Mortensen Takes The Road to Retirement

Posted by Dr. Cole Abaius (cole.abaius@filmschoolrejects.com) on September 10, 2009

ViggoMortensen

How badly do I hope this is all a clever publicity stunt so that Viggo Mortensen can begin a much-needed rapping career? Badly enough to write my congressmen about it.

Apparently Mortensen gave an interview to Men’s Journal where he reiterated his stance on the draining, unhealthy nature of promoting the films he’s in and to claim that he’s done with acting at least in the short term. He also seems acutely aware that taking a break in Hollywood sometimes means that you don’t get to come back.

The money quote from Mortensen:

I have no plans to do another movie. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’m open to seeing how I feel in a while, but right now I’m not saying yes to anything.”

Rapping career and fake documentaries are clearly the future. Of course, Mortensen said about as much back in April to The Times – mentioning that he’d be content if turning down films led to him never being offered them again. He pointed out that he’s had a lot of success – a refreshing angle from a world where most are only concerned with the next huge thing they want to achieve.

Josh Tyler over at Cinema Blend raises the question of what this will mean for The Hobbit since, presumably, Mortensen would be on board to reprise a role as Aragorn in one of the films. Should there be any concern here? I see no reason for it. The story on what those movies will be like has changed a lot and will continue to change as the production slowly moves forward in front of the cameras. Adding Aragorn would be a deviation from the source material, and even if Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson plan on drawing from “The Silmarillion,” Aragorn is pretty young during the years between “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.”

Plus, to further complicate things, Mortensen has mentioned before that he’d be fine appearing in the films even during a hiatus.

What do you think?

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Landon_Palmer

I've heard bad buzz about The Road...it would suck if his last movie was a shitty one. Maybe he's planning to go all Joaquin Phoenix on our asses.

robinruinsky

Mortensen has always appeared to have some discomfort about the side effect of being an actor, namely fame.
It would be a shame if he's just not suffering some temporary burnout. He's a very talented actor, always interesting to watch.
However, I wouldn't be ready to put the nail in his cinematic coffin. Remember when Daniel Day-Lewis said he wanted to be a cobbler?

ladyofthelake

I think he'll do another film eventualy, or the Hobbit if asked. He's a very talented actor. Plus isn't there talk about a sequal to Eastern Promises? He'll most likely work on his photography, painting for awhile, but I don't count him out of the acting game.

Chris

He'll be back. I guarantee The Hobbit or the proposed Eastern Promises sequel will not be the last films Mortensen appears in. He's just burnt out, taking a break.

monkeymafia

I hope he comes back for Cronenberg, they are at their best when their together...

michaeldance

Meh, he's said this for years -- and he's just repeated it a lot lately because Appaloosa, Good, and The Road basically consumed his life for two years straight. He'll take a short break and come back later...I doubt he'll ever sink to Daniel Day-Lewis levels of productivity.

tjhawk

I think more stars should take breaks. I'm sure some sctors and actresses enjoy working a lot, but I get tired seeing the same faces over and over again on the screen.

Big K

I think every actor that is in Hollywood that is serious about film-making being art as well as work should take a Daniel Day-Lewis type of break to recharge.

Think about it: after Day-Lewis came back from his break, he made "There Will Be Blood" and got an Oscar for his work.

Aleric

I seem to recall Harrison Ford making such a claim a while back as well as Sean Connery and both of them came back to do more film roles.

Mortensen Takes The Road to Retirement

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