Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. (/ˈviːɡoʊ ˈmɔːrtənsən/; Danish: [viːɡo ˈmɒːdn̩sn̩]; born October 20, 1958) is a Danish American actor, producer, author, musician, photographer, poet, and painter.
I like naturally occurring film grain, and what happens to film when it's under- and over-exposed.
I've never played a Dane in a movie. I've had offers to be in Danish movies, including for some good directors, but I either had a job at the time or, when I was available, the movie just didn't happen. Hopefully someday I'll do one.
With any character I have played there’s infinite possibilities for how they might behave, depending on who they are talking to or how they react to things.
Jung viewed Freud as a mentor, but he never wanted to be anybody's disciple.
You see people on the street yelling and think they're crazy, but maybe they're just happy and expressing what they feel at all times.
America is an empire in decay. But we don't have to lash out and do damage on the way down. We can reverse some of the damage we've done. It's possible.
Like most people - unless they're very practised at it or have no warm blood at all in their veins - I feel a little apprehensive about the red carpet. It's always a bit bewildering when people are taking pictures and asking questions before the ceremony.
In December of 2002, the late Richard Corliss, a respected movie critic with a long and illustrious career, wrote an embarrassing letter of support for the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan in the guise of a Time magazine review of Peter Jackson's The Two Towers.
I look at my job as looking at the world from points of view that are different from mine - sometimes radically different from mine.
If I can get a day to myself, I won't answer the phone, I'll read or go for a walk. Simple, basic things. People think there's always time to do that but there isn't. Life is short.
A lot of times, movies that are in the top 10 lists or maybe even win Baftas or Oscars, you then watch them a year later and you go, 'Maybe it wasn't so great. '
Some people who like dogs don't like cats, but I'm not like that.
Nobody really knows anybody completely, even if they've been married to 'em for 53 years, you know?
I would literally climb out of the cradle while my parents slept, go and crawl off. I did this a couple of times apparently. I'd cross the road and into someone's house, wake them up banging pots and pans in the kitchen.
When you're under stress as a human being, you behave oddly and your relationships with people become strained.
We all experience many freakish and unexpected events - you have to be open to suffering a little. The philosopher Schopenhauer talked about how out of the randomness, there is an apparent intention in the fate of an individual that can be glimpsed later on. When you are an old guy, you can look back, and maybe this rambling life has some through-line. Others can see it better sometimes. But when you glimpse it yourself, you see it more clearly than anyone.
I prefer the smaller acting than big histrionics. It's about reacting and looks, which is often underestimated.
When I have a day off, I won't spend it at a Hollywood party. I'd rather be at home with paints and a blank canvas.
People talk about method actors, meaning someone that's prepared very, very well, or whatever they mean when they talk about it. But the right method is whatever works for you. And what works for me on any given day is going to be different.
Ignorance breeds antipathy. Until I got to know how computers worked, I didn't want anything to do with them. I said, 'Well, why do I need them? I write letters. ' Which I still do.