I’m not a great fan of monarchy in general, but I have to say the Danish monarchy is closer to the people; it’s not as stuffy as the English one. – Viggo Mortensen
Be kind. It’s worthwhile to make an effort to learn about other people and figure out what you might have in common with them. – Viggo Mortensen
When I make a movie, I don’t break it down and analyze it. I could but it would get in the way of doing a job – on instinct based on all the research we did going in. you want to trust yourself and your director and your acting partners in the circumstances you’re shooting. I don’t like to have any kind of overview. – Viggo Mortensen
It’s hard not to get depressed when you pay attention to the world and how strangely and corrupt the people in it sometimes behave. – Viggo Mortensen
I don’t think Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell fear competition from me in their arena. – Viggo Mortensen
A little recognition is not a bad thing because it means people appreciate your work. The only problem is when you can’t walk down the street or have a meal without people looking at you. I want to be the one looking at people. – Viggo Mortensen
In terms of the movie business, being in a ‘Lord of the Rings’ has given me more interesting options as work. – Viggo Mortensen
In a way, editing is not unlike the movies. The best books, just like the best movies, are a collaboration. They’re only as good as the compromise made between the artists involved. – Viggo Mortensen
In a movie, you’re raw material, just a hue of some color and the director makes the painting. – Viggo Mortensen
Life is short and the older you get, the more you feel it. Indeed, the shorter it is. People lose their capacity to walk, run, travel, think, and experience life. I realise how important it is to use the time I have. – Viggo Mortensen
Most movies are lucky to have one moment, one shot that you look at and you always remember that moment and that scene. – Viggo Mortensen
Any nominations a movie gets helps to raise the level of curiosity in the public, so in that sense awards and nominations are important. – Viggo Mortensen
Some actors learn the habit of promoting themselves as a brand – by dressing in a certain way, by going out with a certain person – it gives them what they obviously want, which is to keep a level of fame. I’m not putting it down. – Viggo Mortensen
I don’t like the ‘must’, the ‘always’, and the ‘never’ words. I don’t like ‘no’ either. – Viggo Mortensen
One of the most effective tools that the Cheney-Bush junta has used to marginalize dissenting or even mildly inquisitive American citizens has been the accusation of being unpatriotic. – Viggo Mortensen
People will like to say that ‘Eastern Promises’ is brutal, but the only reason they say that is because the scenes stick with them. They are realistic. They are in-your-face and you see the consequences. It’s not a bunch of quick editing cuts. – Viggo Mortensen
This basic thing I always do: ‘What happened between the character’s birth, and page one of the script?’ Anything that’s not in the story, I’ll fill in the blanks. – Viggo Mortensen
I’ve never been conscious of having any real career plan, and I do not have a wish-list of actors, directors, screenwriters, or cameramen I’m hoping to work with. Life, I feel, has a way of leading us to the right situations and people, or at least to interesting ones. – Viggo Mortensen
Pinochet and Barack Obama both have the same primary goal, and that’s to be president and stay president as long as allowed. – Viggo Mortensen
Toronto Film Festival is one of those festivals where there are 400 movies, and unless you have a distributor who is super confident and puts a lot of money into it, sometimes movies can go unwatched or unnoticed. – Viggo Mortensen
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. – Viggo Mortensen
Further devastation of the air, land and sea is obviously a very real possibility, unless the attitudes of politicians and all who irresponsibly exploit our natural resources change significantly in the very near future and all collaborate and sacrifice for the good of the planet. – Viggo Mortensen
I like naturally occurring film grain, and what happens to film when it’s under- and over-exposed. – Viggo Mortensen
If you don’t find some way to discuss what’s going on inside you, it can come out in other ways that are self-destructive. – Viggo Mortensen
It’s amazing to me that Glenn Beck can be on the cover of ‘Time,’ and there can be a whole article about him basically saying, ‘Well, you know, he’s controversial.’ It’s like, ‘No, he’s a dangerous idiot who needs the help of a good psychiatrist!’ – Viggo Mortensen
When you’re under stress as a human being, you behave oddly and your relationships with people become strained. – Viggo Mortensen
I don’t have a BlackBerry or whatever you call it. And there is something to be said for being isolated and out of phone range, because you can fall into a habit to such a degree that you don’t even realise that you’ve lost something: silence. – Viggo Mortensen
We live as though there aren’t enough hours in the day, but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress. – Viggo Mortensen