Oscar nominee Viggo Mortensen on 'Jauja'
Viggo Mortensen journeys from Middle Earth to Argentina in his latest film role.
Viggo Mortensen has one of the most versatile careers in the Hollywood. Although recognised by most audiences for portraying King Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-03), the Danish-born actor is also known for portraying a diverse range of eccentric characters as well as for his collaboration with cult filmmaker, David Cronenberg.
Born in New York in 1958, Mortensen and his family moved to Argentina when he was two-years-old. After moving back to the States for a while, the Oscar nominee eventually moved to Denmark where he worked as a Copenhagen truck driver.
Mortensen now explores his Nordic roots in his latest role as Gunnar in the Danish drama Jauja. which sees him portrays a 19th Century war veteran who embarks on a journey to Argentina with his teenage daughter. As they family make their way back to Denmark, Gunnar soon discovers that his only daughter is missing.
Jauja screened at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival where it picked up the FIPRESCI Prize and wowed audiences with its authentic subject matter and performances. The film is directed by Argentine filmmaker Lisandro Alonso and is co-written by Mortensen’s friend and artist Fabian Casas. The actor not only stars and produces the film but provides the original music for the stunning drama.
Mortensen spoke with me this time last year about his latest character, growing up in Denmark and drawing inspiration from his Danish father.
When did you first hear about Jauja and how did you get involved?
A friend of mine who wrote the screenplay [Fabian Casas], and is an Argentine poet, had never written a screenplay before. He and I have a blog that we’ve been writing for about four years, and the foundation has been to talk about football particularly San Lorenzo de Almagro; a team we both grew up with. We take off from there and talk about philosophy and movies which we’ve shared taste in. One day he said that he was working on a story with Lisandro Alonso, which he hoped, would be his next movie. I had met Lisandro at the Toronto Film Festival some years ago and I liked his style; it’s very unique. With Lisandro there is something about the rhythm of his stories and the treatment of landscapes that remind you of [Pyotr Ilyich] Tchaikovsky. I liked his approach and thought this story seems like it’s going to be, more or less, a conventional western story takes off on unexpected directions.
How was your experience working with director Lisandro Alonso?
I like to try and be in stories that are blueprints for movies that I would want to see; this was one of those; I thought it was a really interesting idea. I could already see in the script that there were elements that had a way of thinking about Argentina culturally. It also had traces – whether Lisandro and Fabian knew it or not because they’d never been to Denmark – in certain irony and certain story elements that were reminiscent of Hans Christian Anderson stories or Nordic mythology; it was a really interesting hybrid. It turned out to be better than I could have ever imaged; I knew it would be interesting but Lisandro makes it work on so many levels and it’s as Danish as it is Argentine. If I didn’t see his name - which is obviously Latin - I might have thought a Danish director directed it; it’s that much a Danish movie in its sensibility. For it to be shot in the way that he shot his other movies - without a cinematographer as particular in his style as Timo Salminen - I thought it was a recipe for an interesting project and the kind that I would go and see in the theatre; which is basically why I always pick my roles if I have the luxury of choosing.
Jauja is visually stunning. You mentioned the cinematographer Timo Salminen - what was your experience working with him?
I liked him. He’s a gentleman and is very nice. It’s not the first time I’ve been around people from Finland, I know I’m generalising but their rhythm and sense of humour is discreet and certainly compared to most Argentines. At first, it was a period of adjustment for Lisandro and his crew because he didn’t know what to make of Timo; he’s very quiet, didn’t say much and often staring off into space. What he was really doing was politely waiting for everyone to stop making noise so he could do the next shot. At first, they thought he was sad or something as Timo would just stand looking out to sea. I said: "he’s not sad, he’s just Finnish". Lisandro’s choice of Timo was really clever because anyone who knows Lisandro’s films know that the lighting in his films are mostly organic, matter of fact with nothing artificial. Timo’s lighting is artificial in a kind of Hollywood-style side lighting; it’s subtle way of indicating that things are not as they seem - I thought that was really effective. The light is not only more severe but bluer or colder than Lisandro would have normally done which I thought was fantastic as it creates that overall effect.
I’ve heard that Lisandro Alonso never uses music in his work - how did you get on board as composer for the film?
It was like anything else; he’s never worked with professional actors or a European cinematographer before. Music was something that occurred to him halfway through the project. He explained that there is a transition in the film that is more obvious when Gunnar falls asleep under the stars; he wakes up and everything has changed. He wanted to help that important transition with music. I was surprised because it wasn’t something he normally did. Being a producer as well, I did say that we had a limited budget that we’d almost used up. We didn’t have the time or the luxury to go buying. When I asked what he had in mind, Lisandro said that he wanted a lyrical feel that would last just a couple of minutes; guitar but not period music; just something original. I said that I had some recordings; some with really beautiful guitar music from a player called Buckethead, and sent some over. He chose the one in the film, which, to me, was really smart because it has a circular structure that mirrors the story. It wasn’t something that I expected to happen but it did and I’m very happy about it.
Gunnar is a very desolate and introverted man. How did you go about approaching your character?
I thought about being a father but I probably thought more about my own father who is Danish. I was raised in Argentina for the first decade of my life so I had memories of the ways that he spoke Spanish, which I imitated with Gunnar’s Danish accent. Also his ‘fish out of water’ experience in the way that he stubbornly brought his Northern-European perspective, which, as a child, I thought was amusing. He would say things like "why don’t these people show up on time?" and my brothers and I thought it was funny because we were just like the other Argentine kids. We would say things like "why does dad care?" because it didn’t matter, but to him they really mattered. But playing a character like Gunnar, I saw that it wasn’t that easy being him when you can’t unburden yourself of the perspective you were raised with - which happens to everyone to some degree. As we get older, I think we have a harder way to be open to new ideas that was interesting in that respect. In terms of research, I just thought about where he was raised in Denmark, how should he speak? I contributed to the uniform that I found in Denmark; his medal is from the 19th Century, which I was lucky to find. When I say ‘fish out of water’, he’s in a place where that uniforms, medals and horses are kind of meaningless because it’s not like he can go back and change his clothes [laughs]. He’s like a Danish ‘dunkeyhotey’ stumbling through the landscape.
Are you happy with the praise and reception that the film has received?
I’m been very happy and pleasantly surprised at the overwhelming critical reception it’s had, particularly in North America. I’ve never had a movie get better reviews across the board as it’s gotten in the US. I wasn’t surprised that the movie turned out to be interesting when we first showed it at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and I wasn’t even that surprised when some critics said it should have been in the Official Competition or that it won the FIPRESCI Prize. I said to Lisandro at the time: "don’t get your hopes up with mainstream critics especially in the US. People may not give in to your rhythm and storytelling style especially if they’re not familiar with your work; it’s going to be a new experience. But don’t let them dampen your enthusiasm." It was beyond my expectations and all the reviews are very good.
Do you find that there is a huge difference between working on a Danish project than working on a Hollywood or Spanish project?
No, it’s about the people; it’s not about the budget, the genre or language; it really depends on the example that the director sets. If Lisandro Alonso or David Cronenberg is someone who really prepares and executes really well - but is open to contribution of others, flexible and secure as people - then the experience can be just as enjoyable. The end result can be just as interesting even if the movies are quite different. It depends more on the way people are - when you have directors who are very afraid to take suggestions or are very concerned with people not thinking that everything on screen was their idea, it can be trickier. You still get the movie done but I prefer working with people who like to work as a collective.
You’ve been involved in such a wide range of films from all genres. How different was working on Jauja compared to the other projects that you’ve done?
I still had to prepare and behave like the character no matter when Lisandro yelled cut. Maybe working with less of a safety net because you are by yourself and Lisandro had never worked with actors before. He finds whatever you do interesting which is liberating because he’d say: "well, you can’t make a mistake because you’re in character". But then that makes you think "maybe I could do it better". We also had limited stock so he never really wanted to shoot more than one or two takes so you knew you had to do your best. I liked it; it was a good exercise. The main element is the director; some are more communicative and available whilst others are more closed off and just say exactly what they want you to do. With Lisandro, we always talked about things and spoke about how we could improve it. It was great.