Viggo Mortensen

“Any nominations a movie gets helps to raise the level of curiosity in the public, so in that sense awards and nominations are important.”

“I'm sort of contrary and stubborn sometimes. When everybody says, 'You have to read this book! You have to read this book!' I'm like 'Oh, I'll get around to it.'”

“If you're trying to please everyone, then you're not going to make anything that is honestly yours, I don't think, in the long run.”

“I'm optimistic about people and about the planet and about nature. I think it's resilient, like people are.”

“I've never had a problem with people paying attention to what you're doing and say they find that they liked it.”

“'The Road' is about that fear that all parents can have - 'What's going to happen to your child if you're not around?'”

“Kids accept where they are because they don't know the past. They know what they have; they know where they are.”

“We live as though there aren't enough hours in the day, but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress.”

“I'm certainly curious about people. As a kid, I moved around a lot. I was raised in a lot of different places, and thanks to working in the movies, I've gotten to keep traveling. I've always been interested in other cultures and languages.”

“In principle, I think the idea of rewarding a good effort is interesting, but movies are generally different from each other as are performances and the conditions on how the performances are given and how they're edited and so forth.”

“When I have a day off, I won't spend it at a Hollywood party. I'd rather be at home with paints and a blank canvas.”

“It's true that I have a wide range of interests. I like to write and paint and make music and go walking on my own and garden. In fact, gardening is probably what I enjoy doing more than anything else.”

“I like stories that leave you wanting more, leave you wondering, but don't tell you everything.”

“When I heard Puerto Ricans in New York City, it sounded very strange. And the first time I heard someone from Spain, I thought they had a speech impediment!”

“This basic thing I always do: 'What happened between the character's birth, and page one of the script?' Anything that's not in the story, I'll fill in the blanks.”

“I suppose a good director is like a teacher. I think that someone like David Cronenberg was very much like a teacher, because there's an openness, but a certain set of rules of behavior, and a certain conduct expected. But there's an atmosphere that's relaxed and conducive to exploration, and that is created by someone like Cronenberg.”

“What art does is it makes you feel alive and makes you feel like you're connected.”

“With any character I have played, there's infinite possibilities for how they might behave, depending on who they are talking to or how they react to things.”

“With few exceptions, one ought always do what one is afraid of.”

“I don't have a BlackBerry or whatever you call it. And there is something to be said for being isolated and out of phone range, because you can fall into a habit to such a degree that you don't even realise that you've lost something: silence.”