At number three is Orlando Bloom's revelation that he and Mortensen exchanged affectionate off-camera insults. Bloom says, "I called him filthy human scum, and he’d call me pretty elf boy and stuff like that."
Visualizzazione post con etichetta 2003. Mostra tutti i post
Visualizzazione post con etichetta 2003. Mostra tutti i post
giovedì 25 ottobre 2007
Nostalgia...
from extratv.com
mercoledì 24 ottobre 2007
from USA today 07/28/2003
"I had dinner tonight with Orlando (Bloom), and he said, 'Hollywood is like a warm bath. It's so easy. You just fall asleep. But when you wake up, you're freezing.' It's such a good analogy," Byrne says. "It's very easy and everything's at your fingertips, but then it can all get taken away from you, you know?"
Rose Byrne
giovedì 23 agosto 2007
Lads of the Ring, The Toronto Star (Canada), December 12, 2003
[...]
Mortensen's quiet dedication and unaffecting ways really impressed Orlando Bloom, the other Lord Of The Rings heartthrob.
"I had an incredible time working with Viggo," Bloom says. "I worked very closely with him and he was like a mentor to me, really, chatting, talking about film and just about the day-to-day stuff of getting through making this film. He really influenced the way I approach the work today. He has a lot of integrity in terms of how he approaches it, but he can also have fun with it as well, so it was cool. He taught me a lot."
He laughs when it's suggested that he and Mortensen are competing for the title of most popular hunk in The Lord Of The Rings.
"Well, I don't think I can compete with Viggo ... certainly, I'm (popular) with the six-year-olds and below. He's got the rest covered."
[...]
Mortensen's quiet dedication and unaffecting ways really impressed Orlando Bloom, the other Lord Of The Rings heartthrob.
"I had an incredible time working with Viggo," Bloom says. "I worked very closely with him and he was like a mentor to me, really, chatting, talking about film and just about the day-to-day stuff of getting through making this film. He really influenced the way I approach the work today. He has a lot of integrity in terms of how he approaches it, but he can also have fun with it as well, so it was cool. He taught me a lot."
He laughs when it's suggested that he and Mortensen are competing for the title of most popular hunk in The Lord Of The Rings.
"Well, I don't think I can compete with Viggo ... certainly, I'm (popular) with the six-year-olds and below. He's got the rest covered."
martedì 21 agosto 2007
from a fan report
[cut]
"..then one woman says 'oh, she's one of viggo's ex-girlfriends!' and she was like 'no way!' and in her book that she had signed it said something like 'nice to see you again..' and so then aragrothien says 'okay, i have one question for you - boxers or briefs??' and the woman just smiles and says nothing for a moment, and then says 'speedos! swim team, you know.' or something to that effect. I couldn't believe it! to be an ex-girlfriend of viggo, who is now bombarded with millions of women who want him! I would feel pretty stupid for breaking up with him! "
[cut]
"..then one woman says 'oh, she's one of viggo's ex-girlfriends!' and she was like 'no way!' and in her book that she had signed it said something like 'nice to see you again..' and so then aragrothien says 'okay, i have one question for you - boxers or briefs??' and the woman just smiles and says nothing for a moment, and then says 'speedos! swim team, you know.' or something to that effect. I couldn't believe it! to be an ex-girlfriend of viggo, who is now bombarded with millions of women who want him! I would feel pretty stupid for breaking up with him! "
The Eastern Eyes Have It
Kate Bosworth, arriving with her ferocious Wall Street femme friends for a dinner out with yummy honey Orlando Bloom and the rest of the Lord of the Rings gang. Serafina, 61st and Madison Avenue. Superskinny in jeans and a black sweater, the posh cutie-tamootie chatted away with the girls in the women's restroom line, while her Pirates of the Caribbean b-f...
O.B. was gabbing with his poppin' boy-pals and sorta ignoring his sex-ay g-f (just for a second, I'm sure). But who cares, really, since O. was looking totally lickable in denim pants and a long black cashmere coat, with some seriously bushy hair? The Boz didn't seem to sweat the mini-snub, since the Pirate Man left with K. at his side after dinner. Saliva-switch! Let's turn our attention to Bloom's Hobbit-hopping bud...
Elijah Wood, who was sporting a pseudo-weird Mohawk and his usual deer-in-the-headlights look on this night out. Arriving first, E.W. and his compadres Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd and Sean Astin were all dressed actor-down in jeans and tees, with scarves around their necks. Oh yes, and the other three had Mohawks too. Perhaps that's the latest trendy 'do for Hobbits? After munching their meals, E.W. and his boys headed to the back bar, where...
Sean Astin was gabbing away on his cell in earnest. But he did take time to joke around with a drunken dude who rolled up and jokingly told him The Goonies was his best work. Rolling with the punches, S.A. agreed.
[..] However, sad to say, not everyone in Hell-Ay attended the Institute of Ms. Manners.
Especially those rowdy Lord of the Rings boys, God love 'em! Just last week, head Hobbit Elijah Wood rushed out on opening night to catch a screening of Orlando Bloom's flick Pirates of the Caribbean. The Grove Theaters, at 3rd Street and Fairfax.
Accompanied by a posse of arty actor types, E.W. was looking adorable, with his hair buzz-cut and wearing a light gray tee and denims. And while he and his band of boys were all smiles and applause--especially for the trailer featuring pal Viggo Mortensen's upcoming project, Hidalgo--they weren't quite feeling the love for Tom Cruise's sword-wielding venture, The Last Samurai.
As the puncturing preview flickered across the screen, a round of snickering broke out amongst Elijah's group before they out-and-out began to laugh. No clapping, indeed.
But I must say, in defense of Wood & Co., they weren't the only ones laughing.
Must've been some really funny inside joke, because we all know Tom-babe isn't a laughing matter. Not at all.
venerdì 3 agosto 2007
from xpose #23/2003
[...] EMILY: Have you had to go back to New Zealand to do any reshoots for the final Lord of the Rings film?
ORLANDO: Yeah, and I was so emotional to say goodbye to that. Ahhh… it's the last time I don the blonde wigs and the pointy ears. They gave me my bow and arrow after the last shot and they cut together a little clip of "leggy" moments from the movie. There's this bit- they played it to me - you know the eighties that kind of song like "Hungry Eyes?"
EMILY: Oh sure [sadly]
ORLANDO: So it's like Viggo pulling his sword, then there's me going [he bats his eyes]. It was so funny! [laughter] It was this whole homoerotic thing and Ian's going [he pantomimes argh]!
EMILY: Can I get a copy? [I said this without jest or humor quite frankly- with an eyebrow raised in fantasy visions of this young buck frolicking in elven ears…]
ORLANDO: [laughter] You! Ah, you know maybe Peter will put it on the dvd! Can you imagine! Totally. We had such a laugh. You should see the photos - the Polaroids we've got. [laughter] But it was so much fun. You know what's going to be awesome? Pete…everything is documented. Pete loves that shit! The gag reel he's going to do is going to be all that shit!
source
lunedì 30 luglio 2007
[.....] I won’t forget the day—March 6, 2003—when I had the chance of meeting Orlando Bloom up close and personal. It was an experience which drew me to a conclusive impression of the magic of his persona, the real Orlando Bloom. The event I attended was the launch party of “Blow Up,” which was held at the HQ Gallery on Hollywood and Schrader, featuring the unreleased photo exhibits of famous 1960s fashion model/actress Veruschka who was celebrating the party. Jason Statham, Matt Davies, Devon Odessa, Nichole Tom, Charles Ingram, Samaire Armstrong were among the celebrities who were already inside when I arrived. Later, Orlando came with then rumored girlfriend Kate Bosworth. I aimed my camera and took shots before they passed by me. After that, Orlando mingled with other guests while Kate separated from him and joined actress Marsha Thomason (who readily posed for me). A few minutes later, Orlando approached me and asked if he can talk to me at a corner. “I don’t mind how many times you take a picture of me, but can I please ask a big favor? Do you mind deleting the pictures you took of me and Kate? I’m just not ready to …!” I already said “sure” before he finished what he was saying, looking at his begging eyes. Who couldn’t resist his plea? Orlando was so nice the whole evening until I left the party—with a big smile! |
from Premiere Magazine May 2003
The Hero Returns
[...] Bloom tells a story that occurred when the Rings crew returned to New Zealand in the summer of 2002 for sound dubbing and pickups for The Two Towers. “I flew over just to visit Viggo,” says Bloom, who had heard that Mortensen was organizing a reunion dinner. He, Mortensen and Henry, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler (who plays Arwen), and members of the crew took a bus to the countryside. After dinner, Bloom and Henry went for a walk and noticed how beautifully the moon was shining on a nearby river.
“We ran back and said, ‘Everyone’s got to see this.’ ” Bloom recalls. “I was having a Viggo moment—running out, getting people to come and check out the moon.”
Some decided to wade into the stream, but Mortensen suggested the more perilous task of crossing the river.
“I’m like, ‘Fuck off,’ and he says, ‘Come on.’ So we’re barefoot, waist-high in water, walking on these little rocks to get to the other side and I’m doing it because I’m an idiot and I’m following his lead. Because he’s an idiot. And because he’s amazing,” Bloom laughs. “I can’t believe how much this is going to make me sound like I’m in love with the guy.”
Empire Magazine - January 2003
Orlando Bloom - Sharpshooter
By Ian Nathan
[...] And even if Bloom was disappointed not to figure in the reshoots - he was too busy filming The Kelly Gang in Australia (with a beard, girls!) - he did manage to fly over for one last dinner party. "I went over anyway, like for a weekend, just to say, 'Hi'", he laughs. "Because I was like, 'This is bollocks, I feel out of it.' I met up with Viggo," he smiles. "And let me tell you, we had one mad night in New Zealand!"
Orlando Bloom - Sharpshooter
By Ian Nathan
[...] And even if Bloom was disappointed not to figure in the reshoots - he was too busy filming The Kelly Gang in Australia (with a beard, girls!) - he did manage to fly over for one last dinner party. "I went over anyway, like for a weekend, just to say, 'Hi'", he laughs. "Because I was like, 'This is bollocks, I feel out of it.' I met up with Viggo," he smiles. "And let me tell you, we had one mad night in New Zealand!"
June 19, 2003
Sex and the Single Whirl
Well, let's see. Don't think they do it in Hollywood like they do it in New Zealand.
You do know about that singles sport, doncha?
While those adorable Hobbit buds and Liv&Viggo&Miranda&Orlando and myriad mush-minded individuals were searching for love, strange things happened. Like waitress pinning.
Merde! Was I supposed to say waitstaff pinning? My apologies.
Anyhoo! One bugger whose name shall remain unmentioned by me (and whose friggin' lawyer can kiss my voicemail, as I'm not being overly specific), who was down N.Z. way while filming the second and third Lord of the Rings installments, surprised a few of his chums. By doing the above-mentioned food-server on a table. In the establishment for which she toiled. In every sense of the word.
But did she get a tip?
Closer to (I thought) tackier home, Tinseltown's swingers do it a tad more discreetly. Barely. Oh, to be free, unattached and on the make in La-La Land.
June 5, 2003
Pokes 'n' Jokes
Oh! One more sexually charged item before we trip on to the Eyes Fantastic, 'kay by you? Thought so.Those frisky Hobbit boys (men, creatures, byoots, what have you) wereonly too happy to discuss derrieres and other daring subjects, post-awards wins. Well, sorta glad.
Pokes 'n' Jokes
Oh! One more sexually charged item before we trip on to the Eyes Fantastic, 'kay by you? Thought so.Those frisky Hobbit boys (men, creatures, byoots, what have you) wereonly too happy to discuss derrieres and other daring subjects, post-awards wins. Well, sorta glad.
"He's so far up Viggo Mortensen's ass, he couldn't even see it!" Sean Astin remarked about fellow Lord of the Rings winner Elijah Wood, when I asked the best buds to rate V.M.'s butt. And, yes, there was a reason.
Once you see the salty awards (way I like 'em), you'll notice a great deal of footage is devoted to buttage, particularly that of Lucy Liu, Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore. Hilarious stuff. Made quite a dent in the show's feel, so to speak.Could this to-the-gluteus-max atmosphere be the reason Billy Boyd saw fit to use the occasion to deny he's dated costar Dominic Monaghan?
Like I said, salty stuff.
December 11, 2003
But what we're all dying to know is what's really going on with that
cuddly guy group--Dominic, Billy and Sean--right? "Tell me,"
I ventured to Hobbit honcho E.W., "how does it feel to have the Fellowship
coming to an end, both onscreen and off?"
But what we're all dying to know is what's really going on with that
cuddly guy group--Dominic, Billy and Sean--right? "Tell me,"
I ventured to Hobbit honcho E.W., "how does it feel to have the Fellowship
coming to an end, both onscreen and off?"
"It's sad," he replied with a melancholy smile. "It's been four years
in the making, and in the process of that journey, we created a family. I
haven't begun to really accept it. I think when it does hit me, I'll be
really sad."
More up front about their nooky-loving ways was Hob-in-waiting D.M.
"All right, let's get it out in the open," I said. "Why is everyone
convinced there's something going on with you guys?"
"Tell me more!" I pressed.
"I love those guys," 'fessed Dommy-boy. "I don't [have] any qualms about it. They're my brothers, and I don't have any problem showing affection for men. I'm aware of my own sexuality enough to be free with people.""Does you find it amusing that folks think you're queer?"
"Yes! What's wrong with being gay?" D.M. asked with a chuckle. "It's cool. If it keeps people talking, then it's all fine."
December 11, 2003
Board of the Zings
Forget about Nicole, Julia and Tom. The ring ruling Hollywood these days is the tight cast of Lord of the Rings: Elijah, Viggo, Orlando...I mean, last week's Return of the King premiere was the equivalent of a Justin Timberlake concert, with frenzied, screaming fans and smitten, tear-streaked girls lining the red carpet at Westwood's Mann Village.
After scrawling autographs and delivering sound bites for the salivating press (helps polish the loafers, I find), Elijah and his Hobbit boys were hyped for some serious getting down. Sweating up the Middle-earth scene at the after-soiree (held on the tented grounds at the Wadsworth Theater), E. & Co. took over the deejay booth, mixing the tunes for the glitzed 'n' gyrating crowd well into the wee hours.
Much more mellow, hardly a surprise, were Orlando and Viggo, deep in mahn-ly chitchat much o' the night. Gossiping? Or solving the ills of Hollywood, ya think? Mind you, earlier in the evening, V.M. had a little to say on that matter when I asked him if there's an equivalent to the One Ring in Hollywood.
"Yes: awards," the totally do-able iconoclastic actor-artist responded simply. "They're not evil in themselves--and neither is the ring--but what they bring out in some people certainly can be. [People] become more interested in [awards] as opposed to working together."
You go, you barefooted bearer of the truth!
But is the Lord franchise itself immune to such evils? Turning to the granddaddy of the gang, Ian McKellen--who was totally resplendent in leathuh pants, with a chain tie under his velvet smoking jacket--I asked if this will be the year for the awaited Oscar nod.
"Well, I'm a member of the Academy," he responded with a cheeky wink. (He's a dirty middle-aged man. Takes one to know one.) "And I know who I'll be voting for!"
Board of the Zings
Forget about Nicole, Julia and Tom. The ring ruling Hollywood these days is the tight cast of Lord of the Rings: Elijah, Viggo, Orlando...I mean, last week's Return of the King premiere was the equivalent of a Justin Timberlake concert, with frenzied, screaming fans and smitten, tear-streaked girls lining the red carpet at Westwood's Mann Village.
After scrawling autographs and delivering sound bites for the salivating press (helps polish the loafers, I find), Elijah and his Hobbit boys were hyped for some serious getting down. Sweating up the Middle-earth scene at the after-soiree (held on the tented grounds at the Wadsworth Theater), E. & Co. took over the deejay booth, mixing the tunes for the glitzed 'n' gyrating crowd well into the wee hours.
Much more mellow, hardly a surprise, were Orlando and Viggo, deep in mahn-ly chitchat much o' the night. Gossiping? Or solving the ills of Hollywood, ya think? Mind you, earlier in the evening, V.M. had a little to say on that matter when I asked him if there's an equivalent to the One Ring in Hollywood.
"Yes: awards," the totally do-able iconoclastic actor-artist responded simply. "They're not evil in themselves--and neither is the ring--but what they bring out in some people certainly can be. [People] become more interested in [awards] as opposed to working together."
You go, you barefooted bearer of the truth!
But is the Lord franchise itself immune to such evils? Turning to the granddaddy of the gang, Ian McKellen--who was totally resplendent in leathuh pants, with a chain tie under his velvet smoking jacket--I asked if this will be the year for the awaited Oscar nod.
"Well, I'm a member of the Academy," he responded with a cheeky wink. (He's a dirty middle-aged man. Takes one to know one.) "And I know who I'll be voting for!"
lunedì 16 luglio 2007
LORD OF THE RINGS WEEK: THE TRUE KINGS OF THE RING
The stars who rock Middle Earth
[cut]
Viggo ON ORLANDO: Not only is he very striking and very handsome and all of that, you actually thought, 'Oh, this is an Elf and how an elf sees and how an elf moves'. That was a lot of hard work.
It wasn't that they just found some guy running around acting like an Elf. 'Oh, lets put him in a movie'.
They took a chance on that and he did all the work and deserves a lot of credit for it.
Orlando ON VIGGO: Love him. He was a bit of a mentor for me. It was funny, when went back for re-shoots, I was on my own and he wasn't there, and I suddenly was sitting in the makeup bus that we'dbeen driving around in for the 18 months in New Zealand and I got really emotional and felt that it was kind of weird to be there without him there and sort of reflected on all of the happy conversations and chats and glasses of wine and talks that we would have at the end of the day or whatever. He really had a huge impact on my life as an actor.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS Campus Circle (LA, US)
The Fellowship Lives On with The Return of the King
BY JOSH HERMAN
If society can coin the phrase "chick flick" for female-themed movies, then can The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King be described as a "dick flick?" After all, it does promote brotherhood and the strength of the male bond through adversity.
“There are a fair bit of fans who see the relationship as a homosexual relationship,” Elijah Wood says about the close proximity of his character, Frodo, and fellow hobbit Sam, played by Sean Astin. “It wasn’t really how I or Sean saw it. I think it is a very loving, caring close relationship, which happens to be between two men. I think it still is up for interpretation.”
What can’t be debated is that this film, the last of Peter Jackson’s LOTR uber-epic, is the rare finale of a trilogy that not only trumps the previous films, but makes them more delicious in its completion. The anxious thrust of The Return Of The King is that Frodo and Sam (Wood and Astin) are near, as Gandalf says, “The great battle of our time,” while Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) must deal with inner-demons for a change and do what Simba was required to do in another far away kingdom – “remember who you are” and take his regal place in the circle of death.
The onscreen fellowship echoes the one behind the Kookaburra tree. Mortensen and Orlando Bloom spent much of their off-time on a green bus they named the “C-Bago.” According to Mortensen, “It was a crazy small bus” that he decorated wall-to-wall with his behind-the-scenes photos of the set. For Christmas, they had a tree made out of tampons. The C-Bago became a frat house, where much drinking and partying ensued – the bus even had its own wine cellar. The motto? “Everyone is welcome, but when it’s time to go, GET OUT.”
“The actors had a spiritual connection to it,” director Jackson says of the bus. “I liked the way they had photographs that [Mortensen and Bloom] had taken behind the scenes, plastered all over the walls.”
“Ahh yes, the bus. It was mine, all mine. It was my precious,” Bloom says, sifting LOTR character Gollum through an Australian drawl.
Bloom, a “sex symbol” according to Mortensen, christened the bus the "C-word" when the makeup artist was fuming about someone and asked Bloom’s advice.
“You should kick him the c--t and tell him to f--k off!” Bloom said. “Viggo just lost it for half an hour. He kept saying, ‘What did you say?’ [The bus] became all about “the word.” We took that word and took all of its power away. We made it the most loving word in the world. If you were a true c--t, you were the most amazing person in the world.”
As LOTR can be read as a possible metaphor of acceptance, the C-Bago accepted everyone – no matter what sex or sexual persuasion.
“Did they call it the party bus? More like the ‘farty bus!’” Sir Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf in the film, quips.
“I can’t believe he [Mortensen] talked about that. That was our private world,” muses co-star Liv Tyler, who continued,“There was a lot of liquor on that bus. But the funniest thing about this bus is that this thing was a beast. It was so tiny; nothing worked. If they ever washed our hair it would go from scalding hot to freezing cold. There was no heat.”
While talking about the Bago, the “end-of-an-era” nostalgia that creeps into the last day of high school grips the cast. The Return Of The King is senior year for these performers, who will now graduate and go in their separate directions. Some will become sex objects (Bloom), some will become poets and have exhibitions (Mortensen) and some will reunite with their families (Astin). But when they have their 20-year reunion (20th Anniversary re-release) you know stories of “The Bus” will be fondly swapped.
“It was a very free-spirited bus,” Bloom reflects. “It came about because me and Viggo kept being moved around, and we ended up on this bus one day. And the actors were fed up and we said, ‘This is it. This our home and we are not moving. If they come, tell them to go away.’”
The fellowship is complete.
The Fellowship Lives On with The Return of the King
BY JOSH HERMAN
If society can coin the phrase "chick flick" for female-themed movies, then can The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King be described as a "dick flick?" After all, it does promote brotherhood and the strength of the male bond through adversity.
“There are a fair bit of fans who see the relationship as a homosexual relationship,” Elijah Wood says about the close proximity of his character, Frodo, and fellow hobbit Sam, played by Sean Astin. “It wasn’t really how I or Sean saw it. I think it is a very loving, caring close relationship, which happens to be between two men. I think it still is up for interpretation.”
What can’t be debated is that this film, the last of Peter Jackson’s LOTR uber-epic, is the rare finale of a trilogy that not only trumps the previous films, but makes them more delicious in its completion. The anxious thrust of The Return Of The King is that Frodo and Sam (Wood and Astin) are near, as Gandalf says, “The great battle of our time,” while Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) must deal with inner-demons for a change and do what Simba was required to do in another far away kingdom – “remember who you are” and take his regal place in the circle of death.
The onscreen fellowship echoes the one behind the Kookaburra tree. Mortensen and Orlando Bloom spent much of their off-time on a green bus they named the “C-Bago.” According to Mortensen, “It was a crazy small bus” that he decorated wall-to-wall with his behind-the-scenes photos of the set. For Christmas, they had a tree made out of tampons. The C-Bago became a frat house, where much drinking and partying ensued – the bus even had its own wine cellar. The motto? “Everyone is welcome, but when it’s time to go, GET OUT.”
“The actors had a spiritual connection to it,” director Jackson says of the bus. “I liked the way they had photographs that [Mortensen and Bloom] had taken behind the scenes, plastered all over the walls.”
“Ahh yes, the bus. It was mine, all mine. It was my precious,” Bloom says, sifting LOTR character Gollum through an Australian drawl.
Bloom, a “sex symbol” according to Mortensen, christened the bus the "C-word" when the makeup artist was fuming about someone and asked Bloom’s advice.
“You should kick him the c--t and tell him to f--k off!” Bloom said. “Viggo just lost it for half an hour. He kept saying, ‘What did you say?’ [The bus] became all about “the word.” We took that word and took all of its power away. We made it the most loving word in the world. If you were a true c--t, you were the most amazing person in the world.”
As LOTR can be read as a possible metaphor of acceptance, the C-Bago accepted everyone – no matter what sex or sexual persuasion.
“Did they call it the party bus? More like the ‘farty bus!’” Sir Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf in the film, quips.
“I can’t believe he [Mortensen] talked about that. That was our private world,” muses co-star Liv Tyler, who continued,“There was a lot of liquor on that bus. But the funniest thing about this bus is that this thing was a beast. It was so tiny; nothing worked. If they ever washed our hair it would go from scalding hot to freezing cold. There was no heat.”
While talking about the Bago, the “end-of-an-era” nostalgia that creeps into the last day of high school grips the cast. The Return Of The King is senior year for these performers, who will now graduate and go in their separate directions. Some will become sex objects (Bloom), some will become poets and have exhibitions (Mortensen) and some will reunite with their families (Astin). But when they have their 20-year reunion (20th Anniversary re-release) you know stories of “The Bus” will be fondly swapped.
“It was a very free-spirited bus,” Bloom reflects. “It came about because me and Viggo kept being moved around, and we ended up on this bus one day. And the actors were fed up and we said, ‘This is it. This our home and we are not moving. If they come, tell them to go away.’”
The fellowship is complete.
Lads of the Ring (Toronto Star)
Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom - Sex symbols generate huge following
PETER HOWELL
NEW YORK- A woman in Toronto wants to marry Viggo Mortensen.
Actually, there are women all over the world who want to do this.
But the Toronto woman has an edge. She knows a journalist who will be interviewing the studly Lord Of The Rings actor. She asks - commands - the scribe to pass along the message that she's available anytime, anywhere, anyhow. All Viggo has to do is nod, or simply wink.
"Tell her I'm too busy doing press to marry her," Mortensen says, when the proposal is duly passed on.
He smiles. He's heard this kind of pitch many times. Like his heroic character Aragorn in Peter Jackson's Rings trilogy, he has a job to do and he's not yielding to distractions of any kind.
"It's flattering to hear that someone's interested in you, but at the same time if it weren't for the success of The Lord Of The Rings then that would not be the case. These things (marriage proposals) are results, just like box office results or prizes or other attention. These things are beyond what we did and what I'm talking to you about."
Mortensen is being humble, not to mention a tad too serious. Women were attracted to his laser-blue eyes and chiselled chin long before The Lord Of The Rings. The 45-year-old bachelor, married once previously (he has a teenaged son), has been drawing sighs from the audience since his first screen appearance in Witness. That was 18 years ago, when he played an Amish farmer opposite Harrison Ford.
There have been many roles since then, and many women for Mortensen. His resume includes A Perfect Murder (1998) and A Walk On The Moon (1999), movies where he made love to Gwyneth Paltrow and Diane Lane. In A Perfect Murder, he even painted the large canvasses his artist character used to help woo Paltrow from her husband, played by Michael Douglas.
Mortensen is used to having wet kisses blown in his direction, but his sex appeal has certainly risen since he assumed the mantle of Aragorn, the fearless warrior whose role becomes all the greater in The Return Of The King, the final chapter of the Rings trilogy, opening Wednesday.
Not that he appears to take any notice of the attention, or to seek it. His hair is shorter and neater than the shoulder-length locks of Aragorn, and he's certainly better bathed - scruffy Aragorn obviously puts saving Middle-earth ahead of personal hygiene. Mortensen is every bit as enigmatic as his screen hero, however.
His blue sweatshirt has indecipherable red script on it - perhaps fan mail from an elf? He sips tea with a metal straw out of a metal urn that looks as though it were fashioned by Lord Sauron himself.
Mortensen considers himself fortunate to have been chosen for Aragorn, the role of a lifetime. The casting was a last-minute thing. The job was originally given to Irish actor Stuart Townsend, but four days after filming began in the summer of 1999, director Jackson decided that Townsend, then 27, was too young.
"I have been very lucky," Mortensen says. "Once given this role I did my best with it and there was a lot that I found that I could connect to and build on and hopefully to Peter Jackson and the storytelling. But getting the role itself was one of those things that come your way. I'm not exactly sure why ... if they'd had another month to think about it, they would have probably chosen someone else ...
"But I don't assume that it was meant to be - that I was meant to get a lot of attention or have people say, `Do you want to marry me?' It's just one of those things and I just take it as it goes."
Mortensen's humility isn't forced or faked. He's been exactly this same way in interviews about other movies. He was born in New York, yet he doesn't seem or sound like an American. His father is Danish, and Mortensen seems Danish himself, even though he doesn't speak the language.
His Rings co-star Miranda Otto says she can't imagine anyone else playing Aragorn.
"I always said that Viggo was the Renaissance man. He is sort of like a man from another age in some way. He still has so many things that men of other times were skilled at. He is skilled with horses; he's skilled with swords, a skilled writer, painter and musician. He is just a creative force ... and a very gentle human being with a good sense of humour. He has a certain sort of stillness or mystery for people. They can't grasp every part of him because he is so multifaceted."
Other Rings colleagues say similar things about Mortensen, and he returns the affection in his own quiet way. He's brought with him to New York elegantly bound copies of photos he took on set. He's distributing them one-by-one to his co-stars, as he meets them on the interview rounds.
He's such a deep individual - not to be confused with devious - it's almost impossible to get a simple answer out of him. All of his responses to questions are extremely thoughtful and delivered at great length.
He seems to enter a trance state when a question is posed. There are no sound bites for this boy.
He takes so long to answer a query, you're tempted to grab him by the shoulders, shake him gently and say, "Dude! It's only a movie about elves and hobbits!" And don't get him started on politics. He's against the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but his reasons are so complex and qualified, he seems to think The Economist is interviewing him, not quote-hungry movie hacks.
Yet there's no doubting the man's sincerity. He insists acting is no more important in his life than any of his other pursuits, and he strives to keep everything in balance. No wonder so many women want to marry him.
"If we were talking about paintings I had made or you were talking about my son, or if we were talking about a garden I had planted or photographs I had made or poems, I would speak to you, hopefully, in as focused a way as that," he says.
"(Acting) isn't the biggest thing there is. I wouldn't say there is one thing and I don't really make a difference between those things. It sounds silly, but if you come over to my house and I'm going to make you dinner, I'm going to just focus on that and I'm going to try to do a good job with it because I'm interested in it. It's only a pain in the ass if you really don't want to do something. Then it's like a chore."
Like many of the people who worked on The Lord Of The Rings, Mortensen has been profoundly affected by the titanic struggle of good against evil, first written by author J.R.R. Tolkien during the darkest days of World War II. Mortensen sees many parallels between contemporary nations and politicians with the places and players of Middle-earth.
He thinks the message of the movies, as with the books before them, will live long beyond the final frame of The Return Of The King. He has an interpretation of the trilogy that reveals how deeply he's thought about it.
"I don't think there is an absolute evil in the story, and I don't think it has a specific resonance - I don't think it's Mordor, Sauron or the ring. It resides in anyone who wants to force people to do things against their own will.
"I think that's something that people always have to work at. What are my real motivations, how do I deal with my family or my friends or my society? That is something that will never go away. In fact, we have to be vigilant and if you're going to look for bad things or evil, you should first look inside. How am I treating people around me? You can have someone in a restaurant talking about history and freedom and `We must do something about the economy or something about people and justice,' yet they treat the waiter like shit.
"Wait a minute, it's right where you are."
Mortensen's quiet dedication and unaffecting ways really impressed Orlando Bloom, the other Lord Of The Rings heartthrob.
"I had an incredible time working with Viggo," Bloom says. "I worked very closely with him and he was like a mentor to me, really, chatting, talking about film and just about the day-to-day stuff of getting through making this film. He really influenced the way I approach the work today. He has a lot of integrity in terms of how he approaches it, but he can also have fun with it as well, so it was cool. He taught me a lot."
Bloom is just getting used to the idea of being adored by his own ardent admirers. A group of fixated femmes called Little Legolas Lovers have set up a Web shrine devoted to Legolas, the ace archer Bloom plays in the Tolkien trilogy. The site describes him as a "superhunk" and reveals he enjoys Irish folk music and long walks on the beach.
Two years ago, before the three-Rings circus began, few of these women would have known the British-born Bloom, 26. His previous acting experiences received scant notice. It included playing the sexually available character Rentboy in the little-seen biopic Wilde in 1997.
Now Bloom is a star not only in Middle-earth, but also on the high seas. He played opposite Johnny Depp in this past summer's surprise hit, Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl.
"It's a little bit intimidating," he says, sitting for his own interview.
He laughs when it's suggested that he and Mortensen are competing for the title of most popular hunk in The Lord Of The Rings.
"Well, I don't think I can compete with Viggo ... certainly, I'm (popular) with the six-year-olds and below. He's got the rest covered."
But Bloom has had to make some adjustments. He's had a few weird personal encounters in the past couple of years.
"There's the odd occasion where you get caught, where you were just doing something and somebody will freak out a little bit ...
"I'm getting more easy with it. Because I realized that ... I sort of rationalize it for myself so it's not such a big deal, 'cause it really isn't. I mean, after Pirates came out it was more intense than anything, really."
It must have been really intense, because his hair is still Pirates long (he plays with it while he talks) and he's wearing more gold and silver jewellery than Bluebeard. All that bling-bling ("They're my good luck charms") looks rather incongruous atop the tracksuit he's also wearing. It's quite unlike the blond Robin Hood figure of Legolas.
Bloom takes inspiration on how to handle his rising fame from - of all people - the psychotic Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver.
"I understand it, because I used to watch Taxi Driver and see Travis Bickle. I'd go, `Wow, see that character?' ... You sit in a movie cinema and you sort of transcend, don't you? You sort of project yourself into a character. You have this idea of who these characters are, but they're not really human. It's just an actor playing a role and so I can understand how that felt, I remember how that felt."
He also received some advice from his Pirates co-star Depp, who has been up and down in the popularity polls. Depp is currently way up, having been recently declared by People magazine to be the Sexiest Man Alive.
"Johnny said to just enjoy it," Bloom says.
"This is a great job and we all really enjoy doing it. It's not open-heart surgery. Enjoy the whole process. You keep certain things private, don't you? There are things in your life where there is a line ... this I'm prepared to talk about. And anyway, the truth is that I understand people wanting know about your private life in some way, because they want to feel like they are getting closer to you."
One of the things he keeps private about is his love life. He's vague when names are mentioned of women he's been linked to.
"The truth is that you have areas where you don't want to go that route. At least you're not fuelling the fire. You're going to get a few bullets, a few snaps taken here and there. You can't avoid it, but you can avoid fuelling the fire. Look at that couple that nearly got married and didn't."
(He's referring to Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, and yes, it's a good thing not to be like them.)
"At the end of the day, the fans that I have are really nice - at least up to date, they have been really nice. I don't have a role where I'm playing a serial killer or an axe murderer and so for the most part the fan mail I get it really friendly and they are wishing me well, really - `Keep up the good work!' and kind of thing."
Bloom says he responds to most of his letter mail, but not to e-mail. Just like Legolas, he's a low-tech guy.
"I don't do email. It's the one thing I haven't gotten into. I don't have my own account."
There's no need for him to enter the 21st century just yet. His next big movie keeps him well into the past once again: In next summer's big-budget movie, Troy, he has the key role of Paris, who starts a war with Greece after he woos Helen of Sparta away from her husband. He'll be starring opposite Brad Pitt, who plays avenging Greek hero Achilles.
"Paris is an anti-hero," Bloom says. "For me, it was like playing a character whose actions fundamentally are wrong - he goes against all the ideas of manhood and the male energy of the time. He's a lover, not a fighter. He falls in love with a woman and creates a war because of it, because of his lust for this woman. It's like the indiscretion of youth.
"So the challenge for me there was to try to find a way to make the character still likeable in some way. To humanize him, you know what I mean? It doesn't happen ever f--king day. Imagine if we were at war right now because Bush stole bin Laden's missus. It's a story, it's the story of stories, but it does deal with jealousy, with love, with anger, with greed, with power - it's all those basic instincts that we as human all have."
There's a big difference between Legolas and Paris.
"Legolas is a Zen, action-speaks-louder-than-words guy. He's an Elf and an awesome warrior. And Paris is like a dysfunctional little prince.
"He's romantic and dashing and handsome and sort of swans to the ladies and does the whole thing. He doesn't really think about the consequences of his actions."
No matter how tough things get in the fame game, Bloom always has other guys around whom he can look to for good counsel.
"One of the things I feel most lucky about, most fortunate for, is to have had the opportunity to work with Viggo and to have worked with Johnny. I've seen first hand how they go about what they do, and they are very gracious. They have their moments, like everybody else, but they're very gracious. They've learned to be more as ease with themselves and with their fame and with their status as actors and as movie stars.
"For a young actor, that's an education and a half right there ... And it's cool to see how they handle the pressure."
Pressure like being asked to prove he's as good an archer as Legolas? (He's not, incidentally.)
Next time he's in a pub, he's sure to be challenged to a game of darts by some punter.
"I haven't had that experience yet, either," Bloom chuckles.
"No doubt I will."
Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom - Sex symbols generate huge following
PETER HOWELL
NEW YORK- A woman in Toronto wants to marry Viggo Mortensen.
Actually, there are women all over the world who want to do this.
But the Toronto woman has an edge. She knows a journalist who will be interviewing the studly Lord Of The Rings actor. She asks - commands - the scribe to pass along the message that she's available anytime, anywhere, anyhow. All Viggo has to do is nod, or simply wink.
"Tell her I'm too busy doing press to marry her," Mortensen says, when the proposal is duly passed on.
He smiles. He's heard this kind of pitch many times. Like his heroic character Aragorn in Peter Jackson's Rings trilogy, he has a job to do and he's not yielding to distractions of any kind.
"It's flattering to hear that someone's interested in you, but at the same time if it weren't for the success of The Lord Of The Rings then that would not be the case. These things (marriage proposals) are results, just like box office results or prizes or other attention. These things are beyond what we did and what I'm talking to you about."
Mortensen is being humble, not to mention a tad too serious. Women were attracted to his laser-blue eyes and chiselled chin long before The Lord Of The Rings. The 45-year-old bachelor, married once previously (he has a teenaged son), has been drawing sighs from the audience since his first screen appearance in Witness. That was 18 years ago, when he played an Amish farmer opposite Harrison Ford.
There have been many roles since then, and many women for Mortensen. His resume includes A Perfect Murder (1998) and A Walk On The Moon (1999), movies where he made love to Gwyneth Paltrow and Diane Lane. In A Perfect Murder, he even painted the large canvasses his artist character used to help woo Paltrow from her husband, played by Michael Douglas.
Mortensen is used to having wet kisses blown in his direction, but his sex appeal has certainly risen since he assumed the mantle of Aragorn, the fearless warrior whose role becomes all the greater in The Return Of The King, the final chapter of the Rings trilogy, opening Wednesday.
Not that he appears to take any notice of the attention, or to seek it. His hair is shorter and neater than the shoulder-length locks of Aragorn, and he's certainly better bathed - scruffy Aragorn obviously puts saving Middle-earth ahead of personal hygiene. Mortensen is every bit as enigmatic as his screen hero, however.
His blue sweatshirt has indecipherable red script on it - perhaps fan mail from an elf? He sips tea with a metal straw out of a metal urn that looks as though it were fashioned by Lord Sauron himself.
Mortensen considers himself fortunate to have been chosen for Aragorn, the role of a lifetime. The casting was a last-minute thing. The job was originally given to Irish actor Stuart Townsend, but four days after filming began in the summer of 1999, director Jackson decided that Townsend, then 27, was too young.
"I have been very lucky," Mortensen says. "Once given this role I did my best with it and there was a lot that I found that I could connect to and build on and hopefully to Peter Jackson and the storytelling. But getting the role itself was one of those things that come your way. I'm not exactly sure why ... if they'd had another month to think about it, they would have probably chosen someone else ...
"But I don't assume that it was meant to be - that I was meant to get a lot of attention or have people say, `Do you want to marry me?' It's just one of those things and I just take it as it goes."
Mortensen's humility isn't forced or faked. He's been exactly this same way in interviews about other movies. He was born in New York, yet he doesn't seem or sound like an American. His father is Danish, and Mortensen seems Danish himself, even though he doesn't speak the language.
His Rings co-star Miranda Otto says she can't imagine anyone else playing Aragorn.
"I always said that Viggo was the Renaissance man. He is sort of like a man from another age in some way. He still has so many things that men of other times were skilled at. He is skilled with horses; he's skilled with swords, a skilled writer, painter and musician. He is just a creative force ... and a very gentle human being with a good sense of humour. He has a certain sort of stillness or mystery for people. They can't grasp every part of him because he is so multifaceted."
Other Rings colleagues say similar things about Mortensen, and he returns the affection in his own quiet way. He's brought with him to New York elegantly bound copies of photos he took on set. He's distributing them one-by-one to his co-stars, as he meets them on the interview rounds.
He's such a deep individual - not to be confused with devious - it's almost impossible to get a simple answer out of him. All of his responses to questions are extremely thoughtful and delivered at great length.
He seems to enter a trance state when a question is posed. There are no sound bites for this boy.
He takes so long to answer a query, you're tempted to grab him by the shoulders, shake him gently and say, "Dude! It's only a movie about elves and hobbits!" And don't get him started on politics. He's against the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but his reasons are so complex and qualified, he seems to think The Economist is interviewing him, not quote-hungry movie hacks.
Yet there's no doubting the man's sincerity. He insists acting is no more important in his life than any of his other pursuits, and he strives to keep everything in balance. No wonder so many women want to marry him.
"If we were talking about paintings I had made or you were talking about my son, or if we were talking about a garden I had planted or photographs I had made or poems, I would speak to you, hopefully, in as focused a way as that," he says.
"(Acting) isn't the biggest thing there is. I wouldn't say there is one thing and I don't really make a difference between those things. It sounds silly, but if you come over to my house and I'm going to make you dinner, I'm going to just focus on that and I'm going to try to do a good job with it because I'm interested in it. It's only a pain in the ass if you really don't want to do something. Then it's like a chore."
Like many of the people who worked on The Lord Of The Rings, Mortensen has been profoundly affected by the titanic struggle of good against evil, first written by author J.R.R. Tolkien during the darkest days of World War II. Mortensen sees many parallels between contemporary nations and politicians with the places and players of Middle-earth.
He thinks the message of the movies, as with the books before them, will live long beyond the final frame of The Return Of The King. He has an interpretation of the trilogy that reveals how deeply he's thought about it.
"I don't think there is an absolute evil in the story, and I don't think it has a specific resonance - I don't think it's Mordor, Sauron or the ring. It resides in anyone who wants to force people to do things against their own will.
"I think that's something that people always have to work at. What are my real motivations, how do I deal with my family or my friends or my society? That is something that will never go away. In fact, we have to be vigilant and if you're going to look for bad things or evil, you should first look inside. How am I treating people around me? You can have someone in a restaurant talking about history and freedom and `We must do something about the economy or something about people and justice,' yet they treat the waiter like shit.
"Wait a minute, it's right where you are."
Mortensen's quiet dedication and unaffecting ways really impressed Orlando Bloom, the other Lord Of The Rings heartthrob.
"I had an incredible time working with Viggo," Bloom says. "I worked very closely with him and he was like a mentor to me, really, chatting, talking about film and just about the day-to-day stuff of getting through making this film. He really influenced the way I approach the work today. He has a lot of integrity in terms of how he approaches it, but he can also have fun with it as well, so it was cool. He taught me a lot."
Bloom is just getting used to the idea of being adored by his own ardent admirers. A group of fixated femmes called Little Legolas Lovers have set up a Web shrine devoted to Legolas, the ace archer Bloom plays in the Tolkien trilogy. The site describes him as a "superhunk" and reveals he enjoys Irish folk music and long walks on the beach.
Two years ago, before the three-Rings circus began, few of these women would have known the British-born Bloom, 26. His previous acting experiences received scant notice. It included playing the sexually available character Rentboy in the little-seen biopic Wilde in 1997.
Now Bloom is a star not only in Middle-earth, but also on the high seas. He played opposite Johnny Depp in this past summer's surprise hit, Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl.
"It's a little bit intimidating," he says, sitting for his own interview.
He laughs when it's suggested that he and Mortensen are competing for the title of most popular hunk in The Lord Of The Rings.
"Well, I don't think I can compete with Viggo ... certainly, I'm (popular) with the six-year-olds and below. He's got the rest covered."
But Bloom has had to make some adjustments. He's had a few weird personal encounters in the past couple of years.
"There's the odd occasion where you get caught, where you were just doing something and somebody will freak out a little bit ...
"I'm getting more easy with it. Because I realized that ... I sort of rationalize it for myself so it's not such a big deal, 'cause it really isn't. I mean, after Pirates came out it was more intense than anything, really."
It must have been really intense, because his hair is still Pirates long (he plays with it while he talks) and he's wearing more gold and silver jewellery than Bluebeard. All that bling-bling ("They're my good luck charms") looks rather incongruous atop the tracksuit he's also wearing. It's quite unlike the blond Robin Hood figure of Legolas.
Bloom takes inspiration on how to handle his rising fame from - of all people - the psychotic Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver.
"I understand it, because I used to watch Taxi Driver and see Travis Bickle. I'd go, `Wow, see that character?' ... You sit in a movie cinema and you sort of transcend, don't you? You sort of project yourself into a character. You have this idea of who these characters are, but they're not really human. It's just an actor playing a role and so I can understand how that felt, I remember how that felt."
He also received some advice from his Pirates co-star Depp, who has been up and down in the popularity polls. Depp is currently way up, having been recently declared by People magazine to be the Sexiest Man Alive.
"Johnny said to just enjoy it," Bloom says.
"This is a great job and we all really enjoy doing it. It's not open-heart surgery. Enjoy the whole process. You keep certain things private, don't you? There are things in your life where there is a line ... this I'm prepared to talk about. And anyway, the truth is that I understand people wanting know about your private life in some way, because they want to feel like they are getting closer to you."
One of the things he keeps private about is his love life. He's vague when names are mentioned of women he's been linked to.
"The truth is that you have areas where you don't want to go that route. At least you're not fuelling the fire. You're going to get a few bullets, a few snaps taken here and there. You can't avoid it, but you can avoid fuelling the fire. Look at that couple that nearly got married and didn't."
(He's referring to Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, and yes, it's a good thing not to be like them.)
"At the end of the day, the fans that I have are really nice - at least up to date, they have been really nice. I don't have a role where I'm playing a serial killer or an axe murderer and so for the most part the fan mail I get it really friendly and they are wishing me well, really - `Keep up the good work!' and kind of thing."
Bloom says he responds to most of his letter mail, but not to e-mail. Just like Legolas, he's a low-tech guy.
"I don't do email. It's the one thing I haven't gotten into. I don't have my own account."
There's no need for him to enter the 21st century just yet. His next big movie keeps him well into the past once again: In next summer's big-budget movie, Troy, he has the key role of Paris, who starts a war with Greece after he woos Helen of Sparta away from her husband. He'll be starring opposite Brad Pitt, who plays avenging Greek hero Achilles.
"Paris is an anti-hero," Bloom says. "For me, it was like playing a character whose actions fundamentally are wrong - he goes against all the ideas of manhood and the male energy of the time. He's a lover, not a fighter. He falls in love with a woman and creates a war because of it, because of his lust for this woman. It's like the indiscretion of youth.
"So the challenge for me there was to try to find a way to make the character still likeable in some way. To humanize him, you know what I mean? It doesn't happen ever f--king day. Imagine if we were at war right now because Bush stole bin Laden's missus. It's a story, it's the story of stories, but it does deal with jealousy, with love, with anger, with greed, with power - it's all those basic instincts that we as human all have."
There's a big difference between Legolas and Paris.
"Legolas is a Zen, action-speaks-louder-than-words guy. He's an Elf and an awesome warrior. And Paris is like a dysfunctional little prince.
"He's romantic and dashing and handsome and sort of swans to the ladies and does the whole thing. He doesn't really think about the consequences of his actions."
No matter how tough things get in the fame game, Bloom always has other guys around whom he can look to for good counsel.
"One of the things I feel most lucky about, most fortunate for, is to have had the opportunity to work with Viggo and to have worked with Johnny. I've seen first hand how they go about what they do, and they are very gracious. They have their moments, like everybody else, but they're very gracious. They've learned to be more as ease with themselves and with their fame and with their status as actors and as movie stars.
"For a young actor, that's an education and a half right there ... And it's cool to see how they handle the pressure."
Pressure like being asked to prove he's as good an archer as Legolas? (He's not, incidentally.)
Next time he's in a pub, he's sure to be challenged to a game of darts by some punter.
"I haven't had that experience yet, either," Bloom chuckles.
"No doubt I will."
Contrary to what was reported, on 29 Nov 2003 Orlando was indeed at the Howard Shore concert in which Viggo sang.
source
