Collider recently caught up with acclaimed actor Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence) during the premiere of his upcoming film The Road at the Toronto International Film Festival, and took the exclusive opportunity to ask the Mortensen what was up with his declaration to step away from acting, which shocked Viggo-lovers across the Net earlier this past Spring.

To our shared semi-surprise (sarcasm alert), Mortensen pulled a Brett Favre-style about-face and shot down the rumore, stating that he’ll be sticking around to mess with this whole being-an-actor thing for the time being.

Ok, so maybe he didn’t say it quite like that – maybe it was more along the lines of “Eh, I’m good for now,” but… Oh heck, just watch this exclusive video scoop from Collider:

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Ah Viggo… as elusive and enigmatic as ever.

I could get snarky about actors / athletes / rappers (isn’t Joaquin Phoenix all three in one?) who always pull the “I’m Through,” card, only to never really step out of the limelight. But truth be told, I’m just glad we’ve still got Viggo Mortensen in the game, if only to retain a leading man who always seems to elevate the films he stars in.

I bet David Cronenberg (The Fly) is breathing a sigh of relief. On with Eastern Promises 2!

Are you happy that Viggo Mortensen will continue acting?

To catch him next, be on The Road come November 25, 2009.

Source: Collider

Now this may seem like another April Fool’s joke, but as the date of this article will tell you, it’s not. It appears that Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen may have been watching what Joaquin Phoenix has been up to, and perhaps following in his footsteps – only taking things a bit more seriously: He might actually give up acting.

According to Africa’s News24, Mortensen has been left exhausted by his acting workload and has decided to take a break described as “indefinite.” Here’s what he had to say:

“In the past week I’ve been from Los Angeles to Japan to Korea to Poland to the UK. It’s ridiculous and it’s not a healthy way to be. But, as it happens, I’m taking measures to change that. No more movies…”

“I haven’t said yes to one in over a year. I’ve been in all these well-received movies and it seems like I should be doing some more, but there are other things I want to do. It’s not the right time.”

Adding to that, he also revealed he has turned down many-a-major blockbuster film because he doesn’t believe in doing movies just for the money:

“They were often complete crap, all about product placement and marketing. I don’t need the money.”

And News24 reminds us that this isn’t the first time he has spoken about it, as he did so just last year:

“I’ve made a lot of interesting movies and I’ve worked with some really good people. Not in a disrespectful way, but now I could kind of take it or leave it to be honest. I’ve felt that way for a while.”

This doesn’t sound like just an off-hand remark by an actor tired after a long period of hard work – evidenced by his thoughts in the above quote from 2008, he clearly has had this one his mind for a while now. It sounds like he works very hard at what he does, particularly because of the types of physically and mentally challenging roles he takes; Eastern Promises, Lord of the Rings and A History of Violence, to name but a few.

I’m all for actors taking breaks every now and then when the job may be affecting their personal life (as should be the case with any profession), but I always hope that they would return after a few months (maybe even a couple of years, if it’s warranted). Although I’m not a huge fan of Mortensen as an actor (except for his exceptional, Oscar-nominated performance in Eastern Promises (which begs the question of how this break of his will effect the sequel which is in the works…), I do hope this isn’t him calling it quits for good.

The guy, believe or not, will be 51 years old this year, which may be one of the primary reasons why his job has been getting the better of him as of late. However, here’s hoping this “indefinite break” changes to “temporary” once he has some time to lift the pressure off his shoulders.

What do you make of Mortensen’s decision to take an indefinite break? Do you think he’ll really stay away from acting?

Source: News24

Eastern Promises opened in the summer of 2007 and it easily became one of my favorite movies of the year, and one of my favorite Viggo Mortensen movies ever. The movie didn’t get as big of a release as it deserved but it received great critical praise (88% on Rotten Tomatoes) and an Oscar nod for its leading man.

If you liked the first movie as much as I did, I have some good news for you! In an exclusive interview with MTV, the director of Eastern Promises, David Cronenberg, revealed that he and the folks behind the first movie are interested in doing a sequel and are already starting to plan it out.

“We are moving forward with it… We all are excited about the idea of doing a sequel.”

When he says “we” he’s referring to himself, Viggo, Steven Knight, Paul Webster and Focus Features (the studio behind the first film). Steven Knight and Paul Webster were the writer and producer of Eastern Promises respectively.

That’s fantastic news in my eyes, especially since it emphasizes that everyone from the first movie is united in their interest in making a follow-up film and therefore, it’ll be done right and for the right reasons.

“We are going to have a meeting very soon between me, Steven Knight and Paul Webster to discuss what the script would be,” Cronenberg said. “I have some very strong ideas about what I would like to see, but I would like to hear what they have to say as well. And then after that, if all goes well, Steve goes away and writes a great script. If we all like it, we make it.”

If all things go well and a solid script is presented to kick-start the movie’s production, we’ll be seeing the Cronenberg-Mortensen pairing for the third time (the first being with A History of Violence), and Cronenberg’s first ever sequel to one of his own films. The director has nothing but great things to say about Mr. Mortensen:

“Viggo is a very special guy… I consider him a personal friend and we communicate all the time. That doesn’t always happen with actors. He’s very serious about his acting. But he’s really a funny guy. We laugh a lot. We giggle a lot.”

The first film featured the powerful cast of Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel and Armin Mueller-Stahl but there’s no word yet on any re-appearances of other original characters.

Would you be interested in a sequel to Eastern Promises?

Source: MTV