The Lord of the Rings actor Viggo Mortensen blasted Hollywood’s big film franchises saying “they’re not usually that good” and “they’re not usually well-written.”
Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition (2003), Warner Bros. Pictures
In an interview with Vanity Fair, the Aragorn actor was asked if he intentionally avoids franchise films.
He replied, “I don’t really look for or avoid any kind of genre or any size budget. I just look for interesting stories. It doesn’t matter to me what the genre is or what the budget is or who’s making them.”
Next, he revealed that what is paramount in his decision-making is a film’s story, “I would never do a movie just because so-and-so is directing it. It has to be about the story. And if I think I’m right for the character, that always comes first.”
Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Warner Bros. Pictures
From there, he addressed franchise films, “That goes for franchises. If somebody came to me with X movie, the third part or the ninth part, and I thought it was a great character and I wanted to play that character and I thought I had something to contribute, I’d do it. I’m not against it.”
However, he then shared, “But they’re not usually that good. I mean, to me, they’re not usually that well-written. They’re kind of predictable. I mean, of course, there’s always the issue of if I run out of money.”
Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Warner Bros. Pictures
When asked how he balances career opportunities with being able to pick the films he wants to be in, he shared, “As long as I can pay the rent and make my personal life work, then I hold out until I find something that I think is a great challenge and something I’m going to learn from.”
He continued, “I’ve come close a few times to, ‘Well, oops, I’ve got to do something. Hopefully I can find something that’s halfway decent.’ But I don’t have a giant corporation that I’m running. I don’t have to think, ‘Well, I can’t do this small movie because I have to make a movie where they pay me millions of dollars.’ I’ve never looked at looking for work that way at all.”
Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Warner Bros. Pictures
READ: Peter Jackson Explains Why He’s Returning To ‘The Lord Of The Rings’ With ‘The Hunt For Gollum’
To Mortensen’s point about franchises not being well-written, he tacitly criticized Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power back in 2022 by questioning what the show’s source material was.
When asked about the show by The Hollywood Reporter, Mortensen responded with his own questions, “What is that? The TV thing? It is with Apple, or something?”
When informed it was the Prime Video series and is “thought to be the most expensive TV series ever made,” Mortensen replied, “Oh, right. Yeah, I’ll watch that.”
However, he then questioned, “But do you know what source material they’re using? What were they allowed to use?”
Charlie Vickers as Halbrand in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
It is possible Mortensen might return to The Lord of the Rings and reprise his role as Aragorn in Andy Serkis’ upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum film.
Serkis spoke about the film with Deadline back in May and discussed what characters might appear in it, “That’s a difficult question to answer right at this moment in time, because we’re really in the nascent stages of what it is exactly where we’re doing, and where the story’s going to take us.”
“So I don’t want to commit anything right now. I mean, because it’s so raw and so raw and wriggling, and we are just literally having very early state script discussions and ideas of exactly where and how we’re going to drop anchor with the character and his journey and how he is or comes into contact with other characters, and the characters that we know and don’t know. So still, I would hate to say anything that’s going to commit us at this point, because it’s literally all up for grabs,” he concluded.
Andy Serkis speaking at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con International, for “Black Panther”, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
However, it’s likely The Hunt for Gollum is likely based on a number of passages from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. In the book, Gandalf informs Frodo, ““Light, light of Sun and Moon, he still feared and hated, and he always will, I think; but he was cunning. He found he could hide from daylight and moonshine, and make his way swiftly and softly by dead of night with his pale cold eyes, and catch small frightened or unwary things. He grew stronger and bolder with new food and new air. He found his way into Mirkwood, as one would expect.”
Gandalf then informs Frodo that he did indeed see Gollum in Mirkwood, “‘I saw him there. … but before that he had wandered far, following Bilbo’s trail. It was difficult to learn anything from him for certain, for his talk was constantly interrupted by curses and threats.”
After recalling the manner of Gollum’s curses and threats, he told Frodo, “But from hints dropped among the snarls I gathered that his padding feet had taken him at last to Esgaroth, and even to the streets of Dale, listening secretly and peering. Well, the news of the great events went far and wide in Wilderland, and many had heard Bilbo’s name and knew where he came from. We had made no secret of our return journey to his home in the West. Gollum’s sharp ears would soon learn what he wanted.”
Ian McKellen as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), New Line Cinema
When asked why Gollum did not make it to the Shire, Gandalf said to Frodo, ” I think Gollum tried to. He set out and came back westward, as far as the Great River. But then he turned aside. He was not daunted by the distance, I am sure. No, something else drew him away. So my friends think, those that hunted him for me.”
As for who those friends are, Gandalf regaled Frodo, “The Wood-elves tracked him first, an easy task for them, for his trail was still fresh then. Through Mirkwood and back again it led them, though they never caught him. The wood was full of the rumour of him, dreadful tales even among beasts and birds. The Woodmen said that there was some new terror abroad, a ghost that drank blood. It climbed trees to find nests; it crept into holes to find the young; it slipped through windows to find cradles.”
Next, Gandalf explains to Frodo how he let the trail go cold, “But at the western edge of Mirkwood the trail turned away. It wandered off southwards and passed out of the Wood-elves’ ken, and was lost. And then I made a great mistake. Yes, Frodo, and not the first; though I fear it may prove the worst. I let the matter be. I let him go; for I had much else to think of at that time, and I still trusted the lore of Saruman.”
Andy Serkis as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Warner Bros. Pictures
However, with the help of Aragorn he was able to pick it back up again, “And my search would have been in vain, but for the help that I had from a friend: Aragorn, the greatest traveller and huntsman of this age of the world. Together we sought for Gollum down the whole length of Wilderland, without hope, and without success. But at last, when I had given up the chase and turned to other paths, Gollum was found. My friend returned out of great perils bringing the miserable creature with him.”
“What he had been doing he would not say,” Gandalf said to Frodo. “He only wept and called us cruel, with many a gollum in his throat; and when we pressed him he whined and cringed, and rubbed his long hands, licking his fingers as if they pained him, as if he remembered some old torture. But I am afraid there is no possible doubt: he had made his slow, sneaking way, step by step, mile by mile, south, down at last to the Land of Mordor.”
Elijah Wood as Frodo in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition (2003), Warner Bros. Pictures
Finally, Gandalf informed Frodo that Aragorn captured him after he had left Mordor, “When he was found he had already been there long, and was on his way back. On some errand of mischief. But that does not matter much now. His worst mischief was done.”
He also informs Frodo that Sauron learns from Gollum that the One Ring is likely in the Shire, “through him the Enemy has learned that the One has been found again. He knows where Isildur fell. He knows where Gollum found his ring. He knows that it is a Great Ring, for it gave long life. He knows that it is not one of the Three, for they have never been lost, and they endure no evil. He knows that it is not one of the Seven, or the Nine, for they are accounted for. He knows that it is the One. And he has at last heard, I think, of hobbits and the Shire.”
Christopher Lee as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Warner Bros. Pictures
Given Aragorn plays a significant role in the source material, it is quite possible the character will play a significant role in the film as well and that leaves the door open for Mortensen to reprise his role. However, Mortensen is now 65, so it’s possible he might do a cameo as another character rather than reprise the role of Aragorn.
What do you make of Mortensen’s comments about film franchises being poorly written?
NEXT: Ian McKellen Addresses Possible Return As Gandalf For ‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum’
