When Acting Disappears: How Viggo Mortensen Became Aragorn
There are performances that impress, performances that convince, and then there are performances that seem to erase the line between actor and character entirely. What Viggo Mortensen achieved during the filming of The Lord of the Rings belongs to the last category. It wasn’t method acting in the theatrical sense, nor was it a publicity-crafted myth. It was something quieter, more physical, more total. Over the course of three films shot deep in New Zealand’s wilderness, Mortensen didn’t simply play Aragorn. He lived as him.
Long before audiences met the Ranger of the North on screen, Mortensen had already decided something unusual. He would not treat Aragorn as a costume he put on between takes. He would treat him as a man who existed—who walked, trained, slept, ate, bled, and endured th...
