- They say that the colleagues in the "Lord of the Rings" nicknamed you "Viggo-without-ego." This is strange for the actor.
- It's hard for me to feel like a star - I'm 15 years old in this business, and I got the first major role in 44 years. Do you understand what this means?
"Wait, wait." You have a lot of notable roles - "Perfect Murder", "Jane's Soldier", "Portrait of a Lady", "Crimson Tide". And the "Lord of the Rings" is not the last project.
- I do not argue. I was well "inscribed in the overall composition" - if it's about the main roles. But before the "Hidalgo", I did not have the main roles. Do you know what feelings the actor feels when his scenes are not included in the final editing of the film? And I know - it was with me. At first, it was Jonathan Demme's "Replacement" with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. And then - "Purple Rose Cairo" by Woody Allen. My relatives tactfully stopped asking the question, when will I finally appear on the screen. But I was much on the floor in the editing room - in cuts.
- One not very successful actor recently quoted your poems. It seems they are for him like a prayer.
- What kind?
- From the poem "Installation":
With a person who
you was
So not for long,
It's finished.
His place
On a neat
cemetery,
Where there is a smell of popcorn.
- Yes, I wrote it when I was cut out.
- It was an accident. As before I was not lucky, and I was lucky - without any regularity. In my opinion, Jackson has already started shooting "The Lord" - note, on the other side of the world, in New Zealand, and a couple of days I have a phone call in Venice (Los Angeles). And I find out that Stewart Townsend, confirmed for the role of Aragorn, is banished. And his role is now offered to me.
"Jackson told you how you called him back, threw questions, and he decided that you refused." And then you say: "I think we'll meet soon".
- It was so. I asked about Aragorn, but really wanted to understand what kind of guy this is, Jackson, who starts shooting a huge project and denies the actor who was preparing for the role for six months.
- Do you understand?
"I realized that I do not know what they did not like Townsend and what kind of" creative differences "they are. But I think he did not fit in age - he was only 27. And this role requires a grated kalach.
"Are you a grated kalach?"
- Apparently, yes. Strangest, I did not read Tolkien then. When I agreed to the role, my only counselor was my son Henry. He was then 11. He is a Tolkienist-homeworker. Henry said: "Aragorn is cool." I believed him. He had begged me to read Tolkien before. And here I am in the plane, I thumb through this fat Talmud and I'm wondering: Well, am I the last one that I let myself be persuaded? However, very soon I realized that there are many stories from the Scandinavian sagas, on which my dad-dad brought me up. In general, I have always been fond of mythology. Even superstitious, perhaps. On the windshield of my car hangs a guard of the Sioux Indians. In general, Aragorn is in my blood right now.
- Does Henry influence you in other cases?
"We influence each other." It always happens with people who live together.
"Are you a single father?"
- It sounds strange, but I'm really a single father. True, I hardly bring up Henry. Rather, we are friends.
- Is it true that you acted so selflessly on the set that when you were beaten by a sword with a sword, did you order it to be glued with instant glue and brought the scene to completion?
- And what to do - there was no time for the dentist. This was the first shooting episode. And the schedule was this: all the actors are busy six days a week. And so 15 months. On Sunday afternoon we were given time for a laundry and a mug of beer. After that it was necessary to return to the battlefield. We did not have any knuckles - we knocked it clean.
"They say that you slept in Aragorn's clothes and did not part with the sword." And they walked barefoot into the forest alone for almost a day.
- I studied the Stanislavsky system. This means that you need to get into the skin of the hero. Become Aragorn physically. And I just like walking barefoot - I have a lot of hippies in me. In the forest, I was just lost: I went with a camera, but the sun went down, and I lost my way. Eventually I went out to my own - an outbreak helped me, sometimes I illuminated my way. And besides, he made wonderful photos, the cycle called "Lost." They were exhibited in the gallery along with my other pictures.
"You are an artist, a photographer, and a poet. Who else?
"Robert Frost, a good poet, said: to say to myself" I'm a poet "is like saying" I'm handsome. " For me, the way of life is painting, photography and poetry. From childhood it seemed to me that everyone should always strive to be constantly busy. In film, I work mainly for the sake of money. But the rest is completely different. I set so many goals for myself that there is no time to sleep. But in my life there are moments just magical.
- And why do not you like it badly?
- Bad dubbing! Once I even started a battle with the Spanish distributors. I suggested myself to duplicate my role. I know Spanish very well. But they did not like my dubbing. They said: a strong Buenos Aires accent. But this is ridiculous!
- And yet, really, is not there a woman with whom you share your so full of life?
"For my part, it would be wrong and even cruel to draw strangers into this disgrace."