Viggo Mortensen Quotes

"Since 9-11, more people have died in Afghanistan and Iraq than in New York that day — and for not a very good reason."

Photography, painting or poetry those are just extensions of me, how I perceive things, they are my way of communicating

I was on my way out of a Sunday rehearsal. When I was walking out of the gym, all sort of sweaty, half in street clothes and half in Aragorn`s clothes, waiving the sword around, trying to keep a mental picture of what we`ve just done. Just walking down the street, down to where my car was parked, on a Sunday afternoon, waiving the sword around, looking like some desperate Rasputin character. Cops car comes: there`s been some report...

I`m not 23 years old and I don`t have plans to make another 20 big Hollywood movies or something.

There is no star in LOTR. The Fellowship is a union.

Life is short... I like to pay attention while I`m going through it. Whatever I see, like anyone else, I`m going to filter it and create my own idea of what it is. - on painting, creating music, writing poetry, and taking photographs in addition to acting

I`d like to, when it`s all said and done, say that I have at least a few stories that I feel proud of. I don`t just want to look back and say, `I was on x number of magazines.` As far as money goes, there`s a saying in Denmark: `Your last suit doesn`t have any pockets.` You can`t take it with you. You can make all the money you want, but who cares?

(On his research for Eastern Promises) I found some materials, some books and also a documentary a friend of mine made called The Mark of Cain. It`s a hard thing to do but she went into maximum-security prisons in Russia and spoke to people like Nikolai. And I went to Russia as well. I read and listened to and looked up anything I could that had to do with Russians even loosely connected with this story. The more Russian I could be and seem authentically, the better it would be.

In a movie, you`re raw material, just a hue of some color and the director makes the painting.

I`m the one who said yes to these movies, and now I`m having to pay the price for it. I mean if I had my druthers, I wouldn`t do any movies anymore, frankly.

Well, I certainly wouldn`t be here and my face wouldn`t be up there on a poster if it wasn`t for the success of Lord of the Rings. It`s just a fact: film-making, finance, life.

I`m just looking as always for something that`s stimulating and I hope to find a good story that`s a challenge, whether it`s big or small. Or that it finds me. I don`t have like a career plan. Maybe I should, but I don`t.

I think that people who get to a certain position, and then try to ferociously defend it or build on it, it`s kind of a dead-end street. You see people becoming miserable that way.

If you`re trying to please everyone, then you`re not going to make anything that is honestly yours, I don`t think, in the long run.

On the role of an actor in film: "It comes down to the fact that you supply the blue, and they supply the other colors and mix them with your blue, and maybe there`s some blue left in the painting and maybe there isn`t. Maybe there wasn`t supposed to be any there in the first place. So have some fun and make a good blue and walk away."

Some people will say, `Ahhh, he`s over the top, it`s gratuitous,` (but) I disagree completely. He`s one of the most responsible filmmakers today as far as showing violence - which there`s very little of compared to other movies. It just stays with you because he shows very little of it. It just stays with you and he`s very direct about it. He shows you what happens, and what the consequences are physically and emotionally, in some cases; certainly he does in "A History of Violence", and also here (in "Eastern Promises"), that makes him very honest. - on David Cronenberg

Seeing who you are playing with is a relief. In The Lord of the Rings we did a lot of things when there was nothing there.

But I can also publish books by interesting painters and writers and I can afford to do so because my own books sell and there`s a public that`s interested in that. And the public have gone to see exhibitions I`ve had - more than they would have.

I have never been in a natural place and felt that was a waste of time. I never have. And it`s a relief. If I`m walking around a desert or whatever, every second is worthwhile.

(on David Cronenberg) It`s comforting to be working with someone you know will make a good movie.

There`s no excuse to be bored. Sad, yes. Angry, yes. Depressed, yes. Crazy, yes. But there`s no excuse for boredom, ever.

I have never been in a natural place and felt that it was a waste of time. I never have. And it`s a relief. If I`m walking around a desert or whatever, every second is worthwhile.

I don`t plan (my career); I wait and hope the right thing will find me.

Like most people I can be lazy, so it`s nice to have a goal or deadline or reason to work out. I feel better when I get to exercise, or when I`m outdoors. I like to hike, swim and run, and I love to play soccer.