Viggo Mortensen was at the height of his popularity when the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy came out over ten years ago. Instead of capitalizing on that fame by starring in more high profile projects, he has since become incredibly selective, having appeared in only ten films since 2004 with many of them being outside typical studio fare. His collaborations with David Cronenberg include three of those ten films: “A History of Violence”, “Eastern Promises,” and “A Dangerous Method.” Which begs the question: why does he love working with Cronenberg so much? Well, he talks about that in a half hour-long interview with Jian Ghomeshi on the Canadian radio show, “Q.”
The interview, overall, is fairly loose and Viggo is able to really get into it about his working process with David Cronenberg. He talks about how Cronenberg’s convinced him to do things he otherwise would not have done, such as playing Sigmund Freud in “A Dangerous Method.” He even remarks about how apprehensive he was about starring in “A History of Violence,” but meeting with the director helped ease him into the part. It’s really interesting to hear Viggo Mortensen’s opinion on the director and when the host suggests that the two of them are like brothers, Mortensen does not hesitate to agree with him.
We also learn more about the actor’s affinity with the arts; Viggo writes poetry, plays the piano, and even paints. He talks about what makes him continue to be creative as well as the process he goes through as an actor, in general. Later on in the interview, we even learn what Mortensen thinks about every morning before he gets out of bed. Needless to say, it’s definitely worth watching, especially if you’re a fan of either Mortensen or Cronenberg.
You can check out the entire interview below. While Mortensen will not be appearing in Cronenberg’s next film (“Maps to the Stars”), he will be starring in “The Two Faces of January” which is supposed to come out later this year.