This is a wonderful new interview posted today. We learn so much more about Michael's acting methods, his passions, and how humble he is about his career now.
Here's just a few snipets from the long interview:
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Whose idea was it, yours or Cronenberg’s, to keep Jung’s shirt and tie on during the sex scenes?
I do remember David and I were talking about it on the day, and I think we mutually came to the decision that it would be something interesting to play with – to show that there is no abandon, there is something still holding him back. But if it’s something that stands out it would probably be a specific idea of David’s.
It’s very comic of course.
Absolutely. I thought the whole script was really funny, and wanted to play as much comedy as I could. Viggo and I really tried to push that together. We just couldn’t help ourselves. We were doing that first scene where Freud says, "Do you realise we’ve spent 13 hours having this discourse?" And in between takes Viggo kept pushing these ceramic penises closer to my cup of coffee, till they were surrounding the cup. Then I took a sip and the cream is on my moustache – at one point it was on my nose and everywhere. So we were just trying to have fun with it. And thankfully David is open. He’s been doing this long enough that he has the confidence and easiness to allow you to explore.
I do think people’s behaviour in general is funny, isn’t it? You know how when we get ruffled, or defensive, or we’re inspired by something, the way the body reacts to that mental state – I think these things are funny. And I think if you can bring that humour to something that is dealing with an academic and intellectual subject, it allows the audience to relax; they recognise that "OK, this doesn’t have to be a lesson". They can relax, and just watch these human beings, with their petty qualities and egos. I think it makes the work more accessible.
By the way, talking of the ceramics, I’m sure you noticed that Freud’s study had all these symbols around the place, it’s full of books, ornaments, Egyptian sort of stuff. And then you have Jung’s, which is more about space. I thought that was really clever of David and the art department, really clever.
I’ve heard many stories about Mortensen’s dedication to a role, the way he turns up on set with his own props and the like.
I think it’s the same with every film. People don’t know when he’s going to arrive, but it will always be before he’s due on set. He gets off the plane, rents a car himself and turns up one day and starts to decorate his trailer. So this time he brought some of the things from that Viennese world that Freud inhabited. And he wrote those letters in the film painstakingly, like Freud did. That’s his process, you know. It’s not apparent everywhere that this is what he’s doing, but these things add texture to his characters. I was never overwhelmed by it, because there was a real lightness and easiness to it. Viggo is a very independent soul, and a very gentle one.
And your process?
I’m different. Both Keira and Viggo really went into the research, more than I did. I tend to spend more time with the script than most. I’ll probably read the script 250 times – that means you spend eight hours a day for three weeks, just repeating it, so that when I arrive on the set for the first day it doesn’t matter what scene we’re doing, because I’ve got the whole thing off by heart.
With this one, Christopher had written such a dense script, that I felt my own work revolved around trying to get the rhythm of it, and to respect the writing. It was written in such a way that I felt it was like a piece of music, and only after lots of repetition did I start to uncover the rhythms. Any extra research I could do was really a luxury. I did get a great book on Jung, which was like Jung for children – an idiot’s handbook. I think found pretty much everything I needed to find in that little book.
Read the rest at The Arts Desk.![]()
Here's just a few snipets from the long interview:
Whose idea was it, yours or Cronenberg’s, to keep Jung’s shirt and tie on during the sex scenes?
I do remember David and I were talking about it on the day, and I think we mutually came to the decision that it would be something interesting to play with – to show that there is no abandon, there is something still holding him back. But if it’s something that stands out it would probably be a specific idea of David’s.
It’s very comic of course.
Absolutely. I thought the whole script was really funny, and wanted to play as much comedy as I could. Viggo and I really tried to push that together. We just couldn’t help ourselves. We were doing that first scene where Freud says, "Do you realise we’ve spent 13 hours having this discourse?" And in between takes Viggo kept pushing these ceramic penises closer to my cup of coffee, till they were surrounding the cup. Then I took a sip and the cream is on my moustache – at one point it was on my nose and everywhere. So we were just trying to have fun with it. And thankfully David is open. He’s been doing this long enough that he has the confidence and easiness to allow you to explore.
I do think people’s behaviour in general is funny, isn’t it? You know how when we get ruffled, or defensive, or we’re inspired by something, the way the body reacts to that mental state – I think these things are funny. And I think if you can bring that humour to something that is dealing with an academic and intellectual subject, it allows the audience to relax; they recognise that "OK, this doesn’t have to be a lesson". They can relax, and just watch these human beings, with their petty qualities and egos. I think it makes the work more accessible.
By the way, talking of the ceramics, I’m sure you noticed that Freud’s study had all these symbols around the place, it’s full of books, ornaments, Egyptian sort of stuff. And then you have Jung’s, which is more about space. I thought that was really clever of David and the art department, really clever.
I’ve heard many stories about Mortensen’s dedication to a role, the way he turns up on set with his own props and the like.
I think it’s the same with every film. People don’t know when he’s going to arrive, but it will always be before he’s due on set. He gets off the plane, rents a car himself and turns up one day and starts to decorate his trailer. So this time he brought some of the things from that Viennese world that Freud inhabited. And he wrote those letters in the film painstakingly, like Freud did. That’s his process, you know. It’s not apparent everywhere that this is what he’s doing, but these things add texture to his characters. I was never overwhelmed by it, because there was a real lightness and easiness to it. Viggo is a very independent soul, and a very gentle one.
And your process?
I’m different. Both Keira and Viggo really went into the research, more than I did. I tend to spend more time with the script than most. I’ll probably read the script 250 times – that means you spend eight hours a day for three weeks, just repeating it, so that when I arrive on the set for the first day it doesn’t matter what scene we’re doing, because I’ve got the whole thing off by heart.
With this one, Christopher had written such a dense script, that I felt my own work revolved around trying to get the rhythm of it, and to respect the writing. It was written in such a way that I felt it was like a piece of music, and only after lots of repetition did I start to uncover the rhythms. Any extra research I could do was really a luxury. I did get a great book on Jung, which was like Jung for children – an idiot’s handbook. I think found pretty much everything I needed to find in that little book.
Read the rest at The Arts Desk.
