Post by Jack Sparrow on Dec 20, 2003 19:17:31 GMT
I just read this... highly funny! ;D
In real life, Viggo Mortensen is the kind of guy the characters he plays in the movies would beat up. He?s the quintessential Renaissance Man. He paints, he sings, he writes poetry, he?s fluent in three languages. He?s just an all-around sensitive guy.
In the movies, Mortensen has built a career often playing the bad guys. He was the sadistic Navy SEAL who went head-to-head with Demi Moore in G.I. Jane. He played evil incarnate ? the devil himself ? in The Prophecy where he actually ripped out Christopher Walken?s heart and had it for dinner. He was Gwyneth Paltrow?s murderous lover in A Perfect Murder and bashed in Dennis Hopper?s head in The Indian Runner.
None of those bad guys would really have much patience with the real artist/poet/good guy Viggo.
The son of a Danish father and an American mother, Mortensen spent his early years moving back and forth from Denmark to Argentina to Venezuela. When his family finally settled in New York, he began taking acting classes. He graduated from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York with degrees in government and Spanish but decided to pursue the lights of Hollywood instead.
He got a couple of small parts in big movies. But his scenes ? in films such as Swing Shift and The Purple Rose of Cairo ? never made it past the cutting-room floor. After a small part in a mini-series about George Washington, Mortensen got his first big-screen role as an Amish farmer in Witness.
His career gathered steam as he accepted a slew of diverse roles from an ex-con in Carlito?s Way with Al Pacino to an American in Europe opposite Nicole Kidman in Jane Campion?s period drama, The Portrait of a Lady.
His most well known role to date, however, has been Aragorn, the warrior also known as Strider, in The Lord of the Rings movies. Although Mortensen had already developed a reputation for his true dedication and immersion in his roles, this part certainly cemented that image.
In one of the movie?s fight scenes, Mortensen lost a tooth thanks to an overzealous extra. Mortensen asked for a tube of Super Glue so he could paste his tooth back on and continue the scene. Allegedly, he was quite irate when director Peter Jackson stopped the action and insisted Mortensen be rushed off to see his dentist.
He bought the horse that he used on-screen so he could spend his free time in the saddle, bonding with the beast. There were even reports he walked around wearing his broadsword even when he wasn?t on the set.
"He took his outfit home with him because he wanted to literally grow into it," costume designer Ngila Dickson told Empire magazine. "He sweated in it, lived in it, even repaired it himself, as Aragorn would have."
Off-screen Mortensen?s artwork, poetry and photographs have earned him lots of attention. His canvasses ? which were actually featured in A Perfect Murder ? sell for about $5,000. He?s also published several books of poems and photographs including Recent Forgeries and SignLanguage.
Plus, by all accounts, he?s an incredibly nice guy. Just don?t tell that to his big-screen alter egos.
What do you think??
In real life, Viggo Mortensen is the kind of guy the characters he plays in the movies would beat up. He?s the quintessential Renaissance Man. He paints, he sings, he writes poetry, he?s fluent in three languages. He?s just an all-around sensitive guy.
In the movies, Mortensen has built a career often playing the bad guys. He was the sadistic Navy SEAL who went head-to-head with Demi Moore in G.I. Jane. He played evil incarnate ? the devil himself ? in The Prophecy where he actually ripped out Christopher Walken?s heart and had it for dinner. He was Gwyneth Paltrow?s murderous lover in A Perfect Murder and bashed in Dennis Hopper?s head in The Indian Runner.
None of those bad guys would really have much patience with the real artist/poet/good guy Viggo.
The son of a Danish father and an American mother, Mortensen spent his early years moving back and forth from Denmark to Argentina to Venezuela. When his family finally settled in New York, he began taking acting classes. He graduated from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York with degrees in government and Spanish but decided to pursue the lights of Hollywood instead.
He got a couple of small parts in big movies. But his scenes ? in films such as Swing Shift and The Purple Rose of Cairo ? never made it past the cutting-room floor. After a small part in a mini-series about George Washington, Mortensen got his first big-screen role as an Amish farmer in Witness.
His career gathered steam as he accepted a slew of diverse roles from an ex-con in Carlito?s Way with Al Pacino to an American in Europe opposite Nicole Kidman in Jane Campion?s period drama, The Portrait of a Lady.
His most well known role to date, however, has been Aragorn, the warrior also known as Strider, in The Lord of the Rings movies. Although Mortensen had already developed a reputation for his true dedication and immersion in his roles, this part certainly cemented that image.
In one of the movie?s fight scenes, Mortensen lost a tooth thanks to an overzealous extra. Mortensen asked for a tube of Super Glue so he could paste his tooth back on and continue the scene. Allegedly, he was quite irate when director Peter Jackson stopped the action and insisted Mortensen be rushed off to see his dentist.
He bought the horse that he used on-screen so he could spend his free time in the saddle, bonding with the beast. There were even reports he walked around wearing his broadsword even when he wasn?t on the set.
"He took his outfit home with him because he wanted to literally grow into it," costume designer Ngila Dickson told Empire magazine. "He sweated in it, lived in it, even repaired it himself, as Aragorn would have."
Off-screen Mortensen?s artwork, poetry and photographs have earned him lots of attention. His canvasses ? which were actually featured in A Perfect Murder ? sell for about $5,000. He?s also published several books of poems and photographs including Recent Forgeries and SignLanguage.
Plus, by all accounts, he?s an incredibly nice guy. Just don?t tell that to his big-screen alter egos.
What do you think??
It's your cure-all, isn't it? 
I also heard he loves the Mate, a typical drink from SOuth America ( which I happen to be addicted to 
