By Barbara Petty

I admit it, I like bad boys. What normal woman doesn’t? Of course I married someone just the opposite, but that slightly-dangerous persona is enticing. Which is how Viggo Mortensen became famous… devilishly handsome, slightly frayed around the edges, and just a moment away from causing trouble.

It was only recently that Mortensen was cast in a role where the character actually spoke more than a few words at a time. In A Dangerous Method, which opened in December, Mortensen plays Sigmund Freud, a man who made a living speaking. The Washington Post says, “Viggo Mortensen plays Freud, not as the balding, white-bearded man with a scowl most people conjure when they think of the Austrian neurologist, but as a middle-aged family man of warmth and even humor.” Just recently announced, Mortensen was nominated for a Golden Globe for this performance.

Viggo Mortensen as Freud? The man who was voted number six in the top ten best screen mobsters by the San Francisco Chronicle for his portrayal of Nikolai Luzhin in Eastern Promises? (Number one is Al Pacino in Scarface, in case you were wondering. If you want to see the complete list you can find it on the Boom! Facebook page.) As it turns out, Mortensen is not only an actor; he is a poet, musician, photographer and painter. He speaks three languages fluently—English, Danish and Spanish—can carry on a conversation in French and Italian, and can understand Norwegian and Swedish. His paintings were featured in the movie A Perfect Murder, where he played Gwyneth Paltrow’s artist/lover. He’s recorded a number of CDs and started his own publishing house. And for someone who’s main goal in choosing a script is for “a good story,” I say, Viggo Mortensen as Freud? You bet!

Mortensen became a world-wide superstar ten years ago in his role as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Prior to 2001, he had been appearing in movies and television roles since 1985—some of his more obscure parts included a Miami Vice episode, a Search for Tomorrow stint and in the campy Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. Then there would be a few roles that Mortensen thought would be his big break-through—Jonathan Demme’s Swing Shift and Woody Allen’s Purple Rose of Cairo—that ended up on the cutting room floor. He recalls in the NY Times Style Magazine: “I wasn’t told. Months would go by, the movie comes out, I tell my parents… my whole family. They go see it, and I’m not in it. The scene isn’t there. They think I’ve lost my mind. They’re like, ‘What are you really doing in Los Angeles?’”

The eldest of three brothers, Mortensen was born New York in 1958. His mother is American and his father is Danish, and he was given his father’s name. Viggo is, he says, considered in contemporary Denmark to be a slightly archaic, eccentric name for a young man. “It would be like being called Herbert…” The family lived in Venezuela, then Denmark and eventually settled in Argentina—thus the Spanish proficiency. (He says he often finds himself thinking in Spanish.) When his parents divorced he moved back to New York with his mother. He graduated from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, in 1980 and abruptly moved to Denmark to “find a purpose.” While working odd jobs he began to write poetry and short stories. Mortensen moved back to New York in 1982 and began taking acting classes at Warren Robertson’s Theatre Workshop. After appearing in Witness in 1985, he made the inevitable move to Los Angeles.

Thinking that success was just around the corner, reality struck. Mortensen waited tables and continued to write. He published two books of poetry and exhibited his paintings and photographs while stringing up an impressive list of performances: Carlito’s Way (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), The Portrait of a Lady (1996), Daylight (1996), G.I. Jane (1997), A Perfect Murder (1998), the remake of Psycho (1998) and 28 Days (2000).

People were starting to take notice. Reel.com says of his performance in Carlito’s Way, “Viggo Mortensen, in a small role, manages to steal a scene from Pacino without ever getting out of his chair.” Actor Geoffrey Rush comments, “There are actors whose performances come as light emanating from the screen. Then there’s Mortensen. His effect is gravitational. It draws you closer, inward.” From Philip Martin at the Arkansas Democratic Gazette, “…there is reason to suspect Viggo Mortensen was born on a dying planet light years away.”

Although success finally arrived with Aragorn, the casting of Mortensen was only after Peter Jackson’s first choice, Stuart Townsend, turned down the role (bad idea…). At first, Mortensen was hesitant about taking over from someone else, but at the insistence of his son Henry, who is a fan of the books, he accepted. With part of his earnings from The Lord of the Rings, Mortensen founded the Perceval Press publishing house—named for the knight from the legend of King Arthur—to help other artists by publishing works that might not find a home in more traditional publishing venues.

In 2004, he proved that he could carry a film on his own when he starred as Wild West adventurer Frank T. Hopkins in the horse-racing period film Hidalgo. In 2005, Mortenson won critical raves when he headlined the crime thriller A History of Violence. The movie received two Academy Award nominations, though Mortensen failed to net one for Best Actor. Mortensen then played the titular solider-turned-mercenary in Agustín Díaz Yanes’ Spanish-language film Alatriste in 2006 set during Spain’s 16th century imperial wars. In 2007 he played a Russian mob enforcer in the aforementioned Eastern Promises. His impressive work in that movie garnered him strong reviews as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

2008-2009 continued to be productive years for the now-veteran actor, starring in Appaloosa in 2008 and The Road in 2009. Although the dark post-apocalyptic drama was not well received, Mortenson received high praise.

Mortensen just finished a two-month run in Madrid playing Hombre in the play Purgatorio. Always striving for “the story” he opted to take on the role of a man trapped in a room with a woman—a mental asylum, penitentiary, or is it the hereafter? And what is their purpose? Heady stuff. On the Road, a movie based on the Jack Kerouac novel is in post-production and scheduled for release in 2012. Also scheduled for release in 2012 is an Argentine film Todos Tenemos un Plan (Everyone Has a Plan). Speaking multiple languages definitely has advantages.

Mortensen has a bit of a reputation for near-fanatical preparation for his role. For Eastern Promises, he read Russian poetry and novels, studied Russian history and researched the meaning of the tattoos he wore. For the set of A Dangerous Method he showed up with rare books that Freud had in his own study—he even researched the kind of cigars Freud smoked. For him, the research is its own reward. “It’s enjoyable and stimulating, I learn things… however [the movie] turns out, I always feel that I’ve gotten something out of it, because of the experiences I’ve had and the knowledge I’ve got from the preparation.”

He carries that same insatiable desire to learn—to express—into his art. “A photo, a painting, a poem or music that we use to express our experience is not the main thing, but what you are expressing,” Mortensen reflects. “How you sense the world around you is art in its own form. To stop for one silent moment and just see what happens.”

The San Francisco Bay Guardian says, “Mortensen is a matinee idol with a philosopher’s soul—Jean-Jacques Rousseau trapped in the body of Rudolph Valentino.” More down-to-earth, Jack Cole of MSNBC called Mortensen “…a enigma wrapped in a Mets t-shirt.”

 

 

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