Viggo Mortensen has been known for portraying the iconic role of Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Portraying the battle-weary warrior who becomes a king, the actor has often been associated with such heavy roles ever since 2001.
Well, in 2005, Mortensen starred in a movie titled A History of Violence. And with David Cronenberg at the helm of the movie as its director, things got quite awkward. Talking about a love-making scene that Cronenberg wanted in a specific way, Viggo Mortensen revealed that the director stripped in front of him and along with his wife, showed him how to do the love scene!
Viggo Mortensen Had Wandered Into A Dream
At least that’s what the actor wished it was because in front of his eyes, was director David Cronenberg along with his wife in some “comfortable” clothes! Mortensen had to do a love scene with his co-star Maria Bello, but Cronenberg wanted it a certain way.
Well, since he and Viggo Mortensen had done four films together, the lines between professionalism and some personal things seemed to have blurred a little. In an interview with Contact Music, the Green Book actor revealed that Cronenberg called his wife on the sets of the 2005 movie and they both got into a little something more…comfortable.
“David, trying to be helpful, as usual, thought it might be a good idea to call up his wife and have her come down to the set. The crew and Maria and I just sat and watched while he and his wife got into something comfortable – nothing – and they started to say, ‘We want you to [do this]'”
The actor continued,
“Maria and I were both going, ‘Ok, we get it’. This is a testament to their relationship, they kept going and they kept going and then we broke for lunch and some time in the evening Maria and I got to have a crack at it.”
With Mortensen saying “Some things ought to stay private”, director David Cronenberg denied the alleged story and revealed a hilarious reason why they came up with the story.
David Cronenberg Denied The Viggo Mortensen Story
Years later, the director was asked whether the story that Mortensen had dictated all those years back had any truth to it. As per his interview with The Hollywood Reporter (via Contact Music) they started making ridiculous stories because they were bored out of their minds.
“When you are on the road doing publicity, you get very bored because people ask you the same questions, so Viggo and I spontaneously started to say outrageous things. Viggo said, ‘I really didn’t know how to do this sex scene on the stairs, so David said, I’ll show you with my wife, because we do this all the time.’ It was totally not true. But I said, ‘Yeah, you have to give your actor whatever help you can give him.’”
Whether director David Cronenberg really stripped or not, Viggo Mortensen’s A History of Violence earned a rating of 7.4/10 on IMDB and 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The 2005 movie is available to rent on Apple TV+.
Source: Contact Music, The Hollywood Reporter (via Contact Music)
