lunedì 17 settembre 2007
From the book "My Country to defend" by A. E. Dimond page 223:
"Viggo"
"He has una established relationship with Orlando Bloom. He is a little bit edgier, though."
source
From the book "Sean Penn: His Life And Times" by Richard T Kelly
About Viggo and Indian Runner :
Sean Penn: "I was over at Robin's little house in Santa Monica Canyon, waiting for her to get dressed for a date. The television was on, sound off, and I saw a face: he was only a cameo in a movie (Fresh Horses) , but I saw the face that I'd had in my head when I wrote Indian Runner. He had something, an angularity, a severity to his handsomeness that I perceived as being like Frank. So I watched the movie through, and I called Don [Phillips] and said, 'Find out who he is.' "
Don Phillips:"We sent the script (Indian Runner) to Viggo...he was our man and we were off and running."
David Morse:
"During the rehearsal period, Sean really encouraged Viggo & myself, and Valeria and Patrica (Arquette), to spend as much time together as we could, to really blur the lines of our professional relationships and make them more intimate. Se we'd go to the county Fair [Omaha] as a foursome and so on. We all wanted this authenticity...."
Sean Penn:
"I had written that Frank steals a car and intentionally goes into a wealthier neighborhood..robs a gas station and abandons it by the side of a road. Mike asked me, "Why does he go to a rich neighborhood?" I said, "you know..." and he said "Well, if it's resentment towards the rich, why let the rich kids get their car back? Just burn the F'ker." I said "Yeah!" And that happened to come at an imp't time for such a visual in the movie."
David Morse:
"Do I think Frank and Joe are two sides of Sean? ...I would say yes, I do"
"Viggo and I were going to rehearse for rtwo weeks, but we were only going to rehearse our big scene in the bar. ... during those 2 weeks, I have a feeling it was harder for Viggo because Sean identified more that that role and he would really try to push him to do certain things. But Viggo just kept holding back. He never really DID the scene in those two weeks."
Sean Penn:
"Viggo is, by nature, a very poetic character: he IS a poet, and a painter. And some of his poetic nature was very good for the part, in the moment of tenderness with Patricia. but I did find that when he was photographed head-to-toe, some of the danger of Frank would go out the door: Viggo's inherent kindness as a guy showed in a sort of languid movement. And that was a lesson for me about what parts of people express themselves without trying. So he did some work...to try to overcome that...I needed an edge in that space from head to toe, there was a clear and present danger.
David Morse:
"I think Sean was still a little nervous going into that bar scene...and something happened, it crystallized and suddenly Viggo was on fire.
Sean Penn:
I think I stimulated viggo's temper. And as i remember, I think I got a little personal. But I think he was professionally responsive, he knew where to go for what I was looking for. When you're abusive to an actor, it's one thing - when you're abusive to a character, it's another. And I think I found it was helpful to both of us to raise my own tempo a little bit, and get in the same place as him, share the vibe...."
About Viggo and Indian Runner :
Sean Penn: "I was over at Robin's little house in Santa Monica Canyon, waiting for her to get dressed for a date. The television was on, sound off, and I saw a face: he was only a cameo in a movie (Fresh Horses) , but I saw the face that I'd had in my head when I wrote Indian Runner. He had something, an angularity, a severity to his handsomeness that I perceived as being like Frank. So I watched the movie through, and I called Don [Phillips] and said, 'Find out who he is.' "
Don Phillips:"We sent the script (Indian Runner) to Viggo...he was our man and we were off and running."
David Morse:
"During the rehearsal period, Sean really encouraged Viggo & myself, and Valeria and Patrica (Arquette), to spend as much time together as we could, to really blur the lines of our professional relationships and make them more intimate. Se we'd go to the county Fair [Omaha] as a foursome and so on. We all wanted this authenticity...."
Sean Penn:
"I had written that Frank steals a car and intentionally goes into a wealthier neighborhood..robs a gas station and abandons it by the side of a road. Mike asked me, "Why does he go to a rich neighborhood?" I said, "you know..." and he said "Well, if it's resentment towards the rich, why let the rich kids get their car back? Just burn the F'ker." I said "Yeah!" And that happened to come at an imp't time for such a visual in the movie."
David Morse:
"Do I think Frank and Joe are two sides of Sean? ...I would say yes, I do"
"Viggo and I were going to rehearse for rtwo weeks, but we were only going to rehearse our big scene in the bar. ... during those 2 weeks, I have a feeling it was harder for Viggo because Sean identified more that that role and he would really try to push him to do certain things. But Viggo just kept holding back. He never really DID the scene in those two weeks."
Sean Penn:
"Viggo is, by nature, a very poetic character: he IS a poet, and a painter. And some of his poetic nature was very good for the part, in the moment of tenderness with Patricia. but I did find that when he was photographed head-to-toe, some of the danger of Frank would go out the door: Viggo's inherent kindness as a guy showed in a sort of languid movement. And that was a lesson for me about what parts of people express themselves without trying. So he did some work...to try to overcome that...I needed an edge in that space from head to toe, there was a clear and present danger.
David Morse:
"I think Sean was still a little nervous going into that bar scene...and something happened, it crystallized and suddenly Viggo was on fire.
Sean Penn:
I think I stimulated viggo's temper. And as i remember, I think I got a little personal. But I think he was professionally responsive, he knew where to go for what I was looking for. When you're abusive to an actor, it's one thing - when you're abusive to a character, it's another. And I think I found it was helpful to both of us to raise my own tempo a little bit, and get in the same place as him, share the vibe...."
mercoledì 5 settembre 2007
Back in 1986 Exene had this really handsome boyfriend poet who was struggling as an actor. Technically, Exene was still married to band co-founder John Doe (who is also a poet), but this new guy was funny, spontaneous, intelligent, romantic, talented and totally enamored with Exene. Back then I thought Curt Kirkwood was the sexiest man alive (I still had a guitar-player fixation leftover from my ex-husband) so I didn’t pay much attention to Exene’s Viggo. I thought the song she wrote for Viggo, “You”, was endearing, though I often wondered how John Doe felt in the studio hearing his wife record a song about falling in love with another man . ( Machelle Dunlop)
YOU
You take a chance
fall in love with a man
3000 miles away.
Try to call and picture his stance
at the pay phone down the hall.
Let me know when you go to bed
Talk to me during the day
'Cause I'm stuck on you
like flies to glue or trash on broadway.
(CHORUS)
You call me from 8th Avenue,
You don't have a phone.
I wanna call you and it makes me sad
because I can't talk to you and I wanna talk to you
And I wanna talk to you.
Hey you, I'm calling you.
Somewhere on my body if you look real close, you'll find you.
You'll find you.
Talk to me while Puerto Rican prostitutes ask for a date
and 2 kids are makin' fun of a bum who fell flat on his face.
You put polaroids into my pocket,
Walked home from La Guardia.
You asked me to dance in the rain in the woods on Staten Island.
(REPEAT CHORUS)
Hey, you.
Exene Cervenka - He's Got a She (1989)
(home movie of Viggo Mortensen, Exene Cervenka, John Doe and new wife Gigi)
lunedì 3 settembre 2007
Is It Hot in Here, Or Is It Just Viggo?
In a David Cronenberg movie, people usually talk about the violence, such as in, well, "A History of Violence." That probably won't be true with his new film, "Eastern Promises." It's a thriller starring Viggo Mortensen as Nikolai, a taciturn chauffeur for a family of Russian mobsters living in London. The biggest scene takes place in a steam room. Nikolai is sitting there in a towel, taking a peaceful shvitz, when two rival mobsters lumber in and attack him. It's incredibly violent, of course, but the really shocking thing is that Mortensen plays the whole four-minute fight completely naked. It's quite possibly the longest male nude scene ever in a mainstream Hollywood film. "In this age of screen grabs, I realize people are going to obsess about it," Mortensen says. "But it's not gratuitous." But wasn't he even a little nervous about exposing himself like that? "That's the advantage of working with a real actor as opposed to a star," says Cronenberg, who took two entire days to shoot the scene. "We weren't worried about you seeing his balls." More likely, Viggo was worried about you thinking about him as Aragorn for the rest of his career. Ever notice how when an actor really wants to move beyond a supersuccessful role, he drops trou? It's the Daniel Radcliffe School of I'm Not Harry Potter Anymore! In any event, Mortensen's fans don't care about his motivation. "I don't want to give you the impression that we're all sex-crazed middle-aged women," says Lynn Gibson, who runs the Viggophile.net fan site. "But we are quite looking forward to it."
In a David Cronenberg movie, people usually talk about the violence, such as in, well, "A History of Violence." That probably won't be true with his new film, "Eastern Promises." It's a thriller starring Viggo Mortensen as Nikolai, a taciturn chauffeur for a family of Russian mobsters living in London. The biggest scene takes place in a steam room. Nikolai is sitting there in a towel, taking a peaceful shvitz, when two rival mobsters lumber in and attack him. It's incredibly violent, of course, but the really shocking thing is that Mortensen plays the whole four-minute fight completely naked. It's quite possibly the longest male nude scene ever in a mainstream Hollywood film. "In this age of screen grabs, I realize people are going to obsess about it," Mortensen says. "But it's not gratuitous." But wasn't he even a little nervous about exposing himself like that? "That's the advantage of working with a real actor as opposed to a star," says Cronenberg, who took two entire days to shoot the scene. "We weren't worried about you seeing his balls." More likely, Viggo was worried about you thinking about him as Aragorn for the rest of his career. Ever notice how when an actor really wants to move beyond a supersuccessful role, he drops trou? It's the Daniel Radcliffe School of I'm Not Harry Potter Anymore! In any event, Mortensen's fans don't care about his motivation. "I don't want to give you the impression that we're all sex-crazed middle-aged women," says Lynn Gibson, who runs the Viggophile.net fan site. "But we are quite looking forward to it."
—Ramin Setoodeh
from Newsweek Entertainment
