an actor with some bite!! If you have yet to hear much about this man, open your ears, and listen wide. This guy can act...and act well goddammit! I have loved almost all of his performances, with his role in THE INDIAN RUNNER (5/10) and last year's G.I. JANE (6/10) standing out in my mind, and certainly a force to reckon for all great future character roles. Watch for him...he's hot!
Berge Garabedian
Joblo.com
2 November 1998
In 'A Perfect Murder' he is - in spite of Michael Douglas's and Gwyneth Paltrow's presence - the star.
Viggo from Hollywood
by Poul Hoi
M/S (Danish magazine)
2001
Quotable Viggo: 23 November 2019
We quite often have quotes and anecdotes here from actors who have appeared with Viggo. Just to mix things up, this week we are turning the tables with a Quotable of Viggo’s memories of some of the major actors he’s had a chance to work with over the years. Harrison Ford, Omar Sharif, Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Nicole Kidman, Ian McKellan, Diane Lane, the list is endless and here are just a few.
© Paramount Pictures.
Harrison Ford in Witness
[Harrison Ford] was most of all professional. Conscientious. Interesting to study. I had the greats before me: Peter Weir, above all, with his calmness and efficiency. In the evening, when I came back from my wandering, they let me watch the rushes. Witness was an idyllic experience.
Viggo Mortensen: The Soul of a Warrior
By Juliette Michaud
Studio Magazine
December 2002
'He was really into the building-the-barn scene. I was supposed to be handing him tools and he'd say 'Hand me a whatever,' and I didn't know what the hell he was talking about. He probably built most of that barn himself.'
Viggo Mortensen on working with Harrison Ford in Witness
The Hot New 39-Year-Old
by Dennis Hensley
Movieline magazine, 1998
Charles Bronson in The Indian Runner
"Charles Bronson I didn't get to know extremely well but I liked him; in fact, there's a version of the scene where I go to my parents' house at the beginning of the story. It was a really interesing scene with Charles and Sandy Dennis playing really well. In fact Charles delivered some of the best acting I've ever seen. Shame it didn't make the movie, but I could understand Sean's reasons. He thought my character should be more messed up. But it was a scene that was very awkward; I was high, and was really insulting. It was horrible, but also fascinating."
Viggo Mortensen talking about The Indian Runner
Uncut
November 2007
Al Pacino in Carlito’s Way
"I loved working with Al Pacino. He was unusually generous for someone in his position. He has a very open mind, and a very open heart."
Viggo Mortensen talking about Carlito’s Way
Uncut
November 2007
“He is a very interesting man, with a great sense of humour, very hard working and, above all, very generous and humble. You learn a lot from people like him. I don’t know if he is the greatest. I liked him best during his early stage, in films like Scarface, Serpico or The Godfather.”
Viggo Mortensen
A Multi-talented Hero
Dominical, by J. A. - translated for V-W by NacidaLibre
27 August 2006
Demi Moore in GI Jane
'Demi Moore was probably the biggest shock, because she never asked for any special treatment. She was having to do some amazing things as a girl soldier. She never complained, although I know she was in pain and afraid of certain things. She never said anything, whereas the guys were whining and complaining on some days.'
I've Loved All My Leading Ladies
By Garth Pearce
Now magazine
January 2002
Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington in Crimson Tide
'Watching Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington was pretty interesting; to be at several scenes when they're arguing in speeches and stuff. I'd say that's fun to watch those actors go at it like a sporting event and I had a front row seat. '
Viggo Mortensen on Crimson Tide
The Fire That Fuels an Artist's Heart
by Carnell
Carpe Noctem magazine #15, 1999
Christopher Walken In The Prophecy
"I accepted, in part because I had always wanted to work with Christopher Walken," the actor says while sitting on the sofa's edge. His face lights up when saying Walken's name. It's evident that Christopher Walken is a cult actor for many young actors nowadays. "I would do any movie with him, no matter what [it was]."
On "The Prophecy'
Viggo Mortensen: A Very Devilish Devil In The Prophecy
by Ferran Viladevall
La Opinión
1995
Nicole Kidman in Portrait of a Lady
'She never stopped working and getting inside her character's head,' he says 'You look at some of these people and wonder why they've done so well. With Nicole,it was clear, she has all the talent, but never lets it get in the way of hard work. She's also down-to-earth and could tell jokes very easily. The film crew fell in love with her.'
I've Loved All My Leading Ladies
By Garth Pearce
Now magazine
January 2002
Michael Douglas in A Perfect Murder
Q: What surprised you about your other costar, Michael Douglas?
A: Just before Christmas, Michael was singing Christmas songs all day long, but he'd change the lyrics and he'd make the crew sing along, too. It was just goofy. You don't think of him as being that kind of a dorky guy.
The Hot New 39-Year-Old
By Dennis Hensley
Movieline magazine
August 1998
Diane Lane A Walk on the Moon
You've worked with many actresses: Demi Moore (GI Jane), Sandra Bullock (28 Days), Nicole Kidman (Portrait of a Lady), Gwyneth Paltrow (A Perfect Murder), Diane Lane (A Walk on the Moon) ... With who did you have the best relationship?
They were all great. But it was one of the lesser stars, Diane Lane, who perhaps impressed me the most. She's been working for years with little recognition in comparison to her talent.
Viggo Mortensen: The Soul of a Warrior
By Juliette Michaud
Studio Magazine
December 2002
Ian McKellen in Lord of the Rings
…it must be said that the casting is inspired. Take Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf. He is very prepared, he knows what he has to do. And he has a good sense of humour and truly enjoys life. I don't know if it's a sign, but Ian came to see one of my plays, long ago, when I was unknown.
Viggo Mortensen: The Soul of a Warrior
By Juliette Michaud
Studio Magazine
December 2002
"He had more tricks than a bag of merlins and he really used them all."
The Man Who Would Be King
By Nick Dent
December 2001
Source: Black & White magazine, #58
Omar Sharif in Hidalgo
…one of the great things about this experience was working with Omar Sharif, and I think his casting was very important to the movie. It was already a good story, but him playing this part, I mean he's very right for it. The man he plays speaks several languages, he has some curiosity about the West, Omar has one foot in the east and one foot in the west, he lives in France, he's an Egyptian Muslim, and he's a perfect piece of casting.
Also, in terms of cinema history; obviously because of his connection to Lawrence of Arabia. You know, it just lifted the movie to another level, so, personally, it was a lot of fun to be able to sit close to him, not only working, but kind of pestering him with questions about David Lean, Peter O'Toole, and what it was like for an Egyptian actor to have that experience.
Hidalgo - Viggo Mortensen Q&A
By Jack Foley
Indie London
April 2004
Robert Duvall in The Road
It was the very last take, and it was the scene by the campfire, and I knew that Duvall wasn’t satisfied. I knew that there was something, that magic little thing hadn’t happened yet. He said, “If we could do one more take … let’s just do one for ourselves,” and I go, “Yeah, whatever.” Then, suddenly, he says, “I had a boy once,” and the hair just went up on the back of my neck, and I was like, “Wow, that is so right.” I realized that, which happens once in a while, and you are just so happy that it happened. … It’s so simple and beautiful and obvious, and he said it with such feeling that, when we went back to the line from the scene, there was a little pause, so I asked, “What happened to your boy, your son?” And the rest was magic.
Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Hits The Road
By Roger Durling
Santa Barbara Independent
22 November 2009
© Paramount Pictures.
Harrison Ford in Witness
[Harrison Ford] was most of all professional. Conscientious. Interesting to study. I had the greats before me: Peter Weir, above all, with his calmness and efficiency. In the evening, when I came back from my wandering, they let me watch the rushes. Witness was an idyllic experience.
Viggo Mortensen: The Soul of a Warrior
By Juliette Michaud
Studio Magazine
December 2002
'He was really into the building-the-barn scene. I was supposed to be handing him tools and he'd say 'Hand me a whatever,' and I didn't know what the hell he was talking about. He probably built most of that barn himself.'
Viggo Mortensen on working with Harrison Ford in Witness
The Hot New 39-Year-Old
by Dennis Hensley
Movieline magazine, 1998
Charles Bronson in The Indian Runner
"Charles Bronson I didn't get to know extremely well but I liked him; in fact, there's a version of the scene where I go to my parents' house at the beginning of the story. It was a really interesing scene with Charles and Sandy Dennis playing really well. In fact Charles delivered some of the best acting I've ever seen. Shame it didn't make the movie, but I could understand Sean's reasons. He thought my character should be more messed up. But it was a scene that was very awkward; I was high, and was really insulting. It was horrible, but also fascinating."
Viggo Mortensen talking about The Indian Runner
Uncut
November 2007
Al Pacino in Carlito’s Way
"I loved working with Al Pacino. He was unusually generous for someone in his position. He has a very open mind, and a very open heart."
Viggo Mortensen talking about Carlito’s Way
Uncut
November 2007
“He is a very interesting man, with a great sense of humour, very hard working and, above all, very generous and humble. You learn a lot from people like him. I don’t know if he is the greatest. I liked him best during his early stage, in films like Scarface, Serpico or The Godfather.”
Viggo Mortensen
A Multi-talented Hero
Dominical, by J. A. - translated for V-W by NacidaLibre
27 August 2006
Demi Moore in GI Jane
'Demi Moore was probably the biggest shock, because she never asked for any special treatment. She was having to do some amazing things as a girl soldier. She never complained, although I know she was in pain and afraid of certain things. She never said anything, whereas the guys were whining and complaining on some days.'
I've Loved All My Leading Ladies
By Garth Pearce
Now magazine
January 2002
Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington in Crimson Tide
'Watching Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington was pretty interesting; to be at several scenes when they're arguing in speeches and stuff. I'd say that's fun to watch those actors go at it like a sporting event and I had a front row seat. '
Viggo Mortensen on Crimson Tide
The Fire That Fuels an Artist's Heart
by Carnell
Carpe Noctem magazine #15, 1999
Christopher Walken In The Prophecy
"I accepted, in part because I had always wanted to work with Christopher Walken," the actor says while sitting on the sofa's edge. His face lights up when saying Walken's name. It's evident that Christopher Walken is a cult actor for many young actors nowadays. "I would do any movie with him, no matter what [it was]."
On "The Prophecy'
Viggo Mortensen: A Very Devilish Devil In The Prophecy
by Ferran Viladevall
La Opinión
1995
Nicole Kidman in Portrait of a Lady
'She never stopped working and getting inside her character's head,' he says 'You look at some of these people and wonder why they've done so well. With Nicole,it was clear, she has all the talent, but never lets it get in the way of hard work. She's also down-to-earth and could tell jokes very easily. The film crew fell in love with her.'
I've Loved All My Leading Ladies
By Garth Pearce
Now magazine
January 2002
Michael Douglas in A Perfect Murder
Q: What surprised you about your other costar, Michael Douglas?
A: Just before Christmas, Michael was singing Christmas songs all day long, but he'd change the lyrics and he'd make the crew sing along, too. It was just goofy. You don't think of him as being that kind of a dorky guy.
The Hot New 39-Year-Old
By Dennis Hensley
Movieline magazine
August 1998
Diane Lane A Walk on the Moon
You've worked with many actresses: Demi Moore (GI Jane), Sandra Bullock (28 Days), Nicole Kidman (Portrait of a Lady), Gwyneth Paltrow (A Perfect Murder), Diane Lane (A Walk on the Moon) ... With who did you have the best relationship?
They were all great. But it was one of the lesser stars, Diane Lane, who perhaps impressed me the most. She's been working for years with little recognition in comparison to her talent.
Viggo Mortensen: The Soul of a Warrior
By Juliette Michaud
Studio Magazine
December 2002
Ian McKellen in Lord of the Rings
…it must be said that the casting is inspired. Take Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf. He is very prepared, he knows what he has to do. And he has a good sense of humour and truly enjoys life. I don't know if it's a sign, but Ian came to see one of my plays, long ago, when I was unknown.
Viggo Mortensen: The Soul of a Warrior
By Juliette Michaud
Studio Magazine
December 2002
"He had more tricks than a bag of merlins and he really used them all."
The Man Who Would Be King
By Nick Dent
December 2001
Source: Black & White magazine, #58
Omar Sharif in Hidalgo
…one of the great things about this experience was working with Omar Sharif, and I think his casting was very important to the movie. It was already a good story, but him playing this part, I mean he's very right for it. The man he plays speaks several languages, he has some curiosity about the West, Omar has one foot in the east and one foot in the west, he lives in France, he's an Egyptian Muslim, and he's a perfect piece of casting.
Also, in terms of cinema history; obviously because of his connection to Lawrence of Arabia. You know, it just lifted the movie to another level, so, personally, it was a lot of fun to be able to sit close to him, not only working, but kind of pestering him with questions about David Lean, Peter O'Toole, and what it was like for an Egyptian actor to have that experience.
Hidalgo - Viggo Mortensen Q&A
By Jack Foley
Indie London
April 2004
Robert Duvall in The Road
It was the very last take, and it was the scene by the campfire, and I knew that Duvall wasn’t satisfied. I knew that there was something, that magic little thing hadn’t happened yet. He said, “If we could do one more take … let’s just do one for ourselves,” and I go, “Yeah, whatever.” Then, suddenly, he says, “I had a boy once,” and the hair just went up on the back of my neck, and I was like, “Wow, that is so right.” I realized that, which happens once in a while, and you are just so happy that it happened. … It’s so simple and beautiful and obvious, and he said it with such feeling that, when we went back to the line from the scene, there was a little pause, so I asked, “What happened to your boy, your son?” And the rest was magic.
Viggo Mortensen
Viggo Hits The Road
By Roger Durling
Santa Barbara Independent
22 November 2009
Quotable Viggo: 17 November 2019
This week I have a tongue-in-cheek look at what it’s like to be a man coming into Viggo’s orbit. The looks, the multi-lingualism, the triple-Oscar nominated acting ability, the thoughtful gift-giving, the poetry, the painting…the… well, I could go on and on. That’s not in the least bit intimidating, especially if you are Omar Sharif… right?
© Touchstone / Buena Vista Pictures.
"Viggo Mortensen is an extraordinary person... I suspect a defect somewhere. It's not possible, I have never met someone who has no defect. He has all: he is kind, he is generous, he is tender, he is a pacifist, he is tolerant - I'm also tolerant, I like that kind of people - and he helps everybody. He writes poetry, he makes photos... it's extraordinary... he is handsome, he acts well... then we say to ourselves it's not possible, people like this do not exist. I did not manage to find it out but there has to be a defect somewhere. One cannot be that perfect!"
Omar Sharif
"Hidalgo": en tête à tête avec Omar Sharif - Trans. by Casablanca
by Peggy Zejgman
allocine.com
24 March 2004
The Empire Icon award this year went to the disgustingly multitalented Viggo Mortensen, who speaks more languages than God, paints, writes poetry and still finds time to do a bit of acting.
Jameson Empire Award Winners Announced!
Helen O’Hara
Empire Online
30 March 2009
“Now, Viggo, you speak seven languages, you write poetry in three languages, Danish, Spanish and English, you ride horses superbly and you’re a great swordsman and all our womenfolk are in love with you… do you understand how annoying you are?”
Radio interview with Richard Glover
ABC Sydney
24 March 2009
Viggo Mortensen isn’t just a celebrity, as you’re probably aware. He isn’t even just a fine actor. He’s also a painter, a poet and a photographer, and he makes records, too, often in collaboration with Buckethead, the masked wizard guitarist. In addition, he’s also conversant in half a dozen languages — yet another body blow to an interviewer’s self-esteem. But I soldiered on.
Viggo Mortensen On ‘The Road,’
By Kurt Loder
MTV.com
25 November 2009
Viggo Mortensen is a smolderer. He opens those intense, I-know-how-to-build-my-own-kitchen eyes, and he wins my girlfriend over every time. Obviously, I want to hate him because anyone that ruggedly handsome has to be despised on principal alone, but like Paul Newman and his absurdly delicious salad dressing, there comes a day when you just have to admit a dude's alright.
20 Actors Who Deserve Your Support
By Josh
Cinema Blend
22 August 2010
Liev Schreiber on heading straight for the gym the minute he knew Viggo had been cast as his wife's lover:
'I had to have some definition in my body if I was going to take my shirt off in the same movie that Viggo runs around naked in. Trust me, that's mighty intimidating.'
Liev Schreiber (the husband)
Calgary Sun, April 1999
Holding a glass of red wine and laughing, Agustín Díaz Yanes asserts, "Viggo is terrifying. He sends you a handwritten letter, all decorated and painted, and when he arrives at your house for dinner he’s an intolerable guy: he cleans the fish and picks up the dishes. My wife is fascinated, and she compares the two of us. Damn, what’s a guy supposed to do? The bar is set very high."
The Lord of Simplicity
By Ernesto Garratt Vines - translated by Margarita
Wikén - El Mercurio
30 March 2007
"He could really earn his keep as a painter, certainly as a photographer," says his Rings co-star John Rhys-Davies, who plays Gimli, a dwarf. "He is also a substantially better fisherman than I am. He can catch more fish, and I hate him for that!"
Could Viggo Mortensen Be The Perfect Man?
By Nathan Cooper & Mike Glynn
Star, 2003
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
Viggo Mortensen is a character actor at heart, he's a method, no-restraint genius who looks like a mechanic, crossed with zoo keeper, crossed with a brooding former model turned emotionally-tortured bad boy. I need to stop holding that against him. If not for my own credibility, so he won't steal my girlfriend and kill me with his bare hands in my sleep on his way to winning at least three Oscars before he's done.
20 Actors Who Deserve Your Support
By Josh
Cinema Blend
22 August 2010
"He is so brilliant he makes me sick."
Elijah Wood
Talkin' To Me?
By Gunnar Rehlin
Scanorama magazine, 2004
Viggo Mortensen can do anything. Until recently, that wasn’t true. We could all look at him and think, “Yeah sure, but can he speak French?” The answer was no, and our world had a modicum of balance. Now it turns out that answer was yes, and we are all f*****.
Evan Saathoff
Badassdigest.com
25 August 2014
"He's an unbelievable man. He brings chocolates to the set, expensive haute cuisine chocolates, and he hands it out in plastic bags. He writes music and he's painting and doing poems; you feel pathetic around him."
Jason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs Loved Working With Chocolate Man Mortensen
ContactMusic.com
1 March 2012
"Oh wow. It's Viggo," says the "Dorian Gray" star. The observation was understated -- no hoots, hollers or autograph mania here. But the surprise was unmistakable as a publicist escorted the handsome British star down a corridor at Toronto's Intercontinental Hotel.
"You sound impressed," the woman comments, hurrying the 28-year-old actor off to another interview.
"Sure I'm impressed," Barnes smiles broadly. "That's Viggo Mortensen!"
Ben Barnes spots Viggo at Toronto
Constance Droganes
CTV.ca
12 September 2009
When the world goes boom, I want Viggo Mortensen to be my dad.
Marshall Fine
Huffington Post
24 November 2009
“Doesn’t everybody want to be Viggo Mortensen? I do!”
Matt Ross
Captain Fantastic: Viggo Mortensen & Family
by Christine Westwood
FilmInk
11 June 2016
© Touchstone / Buena Vista Pictures.
"Viggo Mortensen is an extraordinary person... I suspect a defect somewhere. It's not possible, I have never met someone who has no defect. He has all: he is kind, he is generous, he is tender, he is a pacifist, he is tolerant - I'm also tolerant, I like that kind of people - and he helps everybody. He writes poetry, he makes photos... it's extraordinary... he is handsome, he acts well... then we say to ourselves it's not possible, people like this do not exist. I did not manage to find it out but there has to be a defect somewhere. One cannot be that perfect!"
Omar Sharif
"Hidalgo": en tête à tête avec Omar Sharif - Trans. by Casablanca
by Peggy Zejgman
allocine.com
24 March 2004
The Empire Icon award this year went to the disgustingly multitalented Viggo Mortensen, who speaks more languages than God, paints, writes poetry and still finds time to do a bit of acting.
Jameson Empire Award Winners Announced!
Helen O’Hara
Empire Online
30 March 2009
“Now, Viggo, you speak seven languages, you write poetry in three languages, Danish, Spanish and English, you ride horses superbly and you’re a great swordsman and all our womenfolk are in love with you… do you understand how annoying you are?”
Radio interview with Richard Glover
ABC Sydney
24 March 2009
Viggo Mortensen isn’t just a celebrity, as you’re probably aware. He isn’t even just a fine actor. He’s also a painter, a poet and a photographer, and he makes records, too, often in collaboration with Buckethead, the masked wizard guitarist. In addition, he’s also conversant in half a dozen languages — yet another body blow to an interviewer’s self-esteem. But I soldiered on.
Viggo Mortensen On ‘The Road,’
By Kurt Loder
MTV.com
25 November 2009
Viggo Mortensen is a smolderer. He opens those intense, I-know-how-to-build-my-own-kitchen eyes, and he wins my girlfriend over every time. Obviously, I want to hate him because anyone that ruggedly handsome has to be despised on principal alone, but like Paul Newman and his absurdly delicious salad dressing, there comes a day when you just have to admit a dude's alright.
20 Actors Who Deserve Your Support
By Josh
Cinema Blend
22 August 2010
Liev Schreiber on heading straight for the gym the minute he knew Viggo had been cast as his wife's lover:
'I had to have some definition in my body if I was going to take my shirt off in the same movie that Viggo runs around naked in. Trust me, that's mighty intimidating.'
Liev Schreiber (the husband)
Calgary Sun, April 1999
Holding a glass of red wine and laughing, Agustín Díaz Yanes asserts, "Viggo is terrifying. He sends you a handwritten letter, all decorated and painted, and when he arrives at your house for dinner he’s an intolerable guy: he cleans the fish and picks up the dishes. My wife is fascinated, and she compares the two of us. Damn, what’s a guy supposed to do? The bar is set very high."
The Lord of Simplicity
By Ernesto Garratt Vines - translated by Margarita
Wikén - El Mercurio
30 March 2007
"He could really earn his keep as a painter, certainly as a photographer," says his Rings co-star John Rhys-Davies, who plays Gimli, a dwarf. "He is also a substantially better fisherman than I am. He can catch more fish, and I hate him for that!"
Could Viggo Mortensen Be The Perfect Man?
By Nathan Cooper & Mike Glynn
Star, 2003
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
Viggo Mortensen is a character actor at heart, he's a method, no-restraint genius who looks like a mechanic, crossed with zoo keeper, crossed with a brooding former model turned emotionally-tortured bad boy. I need to stop holding that against him. If not for my own credibility, so he won't steal my girlfriend and kill me with his bare hands in my sleep on his way to winning at least three Oscars before he's done.
20 Actors Who Deserve Your Support
By Josh
Cinema Blend
22 August 2010
"He is so brilliant he makes me sick."
Elijah Wood
Talkin' To Me?
By Gunnar Rehlin
Scanorama magazine, 2004
Viggo Mortensen can do anything. Until recently, that wasn’t true. We could all look at him and think, “Yeah sure, but can he speak French?” The answer was no, and our world had a modicum of balance. Now it turns out that answer was yes, and we are all f*****.
Evan Saathoff
Badassdigest.com
25 August 2014
"He's an unbelievable man. He brings chocolates to the set, expensive haute cuisine chocolates, and he hands it out in plastic bags. He writes music and he's painting and doing poems; you feel pathetic around him."
Jason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs Loved Working With Chocolate Man Mortensen
ContactMusic.com
1 March 2012
"Oh wow. It's Viggo," says the "Dorian Gray" star. The observation was understated -- no hoots, hollers or autograph mania here. But the surprise was unmistakable as a publicist escorted the handsome British star down a corridor at Toronto's Intercontinental Hotel.
"You sound impressed," the woman comments, hurrying the 28-year-old actor off to another interview.
"Sure I'm impressed," Barnes smiles broadly. "That's Viggo Mortensen!"
Ben Barnes spots Viggo at Toronto
Constance Droganes
CTV.ca
12 September 2009
When the world goes boom, I want Viggo Mortensen to be my dad.
Marshall Fine
Huffington Post
24 November 2009
“Doesn’t everybody want to be Viggo Mortensen? I do!”
Matt Ross
Captain Fantastic: Viggo Mortensen & Family
by Christine Westwood
FilmInk
11 June 2016
Quotable Viggo: 9 November 2019
For many of us who first discovered Viggo while watching The Lord of the Rings, one of the films that really made our eyes pop when frantically buying every back-catalogue movie we could lay our hands on was A Walk on the Moon. As one of the critics below says, we were hit by full-on ‘paint-peeling smouldering sexuality’. How many of us had the moment when he bites the tag off Pearl’s neck on replay? Oh… and of course it’s also really, really great film with a wonderful performance by Diane Lane.
© Miramax Films / Village Roadshow.
Ask any movie-loving woman to name the sexiest scenes on film and, after ticking off the old standbys - Dennis Quaid getting Ellen Barkin off in The Big Easy, Kevin Costner painting Susan Sarandon's toenails in Bull Durham - chances are good that she'll pull out her well-worn copy of the 1999 indie sleeper A Walk on the Moon.
The Appealingly Weird World of Viggo Mortensen
By Amy Wallace
Esquire
March 2006
The rest of the leads also seemed to just click into place during the auditions. Getting Viggo Mortensen was Goldwyn's only "moment of panic," the director says, because he wanted a free spirit type, but definitely not a hippie, and he had his heart set on the actor from "A Perfect Murder," Gus Van Sant's "Psycho."
"When I saw some of Viggo's work, I thought, that's always who I've had in my head. I realized there is not one other actor anywhere who could play Viggo's part other than Viggo. He has this kind of complexity and mysteriousness to him. He doesn't have to say much and you get a lot."
Tony Goldwyn, Director of A Walk on the Moon
Actor Goldwyn side-stepped cliches for summer of '69 directorial debut
By Robin Blackwelder
SPLICEDwire
24 February 1999
“I knew I wanted him for that role in such a way that I was saying, Please take some of my money and give it to him… because he gives immeasurable depth to what he does, full commitment, full conviction.”
Diane Lane
Finding Viggo
By Alex Kuczynski
Vanity Fair magazine
January 2004
Mortensen found working with Lane "as good as I'd hoped it would be. She's a good actress and she makes the work really easy. She's very relaxed and very focused on what's right for the scene and not her own vanity."
Talking With Viggo
George magazine
1999
Originally called ''The Blouse Man'' in honor of its traffic-stopping title character, ''A Walk on the Moon'' has its elements of attractive fantasy. The blouse man is one of the peddlers who visit the camp to sell their wares, and it took Ms. Gray many rewrites to turn him into an object of desire. However, as played with silky eroticism by Viggo Mortensen, the gentlemanly Walker Jerome arrives to charm the camp's old ladies and weaken Pearl's knees.
Janet Maslin
New York Times
March 26, 1999
As the guy Pearl falls for, Viggo Mortensen drips with sex appeal.
Robin Dougherty
25 February 1999
Miami New Times
'If Viggo and I convince people we're enjoying every second of that encounter [in the waterfall] we've really done our job as actors. It was freezing in that river. The water was filled with debris and cigarette butts and the rocks were covered in little worms.'
Diane Lane
Calgary Sun
10 April 1999
'I know that some people are describing Walker as a hippie, but he really wasn't. He was a little older than that generation and probably more influenced by jazz and the beat generation, so that made him maybe a little more open to things. It wasn't just about Woodstock for him.'
Viggo Mortensen on A Walk on the Moon
Viggo Artist & Actor
by Jae-Ha Kim
Cleveland Plain Deale
1999
Walker is no mindless hippie going with the flow. He cares about Pearl. Certainly, he cares about pleasing her sexually. She gets her own flight to the moon at the same time as Neil Armstrong. And what Walker does to her under a waterfall should be bottled. Their sexual connection is reinforced by the blazing chemistry between Lane (the adorable child in "A Little Romance'') and Mortensen. While he seems pallid in his solo scenes, Mortensen comes alive when Lane is around. It's clear why Pearl would risk everything for this stranger.
A Steamy 'Walk on The Moon'
Ruthe Stein
San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, April 2, 1999
'I knew I was up against Viggo Mortensen. Come on, the guy is easy on the eyes, and he doesn't wear a lot of clothes in this movie. If anyone was to believe that I might get the girl, I was going to have to do some work. So I jumped rope, I ran, and I didn't eat.'
Liev Schreiber
People Magazine
26 April 1999
"I think being a conventional leading man is something that gives him a lot of trouble," says Goldwyn, recalling Mortensen's fears that A Walk on the Moon's Blouse Man might become a one-note sex god. "Of course, the success that implies is very attractive, but the trappings of that for someone like Viggo, who has so much to offer, can be very scary."
Viggo Trip
by Liane Bonin
Flaunt magazine #39
2002
As the Blouse Man, Viggo Mortensen is rugged and attractive, but the character is underdeveloped. In a way, this is unimportant, because his primary function is as a catalyst.
....Following its world premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, A Walk on the Moon received a standing ovation from the 1300 viewers in the Eccles Theater - an occurrence that's a testimony to the film's emotional strength and truth. It's easy to make a bad movie about a woman finding herself by cheating on her husband, but difficult to fashion one that hits most of the right notes.
A Walk on the Moon
Reelviews
James Berardinelli
1999
...no man other than Viggo Mortensen could carry the moniker 'Blouse Man' and retain the sort of paint-peeling smoldering sexuality that he wields throughout this film (to say nothing of his nuanced, stunning performance, which I guess I'm saying next to nothing about. But don't we all assume such a performance from Viggo?).
Liz W Garcia
HitFix
13 July 2015
© Miramax Films / Village Roadshow.
Ask any movie-loving woman to name the sexiest scenes on film and, after ticking off the old standbys - Dennis Quaid getting Ellen Barkin off in The Big Easy, Kevin Costner painting Susan Sarandon's toenails in Bull Durham - chances are good that she'll pull out her well-worn copy of the 1999 indie sleeper A Walk on the Moon.
The Appealingly Weird World of Viggo Mortensen
By Amy Wallace
Esquire
March 2006
The rest of the leads also seemed to just click into place during the auditions. Getting Viggo Mortensen was Goldwyn's only "moment of panic," the director says, because he wanted a free spirit type, but definitely not a hippie, and he had his heart set on the actor from "A Perfect Murder," Gus Van Sant's "Psycho."
"When I saw some of Viggo's work, I thought, that's always who I've had in my head. I realized there is not one other actor anywhere who could play Viggo's part other than Viggo. He has this kind of complexity and mysteriousness to him. He doesn't have to say much and you get a lot."
Tony Goldwyn, Director of A Walk on the Moon
Actor Goldwyn side-stepped cliches for summer of '69 directorial debut
By Robin Blackwelder
SPLICEDwire
24 February 1999
“I knew I wanted him for that role in such a way that I was saying, Please take some of my money and give it to him… because he gives immeasurable depth to what he does, full commitment, full conviction.”
Diane Lane
Finding Viggo
By Alex Kuczynski
Vanity Fair magazine
January 2004
Mortensen found working with Lane "as good as I'd hoped it would be. She's a good actress and she makes the work really easy. She's very relaxed and very focused on what's right for the scene and not her own vanity."
Talking With Viggo
George magazine
1999
Originally called ''The Blouse Man'' in honor of its traffic-stopping title character, ''A Walk on the Moon'' has its elements of attractive fantasy. The blouse man is one of the peddlers who visit the camp to sell their wares, and it took Ms. Gray many rewrites to turn him into an object of desire. However, as played with silky eroticism by Viggo Mortensen, the gentlemanly Walker Jerome arrives to charm the camp's old ladies and weaken Pearl's knees.
Janet Maslin
New York Times
March 26, 1999
As the guy Pearl falls for, Viggo Mortensen drips with sex appeal.
Robin Dougherty
25 February 1999
Miami New Times
'If Viggo and I convince people we're enjoying every second of that encounter [in the waterfall] we've really done our job as actors. It was freezing in that river. The water was filled with debris and cigarette butts and the rocks were covered in little worms.'
Diane Lane
Calgary Sun
10 April 1999
'I know that some people are describing Walker as a hippie, but he really wasn't. He was a little older than that generation and probably more influenced by jazz and the beat generation, so that made him maybe a little more open to things. It wasn't just about Woodstock for him.'
Viggo Mortensen on A Walk on the Moon
Viggo Artist & Actor
by Jae-Ha Kim
Cleveland Plain Deale
1999
Walker is no mindless hippie going with the flow. He cares about Pearl. Certainly, he cares about pleasing her sexually. She gets her own flight to the moon at the same time as Neil Armstrong. And what Walker does to her under a waterfall should be bottled. Their sexual connection is reinforced by the blazing chemistry between Lane (the adorable child in "A Little Romance'') and Mortensen. While he seems pallid in his solo scenes, Mortensen comes alive when Lane is around. It's clear why Pearl would risk everything for this stranger.
A Steamy 'Walk on The Moon'
Ruthe Stein
San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, April 2, 1999
'I knew I was up against Viggo Mortensen. Come on, the guy is easy on the eyes, and he doesn't wear a lot of clothes in this movie. If anyone was to believe that I might get the girl, I was going to have to do some work. So I jumped rope, I ran, and I didn't eat.'
Liev Schreiber
People Magazine
26 April 1999
"I think being a conventional leading man is something that gives him a lot of trouble," says Goldwyn, recalling Mortensen's fears that A Walk on the Moon's Blouse Man might become a one-note sex god. "Of course, the success that implies is very attractive, but the trappings of that for someone like Viggo, who has so much to offer, can be very scary."
Viggo Trip
by Liane Bonin
Flaunt magazine #39
2002
As the Blouse Man, Viggo Mortensen is rugged and attractive, but the character is underdeveloped. In a way, this is unimportant, because his primary function is as a catalyst.
....Following its world premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, A Walk on the Moon received a standing ovation from the 1300 viewers in the Eccles Theater - an occurrence that's a testimony to the film's emotional strength and truth. It's easy to make a bad movie about a woman finding herself by cheating on her husband, but difficult to fashion one that hits most of the right notes.
A Walk on the Moon
Reelviews
James Berardinelli
1999
...no man other than Viggo Mortensen could carry the moniker 'Blouse Man' and retain the sort of paint-peeling smoldering sexuality that he wields throughout this film (to say nothing of his nuanced, stunning performance, which I guess I'm saying next to nothing about. But don't we all assume such a performance from Viggo?).
Liz W Garcia
HitFix
13 July 2015
Quotable Viggo: 2 November 2019
If you like a bonkers and rather bloody B movie then Renny Harlin's Prison is for you, though it's probably only appeared on most of our radars because Viggo is in it channelling 'a James Dean vibe' and… um… taking a shower. What's not to enjoy? The film gathered a new audience and lots of new reviews when it was released on Blu-ray in 2013, bumping up my quotes quota enough to give the film the full Quotable works. It's pretty close to Halloween, after all!
© Empire pictures.
Mortensen shows good leading man chops well before Hollywood took notice of him…
Shlockmania Blu-ray Prison review
18 February 2013
The film, shot on location in a prison in Wyoming, is certainly not a milestone of the genre, but it is entertaining with actors in a good situation - and, for the first time in his career, it gave Mortensen the chance to fully reveal his charisma.
Portrait: Viggo Mortensen - The Actor As Artist
By - translated by Sally
DVD Special (Germany)
June 2008
Before Viggo Mortensen became Aragorn and before Renny Harlin became known for helming such flashily forgettable action fare as The Long Kiss Goodnight and Driven, the two made sweet incarcerated horror music together with the aptly named Prison (1988). Well, not that sweet, but Prison does have the dubious distinction of being one of Harlin's best as well as the finest film to come out of the late '80s trend of the return of the vengeful executed (remember Wes Craven's Shocker?).
Haunted Prison
Independent Film Channel
30 October 2007
"When I was casting this little million-dollar horror movie, I really wanted to get good actors though to make it stand out. We saw something like eighty guys in Hollywood, guys you would know from TV and bit parts in movies, but they all felt like the same old thing and I was really frustrated. After we get done with the eighty guys in comes Viggo who had hardly done anything at that point, I think Witness was his only film but I just looked at him and thought please let him know how to act. My mantra was that I wanted to find the next James Dean and he was awesome, very low key and on the spot I said this is our guy."
Director Renny Harlin
Daily Grindhouse
19 December 2011
"He was definitely somebody that people were keeping an eye on and what have you. He was this striking looking guy and he really was a good guy and still is. He's just a very nice person. But boy he really brought up the smoldering intensity right away. That was terrific."
Screenwriter Courtney Joyner
Late night classics – Prison
Jason Bene
Killerfilm.com
2 June 2010
"There was such a charisma about him. I really thought that this film would make him a household name. Unfortunately, since the film wasn't really released theatrically, it took Viggo a little longer to get there, but he still got there eventually."
Renny Harlin
Review Fix Exclusive: Q & A With "Prison" Director Renny Harlin
Patrick Hickey Jr.
Review Fix
14 February 2013
He… handled almost all of his own stunts, a move that would earn him a stunt team t-shirt by Hodder by the end of production.
Locked Up 30 Years Later: Kane Hodder in 'Prison'
by Meagan Navarro
Bloodydisgusting.com
6 March 2018
"It was a real low budget horror exploitation thing. The cast was a bunch of people [who were] New York stage actors. For that kind of movie, it was a pretty experienced group of actors; good actors got those parts. So, I was surrounded by people who really knew what they were doing, which was nice. It was fun to work with them. I mean, the story was what it was. It was a horror movie and it was on the cheap side and all that, but Renny Hahn had a certain amount of visual flair. Other that,I don't know if it stands out any more than the other movies at this time. I liked the location, I liked Wyoming."
Viggo talking about Prison
The Fire That Fuels an Artist's Heart
By Carnell
March 1999
I know it's cliché to say an actor has intensity but I think Prison is one of [Viggo's] more intense roles. There is a scene in the prison yard when he's going toe-to-toe with a prisoner who's trying to run the yard that is just cool as hell. His performance actually in Eastern Promises kind of reminds me of Prison because in both films he uses his eyes so much.
Prison Review
Daily Grindhouse
19 December 2011
Viggo Mortensen is something of a find as Burke, an inmate apparently bred on James Dean and Montgomery Clift films. All the supporting roles are solid as well. As for the Spirit of Forsythe, he's not just another masked menace or a flesh-rotted presence, but more of a malevolent specter à la The Keep. When his hell breaks loose, it's quite chilling.
Prison Review
Hollibonitos
Starblog.com
It's interesting to watch him here as he channels a James Dean vibe, with his wedge-cut hair and sulky, almost shy delivery.
Prison Review
David Maine
Popmatters.com
20 February 2013
Viggo Mortensen, in an early role before stardom, offers a strong-willed, no-frills performance that suits the character wonderfully.
Martin Liebman
Blu-ray.com
2 February 2013
This was Mortensen's first lead role, too, but he delivers with a calm and extremely cool persona who holds his own against the more traditional thugs.
By Rob Hunter
filmschoolrejects Blu-ray review
16 February 2013
Prison features a strong cast of recognizable actors, many of whom were at the start of their careers. Viggo Mortensen (The Prophecy) has enjoyed the most success and it is easy to recognize his talent in this early piece. His performance is subtle as a short-time convict gradually pushed into the role of reluctant hero.
Horrortalk.com Blu-ray review
19 February 2013
© Empire pictures.
Mortensen shows good leading man chops well before Hollywood took notice of him…
Shlockmania Blu-ray Prison review
18 February 2013
The film, shot on location in a prison in Wyoming, is certainly not a milestone of the genre, but it is entertaining with actors in a good situation - and, for the first time in his career, it gave Mortensen the chance to fully reveal his charisma.
Portrait: Viggo Mortensen - The Actor As Artist
By - translated by Sally
DVD Special (Germany)
June 2008
Before Viggo Mortensen became Aragorn and before Renny Harlin became known for helming such flashily forgettable action fare as The Long Kiss Goodnight and Driven, the two made sweet incarcerated horror music together with the aptly named Prison (1988). Well, not that sweet, but Prison does have the dubious distinction of being one of Harlin's best as well as the finest film to come out of the late '80s trend of the return of the vengeful executed (remember Wes Craven's Shocker?).
Haunted Prison
Independent Film Channel
30 October 2007
"When I was casting this little million-dollar horror movie, I really wanted to get good actors though to make it stand out. We saw something like eighty guys in Hollywood, guys you would know from TV and bit parts in movies, but they all felt like the same old thing and I was really frustrated. After we get done with the eighty guys in comes Viggo who had hardly done anything at that point, I think Witness was his only film but I just looked at him and thought please let him know how to act. My mantra was that I wanted to find the next James Dean and he was awesome, very low key and on the spot I said this is our guy."
Director Renny Harlin
Daily Grindhouse
19 December 2011
"He was definitely somebody that people were keeping an eye on and what have you. He was this striking looking guy and he really was a good guy and still is. He's just a very nice person. But boy he really brought up the smoldering intensity right away. That was terrific."
Screenwriter Courtney Joyner
Late night classics – Prison
Jason Bene
Killerfilm.com
2 June 2010
"There was such a charisma about him. I really thought that this film would make him a household name. Unfortunately, since the film wasn't really released theatrically, it took Viggo a little longer to get there, but he still got there eventually."
Renny Harlin
Review Fix Exclusive: Q & A With "Prison" Director Renny Harlin
Patrick Hickey Jr.
Review Fix
14 February 2013
He… handled almost all of his own stunts, a move that would earn him a stunt team t-shirt by Hodder by the end of production.
Locked Up 30 Years Later: Kane Hodder in 'Prison'
by Meagan Navarro
Bloodydisgusting.com
6 March 2018
"It was a real low budget horror exploitation thing. The cast was a bunch of people [who were] New York stage actors. For that kind of movie, it was a pretty experienced group of actors; good actors got those parts. So, I was surrounded by people who really knew what they were doing, which was nice. It was fun to work with them. I mean, the story was what it was. It was a horror movie and it was on the cheap side and all that, but Renny Hahn had a certain amount of visual flair. Other that,I don't know if it stands out any more than the other movies at this time. I liked the location, I liked Wyoming."
Viggo talking about Prison
The Fire That Fuels an Artist's Heart
By Carnell
March 1999
I know it's cliché to say an actor has intensity but I think Prison is one of [Viggo's] more intense roles. There is a scene in the prison yard when he's going toe-to-toe with a prisoner who's trying to run the yard that is just cool as hell. His performance actually in Eastern Promises kind of reminds me of Prison because in both films he uses his eyes so much.
Prison Review
Daily Grindhouse
19 December 2011
Viggo Mortensen is something of a find as Burke, an inmate apparently bred on James Dean and Montgomery Clift films. All the supporting roles are solid as well. As for the Spirit of Forsythe, he's not just another masked menace or a flesh-rotted presence, but more of a malevolent specter à la The Keep. When his hell breaks loose, it's quite chilling.
Prison Review
Hollibonitos
Starblog.com
It's interesting to watch him here as he channels a James Dean vibe, with his wedge-cut hair and sulky, almost shy delivery.
Prison Review
David Maine
Popmatters.com
20 February 2013
Viggo Mortensen, in an early role before stardom, offers a strong-willed, no-frills performance that suits the character wonderfully.
Martin Liebman
Blu-ray.com
2 February 2013
This was Mortensen's first lead role, too, but he delivers with a calm and extremely cool persona who holds his own against the more traditional thugs.
By Rob Hunter
filmschoolrejects Blu-ray review
16 February 2013
Prison features a strong cast of recognizable actors, many of whom were at the start of their careers. Viggo Mortensen (The Prophecy) has enjoyed the most success and it is easy to recognize his talent in this early piece. His performance is subtle as a short-time convict gradually pushed into the role of reluctant hero.
Horrortalk.com Blu-ray review
19 February 2013