Viggo Mortensen, who led the Hobbits to safety as the warrior Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, has had a long and varied career. In 2020, he wrote and directed Falling, an intensely personal film about a son and his ageing father. For his second directorial outing, in which he also stars, Mortensen turns to the Old West for a story of love and forgiveness. It is also a testimony to the enduring strength of the women who held down a homestead while men left for work or war. Cara O’Doherty caught up with Mortensen to learn more about the film and discover why Aragorn’s iconic sword, Anduril, has a cameo appearance in The Dead Don’t Hurt.

When Viggo Mortensen catapulted to fame in 2001 with the first of The Lord of the Rings films, it was a testament to his unwavering dedication to his craft. He had been steadily honing his skills since his debut in Peter Weir’s 1985 Witness, earning the respect of critics and filmmakers alike. Despite not being a household name, Mortensen’s portrayal of Aragorn opened doors to a new world of adoring fans and the opportunity to be a big box office draw.

Despite his numerous accolades, including Oscar nominations, Viggo Mortensen remains a humble figure and actor who, despite his pulling power, often chooses smaller projects to star in. His focus has always been on his craft rather than on the fame that comes with it. He may shy away from the media’s attention, but his passion for creating art and making films remains unwavering.

Mortensen showcases his versatility in his latest film, The Dead Don’t Hurt. Not only does he star in the film, but he also directed it, wrote the script, composed the score, and produced it.

The film is an old-school Western, but unlike its predecessors, it steps away from tradition by shifting the focus from Mortensen’s character Olsen to Vivienne, played by Vicky Krieps, a woman forced to survive in the inhospitable Old West when Olsen must leave for a time.

Mortensen wrote the script during the pandemic and cites his mother, to whom the film is dedicated, as an inspiration for the character of Vivienne.  “I imagined a woman who was very independent and had a mind of her own. She was modelled on my mother. I thought to put her in the 19th century on the western frontier in North America, because I figured that was a place where it would be even more difficult than today to be a woman like that. In a society dominated by men, some powerful, unscrupulous, and violent, I thought that would make it a bigger challenge for her.”

Mortensen says he shared a love of movies with his mother and believes she could have been a filmmaker. “We shared a love of movies. She took me to the movies first when I was three or four years old, and her whole life, we would go to the movies and talk about the stories. In another lifetime, she could have been a screenwriter or maybe a director. She had that kind of mind.”

While the film has a strong ensemble cast, the main focus is Olsen and Vivienne. Casting the right actor to carry the story while Mortensen was off screen was vital to the film’s success. How did Mortensen know that the multi-awarding-winning Krieps would do the role justice? “I hadn’t met her, but just from watching her work, you could see she was thinking about something even when she wasn’t saying anything. She just seemed to have a special quality. Physically, she just looked like someone who could be from another time. I thought, wow, she’d be great. Let’s see if she’s even interested, you never know if someone’s going to be available or is going to want to do it. Fortunately, she did want to do it.”

The two actors share a strong chemistry, which Mortensen says comes partly from luck. “As far as the acting, we just connected. [Vicky] is a good actress, and she has that strong presence, so that’s part of it. Sometimes, you have to get lucky; casting is a strange [process]. I’m happy with every single person in the movie; there isn’t one weak link. In the case of Vicky, she’s everything I’d hoped the character would be in terms of her presence, her strength of character, the complexity of the character, and also her vulnerability. She’s surpassed what I had hoped we’d get out. Fortunately, we connected and worked.”

It is one thing to write and direct, but taking a lead role, composing the score, playing the instruments, and producing would be enough to send most filmmakers into a spiral of stress, but Mortensen took it in his stride thanks to the strong team of collaborators he worked with.

“It’s a team sport. It’s a collective effort. That’s what I’ve always liked about movies. With the music, I’m doing it with musicians. It is the same with the other elements. The screenplay is the most solitary thing at first, but once you have it, you share it with people, and then we start talking about what works, what doesn’t, maybe they’ll take this out, maybe it’ll change this, it’s all collaborative.”

As for directing himself, Mortensen says Viggo, the director and Viggo, the actor, have a good working relationship. “Viggo the director would say the actor seems to come prepared, and he listens, and seems to be fairly obedient. Viggo the actor would say the director is demanding and strict, that he expects excellence of effort from everyone, starting with himself, but he’s not looking for perfection. There’s a difference between excellence and perfection; it is about trying to make the most of telling the stories.”

The film is Mortensen’s second directorial outing. In 2020, he wrote and directed Falling, which received critical acclaim. Making a first film can be liberating. Expectations do not yet weigh heavily. However, when it is successful, there is anticipation surrounding a second outing. Critics and contemporaries expect it to be equal to the first, if not better. Did Mortensen feel the weight of the anticipation, or could he switch off the surrounding noise?  “There are supposed to be hard and fast rules. One is that your second will not be good, especially if the first one turned out well, which it did. [They say it is going] to be a lot harder. It was more ambitious, even the music was more complex, but I didn’t feel that pressure. It’s a different kind of movie, but I like it as much as Falling.”

Mortensen says he also doesn’t subscribe to some of the other filmmaking myths. “They tell you not to work with kids and animals. In both movies, there are little kids. There are a couple of horses in Falling. In this, obviously, there are many horses; it’s a Western. I don’t subscribe to this belief. You have to be flexible, whether it’s a horse, child, or veteran actor. Everybody is different; your job as a director is to find their comfort zone. How can you help them relax? What is specifically needed for that person? It’s like getting to know and relate to people to some degree on their own terms. You’re trying to connect to get the most out of all the actors.”

Anyone who has followed Mortensen’s career knows he is fond of horses. In this, his character Olsen introduces Vivenne to his horse, Night, and Mortensen thanks and names the horses in the film’s credits. He explains why they are so important to him. “I grew up with them. I was three or four years old when I started riding horses. I’ve always been at ease around them. I’m respectful; they’re big and can hurt you if you’re not careful. You shouldn’t get too overconfident, but I enjoyed being around them, and I’ve always found them to be good company.”

The actor says being comfortable around horses is essential when you make a Western. “Back in the day, that was the mode of transport. You either had a cart or carriage or a wagon of some kind that was drawn by horses or mules, or you rode horses. Not being comfortable around a horse would be odd. Sometimes I can see that an actor doesn’t know horses. The way they walk up to them or take the reins in a way that I can tell that guy’s nervous or she’s not comfortable around him. It’s always a bit jarring to me; it doesn’t ruin the movie, but I have to suspend belief here a bit more.”

Mortensen plans to direct more films and says he has another Western in mind, but he says finding the funds to produce something on a large scale is not easy. “It’s a big ambitious Western about indigenous people. I’ve been trying for years to get it made. It’s a horse movie, too, and it will have tons of wild horses. I haven’t been able to find the funds. I’ve been trying for years, and I can keep trying and, in the meantime, make a smaller one I have in mind.

Mortensen hopes audiences who see The Dead Don’t Hurt take away a message of forgiveness. “I want people to think about their relationships at work, family, intimate relationships, and forgiveness. Forgiving the other person and forgiving yourself is much more important than having the last word or revenge. Forgiveness is part and parcel of adapting to the other person. Any relationship where two people are at least curious about what the other person thinks has a chance to prosper, and relationships, where even one of the two people isn’t willing to adapt to the changes in the other person’s life, is probably going to wither. So, think about forgiveness.”

Mortensen has a nod to The Lord of the Rings in his new film. Aragorn’s iconic sword, Anduril, appears somewhere in the film, but how did that happen? He needed to outfit a character with a Medieval sword, and none of the props lived up to Anduril. “We realised Anduril was the one, so I asked Peter Jackson. He said, ‘Is this a movie about a sword?’ And I said, ‘No. It’s only there for a few seconds, you’d have to be keen-eyed to spot it, but there will probably be at least one person in each cinema who will spot it, so I want to make sure you’re not going to be upset’, and he said no. It wasn’t like a planned Easter egg, it just happened.

Mortensen has a particular call to arms for Lord of the Rings fans: “If you are a genuine Lord of the Rings fan, you should see the film on a big screen and see if you can spot it. I won’t say where it is but see if you can find it. That’s all I’ll say about that.”

Words – Cara O’Doherty

The Dead Don’t Hurt is in cinemas now.