Viggo Signs on for Cronenberg's 'Eastern Promises 2' & Replaces Christoph Waltz in 'The Talking Cure'

Looks like Viggo Mortensen's retirement was more like just a little time off. He's saving the day for director David Cronenberg, replacing new Oscar® winner Christoph Waltz in the director's The Talking Cure, and that's the first new job he's accepted in well over a year, maybe two. And the news just got better.

According to Playlist Viggo and Cronenberg will be making a sequel to Eastern Promises, which will also mark a return to the scene of the crime for writer Steve Knight. Focus Features has already shown the project the green light and hopes to shoot it next winter. Though the news seems to be coming out of left field, the film has actually been in the works since the spring of 2009.

Naomi Watts's involvement in the sequel is unknown. The big reveal in the film (spoiler follows) is that Mortensen's thug named Nikolai Luzhin is an undercover agent in London, whose dedication to the gig is exemplified by a body painted heavily in esoteric gang tatts and a submersion in several homicides. The film’s graphic and bloody action sequence in a bath house is considered classic for the modern crime genre.

The Talking Cure

Christoph Waltz is playing another psychopath in Water For Elephants. In going for that role, he dropped out of playing one of the most influential Jews in history Sigmund Freud, in David Cronenberg’s The Talking Cure. The film starts lensing on May 17 for 10 weeks. Based on the play by Christopher Hampton, the pic is about the conflict between Freud and his pupil Jung.

Waltz’s departure left the producers scrabbling for a replacement. There were fears they would have to scrap the German/Canadian co-production completely. Happily, Viggo, who worked so memorably with Cronenberg on Eastern Promises, replaced Waltz. Mortensen will star as Freud opposite Michael Fassbender as Jung. Keira Knightley will play Sabina, a disturbed young woman brought to see Jung by her father. Jung and Sabina have an affair, and the producers are promising me “lots of spirited sex” like the sex scene with Maria Bello in Cronenberg's A History Of Violence. Knightly's steamy sex scene in Atonement provides a hint of what we may be in for... only "Cronenberg-style."

Any new collaboration between Mortensen and Cronenberg is always ground-breaking and unpredictable. The film will mark the duo's fourth straight film together; they are clearly relishing their working relationship. The pair are already hard at work prepping The Talking Cure.

Viggo is back in the saddle. Now that's an UberBingo!

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Source: ThePlaylist, Deadline, /Film

'THE ROAD' Oscar® Buzz! & New International Trailer

After the success of No Country For Old Men it was only a matter of time before more Cormac McCarthy novels were adapted for the big screen.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Road film adaptation stars Viggo Mortensen who turns in a performance worthy of an Oscar® nomination. He just may take home the hardware this year!



Mortensen leads an all-star cast featuring Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce and young newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee in this epic post-apocalyptic tale of the survival of a father (Mortsensen) and his young son (Smit-McPhee) as they journey across a barren America that was destroyed by a mysterious cataclysm.

The Road is an emotionally charged masterpiece adventure set in a post-apocalyptic world. It boldly imagines a future in which men are pushed to the worst and the best that they are capable of—a future in which a father and his son are sustained by love. Shot in real environment and "playing it for keeps emotionally" emotionally the tough journey unravelled in The Road is both beautiful to look at and believable, with an uplifting ending. In conclusion, being kind is the most important thing.

Check out the new UK (international) trailer below.



We highly recommend you experience The Road, a soon to become favorite 21st century classic. Looks like Harvey and Bob have another Oscar® contender to add to their slate of Oscar® Buzz films this year: NINE, A Single Man, and Inglorious Basterds! The Weinstein Company's The Road is currently playing in theaters across North America.

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'THE ROAD: Dream Sequence' Movie Clip with Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron

Viggo Mortensen in 'The Road'

Check out a new clip for The Road starring Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Robert Duvall, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Garret Dillahunt, and directed by John Hillcoat.

Synopsis
A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and, when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing: just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food--and each other.

The man (Viggo Mortensen) dreams about his past life. Watch the clip below.

Viggo appeared on David Letterman last night. Below is a clip from the show.



Time for another Oscar® nom for Viggo Mortensen, only this time he just might be going home with the coveted hardware from AMPAS®!

The Road opens in theatres on November 25, 2009.

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'The Road' LA Screening with Viggo Mortensen on Nov 9th!

Join Back Stage on Monday, November 9 for a Los Angeles screening of the new film The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen, who will hold a Q&A immediately afterward.

The Road is based on a novel by Cormac McCarthy, author of "No Country For Old Men." In it, a father (Mortensen) must ensure the survival of his wife (Charlize Theron) and son in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where it appears almost all over humankind has vanished.

Mortensen's credits include "A History Of Violence" and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2008 for his portrayal of the Russian mobster Nikolai in director David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises."

Another Oscar^® nomination for Mortensen? Absolutely! We'll be keeping a close eye on Viggo now that Awards Season is in full swing.

The screening will take place at 8 p.m. at:
The Landmark Theatre
1080 West Pico Blvd.
(free parking -- enter on Westwood Blvd. or Pico Blvd.)

To RSVP, please send an email to: theroadbackstage@gmail.com. Send your full name and please indicate if you plan to bring a guest. A reservation does not guarantee admittance.

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Source: BackStage.com

Viggo Starves on Dark Chocolate on The Road

Viggo Mortensen, 'The Road'
Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival
Mayfair Hotel, October 16, 2009, London, England.
(Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

Actor Viggo Mortensen (LOTR, Eastern Promises, A History of Violence) turned 51 yesterday. Happy Birthday Viggo!

Viggo shed 20 pounds while filming The Road, based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel about a father and son struggling to survive in post-apocalyptic world.

Kodi Smit-McPhee and Viggo Mortensen in
John Hillcoat's 'The Road'
(Photo by Macall Polay/The Weinstein Company)

The lean actor got even thinner by sticking to a diet of dark chocolate and “a bit of red meat” during the 55-day shoot, director John Hillcoat said following a screening in Los Angeles.

Mortensen’s weight loss is evident in the movie. His ribs protrude noticeably in a couple of shirtless scenes.

Viggo Mortensen, 'The Road' press conference ,
Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival,
Mayfair Hotel, October 16, 2009, London, England.
(Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

(L-R) Director John Hillcoat, writer Joe Penhall and actor Viggo Mortensen
(Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

“He starved himself,” producer Steve Schwartz said. “He was in his role all of the time.”

In the film an unspecified catastrophe leaves the Earth’s soil sterile, forcing survivors to scavenge ruined cities for canned food while dodging cannibals. Mortensen’s character and his son try to maintain their humanity while searching for a safe haven.

The book won McCarthy the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2007 and the film earned Hillcoat a Golden Lion nomination at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

Last month we reported Mortensen was quitting acting after promoting The Road which opens which opens Nov. 25. Oh Viggo, please say it isn't so! I have a feeling we'll be seeing alot more of Viggolicious come awards season!

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Source: Bloomberg.com

Ian McKellen Talks The Hobbit/Magneto

Empire caught up with Sir Ian McKellen who was at the San Sebastian Film Festival to pick up a lifetime achievement award. Here's the latest scoop on: The Hobbit and the X-Men franchise.

Firstly The Hobbit: It’s been known for some while now that Sir Ian would be reprising his role as Gandalf (the Grey variety this time) for Guillermo del Toro’s Lord of the Rings prequel. But he had a few additional titbits to spill this time around.

"The scripts for the two films will be delivered very soon," he said. "Then they'll be budgeted, and then they'll be cast. And they'll be going when they've always said they would be, which is next spring -- March or April. Guillermo even told me at one point, 'We're going to film for 383 days.' He's got that artistic autism!

"Jackson's the same; they're very, very, very alike. They are also very different, but they've so much in common. They both can't stand Hollywood and have wonderful imaginations, and they're both obsessed with gore and fantasy. Both of them laugh a great deal. Guillermo's one of the most brilliant men I've ever met. His English vocabulary is way superior to mine!”

Orlando Bloom as Legolas Greenleaf (left) and Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn
© 2002 New Line Productions (Pierre Vinet)

There’s been fervent speculation about the possible return of other Rings cast members, with the likes of Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom would return as Aragorn and Legolas in the frame for cameos, but Sir Ian isn’t convinced. "Unfortunately, there won't be many of the actors going back," he said, "unless they're going to put masks on and be disguised as dwarves! Andy Serkis is, at the moment, I think, the only other actor who's doing this film."

Of course, we fully expect Hugo Weaving to pop up as Elrond, but that announcement will doubtless come in due course.

X-Men Origins: Magneto is still in a state of flux. Rumour has it that the script would call for a McKellen appearance to bookend the prequel action, but the actor says he’s heard nowt.

“There's meant to be a Magneto script floating around, but I've not read it, so I suspect it wouldn't involve me,” he said. “I think it would be about the younger Magneto, and the most I could hope for would be to top and tail that. They can't have someone whose face is as lined as mine any longer!”

Empire, of course, reminded him about the sudden appearance of a mysteriously de-aged Patrick Stewart in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, prompting a hearty guffaw.

“Ooh, he was very pleased with himself that he was going in to be in Wolverine,” cackled Sir Ian. “It was only an hour's work! We were working on Waiting For Godot at the time!”

So there you have it!

For the latest Hobbit news join the Guillermo del Toro Facebook Group.

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Source: EmpireOnline.com

'Fellowship of the Ring' Screening at Radio City Music Hall with Live Orchestra & Choir Performing Howard Shore's Score!

Last night, NYC’s Radio City Music Hall played host to a screening of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Howard Shore's original Academy Award®-winning score was performed live to the epic motion picture by the 21st Century Orchestra, The Collegiate Chorale and Brooklyn Youth Chorus conducted by Ludwig Wicki.

Marc Bernardin of PopWatch.Ew.com was at the event and reports that "watching it with a crowd who knew every beat (and some of whom were dressed as their favorite elves or wizards), applauded at every major character introduction (it was a loudness-tie between Viggo Mortensen’s Aragorn and Orlando Bloom’s Legolas) and minor cameo (like Jackson’s), and knew when to laugh and then shut up was a hoot and a half."

Orlando Bloom as Legolas Greenleaf (left) and Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn
© 2002 New Line Productions (Pierre Vinet)

Add to this the spectacle of a live orchestra and choir and this event was an over-the-top treat for LOTR fans! Wish I had been there!

"After the two-and-a-half hours of Fellowship came to an end and the orchestra took their final bows, composer Howard Shore walked out on stage, accompanied by two special guests: Elijah Wood and Billy Boyd. They looked just as tickled by the evening as the audience was."

Great news - for those of you who missed this epic LOTR event, the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers will be screened in the same fashion at Radio City on Oct. 9, 2010. I'm there! Who wants to join me for a LOTR weekend in NYC?

Keep abreast of The Two Towers Radio City Music Hall 2010 event by signing up on the RadioCityLOTRConcert.com site. The signup field is located at the top right hand corner of the site.

Hey Hobbit fans, join the Guillermo del Toro FaceBook Group!

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Source: Popwatch.ew.com, Theradiocitylotrconcert.com