‘Lord Of The Rings’ Star Viggo Mortensen Trashes Franchise

Fans of the Lord of The Rings franchise might want to cover their eyes before reading as one of the stars of the films has spoken out against the franchise. Star Viggo Mortensen, who portrayed Aragon in the Lord of The Rings films, is trashing them in a new interview with The Telegraph.

During the discussion, Mortensen called the installments “messy.” That’s not all as the actor went on to say that the final two “would have been straight to video” if the first film wasn’t such a huge success. Mortensen, who seems to be on a Lord of The Rings tear, said that no one knew the franchise was going to be a success, insinuating it was a stroke of luck.

“Anybody who says they knew it was going to be the success it was, I don’t think it’s really true.”

Explaining the moment when the first few minutes of the footage was shown for the first installment.

“They didn’t have an inkling until they showed 20 minutes in Cannes, in May of 2001. They were in a lot of trouble, and Peter [Jackson] had spent a lot. Officially, he could say that he was finished in December 2000 – he’d shot all three films in the trilogy – but really the second and third ones were a mess.”

He continued to describe the second and third installments of the franchise as “sloppy.”

“It was very sloppy – it just wasn’t done at all. It needed massive reshoots, which we did, year after year.”

Although it’s obvious that the actor isn’t thrilled with the series as a whole, that doesn’t mean Viggo didn’t appreciate Lord of The Rings. The actor admits that he really enjoyed the first installment, regardless if it was an obvious hit or not.

His reason is that it was shot in one go.

These days, Mortensen is happier when he’s away from the blockbuster films. His newest film, a thriller, called The Two Faces of January, goes for a simpler aesthetic, as opposed to Peter Jackson’s CGI. Mortensen said of Jackson’s evolution as a filmmaker:

“Peter was always a geek in terms of technology but, once he had the means to do it, and the evolution of the technology really took off, he never looked back. In the first movie, yes, there’s Rivendell, and Mordor, but there’s sort of an organic quality to it, actors acting with each other, and real landscapes; it’s grittier.”

Viggo’s new film opens in theaters on October 3.

[Image via Rene Teichmann / Shutterstock.com]