I apologize if this has been asked/answered already, but I didn’t catch it in a quick search.
Anyway, I’m watching the FOTR:EE with the cast audio commentary on, and at one point, they mentioned that the person who was originally cast to play Aragorn didn’t work out and he was dismissed after a few days of shooting. They decided on Viggo Mortenson at the last minute.
Does anyone know who was originally cast? They didn’t mention his name in the commentary, and they seemed a little tense about it…as if they didn’t really want to mention it, but had to in order to establish why they were commenting on certain aspects of Mortenson’s role. Was there a scandal?
The role originally belonged to Stuart Townsend, last seen in Queen of the Damned. I’m not sure what the whole story was, but as far as I can tell it wasn’t really that scandalous, per se…
elfkin477, from the brief bit I caught on the commentary, it didn’t sound like it was this guy’s choice to leave. I’m pretty sure they said he was dismissed from the movie (although I’d have to listen to it again to be positive that’s the phrase they used). In any case, I’m not complaining…I think Mortenson did a fine job, and I’m having a hard time imagining anyone else in the role now anyway.
This stuff happens in casting more often than one might think. Harvey Keitel was originally cast to play the lead in Apocalypse Now and eventually replaced with Martin Sheen. Keitel is generally considered to be a better actor (IMHO a far better actor), but he just wasn’t giving the role what the director wanted. It is considered bad form to talk about these kinds of dismissals that are really not about incompetence, but artistic taste of the director. Minor roles in films are cast by a casting director, whereas major roles. like Aragorn, are cast by the overall director and/or the producer (Jackson was also the producer of LOTR, with Zantz’s organization as exec producer IIRC). These kinds of problems can usually be avoided with a heavy consulting reliance on a casting director by the director and producer.
I have 2 comments on this. Firstly, I read an interview with Townsend where he was asked about this and came across as fairly bitter about it, in a polite sort of way. I remember some comment about how it was a really bad experience to work with people who had no respect for the integrity of the acting process, whatever that means.
Secondly, I read an interview with Jackson where he said the replacement was simply because when they started filming, Townsend just “didn’t like like the Aragorn I had in my mind’s eye”.
He and Peter Jackson had some strong disagreements about the character of Aragorn. Townsend saw him more as an action guy, while Jackson(and Mortensen as well) saw him as more of a psychological character.
They replaced Townsend only 6 weeks before Viggo came in to start shooting.
This never fails to amaze me. I knew that Mortenson was a late addition to the cast (I read it in the Fellowship of the Ring Movie Guide, a birthday gift last year), and it just blows me away how well he took that role on. I’ve always liked him in his films (A Perfect Murder, A Walk on the Moon), but he surpassed himself for LOTR. I read about how he would sit on the set, brooding like Strider, and I see on the DVD how he took ownership of his sword, taking it with him everywhere. I can’t imagine anyone doing it better… and yet he was a last-minute choice. Impressive.
Townsend made a decent Lestat, but Aragorn would have been poorer without Mortenson in the role, I think. I’m glad of the change.
