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After 28 Hotel Roomsactor/director Matt Ross returned in October 2016 with Captain Fantasticthe story of a father who raises his children outside of society. We met him during the Cannes Film Festival in May of the same year, where the film was presented in the Un Certain Regard section. We are republishing this interview on the occasion of the rebroadcast of the Visitors to Americatonight on TFX. What is the connection? You will understand…
First: Is a part of you in the character of Viggo Mortensen and do you dream like him of this life on the margins of society?
Matt Ross: Yes, I dream about it a little. But he's a very extreme character. Many elements of his life are part of mine: yoga, martial arts, mastery of several languages, fascination with Chomsky… And like him, I celebrate the anniversary of Noam Chomsky's birth!
It's funny, it seemed a bit big to me in the film.
However, this is the strict truth. I made this up because Chomsky is my hero. In short, the character of Viggo is the father that I try to be.
Are you trying to raise your children the same way he did?
I live in modern society. But my daughter was among the last of her group of friends to have a cell phone, for example.
This is a bit the question that the film poses: how to live in society without being poisoned by it.
We either live outside of society or within it. It's easier to say “I will no longer eat sugar at all” than to moderate. But at the same time it means depriving yourself of one of the pleasures of life. In my opinion, you have to make the effort to only have one cake and not eat the box. Viggo's character evolves as he realizes that he may be in the extreme. And coming back to the cell phone, I find it to be an incredible but addictive and sometimes dangerous object. So I am careful to teach my children to limit themselves, to succeed in being responsible.
Cannes 2016 – Viggo Mortensen: “I would like to direct… I have already written three scripts”
And yet aside from that, you play the boss of a company which parodies Google in the series Silicon Valley.
Yeah, it's a total coincidence! I wrote the script before I knew I was going to star in the series. I would love to continue this role, I'm really enjoying playing in the series and as long as the showrunners want me, I'll be there. As an actor, I've been able to do amazing things, work with incredible directors like Martin Scorsese and learn a lot about the craft. When I'm hired to play, I give it my all. But actually I'm passionate about writing and directing, I want to make films. That's what thrills me.
Captain Fantastic is a luminous road movie with Viggo Mortensen
How do you manage so many child actors on set? Is it complicated to succeed in getting what you want from them?
A kid can't find the right tone in every take. It's fleeting, by the time they have to say their text, they may have forgotten their line or lacked rhythm. So sometimes I put the camera in front of them and made them repeat it again, and again, and again. In fact the real problem with children does not come from the way they play, but from the fact that they are children! They need to nap often and eat regularly, otherwise they fall asleep. And that produces great things, because sometimes they forget that the camera is rolling. Like in the scene around the campfire, little Charlie Shotwell started poking his nose. It wasn't in the script at all and I kept the shot because it was great, so natural. That's a nice example, but sometimes they start staring at the camera or looking up! Because they forget!
I also wanted to talk to you about Visitors to Americain which you starred and…
(Laughs) Yes, that’s true.
Don't hold your head in your hands like that!
No no, I'm listening to you!
I'm telling you about it in particular because the third film was recently released in France.
Oh, they did it again?
Yes, and I wanted to know what your memories of the shoot are.
Well, I think there is a consensus on the quality of the film, right? So I'm going to talk about the beautiful things that I remember, that is to say talking about wine with Jean Reno, and eating and drinking with him and Christian Clavier. I was delighted to play with Reno who I admire a lot and Jean-Marie Poiré was lovely with me. The rest… I keep it for myself (Laughter.)
Interview François Léger
The Visitors: Why Valérie Lemercier and Muriel Robin had a bad experience during the filming