Hi :)
Do you have a favorite project of Viggo and Orlando outside of LOTR? Or is your Viggorli's interest mostly born out of their roles as Aragorn and Legolas ?
I thought Viggo in Eastern Promises was at his absolute best. Have you seen him there? He is always great, actually. Even in History of Violence and Green Book. I don't understand why he never got an Oscar. Everyone knows he is good yet he remains underrated on a more formal level.
I find Orlando's career less interesting and more "safe" , but he was very sweet as Will Turner. Who doesn't like a simp :) and Troy is a guilty pleasure. He is good at playing lovesick fools (perhaps because he is in real life too? Always worshipping Viggo).
I would have loved to see Viggo in Troy too ahaha but Viggo is easy to imagine in any film, he is a chameleon! Hope he will be recognised by the Academy one day. To me he is basically on par with Daniel Day Lewis.
Well, let's start by saying that I'm not much of a completionist when it comes to actors. That is to say, I generally don't watch movies simply because of an actor I like. The project/movie/plot needs to sound interesting. And if it has an actor/actors that I like that's a bonus (but not a pre-requisite).
That said: Broadly speaking, the projects Viggo takes on tend to interest me more than the stuff Orlando does precisely for the reason you're stating. It seems Orlando played it safe throughout his career, opting for the blockbuster movies. Those generally interest me less and less the older I get. Whereas Viggo does things that are a little more out there, that are more interesting from an artistic point of you, a little more of a risk. And of course he has also super-crazy stuff in his backlist. I guess, he too had to pay his bills at some point!
So, let's start with Viggo:
The all-time favourite!
He appeared on my radar with The Lord of the Rings, that much is true. And of course Aragorn is and always will be very dear to my heart. However, The Lord of the Rings is an ensemble effort and while Viggo as Aragorn is doing a lot of the heavy lifting those movies don't really show his range. Because when we're talking not about my favourite movie but my favourite Viggo movie then the answer has to be:
I love Eastern Promises and I re-watch this movie regularly (and kind of religiously). I've written a longer post about Eastern Promises here and it doesn't make sense to repeat myself. The long and the short of it is that I think he's absolutely amazing in that film. (Everyone is, the whole cast is an absolute banger. I especially enjoy Stepan who could come across as simple comic relief but who Jerzy Skolimowski plays with so much sincerity that you just have to root for him.)
Anyways. This movies hits the way it does because Viggo is so effortlessly able to show Nikolai's duality. The fact that you never get a definite answer as to Nikolai's motives is not only due to the script. It's in large part due to Viggo's ability to give this character layer upon layer which opens Nikolai up to endless interpretion. And I love that, in part because Viggo never parades around the fact that he's a great actor. Instead, he simply gets stuff done.
Honorable Mentions
I haven't even seen half of his movies I must admit. But some that I really liked are:
The Green Book was probably one of his more mainstream attempts, but I liked it. Despite the topic of the film this mostly lived off the fact that Viggo and co-star Mahershala Ali had good chemistry and were quite simply fun to watch. Also, I play the piano, so movies like that always get an extra cookie point from me.
I liked The Two Faces of January more than I had anticipated, especially since I'm not even a Patricia Highsmith fan. But somehow this movie was all hot summer vibes and the way Viggo's character starts out all prim and proper and you see him deteriorating throughout the movie was fun to watch. Also, this movie is full of eyecandy. His suave and sophisticated style here is one of my favourite looks on him.
The Prophecy is an all-time favourite of mine. It hits all the spots for me and I watched it everytime it was on late-night tv back in the 90s. This has all the trademarks of a Gregory Widen movie (and yes, of course I'm also a massive Highlander fan): it's dark and urban, it has an interesting twist on a fantasy theme and it brings together an impressive cast. It's angels and demons doing weird stuff and yes, that has always been exactly my thing. I've been trying to purchase a DVD or Bluray of this for years now, but there seems to be no definite cut (at least not for region code 2 - which is Europe) and the Amazon reviews seem undecided which edition one should buy. But eventually, this will be added to my collection. The Prophecy is cool all around.
I'm adding this here just for kicks and because I didn't even know Viggo was in Young Guns II. Young Guns and Young Guns II were such formative movies during my teenage years. Everyone in my friend group had a crush on one of these actors. (Mine was Charlie Sheen btw.) Maybe I need to rewatch this simply for laughs.
Stuff I want to get to eventually:
Yes, I admit. Even though I'm a massive horse girl I haven't seen Hidalgo. Sorry. I will do something about it eventually.
I'm on a western kick at the moment. It makes sense to dive into Appaloosa at some point.
It's really a shame that I haven't gotten around to watching Captain Fantastic. I think I will absolutely love this!
And Orlando ...
The Favourite:
Like you, I haven't really been following his career all that closely. I've checked out of the blockbuster rotation ages ago. However, of course I have a favourite anyway. Because there is the rare occasion where popcorn cinema isn't just stupidly good but good-good. And that movie, of course, is:
I rewatched this last winter or thereabouts and Pirates of the Caribbean is still so wonderfully entertaining. And I do think Orlando looks really good in period clothing. I must admit though, that I checked out of this franchise after the third movie or so. At this point, it had become so silly and nonsensical that I couldn't even follow the plot. And however funny I think Johnny Depp is as Jack Sparrow and how much I like looking at Orlando Bloom for two hours flat ... it's still not worth shelling out 10€ for something that will mostly annoy me.
And yes, I admit that nowadays it's really easy to "lose" me. The last time I actually went to the cinema (as in the actual building) to watch a movie was in 2015.
The one I want to get to eventually:
Yepp, this one. Because I think plot- and theme-wise Carnival Row is right up my alley, even though I always blank on the title. I'm in no hurry to get to it. But I won't be opposed to watch this eventually. I think I just might like it!
So, everyone! Which one is your favourite?
Such interesting discussions...
I love that someone else has watched The Two Faces of January. I think Viggo had amazing chemistry with Oscar Isaac, and Chester was one of those characters I could never make up my mind about, which is something that keeps me intrigued in a story.
Eastern Promises is my favourite Viggo's movie. It was such bad luck that Viggo delivered Nikolai's performance the year Daniel Day Lewis was candidated for an Oscar.
I don't think DDL Is necessarily more talented (they are both wonderful) but he is one of those actors who appear once in a while to give the heart-shattering performance of the decade and then puff.
So clearly, they had to award him.
They would work well together.
(I also want to add that a friend of mine is Russian and said that Viggo's accent in Eastern Promises is one of the best attempts in Hollywood, not perfect, but one of the most accurate).
Anyway, Viggo has the rare ability of simultaneously being terrifying and inspiring trust/loyalty. A sense of safety DESPITE the edge of danger he so effortlessly carries.
And it works well for grey characters as well as for secretly heroic figures who have to appear ambiguous.
There are so many facets in his performances, they are never unidimensional.
At the same time, Viggo could pretty much do anything. He is a character actor who looks like a movie star (and with the charisma of one).
The Green Book, Hildago... All the movies mentioned here and more, are all a testament of his excellent skill.
A history of violence. I hated him there.
I even rooted against him.
But damn him, I fell in love with him every time he became Tom again. The final scene... I was back to being an idiot feeling for his sorry ass.
I would love to see Viggo in more comedic roles. He has a great sense of humor (I have both heard and noticed myself in some interviews).
Anyway, I was saying..
One of my favourite series is Breaking Bad. Outside of the amazing writing and direction, I think the greatness of the show is also due to Bryan Cranston's layered and sympathetic acting.
I always say that no one else could have played the lead role in such a compelling and intoxicating manner. No one else could have created so many mixed feelings in the public, pity, fear, hatred, hope, disappointment, obsession and do it with such ease and class.
MAYBE...
Viggo could have done it. I mean I am glad he didn't and I love Brian. Viggo is not a TV actor but hey, if anyone else could have been Heisenberg because for whatever reason Bryan Cranston couldn't, I think that's him.
He does well everywhere BUT like every actor he has his strengths.
He has that greyness. That uncertainty.
It's THE ambiguity.
It's the too many sides.
The only man who can make putting out a cigarette in his mouth look hot.
Poor Orlando has a less, ahem, quality CV on his back even if it's still absolutely respectful.
I agree Pirates is his best movie, not simply because the trilogy is wonderfully written and Gore Verbinski is a genius and Johnny Depp is brilliant. Or because Curse or The Black Pearl is a perfect film (and it is, it's like Back to The Future or The Mummy to me).
But because I think Orlando should have built a career out of being the straight man. He is not Viggo. But he is not even someone like Ryan Reynolds, one of those movie stars who always play themselves and dominate every frame.
But because he does his best as a part of an ensemble, as a reactive actor. He doesn't steal the scene, but why is that so important?
He grounds the madness or the larger than life events around, he is the public within the film.
His facial reactions to the other actors are always on point. He listens to his partners, he acts according to that and he always has amazing chemistry with them.
He is committed to the story in a way a lot of actors can't be because they are committed to their roles. It takes a lack of ego to do that.
I don't think the movie would have worked had Jack been the protagonist. You needed someone who would remind us that everything going around was indeed insane. You needed someone... normal.
More importantly, Orlando really is endearing and earnest and a little dorkish. I like my heroes like that. I am not a fan of the macho lead, yet most of the time that dorkish quality Orlando has so naturally feels very fake in Hollywood actors (Tinothee, I am looking at you– amazing actor but you are not a dork).
I think his work Kingdom of Heaven wasn't a bad performance, but the world wants Russel Crowe in those epics. Not Orlando Bloom.
Give him a funny script he doesn't realize how funny it is and he will do wonders.
Don't make him cool, because, he becomes bland when he tries to. He could have done much better had they used his strengths.
He gets a lot of shit for some acting choices in LOTR because it's Orlando Bloom but let's be honest here, he was a good elf, better than many others (I am not a fan of Liv Tyler and never will be).
How could they ever market him as a sex symbol? Look at him he looks like a German shepherd puppy😭
Can we agree Viggo is the sexy one?
I know a lot of people find Orlando sexy and I am sure he is, but to me he has the sex appeal of a meerkat.