Category: quotes

THR Actor Roundtable

Posted December 4, 2018

VIGGO MORTENSEN Chaos is always there. We try to [impose] order: We dress, we brush our teeth, we stop at stop signs. But really our world is completely crazy all the time. MORTENSEN You can’t have beautiful moments or have something great happen unless you are willing to make big mistakes, either. You have to be willing to make an ass of yourself. MORTENSEN You know, even as a kid I didn’t like being told no. It stimulates me. When I was a little kid and I realized that animals die and therefore we do, I asked my mom, “Am […]

A Secret Key

Posted April 1, 2000

How did he summon the fierce emotions necessary to play characters such as the skinhead in American History X (1998), for which he received a second Oscar nomination), or the ex-yuppie in last year’s controversial film Fight Club? “It’s something I have a capacity for,” he said. “I don’t mean that I’m full of rage and violence. I’m not. But portraying that kind of character has always felt right in the middle of my strike zone. When I went to do American History X, I was thinking: ‘I’m going to eat this thing alive.’ It was a lot easier for […]