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For an acting career that started with 1985’sWitness, the 65-year-old Viggo Mortensen has truly come a long way. With a series of star-studded roles trailing right behind him to remind everyone of the legacy he has led so far like as Aragorn inThe Lord of the Ringssaga, he is easily one of the most commended and respected celebrities in the entertainment industry.
But despite having scored some of the best roles of all time, Mortensen also felt gutted over some roles that ended up choosing other actors over him. Like 1986’s classic action-war masterpiecePlatoon, which originally cast him before switching over to Willem Dafoe to replace him — the same film that Keanu Reeves also turned down for being a bit too violent for him.
Viggo Mortensen was Gutted Over Being Fired fromPlatoon
During a recent interview forThe Independent’sGo to Batseries, the iconicLOTRstar came clean about a lot of things about his career. One of these included him candidly revealing how he was originally cast in 1986’sPlatoonbut was replaced by another actor as soon as the film received“a bigger budget.”
Confessing how he scored it,Viggo Mortensensaid:
I auditioned on video tape and I got the role that eventually Willem Dafoe ended up playing. I assumed I had that role.
For those who may be unversed, the role was that of the platoon’s Sergeant Elias who, along with the soldiers in his platoon patrol, deals with the blood and sweat in the jungles of Vietnam in the film.
“It’s not gonna happen with you”: Viggo Mortensen Was Willing to Join the Army for a Role That He Unfairly Lost to Willem Dafoe
Since he already assumed that he had the role, Mortenseneven went to extremes to prepare for it. This included him spending“a year reading every possible thing about Vietnam”and even considering“join(ing) the army for a short while”to make himself better suited for the role while the higher-ups navigated their way through the budget.
However, it wasn’t until one headline caught his eye in the newspaper —‘Oliver Stone’s making this movie with Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe’— that theGreen Bookstar realized that his hard work had actually been all for nothing, and he had actually been replaced byWillem Dafoe, who was riding high tides of fame after coming offTo Live and Die in L.A.
This was because the film had garnered a greater budget than it intended to, and since Dafoe held a lot more star power than Mortensen back then, theCaptain Fantasticstar was shown his way out.
“I would only do it if I was right..”: Viggo Mortensen Lays Out His Only Condition to Return as Aragorn in The Hunt For Gollum and This Will Make LOTR Fans Love Him Even More
Even when he tried to negotiate, saying,“Could I do another audition to prove it? ‘Cause I know even more now than when I got the part,”filmmakerOliver Stone‘s response was,“No it’s not gonna happen.”Simply said, he had lost out on his role and was ostensibly gutted over it back then.
But while Mortensen was trying so hard for it, another major actor had previously turned the film down due to its“violence”element: Keanu Reeves.
Ironically Enough, Keanu Reeves TurnedPlatoonDown Due to its Violence
According to what Oliver himself confessed during an interview withEntertainment Weekly, Reeves was also considered for the role of Sergeant Elias. However:
Keanu turned it down because of the violence. He didn’t want to do violence.
Well, that’s something truly ironic to say for someone who went on to take on some really brutish roles along the lines of John Wick in the titular franchise and Neo inThe Matrixsaga and even earned high recognition and praise through the same.
Viggo Mortensen on ‘The Dead Don’t Hurt’: New Movie I Wrote and Directed is “Different” Than Most Westerns as it Has a Female Central Figure, 2 Leads That aren’t Anglo-Saxon Americans
But just like howKeanu Reevesturned it down and still managed to lead an incredibly successful career, Mortensen, too, seems to hold no regrets about losing that movie now.
As he continued to confess during his interview with The Independent:
I wouldn’t have done the other things I’d have done if that had happened – and if I had that sort of initial success, maybe I’d have go tired of the whole thing and quit.
Needless to say, that’s some die-hard optimism Mortensen has got about it all. That said, perhaps it was only for the better that things played out the way they did. After all, we’re truly grateful to have our Mortensen as Aragorn in theLOTRsaga instead!
you’re able to watchPlatoon (1986)on Prime Video andThe Lord of the Ringsfilm series on Max.
Mahin Sultan
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2478
Mahin Sultan is a Senior Writer at FandomWire, where she brings a fresh perspective to entertainment news. Having been in the field for over 3 years now, she has already written more than 2,000 articles across a variety of niches, from entertainment to health and fashion. This diverse experience has allowed her to quickly build a solid foundation and a deep understanding of the industry.
