Former “Lord of the Rings” star Viggo Mortensen never forgets his Upstate New York roots.
The 60-year-old actor gave his hometown of Watertown, N.Y., a shoutout on national television Thursday night while promoting his new movie “Green Book.” The drama has been nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Mortensen’s third Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
“By the way, to the people in Watertown, New York, which is way up north, and Sandpoint, Idaho -- I know my movies don’t usually make it there, but ‘Green Book’ is doing so well that it’s playing in theaters in Sandpoint, Idaho, and Watertown, New York," he told ABC host Jimmy Kimmel.
Mortensen said he still has family in both places; he is a graduate of Watertown High School and St. Lawrence University, and frequently returned to his family’s farm in northern N.Y. over the years. His mother Grace was from Watertown and met his father Viggo Sr., a Danish farmer, on a trip to Norway; Grace died in 2015 and Viggo Sr. died in 2017.
Viggo Mortensen is best known for playing Aragorn in Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, as well as memorable roles in 1985′s “Witness,” 1995′s “Crimson Tide”; 2005′s “A History of Violence” and 2009′s “The Road.” He was nominated for two other acting Oscars, for 2007′s “Eastern Promises” and 2016′s “Captain Fantastic.”
In “Green Book,” he plays a working-class Italian-American bouncer who drives an African-American classical and jazz pianist (played by Oscar winner Mahershala Ali) on a tour of venues through the South during the Jim Crow era. The movie opened in theaters nationwide in November and is still on the big screen, including at Regal Salmon Run in Watertown this weekend, due to critical acclaim.
“I have to say, since probably ‘Lord of the Rings,’ I haven’t seen and heard so much intensity, passionate reactions to the movie,” he told “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Thursday. “I can’t tell you how many people have come up to me and said, ‘I’ve seen it three times and I’m going to take so-and-so... to see it. It’s great."
Kimmel said his parents are among those who really loved the movie, sharing that they used to go to the Copacabana and saw the real-life Dr. Don Shirley (Ali) perform and knew Tony Lip (Mortensen). “And they’re like, ‘Yeah, it was exactly like that,’" the late-night said.