Viggo Mortensen Has a Good Reason for Not Playing in Franchises Anymore
Aragorn on the franchise films: “Generally, they’re not very good. I mean, personally, I think they’re not that well written.”
When we take a look at his gigantic filmography, we notice that Viggo Mortensen never played the same character twice – except for the trilogy Lord of the Rings in which he plays the noble king of Gondor, Aragorn. Everything else is just a series of unique feature films alternating between faithful collaborations – as with David Cronenberg since A History of Violence released in 2005 – and auteur cinema. A good strategy, it seems, since it allowed him to be nominated three times for the Oscar for best actor for his roles in The Promises of the Shadows, Captain Fantastic And Green Book.
Without his son, Viggo Mortensen would not have played Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings
Keeping away from Star Warsthe MCU or any other kind of franchise, the Danish-American actor explained in an interview with Vanity Fair that he chose his films for their plots and characters – the rest being just superficial:
“I don’t seek out, or avoid, any particular genre of film, no matter how big the budget is. I just seek out interesting stories. I don’t care what genre the film is, what the budget is, or who’s directing it. I’m never going to make a film because someone else directed it. It has to come from the story. And if I think I’m good enough for the character, that’s my first motivation.”
Regarding franchises in particular, he confided that he would be ready to commit to them, on the condition of having a well-crafted script. Which is generally not the case, according to him:
“As far as franchises, if somebody comes to me with a movie that’s actually the third or ninth installment, and I think I’m perfect for that character and I want to play that character, that I can bring something to it, I’ll do it. I’m not against that idea. But, generally, those movies aren’t very good… I mean, I personally find that they’re not that well written. They’re predictable. Of course, if I ever ran out of money, I’d do it anyway.”
Understand, as long as Viggo Mortensen can pay his bills, he will continue to choose his projects and favor the independent film track. And what about his possible return as the legendary prowler in The Hunt for Gollum – none other than Peter Jackson’s new Middle-earth project ?
On this subject, the actor confirmed to GQ not to be against the idea of returning. But on one condition: that his involvement is relevant and necessary to the plot.
“I don’t know what the story will be yet. I haven’t heard about it. Maybe I’ll hear it one day. I like playing this character. I learned a lot from playing him. In fact, I loved playing him. But, I’ll only come back if I can afford it, given my age, you see. I’ll also only do it if I’m still good for this character. It would be stupid to do otherwise.”
No fan service, then? We’ll see depending on his bank account, especially since this defender of independent cinema had recently denounced the current functioning of the film industry in the columns of Variety while he expressed the producers’ reluctance to produce his next feature film. But for Vanity Fairthe actor was more optimistic:
“Hopefully, I hope that my first two films will show that I can direct, to some extent, and that maybe someone will have faith in this next project. That’s what I hope anyway.”
Because very recently, the actor and poet put on the director’s cap again, acquired in 2020, with Fallingfor the pretty western Till the end of the world. Which seems to have satisfied him: “I did more press with this film than I did as an actor for Lord of the Rings.”he told Vanity Fair. Let us also remember that Anduril, Aragorn’s sword, makes a cameo in his film..
Viggo Mortensen: “I won’t shoot a film without being sure of having the final cut”
