Viggo Mortensen Interview

BREAKING FROM THE FELLOWSHIP

Film star, sex symbol, poet, photographer, painter - it must be tough being Viggo Mortensen. The 45-year-old- Danish-American has been on our screens for over twenty years now - his first break came with a small role in Witness - but it was only at the turn of the century that his career would go stratospheric when the call came from Peter Jackson to take on the role of Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Initially reluctant to take the part, it was Mortensen's son who persuaded him to take it, and it has changed his life. So much so that he is sitting in the Dorchester explaining to the assembled press the reasons behind his first proper outing as a solo star.

Hidalgo is a throwback to the old days of cinema when men were men and women fluttered their eyelids when they wanted attention. Mortensen plays Frank Hopkins, a legendary Wild West cowboy who, as the film tells it, was born of an Indian mother and white father. Hopkins takes his horse, Hidalgo, to compete in the notorious cross-desert race in Saudi Arabia, along the way encountering issues of environmentalism and race relations. It was clearly a subject that had huge appeal for the conscientious actor. "I heard a lot about Hopkins from talking to American Indian families," he says. "They still talk about him to this day, and for generations they have been talking about this incredible figure."

Mortensen sidesteps the question of veracity which has dogged the film since its release in the United States, with many groups claiming Hopkins exploits were often exaggerated. " I would have been happy if the film was 100% myth", he admits. "For me it was always about making a classic Hollywood adventure story." He was also clearly attracted by the unusually benevolent way in which the film approaches the different cultures. "In the time's we're in right now, maybe people will walk out of the film being interested in different cultures. Issues of race and difference are undeniably hard in this day and age, and the film clearly makes an effort to respect different cultures."