His role as Aragorn in Peter Jackson's adaptation of Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy made Viggo Mortensen world famous. The blond man with the angular dimple chin and the soft, sonorous voice was born in New York in 1958 to a Danish father and an American mother. Since his 1985 debut in Peter Weir's “The Only Witness”, Mortensen has been a prominent supporting actor in Hollywood, whether as a cop, gangster, soldier, lover, athlete or mentally ill person.
His superstar status after "Lord of the Rings" didn't stop him from continuing to prefer smaller, often weird, indie films. He was Oscar-nominated three times for best leading actor, including in 2016 for his single father in "Captain Fantastic" and in 2019 for his role in "Green Book" as the chauffeur of a black musician on a concert tour that gave him a new perspective on daily racism.
With “Falling” Mortensen presented his directorial debut. The drama about family, memories and forgiveness was supposed to be shown at the last Cannes film festival. It is the story of a man who brings his demented father into his queer-liberal home and repeatedly looks back at childhood, which was marked by the violence, irascibility and unpredictability of his father.
Why did you decide to become a director again when you were 62?
Directing has always been my dream since I saw my first films in the cinema with my mother as a child.
She always talked about the stories, never about anything "superficial" like who was playing what.
That's how I learned that films thrive on good stories.
That's why I've always seen myself as part of a team that serves a story.
Is this dream coming true for you now, half a century later?
Around 1997 I had already tried to make a film.
I couldn't get the money back then.
I then focused more on my acting career.
I've been trying again as a director for about seven years now.
This film was the first to see the light of day.
Often something that one has been looking forward to for a long time does not meet expectations after all. And here?
It was a wonderful experience for me.
It was hard and hard work, but I'm already looking forward to the next directorial assignment.
You dedicated “Falling” to your two brothers. Why?
I packed a lot into it from my own past.
Even if “Falling” is not an autobiographical film, my brothers Charles and Walter will recognize many moments from our childhood.
The three of us share this past, so I wanted to acknowledge your part in this film.
Was it just as harsh at home as it was in the movie? The figure of the father is verbally and physically violent, an unpredictable, mostly loveless tyrant.