The two looked a bit tired when they showed up for interview. You could see it on their faces. Then, Viggo offered candies to reporters. What impressed me was how he tried to answer questions as simple as possible, although he seemed to want to speak much longer.
QUESTION: You played men from kings’ family. Since you devoted to the movie so much, were there any influences to your real life?
KARL URBAN: There were many things I got from this movie. There are a lot of new techniques. And I got friends whom I guess I will keep friendship throughout my life.
VIGGO MORTENSEN: [Viggo, who cares so much about people, gave candies to journalists who attended.] Feel free to eat them. I have the same opinion with Karl. Whenever I see him, and see everybody else who works in this movie, not only casts and crews, I feel like seeing family members whom I haven’t seen for a while. I played my role, and I came in touch with Tolkien’s book. Because of that, I was interested in the mythologies and folktales which I read long ago and read them again.
Q: I heard there were really many injuries while shooting. Have you ever felt your life was at risk? Have you had the same idea with actors who say that they will be happy to die on the stage?
VIGGO: Nobody knows when he dies. Since I have a lot of things that I want to do, I don’t want to die no matter it is on a stage or not. But there are scenes which I was on a horse or in water, and there were moments I felt danger and became nervous. However, these dangerous scenes gave reality to the film; therefore we had to challenge them. I fell off from horses a few times, but I was not injured so much to stop shooting. Once I was dragged into a river flow and I couldn’t breathe. I felt it was no good. Usually at shooting I was so into, then after shooting when I was talking with somebody, I would notice “Wait a minute. I was in danger at that moment, wasn’t I?”
KARL: It is not only while shooting [that it was dangerous]. We moved to locations with small planes. Sometimes they made narrow runways on meadow, because they didn’t have any [laugh]. We flew through between mountains with choppers. There were a lot of dangers.
Q: I heard you actually stayed in a hut while you were playing Aragorn. How did you spend time there?
VIGGO: I have been asked often about it. I don’t understand why it became such a big topic. We moved quite a lot and I myself enjoy outdoor. I love to be in the nature, and there were time when I tried to spend my time in the nature as much as possible while shooting. However, I haven’t done like that all the time, and it was impossible because we moved a lot. I have just enjoyed when I could. I was not sure when I could be back there, and I thought I would enjoy it while I could.
Q: What you have kept in mind to get into the skin of your role?
KARL: I, as the nephew of the king of the Rohan, have kept in mind that I am the person to serve the people, not to be served by the people.
Q: I suppose you are busy as an actor. How important for you the other factors such as a poet, a painter and a photographer? Have you written any poems by acting Aragorn?
VIGGO: To tell the truth, the time to do what I want to do is decreasing rapidly. I get used to pile up what I want to do for several years, and sleeping time has been shortened a lot. But I feel I am alive when I am doing what I love to do. Now it is very hard to balance it because other people, not me, have increased what I have to do [laugh]. It is OK for taking photos, but it takes a lot of time to paint and to write poems. Anyway, I tried to find time, but I am not sure how I should do. Regarding Aragorn’s influence to poems, I haven’t thought about it so much. But if I would say what was influenced by the experience to tackle with the work of Tolkien in New Zealand, it was my painting; for example, the color I chose. Colors in New Zealand are really unique, no matter green or blue. Even if you take photos of its landscapes with very a cheap camera, it presents you colors that don’t exist other places. I remember I saw such colors in Argentina where I used to live as a child. It is not completely the same, but I remember they were really wonderful.
Q: How did you spend your time between shooting? Have you separated from your role completely while resting time?
KARL: I fortunately had holidays while shooting. I often went skiing and fishing, played golf and had a walk. We shot on beautiful remote locations, so I was just walking around. I am really appreciated it, because not everybody could have such time off. Regarding whether I was away from the role. On the days when I took energetic scenes, most of my scenes are the ones with strong emotions but, on such a day, I was keep thinking even in bed. Like I should hide such emotion or not. I spent some hours to repeat scenes I took on that day and then fell into sleep. Now I am talking with you, but some months later I will be back to New Zealand for re-shooting of the third film. Therefore, I will experience such days again.
VIGGO: My turn? I am not in a hurry and I think it is OK to keep something from roles I have played. Maybe sometimes it changes something inside me forever, I don’t know. I think it is good if there is something to learn from the role. I just laughed to hear when he said he couldn’t separate himself from his role, didn’t he? I think it is a good signal. If you can’t control it, it might make you crazy [laugh], but you need it to create something best.
Q: I felt that there were more scenes which were different from the book in The Two Towers compare to The Fellowship of the Ring. I assumed that you talked with Peter Jackson to emphasize the psychological background of the characters. Could you tell us about it? And one more, what are you drinking, Viggo?
VIGGO: I am drinking Mate tea. He [Peter Jackson] doesn’t tell us anything, so I was always surprised. That’s true that he had interpreted the book in his own way and has developed the story, but he grabbed surely the spirit in the book. Therefore, it expressed the reality of the book and feeling of each character in real. That is the cause why this movie has been accepted by many people. You can’t pretend love. And how far we can do for one another cannot be shown with love only on the surface.
KARL: It is beautiful that the love between Aragorn and Arwen has been developed in the heart of Aragorn. It is really moving and delicate. She is beside him when he is really in trouble. It is not physically, but spiritually. It is beautiful and unique, I think. In the book Arwen doesn’t show up often among the journey, but what makes Aragorn move is the love with Arwen.