Not just another pretty face....

This thoughtful piece of art on the left, called Self Portrait April, was painted by Viggo Mortensen.

I'm sure you all know him as Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings but let me tell you: this man is not just another pretty face! He's a renaissance man in the true sense of the word.

He speaks several languages, including Spanish, fluently. He's a respected artist as well as being a very talented photographer (as the photo below demonstrates) and poet.

To cap it off, he's extremely friendly and gracious.

AND (allow me to drool just a wee bit here....) I GOT TO SEE HIM IN PERSON!!!!!

J gets tickets to the Toronto International Film Fest each year. A book of ten. He goes to 9 movies and I go to 1.

This year, I chose Alatriste.

For a number of reasons.

First, yes, because ever since seeing Viggo talk politics and art with Charlie Rose on PBS, I have been a fan.
Viggo's a lefty, politically. Yay. He genuinely wants to make the world a better place by viewing it as a community that can provide for all as opposed to seeing it as a competition to see who dies with the most toys.

Second, it doesn't hurt that he ain't hard on the eyes!

Thirdly, I am a huge fan of Dumas and his style of writing.(This statement has relevance... keep reading.)

And lastly, because I'm a sucker for period pieces. Especially ones involving sword fights....

Line ups are long in time and people at the Fest... It helps to have company. I lined up with some amazing friends. One, P, who edits her own music videos and is a master at her art. Her husband, D, who graciously held our place in line for 2 hours while we grabbed the quickest sushi dinner you've ever seen. And a fantastic new friend, S, who, to my delight, shares my love of Canadian Theatre and my lust for many a British Actor (male and female... I believe finding one's soul mate is not dependent on gender).

What a night!

P has tuchas. Bringing along a book of Viggo's Poetry and Art, she had the chutzpah to join the throng on the red carpet and secure an autograph. She has my undying respect for that.

My one chance to get an autograph from an actor I really respected resulted in my going catatonic and drooling. My traveling companion at that function gently released the play program from my hand and offered it to the object of my respect saying "Uhm, she likes you. Would you mind signing her program? Thanks"

We sat in the front row (my head hurts this morning because I strained my eyes being so close to the screen) and when the mike was passed around for the introduction to the movie, the director and cast, very clearly shy of using their stilted English, handed it to Viggo who spoke very warmly of his fellow cast members and the director but said nothing of himself.

Now, of course, I'm biased. But I'm critical enough to know when a movie is poorly done. Not so here.

The entire cast was amazing. Everyone gave riveting performances.

The story very clearly owes most of it's inspiration to Alexandre Dumas (pere). As I'm sure you know, Alatriste is series of books by Arturo Perez-Reverte, author of the extremely successful Club Dumas (Yup, I 'd say he's a fan). The similarities to characters and plot lines from The Three Musketeers are hard to ignore but you never stop enjoying this dramatic romp through 17th century Spain.

And, lovely, sweet, talented Viggo entered the theatre late because he was making sure to sign as many autographs as possible.

Sigh.

Slurp.