News for Sep. 17, 2005

The outsider

9/17/05, 11:02 am EST - Xoanon

Viggo Mortensen never set out to be a Hollywood player, preferring the life of a bohemian jobbing actor to the A-list rollercoaster. But when his last-minute casting as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings propelled him to superstardom, he found that fame can have its uses. It’s fair to assume that Viggo Mortensen wasn’t looking for the kind of fame that he now enjoys or, more accurately, endures. It’s the kind that leads to strangers interrupting his conversations, groups of teenagers laying siege to his hotel clutching glossy pictures of him in Aragorn kit, or, far worse, fans gawping at him like a prize exhibit and destroying the pleasure he finds in visiting an art gallery or a museum. [More]