And hello and welcome to the dozen or so new friends who have shown up here as a result. Forgive me if I'm slow in adding you back; I'll be checking out your journals individually, one by one, but I'm not going to have any serious LJing time until after the weekend, due to the rush to get all my work done before tomorrow's interview.
And speaking of which… Viggo Mortensen fans, I've got another question for you. Has he ever been in a film where he had to wear a suit, comb his hair, take a bath, or play a sophistamacated urban guy? Everything of his I've watched so far in prep for the interview has featured him in long, grubby hair and bohemian or country-cowboy style, either in his clothes or in his accent or both. Has he ever gotten to play a smooth James Bond type?
That aside, I'm sorry I didn't drop everything last week and launch straight into the Mortensen movies, because I haven't had a chance to watch as many as I would have liked. Netflix has been taking longer than usual to get movies to me, perhaps in self-defense, given my recent turnaround rate. ("28 Days" went from my mailbox to the DVD player back into the mailing envelope and to the post office in approximately four hours.) So I won't have a chance to see "Psycho" or "American Yakuza" or "The Reflecting Skin" before tomorrow, and I regret that. It's been really neat holding a weeklong filmfest in which the only connecting element between films is a single actor. I'm going to have to try that again in future.
That aside also, if you have suggestions for questions, feel free to post them. I think I've got enough colorful-history questions for the moment; I'd like to have more room to talk to him about the craft of acting and how he feels about directorial styles, so specific questions about Exene or his album are less likely to make the cut. But I'm open to suggestions.
I'm-a feelin': overwhelmed I'm a-hearin': Men At Work, "Land Down Under"
I had no idea he was with Exene Cervenka. Me likes her bunches. But anyway.
I know he's also a photographer and a poet -- or think I saw somesuch on the Extended Edition special sections. I've no idea how you would frame this into a question, but I'd be curious whether or not he considers acting to be an art or a job.
Photographer, poet, recording artist, publisher… yup. He's quite the artist-of-all-trades. And that's pretty much what I mean by "colorful background" questions. Oh, and he's not with her any more, though they were together for 10 years and had a child.
He's actually answered that question in a way. He says that his painting, photography, acting, and music are all the same in that they are all different ways of creative expression, he basically doesn't prefer one over the other. He says that acting is somewhat less creative because he doesn't have control over the end product, that the director does that so what he produces in acting may or may not be in the finished product (movie) so in that way painting or photography is more fulfilling. He has done movies just to pay bills, but he says that he wouldn't wish some of the not-so-good ones away because he has learned something or met someone or had a good experience from each one.
For a question, I'd be very interested in whether or not he intends to do an art or photography exhibit anywhere in the States other than L.A. area or New York (how 'bout Atlanta, hint, hint). I'd also be interested in where he keeps the horses he's bought from his movies (one from LOTR, one from Hidalgo from what I've heard) and who takes care of them...and whether or not his dog travels with him. I'm still curious as to whether he's going to be attending the Mythic Journeys conference in Atlanta, but that's too specific, I'm sure. :)
I haven't seen anything in which Viggo's played a smooth operator yet. Then again, he's been in quite a bit over the years. IMBD has an extensive filmography for him. Perhaps there's something on that list.
If I do say so myself, I don't mind him a little scruffy. :)
I'm one of those new people on the list, so thanks for the welcome, it's a pleasure to be here : )
I know that Viggo was in the film Daylight in which he is blonde, clean shaven and wearing a suit... he is one of the people trapped in the tunnel - but being Viggo I guess, he grabs his mountaineering gear out of the boot and goes into 'action man' mode. I don't know much more than that, must admit it's not my kind of film and I haven't watched it from beginning to end...
Hmmm, well, I think he looks pretty clean in "28 Days" - at least comparatively. He's clean in "Crimson Tide" but he's military in that. He's FBI in "American Yakuza" but I can't see the trailer here, so I don't know. He was in "Portait of a Lady" where everyone seems to be in a suit, but I didn't see it and can't find any photos that include him.
I wonder if he feels typecast at all - it seems he's either scruffy, or military, or something similar - or if he's just realized that he does "scruffy" well, and people like him that way, so he sort of pigeonholed himself into that spot?
Oops, I forgot to answer the question about the cleaned up Viggo. Of the ones I've seen, near the beginning of Daylight, he's all dressed up and supposedly rich - he's a rich extreme sports person apparently. There's not much of him in this movie, he's a goner no more than halfway through, but he is cleaned up in that one at first. He's more cleaned up in The Reflecting Skin from what I can recall, and there's at least one part in American Yakuza where he is very gorgeously dressed up.
I think he plays to his strengths. His looks lend themselves more to scruffiness than suavity, I think. ;-)
On a more serious note, I'm really looking forward to reading your interview with him! I love that you do so much prep work, to be familiar with the interviewee's past work, and to avoid asking the same questions that always get asked. I wish more journalists/interviewers did half so good a job. Mortensen seems like a really interesting guy, and I'm eager to see what comes out of a 45-minute session with a really good interviewer like yourself.
It's certainly not intended as pressure! I just think it's great that when I read your interviews, I know you're not just going to ask the same superficial questions a hundred other interviewer have already asked that person. It amazes me that, if I read more than three or four interviews with a given person, I can typically answer almost any question they get asked in subsequent interviews without bothering to read further, because they're asked the exact same questions (or slight variations thereon) over and over and over. I swear, if celebrities handed out a FAQ, they could cut their interview time down by nine-tenths.
Oh, their publicists often do. It doesn't help. Possibly just because there are enough of us nosy types out there who actually want to meet them, even if we don't have any questions beyond "So, have you seen your latest movie yet? Did you like it?"
Heh. Maybe I should just avoid reading more than one interview of a given person per year. Unless, of course, the interviewer is someone I know asks good questions.
Holy fuck I had no idea he was in The Reflecting Skin. I only saw that film once (on BBC2) and I loved it. Doesn't seem to be available on DVD otherwise I'd buy it. It's a very strange film.
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