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The Creative Life of Viggo Mortensen

Actor, photographer, poet, publisher, football fan: if you do what interests you, Viggo Mortensen believes you'll have an interesting life

By Sheryl GarrattPublished 2 years ago 8 min read
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Viggo Mortensen at the Cannes Film Festival, 2014. Photo by Georges Biard

I met Viggo Mortensen in London in 2013, when he was promoting Everybody Has A Plan, an independent, Spanish-language film made in Argentina. Since shooting to fame in the Lord of The Rings films, he’s followed an unconventional path, motivated more by his own interests than fame or fortune. Nonetheless, he has been nominated for three Oscars, most recently for the 2018 film Green Book.

In between he’s made largely indie films, launched his own esoteric publishing house, Perceval Press, exhibited his photographs and published his poetry – as well as writing a regular column for his football team in Argentina, San Lorenzo.

He points out that his path has never been particularly conventional. With a Danish father and American mother, he grew up in Argentina, then in upstate New York. He worked as a florist and a truck driver in Scandinavia before deciding to try acting.

So here are his tips for living a creative life, distilled from our much longer conversation.

1. Choose the difficult projects.

"They’re the ones you learn from, that are fun to do. Getting through a complicated shoot, a challenging story, is something that you tend to remember more than if you’re just shooting on a sound stage. There’s something special about it. When I see the movie, I remember everything that we went through!"

2. Be open to new experiences.

"You find yourself in a lot of strange situations, making movies. In Everyone Has A Plan, I was a bee-keeper. It was fun. We got to make honey. I have one jar left. It’s pretty good!

"We made the film in winter, so it was getting cold, and the only flowers left make for a really dark, strong-tasting honey. Apparently the honey at the start of summer is very pale. It depends on what’s blooming.

"I learn some odd skills in my job, and I love it! Two days ago, filming The Two Faces of January in Athens, I had the opportunity to film on the Acropolis, inside the Parthenon. Which is all roped off. And I’m just wandering around, looking, picking up little bits.

"I’ve been to many places in the world that I wouldn’t have seen. When we shot Lord of The Rings [in New Zealand], we had special permission to film in wild areas that could only be accessed by helicopter. They would drop us off and we would work all day, then they’d pick us up and take us out again. It was great!"

3. Make the most of every situation.

"I camped out [in those wild areas] sometimes, just to make the most of it. I happen to like fishing and camping anyway, and it was useful in the early stages, because I came to Lord of The Rings later than the other actors. They were already filming when I was cast. So I wanted to be familiar with the weapons and the clothing.. But also, I like the outdoors!"

4. Everyone has their own creative path.

"There are as many different ways of preparing a role as there are actors. It might not be true, but Daniel Day Lewis apparently wanted to be called ‘Mr President’ during the shooting of Lincoln. I have run into people that do that – and more power to them, if it makes them feel comfortable.

"Me, I don’t feel the need for that. I like to make jokes between takes, just to stay relaxed and have fun. But I do take it seriously, and I like to research as much as possible. First because it’s fun, but also because it makes me feel I’ve done everything possible to be ready."

5. Luck helps, but preparation is key.

"For a story, a scene, or even a moment in a scene to work, you need the right weather, the right moment to happen with the actor and the director. Elements have to conspire, a lot of compromises have to happen – and egos need to be put aside.

"You have to be lucky, but the best thing you can do with regard to courting luck is to be prepared. If you’re not prepared, you might not even realise that you’ve been given a gift by a moment or some stumble or something. But if you’ve prepared your character and you know what you’re looking for – even in a vague way – then you’ll recognise the opportunity and be able to use it."

6. There are many ways to explore the world.

"My favourite thing is travelling. But that’s not always physical travel, it can also just be immersing yourself [in a subject]. I love taking a role when you’re suddenly doing an intensive course that you wouldn’t have done otherwise.

"It’s like at school, with those teachers that made it fun. The ones whose names you remember when you’re older. When you’re enjoying what you’re doing, you learn a lot more, and you retain a lot more information.

"Preparing to play Sigmund Freud in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, for instance, I read everything by Freud and Jung, and all the contemporary accounts I could get my hands on. That’s not something I would ever have done without the film. And I read things Freud would have read: Ibsen, Oscar Wilde. I didn’t know he had a sense of humour until then!"

7. To make good art, be childish.

"Ideally, in a much more layered and detailed, sophisticated way. But it’s the same game. Nobody has to tell any child below the age of ten, ‘I didn’t quite believe that make-believe you were doing.’ They completely believe what they’re doing. They don’t question it, they just dive in.

"As an actor, that’s what you’re striving for. And when you don’t get it right, it’s the fact that you’re not a kid any more that’s getting in your way! It’s the habits we acquire as we grow up, that sense of propriety in how we present ourselves – just learned behaviour. You have to throw that away and just commit to it completely, as kids do."

8. Glamour is often an illusion.

"I’ve got used to red carpets. The first time I really had to do it was Lord of The Rings. Until then, I’d more or less made a living as an actor, but I’d never had to go to premieres. Or only very small ones, where nobody cared what I looked like, or what I had to say. So I hadn’t had much experience of it until quite late.

"You get used to it. But it’s an odd phenomenon. When there’s loads of flashes going off, you can’t really see very well. You have to seem very focussed and happy, but you’re kind of blinded by it. It feels like you’re being machine-gunned, or something! It’s not a world I would go into unless I had to."

9. Keep it real.

"I’m not against using makeup in movies. It depends on the character. But in the North American poster for The History of Violence, my face was completely unlined. And I have a scar on my face which is sometimes covered up – it depends on the role. But not in this movie. So it just looked fake.

"[Airbrushing] sometimes happens with photo shoots, and you can’t always control that. But if it’s a poster and you’re the lead actor, you have some say. With The History of Violence, [director] David Cronenberg completely agreed. It didn’t make sense.

"The argument that might be made about airbrushing is, ‘Well that’s what people want.’ But why do they want that? Why do they expect it? Because that’s what they get."

10. Create the art you want to see.

"The more money a movie costs, the more formulaic it’s probably going to be, and the less surprising. Those aren’t the stories that interest me, or the kind of movies I would go see. So if I make them, I’m adding to the problem.

"I have nothing against [a blockbuster]. If it was right for me to be in it, then it would be fun. It depends on the story, the character, and if I feel I’m right for it. I don’t really look for movies based on the budget or the nationality or the language, necessarily. I just want to be in movies that have a chance of being something I wouldn’t mind seeing, ten years from now."

11. Follow your passions.

"My son is going to England, to do post-graduate study in anthropology. He was worried because there’s really not much you can do with it afterwards, other than be a professor.

"I said, ‘Well, you’ve always been good with kids, you’re good at explaining, you’re a great communicator and you’re patient. So you’d make a great professor.

‘But even if you end up doing something entirely different, by going to England and studying more, you’ll be exposed to so many new things. I have no expectation that you’re going to be an anthropologist.

‘It’s up to you – and up to fate, to some degree. I got a degree in political science, and I’m an actor in the movies, so who the hell knows!’"

12. Technology is great. In its place.

"I only got a mobile recently, an antiquated flip phone. I resisted getting a laptop for a long time as well, but then when I founded Perceval Press, I had to.

"It’s helpful. I use it for editing and for my photography. It’s great for staying in touch with family. And I can watch football illegally! Which I’m forced to do, sometimes, because San Lorenzo matches aren’t broadcast that frequently.

"But there is also something to be said for being isolated and out of phone range. You can fall into a habit to such a degree that you don’t even realise that you’ve lost something else. Silence."

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About the Creator

Sheryl Garratt

Sheryl Garratt is a former editor of The Face and Observer magazines, and has written professionally for more than 30 years. She is also a coach working with creatives of all kinds. Find her at thecreativelife.net

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