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As Regards Hillary C;inton's Foreign Policy Actions And The Powerful Vested Interests She Seems Gleefully Beholden To, Including All The Biggest Players In The Military-industrial Complex, I Feel That She Would Be No Better An Actor On The World Stage Than Trump And Whatever Coalition Of Managers He Might Cobble Together.

-Viggo Mortensen

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As Regards Hillary C;inton's

Viggo Mortensen

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As Regards Hillary C;inton's Foreign Policy Actions And The Powerful Vested Interests She Seems Gleefully Beholden To, Including All The Biggest Players In The Military-industrial Complex, I Feel That She Would Be No Better An Actor On The World Stage Than Trump And Whatever Coalition Of Managers He Might Cobble Together.

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It's Just Like With People. You're Going To Get Along Better Working With Them - Human Or Equine - If You Ask Politely Rather Than Demand That They Do Things.

I'm Very Comfortable In Argentina. I Was Raised There As A Baby And Stayed There Until I Was 11 Years Old, So The First Decade Of My Life Or My Formative Years Were Spent In Argentina. I Stayed In Tune With The Food, Music And Language.

I Don't Have A Blackberry Or Whatever You Call It. And There Is Something To Be Said For Being Isolated And Out Of Phone Range, Because You Can Fall Into A Habit To Such A Degree That You Don't Even Realise That You've Lost Something: Silence.

'the Road' Is About That Fear That All Parents Can Have. What's Going To Happen To Your Child If You're Not Around? It Takes Those Concerns To An Extreme. In The Film, Without Me The Boy Has No Food, No Shelter, No Resources At All.

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It's Almost A Standard Tactic, Really, To Try To Minimize Any Effort That People In The Entertainment Business Or In Any Public Occupation Make To Express Themselves.

The First Decade Of Your Life Is Really Important; It's Formative.

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Be Kind. It's Worthwhile To Make An Effort To Learn About Other People And Figure Out What You Might Have In Common With Them. If You Allow Yourself To Be Somewhat Curious - And If You Get Into The Habit Of Doing That - It's The First Step To Being Open Minded And Realizing That Your Points Of View Aren't Totally Opposite.

If You're Not Optimistic On Some Level, Then You've Given Up.

There Are People That Grandstand And Seem To Be Publicly Politically Engaged Because They Like The Attention, More Than Because They're Genuinely Concerned About The World. But I Don't Think That's The Majority.

[captain Fantastic] It's A Great Story. It's One Of The Better Scripts I've Read, Ever, As Far As Being Great From Beginning To End. It Handles A Variety Of Characters. You Have Six Children Who All Stand On Their Own, They're All Individuals. And It Touches On A Very Real Issue, Which Is The Lack Of Cohesion And Communication In America Right Now.

Kids Accept Where They Are Because They Don't Know The Past. They Know What They Have; They Know Where They Are.

You See People On The Street Yelling And Think They're Crazy, But Maybe They're Just Happy And Expressing What They Feel At All Times.

I Don't Like People Who Get Into Fights About Football - Or Anything Else.

Saying You Are A Patriot Does Not Make You One; Wearing A Flag Pin Does Not In Itself Mean Anything At All.

You Can't Really Divorce Yourself And Your Life From The World You Live In.

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Most Movies Are Lucky To Have One Moment, One Shot That You Look At And You Always Remember That Moment And That Scene.

A Little Recognition Is Not A Bad Thing Because It Means People Appreciate Your Work. The Only Problem Is When You Can't Walk Down The Street Or Have A Meal Without People Looking At You. I Want To Be The One Looking At People.

Life Is Short And The Older You Get, The More You Feel It. Indeed, The Shorter It Is.

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I Take My Work Seriously, But It's Not The Only Thing That Exists In The World.

I Have A Multicultural Background, So I Tend To Have An Open Mind About Things, And I Find Other Cultures Interesting.

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Some Actors Learn The Habit Of Promoting Themselves As A Brand - By Dressing In A Certain Way, By Going Out With A Certain Person - It Gives Them What They Obviously Want, Which Is To Keep A Level Of Fame. I'm Not Putting It Down.

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I'm An Optimist; I Always Hope That Each New Script Is Going To Be A Great Story.

I Realise How Important It Is To Use The Time I Have. I Respect People Who Want To Do That By Watching Television. I Happen To Want To Read Books. But I Know I Can't Read All The Books Or Watch All The Movies In One Lifetime.

The Best Thing An Actor Can Be Is Flexible, Because All Directors Are Different And All Actors Are Different.

Further Devastation Of The Air, Land And Sea Is Obviously A Very Real Possibility, Unless The Attitudes Of Politicians And All Who Irresponsibly Exploit Our Natural Resources Change Significantly In The Very Near Future And All Collaborate And Sacrifice For The Good Of The Planet.

I'm Not Afraid Of Death, But I Resent It. I Think It's Unfair And Irritating. Every Time I See Something Beautiful, I Not Only Want To Return To It, But It Makes Me Want To See Other Beautiful Things. I Know I'm Not Going To Get To All The Places I Want To Go.

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Be Kind. It's Worthwhile To Make An Effort To Learn About Other People And Figure Out What You Might Have In Common With Them.

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Awards For Arts, Where You Make Comparisons, Don't Make Much Sense.

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I Don't Speak Up About Something Unless I Feel Strongly About It And Until I've Researched A Subject Extensively And Have An Informed Decision About It.

It Doesn't Take That Many Years For A Kid To Realise That They're Going To Die. It's Always There In The Back Of Their Mind The Rest Of Their Lives.

If I Can Get A Day To Myself, I Won't Answer The Phone, I'll Read Or Go For A Walk. Simple, Basic Things. People Think There's Always Time To Do That But There Isn't. Life Is Short.

You Can't Really Go Back To Where You Came From. I Don't Think Any Of Us Can.

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I Think You Have To Be Flexible Above All As An Actor; Different Characters Have Different Demands, Actors That You Work With Are Different In Their Approach, Or How You Get Along Or Don't Get Along With Them.

Most Actors Can't Make Any Kind Of Living.

I Have No Idea What 'method Actor' Means.

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If You Don't Find Some Way To Discuss What's Going On Inside You, It Can Come Out In Other Ways That Are Self-destructive.

If You're Trying To Please Everyone, Then You're Not Going To Make Anything That Is Honestly Yours, I Don't Think, In The Long Run.

Travel Is One Of The Best Anti-war Weapons That There Are. I've Been To Iran, And If You're There You See Little Kids, Cops, Old People, Cemeteries. Once You See That, You Can't Say, 'oh, Iran, Let's Bomb Them.'

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Captain Fantastic Touches On That [division]. You Meet This Family That Lives Off The Grid In The Woods And You Go, "oh, It's Some Kind Of Liberal Utopian Fantasy. The Enemy Is Gonna Be All These Conservative Types That They'll Probably Run Into, And That's Going To Be The Story."

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When People Say That Entertainers Should "know Your Place," They Might As Well Say The Same Thing About Plumbers And Teachers And Cab Drivers. We All Should Be Able To Express Our Views.

As Aragorn Said At Helm's Deep, "there Is Always Hope."

I Like A Twisted Sense Of Humour. On 'a History Of Violence,' David Cronenberg And I Would Be Doing The Grimmest Scenes And Laugh A Lot.

I Don't Think Adam Sandler Or Will Ferrell Fear Competition From Me In Their Arena.

In Principle, I Think The Idea Of Rewarding A Good Effort Is Interesting, But Movies Are Generally Different From Each Other As Are Performances And The Conditions On How The Performances Are Given And How They're Edited And So Forth.

If In My Twenties I'd Gotten One Of The Two-dozen Roles That I Did Screen Tests For And Almost Got, I Think I Would Have Become Bored With The Awards Circuit, The Whole Hype Machine.

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I Like Movies That Leave You With Something To Think About, To Discuss, To Debate, You Know?

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Asking Questions

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To Be An Artist, You Don't Have To Compose Music Or Paint Or Be In The Movies Or Write Books. It's Just A Way Of Living. It Has To Do With Paying Attention, Remembering, Filtering What You See And Answering Back, Participating In Life.

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Jung Viewed Freud As A Mentor, But He Never Wanted To Be Anybody's Disciple.

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It's Amazing To Me That Glenn Beck Can Be On The Cover Of 'time,' And There Can Be A Whole Article About Him Basically Saying, 'well, You Know, He's Controversial.' It's Like, 'no, He's A Dangerous Idiot Who Needs The Help Of A Good Psychiatrist!'

Looking At Acting, In The Movies Or The Theater, And The Way I Like To Look At It, It’s Just An Extension Of Childhood Play… Kids Play And Imagine In A Very Intense Fashion And They Don’t Need Any Director Telling Them “you Really Have To Believe In It.” They Believe In It Completely.

I've Never Had A Problem With People Paying Attention To What You're Doing And Say They Find That They Liked It.

As Far As Money Goes, There's A Saying In Denmark: 'your Last Suit Doesn't Have Any Pockets.' You Can't Take It With You. You Can Make All The Money You Want, But Who Cares?

I Think Every Family Is Dysfunctional, And Some Manage To Control It Better Than Others.

The Efforts Of Black Lives Matter To Bring Attention To The All-too-frequent Instances Of Unjustified Violence Being Used By Policemen May Not Be Paying Off As Quickly As Some Might Hope.

At The End Of The 19th Century And The First Half Of The 20th Century In Austria, There Was A Lot Of Anti-semitism. Anti-semitism In Austria Was Much More Pervasive Than In Germany. And Austrians Took To Nazi Ideas And Anti-semitism Much More Readily Than Germans Did, Really.

Sometimes You Look At A Movie And You Can See That The Actor Or Actress Said, 'i'm Taking This Onboard Because I'm Making A Ton Of Money, And Not Because It's Going To Be Something Special.'

My Job As An Artist, As I See It, Is To Understand And In Some Cases To Take On Various Ways Of Thinking About People And The World That Are Different From My Own, Sometimes Radically Different.

Walking Down The Street In Any Town Or City In The World And Having People Look At You And Start Talking To You, Convinced That They Know You As Well Or Better Than They Do Members Of Their Own Family, That's Just An Odd Phenomenon. But I Mean, I Wouldn't Say It Was A Bad Thing. It's An Interesting Thing.

Cities In The World

Any Nominations A Movie Gets Helps To Raise The Level Of Curiosity In The Public, So In That Sense Awards And Nominations Are Important.

I Look At My Job As Looking At The World From Points Of View That Are Different From Mine - Sometimes Radically Different From Mine.

I'm Sort Of Contrary And Stubborn Sometimes. When Everybody Says, 'you Have To Read This Book! You Have To Read This Book!' I'm Like 'oh, I'll Get Around To It.'

You Know, Freud Accepted His Lot Very Stoically And Very Well And With A Sense Of Humor. He Aged And Died Gracefully, And There's A Lot To Be Said For That.

A Lot Of People Can Forget About You In Los Angeles.

One Of The Best Pieces Of Advice I Ever Got Was From A Horse Master. He Told Me To Go Slow To Go Fast. I Think That Applies To Everything In Life. We Live As Though There Aren't Enough Hours In The Day But If We Do Each Thing Calmly And Carefully We Will Get It Done Quicker And With Much Less Stress.

If You Daren't Enter The Forest, Or Cannot Find It, Then Perhaps You Might Find One Tree, Or A Place Where A Tree Could Be, And Just Stop For A Quiet Moment To See What Happens.

Life Is Short And The Older You Get, The More You Feel It. Indeed, The Shorter It Is. People Lose Their Capacity To Walk, Run, Travel, Think, And Experience Life. I Realise How Important It Is To Use The Time I Have.

Here's Where We Are, This Is What's Happening. So Do Something, Or Get Out Of The Kitchen.

With Few Exceptions, One Ought Always Do What One Is Afraid Of.

It Is Important To Keep Protesting, To Keep Forcing A Conversation In The Public Arena. In Any Case, When You Know What The Right Thing To Do Is, Or That Something Must Be Said, It Can Be Immoral And Dangerous Not To Act.

Photography, Painting Or Poetry - Those Are Just Extensions Of Me, How I Perceive Things; They Are My Way Of Communicating.

When I Was 11, I Moved To The United States With My Two Brothers And My Mom. We Moved To Northern New York, Up Near The Canadian Border, From Argentina, And There Was Nobody There That Spoke Spanish, And Because There Was No Internet At The Time, Not Even Cable Tv Yet, I Lost The Connection With My Childhood Friends And The Culture I Had Been Brought Up With For My First Decade Completely.

When I Land In A Country And They Ask For 'occupation,' I Always Just Put 'artist.' I Think That Covers All Of It.

It's Always Interesting To Play A Character That Obviously Has A Secret.

I Like Stories That Leave You Wanting More, Leave You Wondering, But Don't Tell You Everything.

Once You Learn The Idea Of What A Good Guy Is, You Want Your Dad To Be A Good Guy, And When Your Dad Lets You Down And Doesn't Act Like A Good Guy, It's Disappointing And Can Make You Angry As You See It Happen, Which Is Beautiful And Very Believable.

Joseph Campbell Said The Privilege Of A Lifetime Is Being Yourself. That's His Feeling. And I Guess It's Mine Too.

I Have A Work Ethic. If I Say I'm Going To Do Something, I Do It.

People Talk About Method Actors, Meaning Someone That's Prepared Very, Very Well, Or Whatever They Mean When They Talk About It. But The Right Method Is Whatever Works For You. And What Works For Me On Any Given Day Is Going To Be Different.

I'm Not Afraid Of Death, But I Resent It. I Think It's Unfair And Irritating.

I Try To Research Or Make Up For Myself What Happened In Any Character's Life. From When He Was Born Until The First Page Of The Script. I Fill In The Blanks.

I Know I Said I Wanted To Live Forever And I Would Never Be Bored, But The Reality Is, It's Probably Kind Of Sad To Live Forever If You're The Only One Sticking Around.

I Think It's My Job To Like Any Character I Play - To Understand And Appreciate A Character, To Look At The World As Much As Possible From Their Point Of View. I Don't Look At It Just Technically: Learn The Lines, Figure Out What Gestures I Want To Bring And Play, And That's It. I Like To Learn As Much As I Can About The Person, And See What Happens.

People Will Like To Say That 'eastern Promises' Is Brutal, But The Only Reason They Say That Is Because The Scenes Stick With Them. They Are Realistic. They Are In-your-face And You See The Consequences. It's Not A Bunch Of Quick Editing Cuts.

Perceval Press A Publishing House I Founded In 2002 And It's Still Going Strong. Strong For Us Means Not So Many Books Per Year, But Each One We Very Carefully Design And Print.

It's Easy To Get Depressed And Think, "well, What's The Point?" But It's The Same As, "well, We're All Going To Die, So What's The Point In Brushing My Teeth Or Even Saying Hello To Anyone Or Obeying Traffic Lights." You Can Do That, But That's Certainly Not Going To Take You Anywhere.

I Grew Up With Horses When I Was A Kid In Argentina. I Like Them. I Respect Them. I'm Careful Around Them. You Never Know What They're Going To Do. They're Endlessly Interesting. I've Had Some Good Acting Partners That Were Horses Over The Years.

The Money I Earn From Films Means I Can Help The People I Want To Help - You Can Do A Lot Of Good If You Want To.

Ignorance Breeds Antipathy. Until I Got To Know How Computers Worked, I Didn't Want Anything To Do With Them. I Said, 'well, Why Do I Need Them? I Write Letters.' Which I Still Do.

I Have A Roof Over My Head. I Had A Breakfast, And A Lot Of People In The World Can't Say That. I'm Not Going To Complain About Being Interviewed.

Kids Are Shy And They Often Don't Want To Make Eye Contact Or Say "thank You."

When I Make A Movie, I Don't Break It Down And Analyze It. I Could But It Would Get In The Way Of Doing A Job - On Instinct Based On All The Research We Did Going In. You Want To Trust Yourself And Your Director And Your Acting Partners In The Circumstances You're Shooting. I Don't Like To Have Any Kind Of Overview.

Every Year I Hear People Complain That The Quality Of Screenplays And Movies Is Declining. In My Opinion, The Vast Majority Of Scripts Written - As Well As Most Movies That Are Released - Are Not Very Original, Well-written, Or Interesting. It Has Always Been That Way, And I Think It Always Will Be.

I'm Optimistic About People And About The Planet And About Nature. I Think It's Resilient, Like People Are.

To Strive For Something Better - At Least There's A Chance.

Something Better

I Think, On A Surface Level, People Are Surprised To See Me Playing Such A Passive Role In 'good.'

I Have Friends Who I Get Along With Who I Know Get Very Uncomfortable Being Alone, Unless They're With People, Talking All The Time. Whether It's On The Phone, Or In Person, They're Never By Themselves. Whereas I Could Be Alone For Months.

You Do Need To Get Lucky, No Matter How Talented You Are.

Having A Mixed Background And Feeling A Little Bit Like A Fish Out Of Water In Most Places Can Be A Benefit.

As A Kid I Read Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, And A Few Others. As An Adult Have Admired Leonardo Da Vinci's Drawings And Notebooks.

As Martin Luther King Said, "passively To Participate In An Unjust System Is To Accept That System And To Participate In Its Evil."

Usually The Characters I Play Are Men Of Few Words, Who Communicate In Non-verbal Ways.

When I Have A Day Off, I Won't Spend It At A Hollywood Party. I'd Rather Be At Home With Paints And A Blank Canvas.

Each Time I Make A Movie, It's Like A Paid Scholarship To A Different University Course.

For 'hidalgo,' I Just Spent As Much Time Around Horses As I Could, Which Made Sense.

I Have To Say That I Think Bernie Sanders Is The First Politician Since Dennis Kucinich That I've Been Truly Inspired By. Where You Actually Are Truly Speaking Truth To Power, In A Legitimate Way And In An Unpretentious And Very Straightforward Way.

I'd Like To, When It's All Said And Done, Say That I Have At Least A Few Stories That I Feel Proud Of.

I Prefer The Smaller Acting Than Big Histrionics. It's About Reacting And Looks, Which Is Often Underestimated.

On A Practical Level, Poetry Isn't Something Anybody Has Really Made A Great Living At. I Might Sell Some Books And, Once In A While, Someone Might Pay To Hear Me Read.

You Have A Moral Obligation To Finish The Job You Said You Would Do.

In Terms Of The Movie Business, Being In A 'lord Of The Rings' Has Given Me More Interesting Options As Work.

Freud Was The Son Of A Jewish Merchant Who Had To Move His Whole Family To Vienna Because He Couldn't Get Work. He, As A Boy, Had To Watch His Father Be Mocked And Abused On The Street For Being Jewish... You Develop A Thick Skin And You Develop A Certain Kind Of Wit To Defend Yourself.

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