Today's Evil Beet Gossip

Viggo Mortensen Goes All Joaquin Phoenix On Us

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Viggo Mortensen is leaving the business.  Probably.  Maybe.  Possibly.  Is this just the newest, “I was abused as a child,” career-boosting tactic?  All I have to say is this:  If Viggo starts writing backwards text on his knuckles, I.  Give.  Up.

In the past week I’ve been from LA to Japan to Korea to Poland to here,” he hisses, describing in near disbelief the travel itinerary for his current promotional tour. “It’s ridiculous! It’s not a healthy way to be. But, as it happens, I’m taking measures to change that.” Which are? “No more movies. I haven’t said yes to one in over a year. I’ve been in all these well-received movies and it seems like I should be doing some more, but there’s other things I want to do. It’s not the right time.”

But when will you come back to film-making? When will you know it’s the right time? Long, long, pause. A sigh. “I really don’t know.”

Mortensen has spoken about leaving movies before. “If it all dries up now, I’ve had a good run” is a favourite refrain. But here, in the quiet ground-floor antechamber of a London hotel, he seems more convinced, and convincing, than ever.

It is far too harsh and cruel a world to not have Viggo in it, in a consistent and visible way.  Reconsider, Aragorn.

18 CommentsLeave a comment

  • i love viggo, and i really loved him in a history of violence. that movie stayed with me for a long time after i saw it. if you haven’t seen it you should netflix it right now, but be warned: while it is awesome it is also disturbing. i hope he doesn;t stop acting.

  • No, don’t stop acting! Viggo is excellent as Aragorn and otherwise, History of Violence really creepy. Anyhow, I don’t think he can do a joaquin as he already has real actual sidecareers as a painter and a poet, maybe a musician as well? Cannot remember. Anyhow, he is pretty talented in whatever he does.

  • yo!

    that scene with him and maria bello on the stairs in ‘history of violence’.

    hotter than hot!

    plus, he was sooo sexy & badass in that movie.

    i’m goin to put that on my amazon.com movie wishlist right now.

    thanks!

  • yo!

    that scene with him and maria bello on the stairs in ‘history of violence’.

    hotter than hot!

    plus, he was sooo sexy & badass in that movie.

    i’m goin to put that on my amazon.com movie wishlist right now.

    thanks!

  • hey!

    that scene with him and maria bello on the stairs in ‘history of violence’.

    hotter than hot!

    plus, he was sooo sexy & badass in that movie.

    i’m goin to put that on my amazon.com movie wishlist right now.

    thanks!

  • Poor Viggo. He has to travel regularly, in first class I’m sure, to some of the most amazing cities in the world, while getting paid ridiculous amounts of money to do a creative job that most people would do for free. What a pretentious jackass.

    • Exhaustion affects even the wealthy and famous, letherhead. It is pretentious to assume you understand his life or needs-only a jackass would speak with such ignorance. A question-have you ever flown that much and that far in one week? I used to travel from Texas to Monte Carlo once a year, and I remember the jet lag well. I can only imagine how it must feel to travel relentlessly in order to give silly promotional interviews. I have admired this actor long before he was famous. He was so good that I didn’t know he was the same actor for at least a decade. I think he has handled fame in his middle years with exceptional grace and dignity. So maybe he wants a well deserved rest. He has given a lot to the movie industry. Maybe the business is taking too much and maybe you are not seeing the big picture because you selfishly feel robbed of his talent and resent him being human. I look forward to hearing from you!!

  • There was some movie I saw that showed his penis. I can’t remember what it was because after I saw that I just spent the next 30 minutes panning over the scene frame by frame to get the best possible look. It wasn’t quite as big as one would have hoped from Aragorn, but it was still nice.

  • For those of you interested in seeing naked / barely clothed Viggo, you MUST see “Eastern Promises”. Awesome movie – set in London and about the Russian mafia. Viggo plays a Russian mobster – he’s covered in tattoos.

  • I actually couldn’t care less.
    Not a big Viggo fan, but maybe that’s cuz I’ve only seen him as Aragorn. I am a reformed Aragorn fangirl — Boromir. ALL. THE. WAY.
    I don’t know…there is just something about him that I do not like. I can’t even describe it. I just…don’t like him.
    And besides, I’m still too broken up over Joaquin’s insanity to care about anyone else leaving the business.

  • I really like Viggo Mortensen, but he strikes me as one of those people not fit to be in Hollywood. By not fit, I mean “too good” for Tinsel Town

  • I’ve really enjoyed all of his past movies, not to mention, when he’s on screen everything else is relatively boring compared to watching him work. A History of Violence and Eastern Promises I thought were really great!!!!!!

  • he didn’t say he was stopping acting- he said he was stopping movies. apparently he almost didn’t do LOTR because he preferred being on stage.

  • If he leaves the movies I’ll die! I LOVE HIM! Gorgeous, talented, deep. A true renaissance man.