Lord Of The Rings star Viggo Mortensen has spoken to totalfilm.com about The Hobbit, addressing speculation as to whether he’ll reprise his role as Aragorn.
“I’d rather finish the job myself than have another actor do it,” says Mortensen. “I’m interested in principle, but I’d want to see it done in the right spirit of Tolkien.”
Viggo gave a nod of approval to new director Guillermo del Toro, saying, “He’s strongminded, intelligent and probably just as stubborn [as Jackson].
"I don’t know if it’ll be as big a circus [as the Trilogy] in terms of several people writing changes at the last minute.
“Maybe it’ll be more streamlined and efficient, but to some degree it’ll probably be as bewildering a set-up as the other three.”
Mortensen also claims the original trilogy became more led by effects as the series progressed.
“The Fellowship Of The Ring for me was the one most faithful to Tolkien. The one that had the most to do with any kind of subtlety in terms of performance and storytelling.
“Starting with the second one it became more of a blockbuster special effects thing. That’s not to say as that type of movie they weren’t the best.
"You can’t argue with the films’ success, but had it been me, I would have focused less on the effects and more on the characterisations.
“I’d have allowed the secondary characters to speak more and not be so focused on the heroes. There was more balance in the way that all the races of Middle-earth were presented in the first one. It was more about the relationships… That’s just my personal taste.”
See the new issue of Total Film Magazine for a full version of our Viggo Mortensen interview.
