In a recent interview, Viggo made this lovely comment!

What kind of special bond did you develop with T.J., the horse who
played Hidalgo?
I don't talk about my relationships! (laughs) They do say that you
shouldn't get involved with your co-workers, but sometimes it
happens, you know?


The whole interview is printed below:


FROM MIDDLE EARTH TO SAHARA
Dust storms in the Sahara, endless sand in everything, countless days
of hard yakka, lots of tough stunts - but that's nothing after Lord
of The Rings for Viggo Mortensen, who tells all about his latest
film, Hidalgo, to Jenny Cooney Carrillo - except about his
relationship with the trusty TJ.


Is there anything Viggo Mortensen can't do? Apparently not. The
rugged 46-year-old star who became King Aragorn in the Lord of the
Rings trilogy is also a noted artist who writes poetry, takes
photographs and composes music. Now, he's proven that he can carry a
Hollywood movie without the help of Tolkien, as his adventure drama
film Hidalgo JUST took US$19 million on its US opening weekend.
(Australian release: March 18, 2004)

Hidalgo is based on the (supposedly) true story of cowboy Frank T.
Hopkins, one of the greatest endurance riders in America in the 1890s
who also worked with Buffalo Bill as a show rider. Along with his
beloved mustang horse Hidalgo, Frank becomes the first American
invited to enter the Ocean of Fire, a grueling 300-mile survival race
across the punishing Arabian Desert. With his competitors vowing
victory, the race becomes not only a matter of pride and honour but a
fight for survival as they attempt the impossible.

The down-to-earth Viggo is passionate about this project; he financed
and produced a book of his photographs from the film, titled 'The
Horse is Good', and also produced a short DVD with documentary
footage he shot of Native American Indians talking about Frank T.
Hopkins and his own tribute to Hidalgo, both of which he proudly
hands me as we sit down at a Century City hotel to talk about life
after Lord of the Rings.

How do you feel about western movies?
I worked on Young Guns 2 back in 1990 but otherwise I haven't had
much experience with that genre. I do consider myself fortunate that
most actors don't usually get a chance to even one time be in a movie
that is not only epic and entertaining but also thought-provoking and
has a lot of popular appeal. Now I've done two projects like that in
a row: Lord of the Rings and Hidalgo, so I'm very fortunate.

Are you a fan of any western movies?
I don't have one particular western hero but there are actors who are
not known for being great western actors yet their performances are
great in them. Like in 1947, nobody would have expected Montgomery
Clift to be able to stand up to John Wayne in Red River, a movie I
really like, and that performance as a cowboy is great. I have an
affinity and an interest with Buffalo Bill because on my mother's
side of the family we are related to William F. Cody, so that made it
particularly interesting to work on this story.

What kind of research did you do?
The writer of the movie needed to know all about Arabia and about
that race but as Frank Hopkins, I could be as ignorant as I wanted
about that part of the world because as the character in the story,
even though I'm interested in different cultures, I didn't know
anything about what I was getting myself into when I said yes to be
in that race. So what I needed to focus on to prepare for this role
was just working with horses and getting as comfortable as I could
and understanding as much as I could about how cowboys related to
horses and the way cowboys specifically in 1890 would have acted.

Was it tough?
Yeah, but it was also fun. As a boy I would play at being a cowboy or
an Indian like a lot of boys do and in this movie I get to be in a
way both a cowboy and an Indian! As well as the horse riding my other
job was to do the best job I could at seeming to be fluent equally in
English and Lakota and that was the hardest part.

How realistic was the Native American Indian culture shown in the movie?
Every effort was made by everybody to go the extra mile and take the
authenticity very seriously. We could have shot in California but we
went to South Dakota to shoot the Wounded Knee massacre, and we did
it with Lakota people and a medicine man who was their spiritual
leader, Sonny Richards, who trained people in the ritual of the song
that I also got permission to sing later in the film. When we shot
the massacre scene, even the most hardened crewmembers were moved.
There was a silence and respect that you don't usually see on a movie
set. This is a great adventure story and we wanted to do it right and
with respect for the Arab culture and the Native American Indian
culture.

How physically demanding was this film? Did you have to use doubles
or stuntmen?
I think you can see when you watch this movie that there isn't much
doubling or computer work. What special effects were used were
subtle, and didn't drive the movie. As far as the movie being hard,
certainly after the experience of working with Peter Jackson for the
past few years, it's all relative (laughs)! I remember one day being
in the Sahara Desert and riding on the horse and I passed a couple of
crew members who were grousing a bit about how long we'd been there
and how hot it was and how much they hated the dust storms that
screwed up the cameras and so on - and I actually laughed! Not in a
mean way, but I just said, 'guys, come on!' We spent so long on Lord
of the Rings working in diverse locations and different weather
conditions that it prepared me for pretty much anything. I think the
desert was harder on the horses than on us, because the dust gave
them congestion and the dryness would make their hooves crack no
matter how much grease we put on them, so that was hard.

Did you do all the riding?
There was an excellent stuntman, Mike Watson, who would always try
the difficult things before me but with the exception of one or two
things, I pretty much got to do all of it, and that's not because my
ego requires that I get to do all my stunts as I do here or in Lord
of the Rings, but I know it's of service to the director. You can see
in Hidalgo and Lord of the Rings that it is me in those scenes and
that is helpful to the movie. I rode a lot as a kid and I was
familiar and comfortable with horses so game to try. I do have to
admit that in the middle of some of those stunts I did start to
regret saying yes, when I saw the stallions packed together and I was
barely in control. When you're a kid, you remember going full blast
across fields of high grass and falling and somersaulting off the
horse and you don't think about it. As an adult, you're more fragile
and I was always thinking about 'if I fall off here with all these
rocks, it's going to hurt!' So I think it's good to have a certain
amount of respect for the situation and for the horses.

What kind of special bond did you develop with T.J., the horse who
played Hidalgo?
I don't talk about my relationships! (laughs) They do say that you
shouldn't get involved with your co-workers, but sometimes it
happens, you know?

Now that Lord of the Rings is over, have you been able to digest the
impact that it had on you, personally and professionally?
I'm aware of the fact that I would not have got the part of Frank
Hopkins in this movie without The Fellowship of the Ring, which is
the film that had come out when I got this part. But to be honest
with you, I've been on a press tour for four months talking about
Lord of the Rings and I haven't had time to consider what you're
asking. I have a little less privacy and a little less time for
myself but I have to mostly take that as flattering and as a
compliment. It means that you, together with the other people, have
gotten something right or helped a director get something right.
You've struck a chord and so you can't complain about that too much.

Do you feel you can reclaim your normal life after Lord of the Rings
or will things always be different after success of that level?
Your life is as out of control as you allow it to be, but I think
most of the time I will endeavour to continue to mind my own business
and let other people mind theirs, unless their business infringes on
mine and then I'll say something about it or do something. But I
don't really have an easy answer to that question. I know that for
the next few months I'll be travelling again to talk about making
movies instead of actually making movies (laughs) and I won't be able
to sleep with T.J. every single night (laughs), but these are crosses
we have to bear! I'm not very good at planning ahead and when I am
forced to think too far ahead it stresses me out, so I guess I have
no answer.