December 17, 2003

Re: Viggo - PJ Came to His Senses
Bill F. (not 'Ferny'!)

The actor they had cast for Aragorn was Stuart Townsend, an Irishman who played Lestat in the woeful "Queen of the Damned". He rehearsed and trained in NZ for two months and was fired the day before shooting started.

He reportedly is not a bad actor at all, although I haven't seen him do anything worthwhile. But PJ apparently came to his senses and realized he had made a mistake. Townsend was woefully miscast. He's in his early 20's, and far too young and too much of a 'pretty-boy' to play the aged, travel-worn Strider, or the the heir of the Kings of Men!

I guess he was miffed, and hasn't seen the movies, because they wouldn't pay him for the time he spent in NZ or something to that effect.

Viggo agreed to the part without reading the entire script as I recall... and within a few days was in NZ. He said he hadn't read Tolkien, but he's Danish, and was familiar with the older legends that Tolkien drew on. I think he's as good an Aragorn as we could have hoped for.

-BF