Enigma

That is strange.

Jazz

I think because it's a Spanish novel and it's a series that's popular overseas and not here. To be honest, if Viggo wasn't doing this movie, I never would have heard of the Alatriste series. I still haven't read it though but it's a long series.

Jazz

You could win a set of LOTR books autographed by Viggo. Details are here:

Breaking Bread For Peace Cookbook Recipe Contest - Viggo-Works

Jazz

An interview with Viggo from Wiken (Chile magazine).

The star of Lord of the Rings and the recently screened Alatriste radiated warmth in his jaunt through Chile. With his marked Argentinean accent and his mate at his side, Mortensen lunched at El Mercurio and talked about soccer, his polemic criticisms of Almodóvar and about how to be humble in Hollywood.

By Ernesto Garratt Vines

Last Monday, just after getting off the plane that brought him from Mexico to Chile, Viggo Mortensen, Hollywood star of Lord of the Rings, suddenly realised he should have been a better actor when going through customs. He narrates the story just so, in perfect Spanish, hours after arriving in the dining hall of El Mercurio.

"The customs agent looked at my American passport and asked me in tortured English how long I was planning to stay in Chile,” he says about one of the many airport scenes he’s played out during the Latin American promotional tour for his latest movie, Alatriste, the big screen adaptation of Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s novels, which brought him to our country for just slightly more than a day and premiered this week.

"So I answer the agent in Spanish,” Viggo continues with his anecdote. The film’s director, Agust�*n D�*az Yanes, and his co-star Ariadna Gil, listen. "And when I speak, the Argentinean accent escapes. So then the agent looks at me severely like, "Argentinean with an American passport?" But everything changed when a friend told him, “Hey, calm down, he’s the guy from Lord of the Rings." They gave me a warm ‘welcome to Chile.’" Allowing him to cross all filters and frontiers, Peter Jackson’s movies based on Tolkien’s novels, have transformed him into a global personality. Without limits.

Sporting hair gel and a San Lorenzo de Almagro t-shirt depicting his beloved team (Danish father and American mother, he grew up in Buenos Aires), Viggo was out at 8:30 am in Santiago’s airport, calmly taking pictures with taxi drivers. He accepted his delayed arrival at the hotel without complaints. Without the hauteur which one could expect from a guy who has had a 25 year career in Hollywood, during which he has shared screen time with Al Pacino (Carlito’s Way) and Michael Douglas (A Perfect Murder) and who, unexpectedly, has been touched late in the game by elusive glory, which has yet to relinquish its hold.

But fame doesn’t go to his head. He’s a principled type and from his centre of operations, the independent Perceval Press, he publishes his own work and that of others (poetry, photography books, painting), opines on what he thinks is good ("art, the beauty of things, you know") and criticizes what he thinks is bad ("abuses of power, the war in Iraq, Bush.”)

"Viggo is a total artist," certifies D�*az Yanes, director of the most expensive movie in Spanish film history (45 million euros).

Viggo, a lot has been said about your Spanish accent in Alatriste. Was it difficult to achieve?

"Well, I was afraid of failing because it was Spanish-Spanish, the really traditional kind, and I had to get it perfect. I was at the side of the best actors in Spanish film and theatre and I felt an enormous responsibility. But you know, it was comfortable. I learned Spanish and English at the same time as a child, growing up in Buenos Aires. My brothers have told me that when I speak Spanish I’m slightly more relaxed. When I speak English I’m a little more careful. It has to do with the sound, with the language, for example like with the character of Alatriste: he’s terse and that affects the manner in which your body moves."

Viggo has said that, unlike Alatriste, whose speech is reserved, he sometimes says things without thinking about them too much. He’s impulsive this man, 48 years old and the cause of commotion when the Spanish press, which now considers him a part of the Spanish star system, published his criticisms of the untouchable Pedro Almodóvar for not attending the Goya awards.

Was he angry with you?

“I don’t think that Almodóvar will have trouble doing interesting things even if I or another person have an opinion about what he’s doing.”

Simple, humble, politically correct. Ariadna Gil, who is having a piece of Chilean meat as her main dish, talks about the equality with which Viggo treats everybody on the set. "He brought us candy every day, delicious candy. You don’t expect that from a Hollywood star. What were those candies called, Viggo?”

"Alfajores, Ari, alfajores", says Viggo. "They’re common in Argentina and the truth is that I was surprised to find alfajores in Madrid when we filmed Alatriste. And it also scared me. During the preparation I realised that half of Madrid were Uruguayans or Argentineans. I ran away like Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream."

You wanted to maintain the Castilian accent.

"Of course, and hearing Argentineans could contaminate it. On the set there was a guy, Ariel, from Rosario, which is the same as having a very, very strong accent. ‘Hey, Viggo, let’s have mate, okay,’ he told me everyday. I wrote to him: 'We’ll drink mate all you want, every day, but please don’t talk to me unless I ask you to, please, I mean it with all the respect in the world, I’m afraid of you.”

Even when he’s being obnoxious Viggo is agreeable, and a guy like that doesn’t need P.R. Holding a glass of red wine and laughing, Agust�*n D�*az 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."

After a meal, mate is sacred to Viggo. The beverage is his best traveling companion and his only requirement as a superstar is that there be hot water available so he can drink it. And that’s not his only obsession: there’s also soccer and his dream team, San Lorenzo. "This year the club is celebrating its 99th and it has had a really good season,” he says.

Have you managed to get Agust�*n and Ariadna to drink mate and be "cuervos" (followers of San Lorenzo)?

Laughing and in unison, Viggo, Ariadna and Agust�*n exclaim: "We’re cuervos till death!”

There’s loyalty in the trio headed by Mortensen, whose appearance is deceiving because he sounds as much or even more Latin than his comrades on the set. He’s simple and, according to the director, enormously invested in his work. "Some supposedly great stars doubt you and call you and say. ‘Man, what are you doing?!’ But Viggo went for the kill. He was the first one to throw himself into the cold water, into a filthy mud puddle, and the rest followed him.”

And the most complicated scene, according to the director, was one where Viggo couldn’t move for more than two hours. "He’s not like those idiots who get up and give you hell through their agents. We said to him, 'Can you stay sprawled like that on the ground until Ariadna is dressed?' and there he was for 2 hours without complaining.”

Viggo, it’s said that you are obsessive when it comes to investigating your roles. Is that true?

"In general, if they give me a lot of time, I do a lot of work, and if they give a little time, I do a lot of work. Over there I submerged myself in the history of Spain, the history of its art. For example, I went to the Prado Museum, which I had visited many times, but now I saw the paintings in a different light, searching for the character, so I’d call Tano (the director) at 2 am and tell him, “listen, I found this painting by Góngora". Viggo makes a face and changes his voice to imitate D�*az Yanes: ‘Okay, let me explain it to you. You’re an idiot.’ But nothing. I saw the characters in those painting.”

In the last few years of his career, Viggo has made movies of widely differing styles. But if he had to choose a kind of golden era for him, he mentions A History of Violence, the not yet screened Eastern Promises (with Naomi Watts), both with director David Cronenberg, and Alatriste and "Tano" D�*az Yanes.

What’s it like working with such different directors?

"It’s not really like that. It’s not that both directors work in the same manner, but they’re similar. Tano started later than Cronenberg. But his point of view, and his way of treating people, they’re very similar. They met in Europe during the A History of Violence promotion, and it was the funniest thing to see: they told jokes that were frightening. I ate more than they did, because all they did was talk. And they talked about very strange things. But I think that it doesn’t matter if the movie you make is in Spain, has special effects or is filmed in Canada. The directors set the example. People like them aren’t afraid of actors’ improvising.

They’re open-minded …

"Yes, they’re mature as people and as artists. They don’t see it as a threat when somebody from the cast gets an idea, but they also don’t have a problem declaring 'that is the dumbest idea you’ve had the whole filming and don’t ever mention it again.’ But they mean well.” (He laughs).

Did you hear that a lot on Alatriste?

"Quite a lot” (he imitates the director again): ‘You’re the biggest idiot I’ve seen in my life'. Seriously though, he and Cronenberg have been generous with me.”

"I just filmed a new English movie and I’ve been so spoiled with the last three, with Cronenberg and Tano, that I almost don’t want to leave, you know. I want to work with them, because I’ll be surrounded by good humour and good people. I’ve made a lot of movies and this is something special. I’m a little scared, as though it were bad luck to leave, (he knocks on wood), these surroundings."

You’re a painter, poet, photographer and actor. Did your artistic vision grow after the cultural saturation that was Alatriste?

"Look, I admired Velázquez before, and I was conscious of his legacy. But thanks to the movie you look at him much more closely. If you make a movie like this and you visit those sites and go inside those places, your responsibility is to look at everything with new eyes. It’s not about just being there for one moment. That’s why when actors say 'It was soooo difficult to get rid of the character,’ you know what I think? That they’re mistaken. I don’t have any interest in forgetting about anything. Not the good, or the bad, not the easy part or the hard part. Everything I learned from Tano and the others and from the character of Diego Alatriste I treasure.”

Jazz

This interview comes from Viggo-Works and can only be posted on Viggo fan sites. It's really interesting!

Viggo-Works Talks With Viggo



The idea for this Q&A literally came from all of you, especially those of you who actively participate in our Questions to Viggo thread on the V-W forums. Those of us who follow Viggo's endeavors come up with questions that the average media reporter does not. After a conversation with JoannaP where we were both lamenting that fact, we started an earnest discussion in the V-W backroom where we ultimately decided to give it a try. So...way back on Dec. 4, 2006, we gathered for the first time to hash it over.

On December 12th, we forwarded our request to Viggo. We all knew very well that he would be in the throes of filming Eastern Promises as well as trying to pull together his holidays just like the rest of us. We knew that even if we were successful, we would have to be very patient with the process because he is a very busy man. We also included our plan for the interview...that while this interview would be copyrighted to Viggo-Works, our plan was to make it available for any and all other Viggo fan sites to reproduce for their members with acknowledgement of the source. That way all of Viggo’s fans could benefit from the Q & A.

We waited.

On January 31st, we received Viggo's reply that he would indeed answer a few questions for us. We promised to only send a maximum of 8 questions because we felt any more would be an imposition. Next, we set about coming up with the best 8 questions we could, that spanned his wide range of endeavors. On February 11th, we sent the questions to Viggo...all 8 of them. We broke them down into 4 categories, Writing & Publishing, Film, Photography, and Activism.

Realizing that he was still wrapping up the Eastern Promises shoot, and then heading out for extended promotion of Alatriste...

We waited.

This past Monday, April 3rd, to our delight, we received Viggo's answers to our 8 questions and we share them with all of you now. Viggo's responses are word for word, just as he sent them to us. They have not been edited in any way.

Finally, we would like to publicly thank Viggo's manager, Lynn Rawlins, without whose help and guidance this interview would not be possible. Please note: Lynn is a very busy person and does not respond to fan requests.

And of course...a huge thanks to Viggo for taking the time and being so gracious in granting this interview.

Jazz

Gente Magazine

He returned to visit our country yet again, the place where he grew up from the age of 2 to 11.

“I can’t stop returning," one of the most sought after actors in the world assures us, as he arrives to promote Alatriste, the most expensive movie in Spanish film history. Among other activities, he visited the Nuevo Gasometro (San Lorenzo’s stadium) and met with GENTE Magazine. Here he talks about how, when he was a boy, he liked Susana Gimenez, explains why for the moment he won’t personify Un Guapo del 900 (translator’s note: this movie is an adaptation of a famous play about a political leader and his "guapo" [bodyguard] who goes to prison in order to save his boss' reputation) and comments that he needs to “stop the ball rolling, sip a bitter mate and decide what’s next in my life.”

He slips out of the Hotel Sofia, climbs into the taxi that will take him to Susana’s show, autographs a book for her, shows us the small picture of a San Lorenzo player that he drew and colored at the age of 9, and fields our questions.

Excuse the daring but, sincerely, did you come to Argentina for the screening of Alatriste or to watch a San Lorenzo game?

To screen Alatriste...

You mean that wholeheartedly?

Well. El Ciclon (San Lorenzo de Almagro’s nickname) and the heart are pretty close to each other. (He laughs)

Let’s say it was a pleasant coincidence (adds Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr., age 48, as he graciously accepts the San Lorenzo pin this journalist offers him, swiftly attaches it to his lapel and offers his thanks with a measured handshake.)

I had to come before the screening on Thursday, April 5th. In truth, I always want to come visit. I can’t stop returning. Last month I bumped into Orlando Bloom in a Los Angeles club, “Now where are you off to, Viggo?”. “Mexico, Chile and Argentina.” “Argentina?! It’s so beautiful,” he cried, “You were holding out on me! It has the most beautiful women on the planet. The city center is a jewel,” he exclaimed! “You see that you should listen when I speak, elf?” I replied.

Alatriste was the beautiful and great excuse to return. I feel proud of the movie I made and of the people I made it with.

How did you come to play the valiant and brazen Diego Alatriste y Tenorio, portrayed in 5 Arturo Pérez-Reverte novels? What seduced you into accepting the role?

That’s easy. The script. I hadn’t read the books. Ray Loriga, the Madrid writer and friend of director Agustin Diaz Yanes approached me with the script, since we worked together in 1995 on My Brother’s Gun, where I played Juanito, a strange Argentinean with an old-fashioned manner of speech . I read it without preconceptions and discovered an extraordinary character, who also meshed with me: blue eyes, clear gaze, 6 feet tall, Spanish speaking. And I accepted.

“Really?” Tano...Yanes asked me in astonishment, aware that, even though he had yet to see The Return of the King, the third and last part of Lord of the Rings, I had been receiving other interesting American options. “Seriously. If it’s a choice between an Oscar and a good script, I choose the script,” I replied. Within 24 hours I called him back. “Are the local actors upset? My accent...” Quickly, he retorted, “In Lord of the Rings didn’t you change the accent of your English? Well, now you’ll just have to change your Spanish accent for one that’s suited to Northern Spain. That’s that.”

So you got organized and set sail for Spain for the time being?

Sure. You know me. I always do the same thing: I research characters from the cradle to the very last page of the script. Besides, outside of the academic world, nobody had depicted Imperial Spain in the 17th century, in spite of the enormous legacy it left the world. Over the course of four weeks I read biographies about soldiers, looked at paintings by Velazquez, buildings, landscapes, streets, practiced with swords, tried on boots, the wardrobe, adjusted the hat, the cape. The adaptation turned out great. We filmed for 120 days. By the way, during my time there I enjoyed Ricardo Darin in Art. Excellent. I’d love to work with him. Well, and the general artistic level on Alatriste...amazing. Joder! (Damn! ) It was an incredible challenge, a severe, tragic realistic history. I celebrate the experience.

Your use of the word ‘joder’ and your always obvious Argentinean accent forces us to point out that Spaniards and Argentineans are similar.

Apart from the language, where they play hard and fast (he puts away his box of Marlboros and takes out a piece of gum). Then, it depends on the place. Cordoba, Rosario, Resistencia are calm, like Cadiz, Sevilla, Ubeda. In Buenos Aires and Madrid people don’t sleep much, work hard, and wholly appreciate what life offers.

That seems like an apt description of yourself, seeing as you haven’t stopped moving since getting off the plane. Besides the obvious publicity appearances (interviews, trips through the canals, the premiere in Cinemark de Puerto Madero, etc.) you add the visit to Nuevo Gasómetro, your appearance at the homage to Andres Calamaro, the inauguration of the (San Lorenzo) photography exhibit “A Saintly Century, 100 Years of History”, and a trip to the north to explore the wichi culture.

Regarding the wichis, I go to visit them cautiously, so I don’t invade them, and with the help of anthropologists, to give them the opportunity, through photographs and words, to diffuse who they are. Through my editorial, Perceval Press, I try to give voices to people who have been forgotten. And it’s true; I never have enough time when I visit.

Jazz

Viggo on Radio Cooperativa, Chile


"Kindly sitting in the lobby of the Ritz Hotel with his mate, a cigarette in his hand, we are talking to Viggo Mortensen for Un Nueva Manana on Cooperativa. He is here in Chile because of the movie Alatriste, his great new project."

Chile Alatriste Interview 3.26.07.
© Cooperativa.cl.

How are you Viggo? Thank you so much for having us here.

Thanks for coming here. I wanted to go to the radio station, but since we are on a pretty tight schedule with interviews and going here and there, it was not possible, but thank you for coming. It’s very kind of you.

Viggo, I’m surprised how kind, simple, unassuming you are, considering that you are a great star in the international movie industry. What helps you to keep focused and remain authentic, just who you are, instead of it going to your head?

I don’t know. I can get tired or get angry just like anybody else, but I like to take care of my things and know who is doing what. I don’t want to have other people doing lots of stuff for me. I prefer to be involved in what happens everyday, not that I need to have everything under my control, but…I don’t know… I prefer to take care of my things by myself. Maybe that is what seems different for you. For me, it is quite normal. All my friends do the same.

But we’ve seen others who have more of a diva attitude. Could it be because you’ve had to deal with more difficult situations in life, do different types of jobs, and so you don’t have trouble with that…you’ve had a different experience?

Maybe. I’ve done different kinds of jobs like working in factories and other places, but also, if we talk about the movie industry alone, it took me about 20 years to learn how to make a decent living, and be fortunate enough to be able to do it; and maybe there are young actors and actresses that are lucky right away, they make a lot of money, and they see how others behave… that they make a lot of money… that they have a big entourage… they behave more like divas, and so maybe they think that they have to imitate them because they don’t know how other people do it. Well, I think it’s their business. I have nothing against that, if they want to have a circus around them, as long as they are on time to work and they do it well, it’s the same for me whatever they do with their private lives.

Do you have friends in the “star system”?

In the movie industry, I mostly know the people I have worked with, and apart from that, every now and then, I get to meet people that I didn’t know before, but not too many, because I don’t do those social “tours” like going to parties and awards. If I am nominated for an award and I am invited to it, I go and I put up with it, but if you are not invited, why go? I know that a lot of people go because they can get more attention, and they think that they can get a job that way, and maybe they are right, but I don’t feel comfortable, and so if you don’t feel comfortable, why go? Life is short.

So, in a certain way, Viggo Mortensen is also an anti-hero, somewhat similar to Alatriste…

I don’t know. I am lazy. Lazy because I feel embarrassed about leaving my house too much, about getting to know new people. Maybe it’s just because I’m lazy and somewhat embarrassed.

And in going around the world (because of your work), South America and especially Argentina still have a special appeal for you?

Yes, all South America and especially Argentina logically, and it is because I grew up in Buenos Aires until I was 11, and so like, at least everybody in Argentina knows I spent my childhood there, and so I feel home when I’m there, and especially when I speak Spanish, whether in Spain or here in Chile with you, it’s a part of me that does not go away, that I can’t forget. I feel comfortable.

Apart from mate and soccer, in what other aspects did your childhood in Argentina leave an impression on you?

I learned horse riding, the language, the culture and history, food, tango… I like it a lot. I can’t dance tango… I’d like to learn, but I like to sing tangos every now and then, in private… I don’t want to bother other people; I bother them enough with my movies. In general, everything that has to do with Argentine culture and also, to a certain extent, with the Spanish heritage; that’s why when doing Alatriste, and reading the script, (Alatriste) and his friends, the so called 17th century or Golden Age “bravos”, they reminded me a lot of the gauchos, the things I read as a child in Argentina : Martin Fierro, Don Segundo Sombra, and all the stories one has read about the “guapos” and the people of the 1900’s… I don’t know. Also the cowboys in the USA, they come from Mexico, and before Mexico, from the Spanish Golden age, so even though I had to speak with a very different accent in Alatriste, the guy, his behavior, the way he looks at life and at challenges in the story, reminded me a lot of that type of person who I’ve met in the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, that old-fashioned, anarchist frame of mind, conservative to a certain extent, a guy that only exists in the bullfight ring in Spain these days. It’s all very interesting, because I’ve always been interested in finding connections, finding out what we have… or what I have in common with other people, other times, other historical periods, because there is always something, if you try to find it. Now, if you are trying to find the differences, to go against things, you can also find them, if you make that negative effort. A lot of the problems in the world stem from there… wars, foolish misunderstandings between different people, in Iraq, between Argentineans and Chileans… I’ve heard some things today in Chile, kindly said, but that still surprised me.

Like what?

That kind of generalization, which I can understand, because some people behave like that, but not only Argentineans… that they are all arrogant and what not… I don’t know… I don’t know.

I have to tell you...what an awful combination it is to have a US passport and a Buenos Aires accent when you arrive at the Chile airport. A pretty long delay… my friends that had Spanish passports had already gone through (customs), and they were waiting… and the guy kept checking, very kindly, but he wasn’t letting me go anywhere, and he talks to me in a pretty tortured English, and so I tell him: “I speak Spanish, you can talk to me in Spanish”. And so he gave me a long look, and then I realized I had ****ed up, really, because the combination of the accent and the passport… I was going straight to jail, or so it looked. And so another customs officer comes and says, “No, no, he is the Lord of the Rings”, and so...“Welcome to Chile” and (pam, pam – sound of passport getting stamped) “Here you go…go ahead”. That kind of prejudice comes from believing that from what once happened, then everybody else is exactly the same; that Argentineans are this way, or all Chileans are this other way, instead of looking for what you have in common with other people, or making that effort to see what you have in common.

(Music interlude)

Here we are on Un Nuevo Manana on Cooperativa, and we have just heard the first part of our conversation with Viggo Mortensen, and here is the second part.

Is Viggo Mortensen too thin? Nooooo. He is good looking, very kind, and he prepares delicious mates. Let’s listen to the conversation with Viggo Mortensen, the star of Alatriste, which opens this Thursday in Chile.

I thought it was interesting that you look for connections between something that happened a long time ago like the story of Alatriste and current world events, and as a matter of fact, you participated in a demonstration against the Iraq war a few days ago on the 4th anniversary of the start of the war, and so at that moment, when you are marching, expressing your disagreement with the war, do you also make a parallelism with the character, with the story that you played? Do you think that mankind never learns, that we always repeat the same mistakes?

Are you talking about Alatriste? Yes, there are some things that never change. Unfortunately, there will always be wars, and disagreement, and prejudice, I suppose, but things can always be improved. To say that someone will always fight in some part of the world, and so then it doesn’t make sense to go after peace, or friendship, or better understanding among people, I don’t think that makes any sense either. You can be grumpy, and stay home angry all day, and hate everybody if you want, nobody will stop you, but you can also enjoy getting to know something new. It’s harder as we get older, we have less tolerance, but I think that one of the beautiful things about being an actor, or an artist in general, but more as an actor, is that constantly I have to try, as part of my job – that’s the challenge, isn’t it - to see the world from someone else’s point of view, points of view that are not necessarily mine, or that do not have too much in common with mine. Because anybody can be an artist; I think that if you are having a conversation with someone, and you are really listening to that person, you are thinking about what they are telling you, it’s an artistic way of living that moment, or when you are in a park, and you look at things in a certain way. Also, if you are having a bad day, and instead of getting angry you find it funny because you look at it in the context of your whole life, that it is just a day, a moment, then it is an artistic way of looking at it. Being an artist does not mean that you have to take pictures, or draw, or sing…

It’s an attitude…

Yes, it’s a way of being.

Viggo, looking back, when you accepted the role of Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, did you ever think of the impact it would have and how popular it would be? At least here in Chile, the movie is very popular and your character was very popular.

I think it happened all around the world. I was not surprised to see that Tolkien fans, of which there were already plenty even before the first movie came out… we knew there would be a certain number of people… but not that many. I think nobody expected that, but on the other hand, when it started doing well… and it was released a bit later… for example in Japan it was released in January or February after opening worldwide in December 2001, somebody told me… one of the producers told me, “Well, I don’t know if this is going to work in Japan, because they haven’t read Tolkien’s books”, and I told him, “I’m sure it’s going to work well; first, the elves are like Samurai, and it is also a story that has universal values, so I don’t think there will be any problems”. And that’s what happened; it was a great success in Asia too. And I think it is somehow similar to Alatriste… It’s weird, when it opened in Madrid, and I think that initially it had to do with the success of Lord of the Rings, a lot of Japanese people came to Madrid, and they didn’t speak either English or Spanish… it was really strange. And they followed us… from Madrid to Barcelona to León; and then they liked Alatriste so much that it had nothing to do with Aragorn any more, they brought books already translated into Japanese immediately, with very nice illustrations made by a Japanese artist; and they have already translated the first three books, I think. And then they followed us to Toronto, Miami; in Mexico, I think there were a couple of Japanese. And that is very nice… those are the connections that you can never tell (when they are going to happen). I spoke with a Japanese lady, in León I think, and I told her… she showed me the books… I was surprised; and well, these drawings are as good or maybe better than the ones we have in our books here in Spain… just as good… and I told them, “Well, but this story is very typical of Spain, a very Castilian guy from here; what connection do you find?” And they told me, “It’s a Samurai story, absolutely”, in the values: pride, loyalty…

Honor…

…the type of tragic suffering in a life lived to the fullest… pride… I don’t know. Relationships in the movie look similar to their (Japanese) stories. That’s interesting, and I think… I hope that with the foundation, like Bambino Veira says: “The foundations are here” (laughing). With the Latin foundation, I hope it will be a success here in Chile too, that people will like it at least as much as we liked making it. Alatriste is a beautiful movie, a nice story.

And going on to a more superficial topic…how do you handle the admiration you cause in women? "Ahhh, Viggo Mortensen… you are going to interview him?…I’ll go with you… he is so handsome…"

Sometimes it’s a bit scary, because… what do you do?... what do you say?... Is it something that is just temporary? … When you have worked in movies that have been very successful, then the movies attract attention and also the actors that are in those movies… I understand that perfectly well, and I have had the chance to talk with some of the Alatriste fans, and it is nice to have that connection. I like women, I have nothing against them…but I don’t know what to tell you…

This is...Tano, Do you want to say hi?… We are finishing the last one...do you want to say hi here?... Come, come. This is Agustin D�*az Yanes, the director of Alatriste.

Hi, how are you?

ADY: Very well, and you? Well, you are with Viggo?

Yes. How did you manage to do an Alatriste that speaks Argentinean?

ADY: He speaks Spanish but with a León accent and you think that he has an Argentinean accent, but it is the accent from León.

(to Viggo again)

Are you doing something now?

When I get back to the USA, I have like two days to finish a new recording with Buckethead… I’ve done several with him. It’s instrumental music… nice, I think… I hope… I think it’s going to be the best one so far, the most solid one, the most accomplished one.

And poetry? What place does it have in your life?

Well, I write when I can. And we are publishing a new book, not only mine, but several books by other artists, and one that is mine with new poetry and new pictures that I haven’t published before this coming fall, well, your spring.

Poems in English?

Poems in English, and there will be something in Spanish. The last two books had some things in Spanish too.

Who do you admire among the Spanish poets? Borges?

Well, it’s difficult. If I choose…it’s difficult because you leave others behind… you forget others. Of course, Borges… I’ve always liked Benedetti. But there are many. There are many new poets, some Argentine poets that I like a lot, and Perceval Press will be publishing a book of new Argentine poetry at some point… at the end of the year, I think.

And after Alatriste, is there another project? Because I understand you’ve been given several scripts for Latin American movies, but you haven’t made up your mind about them.

I am busy with movies and promotion until half of next year so… Now I’m saying that I have to stop because otherwise I won’t be able to plan my life. I have a lot going on this year, and it’s going to be pretty tough to do everything but I’ll do what I can. And of course if there is a nice opportunity to do something...and I’ve said it before...and people think that it is something that I keep saying but I never do it… it is to work in Argentina, which would be natural for me; I want to do it, but I have to find the right time, to fit it in.

A movie with David Cronenberg is coming up, isn’t it?

Yes, we finished it a month ago, and it will be released at the Toronto Festival and in the USA in September, and I don’t know about here, if it is at the end of September or beginning of October.

When we think of Viggo Mortensen and Argentina, it is impossible not to relate you to San Lorenzo? You have two red and blue bracelets, the colors of San Lorenzo; one of them says “I carry you in my heart” (te llevo en el corazón), and we have to remember that the coach that won the championship with San Lorenzo some years ago was Chilean, Manuel Pellegrini. Do you remember that?

I don’t know him. I missed many years. The times I remember best are the times of the “Matadores” when I was a child, I also remember between 1968 and 1974, when I was a little boy… with the “Carasucias” of Bambino Veira, and I have met some of the Matadores like Buticce, the goalkeeper, and people like that, also Beto Acosta I got to know him pretty well. A few days ago, I had the opportunity to talk on a radio show that Bambino Veira now has about movies, and I was able to ask him a few questions. He was a very good player with San Lorenzo. He once scored 4 goals against Boca in 1967 (laughs).

And he was our coach when we won in 1995, very good, over there, in Rosario. He will come, and most of the team will come to the premiere in Buenos Aires. It will be nice.

Do you play soccer?

Every now and then, every now and then.

In what position?

Wherever they allow me to...

But where do you play best?

I like to play center forward but...

Scoring goals?

Well, if I get lucky.

We hope you score many goals with Alatriste. Thanks for having us here at the hotel for Un Nuevo Manana on Cooperativa. Good luck and very good mate!

You are welcome. Thanks again for coming, and to your listeners, if they have the opportunity to see Alatriste, it’s worth it. And I hope they like it. I think they are going to like it. It will give them something to talk about.

Thanks, Viggo. See you.

Thanks for coming. It’s very nice of you.

Jazz

The following is a transcription of a videoclip posted on the ZonaCinemania.com site during Viggo's promotional trip to South America.





What was it like to embody a literary character as popular as Alatriste?

(The character is) very nice, really loved, very popular, which from the beginning gives you a certain amount of public interest; you will see when the movie comes out. On the other hand, the problem is that they may have very predetermined ideas about what the character should be like, the costumes, the spirit of the story and of those times, in this case, the Spanish Golden Age.

What was the reaction of the Alatriste fans when they saw the movie?

They liked it, and some fans of Arturo Perez Reverte’s works have thanked us for taking the Alatriste idea to the big screen, it’s feeling and spirit, and finally to expand a bit more what people usually know about that period, the Black Legend.

What was it like to speak Spanish throughout the movie?

Because the guy comes from north León, those people speak a bit slower…it’s also a combination of what you can find now in León, but trying to imagine what a man from León would have been like at the time. The man of few words, who is very careful about what he says, who doesn’t trust anybody. True, it’s kind of flat. I had to work the rhythm more than the accent, it seems to have a flat intonation, but then when you get used to it, you realise there is a certain internal music to it.





What was the physical training like for this role?

I worked not only for the swords, including the “vizca�*na”, but also to get used to the character. I went to the sword fighting rehearsals with those boots, the hat, the cape, to get used to handling the cape, to swirl it around, just like the “gauchos”, that’s where it comes from.

Where do you feel more comfortable, in small movies or in blockbusters?

It depends on the director more than on the language or the country where it is filmed. It has to do with who is in charge, the boss, the director.

Were you afraid of being associated with Aragorn forever?

I suppose that after the second movie, the second part (Lord Of The Rings), people started telling me: “It’s going to take some time for you to do something else, and people won’t be able to associate you with another character.” Maybe because Alatriste has a sword… but it’s something different, it’s not a fantasy movie, a fairy tale. It’s a tough story, and the guy is heroic but at the same time it’s a man who is difficult to understand and love.

If people can’t help thinking about Aragorn when they see me on the screen playing another character, well, there’s nothing I can do about it. The truth is that without the success of Lord Of The Rings, I wouldn’t have been offered this role.





Do you always have “mate”?

Always. I think it helps me stay active; for example, during the shooting of Alatriste and Lord Of The Rings, which were long shootings, I was the only one who never got sick, and I think it may be partly genetic, but I also think mate is very healthy. We can do a bit of advertising here. (shows his thermos)

Do you share it with other people on the set?

Well, since I like it unsweetened, very few people like it, they call it “compost”,...but in Spain some people tried it, for some I had to add sugar. In New Zealand and USA, they tried it, just to be polite, but they didn’t really like it.

What do you think about Ramon D�*az (current San Lorenzi coach)?

He is doing a good job, I really like it, I like his nerve. I like that he tells the players and the fans: “Piano, piano” (from Italian: slowly), so that we don’t think about the future a lot. First, this Sunday, then the next one, and so on, little by little. We’ll see what happens.

S.A.S.H.A.

Cool.

Sasha

ryllsome

nice. will read everything when my eyes R A-ok.

Jazz

A Latin Man Comes From The North
By Riccardo Romani - translated by Cindalea (from Italian GQ)

Viggo Mortensen was born in New York but he feels at home only in Buenos Aires, where he feeds his fever for soccer (he is a fan of San Lorenzo de Almagro) and cultivates the arts which allow him to express himself. Cinema is only one of them.

We really seem two children, each one fifteen years old at most. Instead, we make almost ninety years together. I'm speaking with Viggo Mortensen for twenty minutes, and the only topic we have been able to discuss are the old and blessed soccer player picture cards.

Argentinean football players, to be more precise. The "Boy" Vieira against El Coco Telch. Things dating from around the end of the Sixties. It's like a sort of "I've got it" or "I'm missing it" play of memories.

He is a passionate fan of San Lorenzo de Almagro, while I'm a Boca supporter. It all happens because we are in Buenos Aires and it's one of those delicious and warm days at the end of the summer, where the simplest thing to do is lose ourselves between memories and mate, the local tea Viggo loves so much.

Viggo, born of a Danish father and American mother, speaks about Argentina with great passion: he spent his life in Buenos Aires until he was 8, to the point of speaking Castilian with all of the "s" dragged, as is typical of the Spanish spoken down south. He came back to Buenos Aires when he could, twenty years later, then many times again, to find out that, among all the places in the world, this one fills his soul.

"When I came back for the first time," he says, "everything seemed much smaller, because the memories of a kid make everything appear bigger. Even before the plane landed, I felt at ease. After I got off, I immediately found again the people's habits and the lifestyle. And of course I have been infected. You can't go through Argentina staying away from soccer. San Lorenzo is the football team of the area I know best: Boedo. It's a popular area and the people who live there have always had to work hard. In fact the team I love so much, the one from the Sixties, was called 'carasucias', which means dirty faces'. They were very pragmatic people. They won four soccer seasons in six years. They were just unbeatable. Not even your Boca at its best could do it."

Today San Lorenzo, whose coach is Ramon Diaz, former player of the Italian teams Inter and Fiorentina, is again the championship leader. The men change, but not the spirit. The stadium is called after a garage, 'Nuevo Gasometro', and the people from Boedo in their daily life have always worked hard. A reality quite far from the Viggo's reality.

" I am what I am and there is nothing I can do. But I have never changed a bit of myself because of my work or, worse, because of the success I have reached. I am privileged, but I have never taken advantage of it. I go to the stadium in the curved sector, with a scarf around my neck. I owe so much to my Spanish background."

What do you mean by that?

"I was born in New York, I travelled all over the world and it's difficult to label myself as being from one place or from another. When I grew up in America though, meeting other Latin people like me, from Mexico or from Puerto Rico, I understood that we had something in common. Even if they all seemed quite weird because of their different accents: I thought they were all idiots, but the idiot was me, instead."

In the historical drama Alatriste, you portray a Spanish soldier in the wars of the XVII Century, speaking Castilian.

"I am an old romantic, and I love costume movies. Elizabeth is my favourite."

But this one is more of a war movie. Did we need it?

"It is a movie about a dirty war, very hard and difficult. It certainly isn't a glorification of war."

Then what is it about?

"The character, the director and the whole project won me over. I wanted to be Alatriste at any cost. Movies about the French or English imperial wars have been made, but about Spanish history there is an unexplainable gap. Alatriste fills this gap. But it is a movie about the human condition, more than a movie about war. It tells the fight from the point of view of a soldier who, at a certain point, doesn't understand anymore what kind of battle he is fighting. There is also the torture problem. An up-to-date topic, don't you think? I believe that in Iraq there are very few American soldiers left who still know what they are doing over there."

You are often blamed for putting politics in every interview you do.

"I think that this is an undeserved blame, because I never did anything to get it. It all began during the time of Lord of the Rings, after September 11th. All the reporters asked me if that movie had a metaphorical sense. They asked which character could symbolize Rumsfeld or Bin Laden. Of course there wasn't any bond, because when Tolkien wrote that novel none of them were alive. But this is what the media want, so sometimes you have to adapt. I know I am a public persona, and if they ask me a question, I speak my mind. And I don't care too much if the answer is politically correct or not."

In Hollywood this doesn't help.

"In my life, I never did anything while weighing the effects of my actions. If you ask me what I'm planning for the next two years, I really don't know. Acting, writing, taking pictures or painting are all things which answer the necessity to express what I have inside me. And there is no preferential order among them, only chances that I try to take day by day."

Then, do you have any plan for the next two months?

"I don't belong to any social circle. I don't attend parties in order to meet this producer or that director. I'm quite lucky for being able to preserve my little own world away from show business. I receive proposals and I understand I have certain needs. I have to put myself to the test. There is only one thing which rules my choices: I do things where I can learn something. In the next two months? I hope to publish a couple of poetry books through my publishing house."

Yes, I forgot the publishing house.

"It is small, we publish no more than eight new titles each year. I know, it's hard for me to get everywhere, but publishing the work of people that no one else would do, gives me a lot of satisfaction. I often say: life can make you feel crazy or even gloomy. But bored, never."

If you had become a soccer player...?

"I really wasn't good at it. I can play, but only for fun. I'm a good fan, though, I wear the 'azulgrana' shirt, the one with the San Lorenzo colours, even at the movie premieres."

See you at the stadium, then?

"I can't wait. But this time, we win!"

Jazz

I think it's sweet that Henry wants to know where his dad grew up!

"Now Even My Son Wants To Get To Know Argentina"
By - translated by Margarita

3 April 2007

Source: Gente
He returned to visit our country yet again, the place where he grew up from the age of 2 to 11.

“I can’t stop returning," one of the most sought after actors in the world assures us, as he arrives to promote Alatriste, the most expensive movie in Spanish film history. Among other activities, he visited the Nuevo Gasometro (San Lorenzo’s stadium) and met with GENTE Magazine. Here he talks about how, when he was a boy, he liked Susana Gimenez, explains why for the moment he won’t personify Un Guapo del 900 (translator’s note: this movie is an adaptation of a famous play about a political leader and his "guapo" [bodyguard] who goes to prison in order to save his boss' reputation) and comments that he needs to “stop the ball rolling, sip a bitter mate and decide what’s next in my life.”

He slips out of the Hotel Sofia, climbs into the taxi that will take him to Susana’s show, autographs a book for her, shows us the small picture of a San Lorenzo player that he drew and colored at the age of 9, and fields our questions.




Gente Magazine, April 2007.
© Copyright 2005 Atlántida.

Excuse the daring but, sincerely, did you come to Argentina for the screening of Alatriste or to watch a San Lorenzo game?

To screen Alatriste...

You mean that wholeheartedly?

Well. El Ciclon (San Lorenzo de Almagro’s nickname) and the heart are pretty close to each other. (He laughs)

Let’s say it was a pleasant coincidence (adds Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr., age 48, as he graciously accepts the San Lorenzo pin this journalist offers him, swiftly attaches it to his lapel and offers his thanks with a measured handshake.)

I had to come before the screening on Thursday, April 5th. In truth, I always want to come visit. I can’t stop returning. Last month I bumped into Orlando Bloom in a Los Angeles club, “Now where are you off to, Viggo?”. “Mexico, Chile and Argentina.” “Argentina?! It’s so beautiful,” he cried, “You were holding out on me! It has the most beautiful women on the planet. The city center is a jewel,” he exclaimed! “You see that you should listen when I speak, elf?” I replied.

Alatriste was the beautiful and great excuse to return. I feel proud of the movie I made and of the people I made it with.

How did you come to play the valiant and brazen Diego Alatriste y Tenorio, portrayed in 5 Arturo Pérez-Reverte novels? What seduced you into accepting the role?

That’s easy. The script. I hadn’t read the books. Ray Loriga, the Madrid writer and friend of director Agustin Diaz Yanes approached me with the script, since we worked together in 1995 on My Brother’s Gun, where I played Juanito, a strange Argentinean with an old-fashioned manner of speech . I read it without preconceptions and discovered an extraordinary character, who also meshed with me: blue eyes, clear gaze, 6 feet tall, Spanish speaking. And I accepted.

“Really?” Tano...Yanes asked me in astonishment, aware that, even though he had yet to see The Return of the King, the third and last part of Lord of the Rings, I had been receiving other interesting American options. “Seriously. If it’s a choice between an Oscar and a good script, I choose the script,” I replied. Within 24 hours I called him back. “Are the local actors upset? My accent...” Quickly, he retorted, “In Lord of the Rings didn’t you change the accent of your English? Well, now you’ll just have to change your Spanish accent for one that’s suited to Northern Spain. That’s that.”

So you got organized and set sail for Spain for the time being?

Sure. You know me. I always do the same thing: I research characters from the cradle to the very last page of the script. Besides, outside of the academic world, nobody had depicted Imperial Spain in the 17th century, in spite of the enormous legacy it left the world. Over the course of four weeks I read biographies about soldiers, looked at paintings by Velazquez, buildings, landscapes, streets, practiced with swords, tried on boots, the wardrobe, adjusted the hat, the cape. The adaptation turned out great. We filmed for 120 days. By the way, during my time there I enjoyed Ricardo Darin in Art. Excellent. I’d love to work with him. Well, and the general artistic level on Alatriste...amazing. Joder! (Damn! ) It was an incredible challenge, a severe, tragic realistic history. I celebrate the experience.



Viggo at the San Lorenzo Game: 4-01-07.
© Reuters.

Your use of the word ‘joder’ and your always obvious Argentinean accent forces us to point out that Spaniards and Argentineans are similar.

Apart from the language, where they play hard and fast (he puts away his box of Marlboros and takes out a piece of gum). Then, it depends on the place. Cordoba, Rosario, Resistencia are calm, like Cadiz, Sevilla, Ubeda. In Buenos Aires and Madrid people don’t sleep much, work hard, and wholly appreciate what life offers.

That seems like an apt description of yourself, seeing as you haven’t stopped moving since getting off the plane. Besides the obvious publicity appearances (interviews, trips through the canals, the premiere in Cinemark de Puerto Madero, etc.) you add the visit to Nuevo Gasómetro, your appearance at the homage to Andres Calamaro, the inauguration of the (San Lorenzo) photography exhibit “A Saintly Century, 100 Years of History”, and a trip to the north to explore the wichi culture.

Regarding the wichis, I go to visit them cautiously, so I don’t invade them, and with the help of anthropologists, to give them the opportunity, through photographs and words, to diffuse who they are. Through my editorial, Perceval Press, I try to give voices to people who have been forgotten. And it’s true; I never have enough time when I visit.

Do you follow the news in Argentina when you’re out of the country? For example, do you know about our government’s economic agreements with Hugo Chavez and the ties that Nestor Kirchner (president of Argentina) maintains with George Bush and the International Monetary Fund?

I get some news. I also lived for a year and a half in Venezuela and I don’t remember much. I don’t know if what you’re mentioning speaks well or poorly of Kirchner, but it seems to me that he has to follow his own advice, that the country and its government should be free to have their own opinions and that they shouldn’t allow themselves to be pressured by the president of Venezuela, the United States or anybody else. Argentina needs to think for itself.

Does Henry, your son, whose initials you have tattooed on your right wrist, think about Argentina? Have you transmitted your passion for the country to him?

Henry turned 19 and now even he is interested in visiting the country. When he was little (he interrupts himself upon seeing a screen full of River Plate fans [a rival soccer team] which is advancing toward the Monumental [Argentina’s national stadium, where World Cups have been played] Ahhh...are they playing for the Liberty Cup today? Luckily, they let Fernandez “The Cat” go and also Ramon Diaz, and we hired them, ha... When I was a boy... (he reacts suddenly to the chants) We’re going to beat them on the 13th of May!... Sorry.

When Henry was a boy I read to him in Spanish and Danish so he would absorb them. I felt that perhaps my experiences would be useful to him. I lived here from age 2 to 11 and even though I was gone for a quarter of a century and returned in 1995, the language stayed in my head and in my heart, even though for a while my vocabulary was rather poor and I used old slang, which Henry ended up with too. So much so that he discovered his facility with languages and learned to read and write Japanese while in high school. He said to me in a Mexican Spanish accent, “I want to learn it perfectly.” Maybe I’ll bring him soon.



© Copyright 2005 Atlántida.

As long as he’s not a fan of Huracan...

I think he’s a cuervo. He uses my t-shirts. But I’ll let him choose. I love football and its practical jokes but I don’t share the hatred of somebody because they’re wearing the wrong colors. Football isn’t about violence. My father, whose name is the same as mine, is for Nuñez, and my mother, Grace, is for Boca.

Boca. Did they really suggest you film Un Guapo del 900? When you will be filming here is apparently of national interest.

How did you find out?

Because of your immaculate attire and your gelled hair.

(He laughs) Seriously, how did you find out? Out of respect, I wasn’t going to mention the project. When I was playing Alatriste, I kept thinking, “He’s a would-be gaucho, like Un Guapo del 900, like an American cowboy. That’s logical, if both are derived from the Spaniards of the Golden Age.” And then they offered me the role. But things piled up on me. I'd just finished Eastern Promises (by David Cronenberg, due out in October), I’m starting two movies (Good and Appaloosa) and then there’s the publicity stuff. The only way to rest and think about how to proceed is by yelling “Stop!” as early as August 2008, or else. It’s as bad as stopping a train. Of course, you start to break and you need two kilometers to stop completely. So I’ve asked not to be sent more scripts. I don’t want to promise anything I can’t fulfill. Un Guapo del 900 is an incredible story. Many writers, including Borges, have given us stories from that era that are very interesting from a social, political and historical point of view, but...I have family and activities that I’m slacking on. I’m referring to painting, poetry, photography, music. I also don’t sleep. I need to stop. Life is short and I need to stop the ball, sip a bitter mate - it’s never missing from my suitcase - and decide how to proceed.

You mentioned the word family. Since your separation almost a decade ago from singer Exene Cervenka - leader of the Punk Band K - you haven’t been known to have an official relationship, even though you’ve kissed goddesses onscreen like Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Liv Tyler and, including, if we’re not mistaken, Naomi Watts herself. Do you plan to try again or has solitude trapped you?

You’re not mistaken about Naomi. Same with the relationship, but I’m not going to tell you about it. To have a relatively normal and sane relationship I’ve learned that it’s preferable for people not to find out. I’ve tried to hold to that.

As a kid, did you like any Argentinean women?

Obviously, several. Famous ones? Your Gimenez, when her career was just starting. Gorgeous. An icon. I was about 10 and I patently remember her. Her and the women in Los Matadores. Did I tell you that yesterday my idols gave me a bit of the old stadium and a signed blue and red t-shirt?

Nice block. And if San Lorenzo de Almagro wins a championship one of these days, then what?

Wow. (He says thanks again for the pin - the seventh one the journalist has given him since 2003 - before speaking.) I’ll do everything I can to come back. To return again.

teena1013

thanks for all the latest news about viggo, jazz. it gives us more insight into his life.

it is sweet that henry wants to explore the country where his dad spent part of his childhood.

what movie is viggo & naomi in? is that eastern promises?

Jazz

Naomi Watts is Viggo's co-star in Eastern Promises.

I think it's great that his son wants to see wher ehis dad is from and all that. That's so bittersweet. But he says his son is his best friend.

teena1013

i like naomi watts. she's a great actress. i look forward to watching them onscreen together.

it's wonderful that viggo & henry have a great bond. some guys i know don't get along with their dad at all.