Viggo Mortensen on his return to directing with 'The Dead Don't Hurt'

euronews (in English)

With an extensive career as an actor, the Danish-American is back behind the camera with a second feature film. He speaks to Euronews about the experience.

Transcript

00:00After a 40-year career in front of the camera as an actor, Viggo Mortensen is back behind

00:08the camera with a second feature film, The Dead Don't Hurt, in which he's the producer,

00:13director, scriptwriter and soundtrack composer while also playing the lead role.

00:19The Dead Don't Hurt is a love story between two foreigners in the Wild West, in which

00:23he stars with the Luxembourger Vicky Creeps.

00:26Directing and directing at the same time is a challenge.

00:56Many are more efficient, but you get more tired.

01:04Like everyone of his generation, Viggo Mortensen grew up watching westerns.

01:09If the genre experienced a golden age in Hollywood 60 years ago or more, in recent years we've

01:14seen a revival.

01:17Whether through the big studios or independent films like this one, westerns have been returning

01:22to the big screen with some regularity.

01:24Kids my age, or people from my generation, not just boys but girls also, there were lots

01:36of western series on TV, they always showed old western movies on TV at night, on the

01:42weekends.

01:44And you could still, it was sort of the end of the golden era, you could still in the

01:48early 60s anyway, until the mid 60s you would see once in a while go see a new western in

01:54the movie theatre.

01:55Not like now where it's very unusual, but it's a business you know.

01:59If westerns do well and people like them, whether it's on TV series or a movie like

02:06The Dead Don't Hurt like this one, then they'll make more.

02:13The Dead Don't Hurt is now showing in film theatres in countries like Portugal, Poland

02:18and Ukraine, and can be seen in the US through the streaming platform Paramount+.

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