When the elements, the weather and the terrain get tough, Viggo gets going.

Interview with Viggo Mortensen, Oscar Contender
Emmanuellevy.com
3 September 2009



Burnt and sinewy in each scene, he registers a liquid panic in every glance at the woods and a sort of angry regret in every peek at the boy. Mortensen is a different filthy man in each function of fatherhood. You recognize them all, without voice-over, without undue exposition. He still cares. And it hurts more than ever to care.

The Road Is the Most Important Movie of the Year
By Tom Chiarella
Esquire Magazine
12 May 2009



"I first got to know him on the phone," says Charlize Theron, who plays Mortensen's wife in flashbacks in The Road. "We would have lovely, long conversations. Viggo made such a point of wanting me to know that I was going to be completely supported. He's definitely a caretaker, which is a really beautiful quality, and a man of many passions - poetry, photography, books.... I arrived on set and there was a library in my trailer."

Beautiful Dreamer
By Holly Millea
Elle (U.S.)
October 2009



Were you disappointed to be in a film with Viggo Mortensen yet not act in a scene with him?

Well funnily enough, I did in the scene that didn't end up in the film. I'm a huge fan of his, he's really extraordinary, so I would have loved to have worked with him.

Guy Pearce
Guy Pearce is a bona-fide Aussie star, in films The Road and The Hurt Locker
By Neala Johnson
Herald Sun (Australia)
28 January 2010



"Viggo's ... a real artist. He cares about what speaks to him. He doesn't care about how much he's paid, doesn't care where he lives, doesn't care how nice the hotel is. He's a horse. I feel like he could go all day, work all day and he's polite and creative and generous. That made it easy. Not only is he physically gifted, he's graceful and tough."

Garret Dillahunt
Fred Topel
CraveOnline
20 March 2009



But as far as working with Viggo and Kodi, you know, I've had a few leads in indies since I worked on "The Road," and it's become an adjective when you do something: to "Viggo up." The guy is a mule -- he seems tireless. But he's kind and focused too.

Garett Dillahunt
By Paul Gaita
The Envelope
17 December 2009



"Come on, we've all been Viggo-tized before," Williams says of the 'Lord of the Rings' stud and 'Road' co-star. "He has that charisma, he has a swagger. He's a great dude."

It's not that Williams takes it as far as some of Viggo's female fans: "(But) I have my own kind of love affair with him," says Williams. "I know whenever I see him in God's green earth I am going to get a hug. And we're going to get a drink, time-permitting. And we'll kick it a little bit."

Michael K Williams
'Wire' Hero Michael K. Williams Loved Getting 'Viggo-tized' on 'The Road'
Popeater.com
Bryan Alexander
19 November 2009



"This guy here [he puts a hand on Mortensen's shoulder] is a good a guy as you'll ever work with, not just as a talent but as a human being. The first day, he brought goodies from Argentina and flags and everything. His favorite soccer team is not as good as La Boca, but it's a good team."

Robert Duvall
Viggo Mortensen and Robert Duvall go on 'The Road' to redemption
By Carla Hay
Examiner.com
25November 2009



"He's very in the moment, definitely, right in the moment. When you see me running with him, and he's holding my hand and I trip over and all that, it's totally real. I was falling into thorns and stuff -- Aah! Aah! -- and he just drags me up and puts me on his shoulder. I'm like, Oh, my God."

Kodi Smit-McPhee
Viggo Mortensen: 'A Grown Man in an Era of Boys'
Jay A. Fernandez
Risky Biz
12 September 2009



Mortensen is The Man. That´s the way he is known in the film. Or Papa, as Kodi Smit-McPhee, his fictional son, calls him. Viggo is one of the pillars supporting The Road. I´d say he is everything. I have seldom seen an actor so dedicated, so ambitious and so ready for his work. Mortensen immersed himself in the project to the extent of giving all. He placed inconceivable demands on himself. After every take he would look me in the eyes and say: Have we got it? He's been a lesson in professionalism and comradeship. We shared wine and soccer talk. Furthermore, Viggo became Kodi´s father. They were more than co-workers in the shoot. Very few times I have felt such a perfect father and son chemistry in the cinema. Off the set they behaved the same way. In cinema, sometimes, you are witness to an unwritten love and tenderness. I owe a lot to Papa.

Javier Aguirresarobe (cinematographer)
On the Road with Javier Aguirresarobe
by Blanca J de la Hoz
Fotogramas
February 2010



"There was little glamour about the shoot, least of all the scenes where Mortensen runs naked into the freezing sea. "The insurance company told him not to do it," smiles Penhall, "but he's mad as a snake."

Joe Penhall, novel adaptor
The Ultimate Road Movie
By Nick Roggick
London Evening Standard
4 September 2009



In Viggo Mortensen, Hillcoat is working with one of the current cinema's great quiet everymen, and if anyone can make the novel's stolid, unnamed hero empathic and emotionally alive on screen whilst remaining loyal to the novel's aesthetic minimalism, it's this immensely physical, restrained performer. It's a masterstroke of casting that I hope connects with its on-paper potential: if it does, I can see Mortensen leading the film's awards trail.

Kris Tapley
InContention.com
August 2009



...his face has the creased experience of Lange's Depression-era subjects, an etched, weather-beaten look that has all but vanished from the screen. (It doesn't hurt that he is simultaneously easy on the eyes.)

Viggo Mortensen: 'Road' Warrior
Mortensen talks about playing a father in the post-apocalyptic 'The Road.'
By Sam Adams
18 November 2009



But here's the interesting thing: Viggo Mortensen's performance as a father walking through a post-apocalypse America with his young son is just fascinating. It stays with you long after leaving the theatre. Mortensen is that good.

Exclusive: 'The Road' with Viggo and Charlize May Surprise
By Roger Friedman
The Hollywood Reporter
24 June 2009