Solly McLeod has been watching Viggo Mortensen in the movies since he was a kid. When he was a young boy growing up on Orkney his grandad, he remembers, would show him the Lord of the Rings films in which Mortensen played Aragorn. “These were the films that got me into acting,” McLeod says as he sits in a Glasgow hotel alongside the man he watched in those movies all those years ago.
“I was an attention-seeking kid,” McLeod continues, “so I was like, ‘they give me money to do this? OK.’” So when as an adult he got a call from Mortensen to appear in a film that the American actor wanted to direct, it was, McLeod admits, a little surreal. “Having a call from one of the people who got me into it was an honour,” McLeod admits.
But, he adds, it was also terrifying. “I was pacing up and down my room waiting for the phone to ring and when it did I lunged for it, then doubled down. ‘I should let it ring.
’” Viggo Mortensen and Vicky Krieps in The Dead Don't Hurt (Image: free) Beside him, Viggo Mortensen is smiling while he listens to McLeod’s story. How many times did you let the phone ring? “Five. And then when I picked up I was like, “Yeah.
Hi, who’s this? Oh yeah, hey Viggo. Yeah, I’m alright. Bit busy, but what’s going on? I think I can chat.
” Both men laugh at the vision of McLeod trying to play it cool. March in Glasgow. It’s the afternoon after the night before.
The pair of them have been on media duties all day in support of their ne.
