To think that I would be so lucky to meet this amazing guy! He's a true friend. And those are rare in Hollywood. Viggo was a good friend from the start; my guardian angel. He was just so giving and gracious.
-Orlando Bloom gushing about Viggo in 2003. (Three different quotes put together.)
I just watched this new interview with Orlando about his lines in different movies. He had no trouble with all his Legolas lines (they aren't that many, tbh). And he did manage to mention Viggo too! Saying he always followed Viggo's cues. No surprise there.
He also talks a little about Pirates of the Caribbean - the curse of the black pearl.
And that reminded me that I'd just the other day read this short poem from Viggo (from the book Winter Songs, 2010):
I see you
I see you as though you were still sitting next to me
will hear you until I forget why I didn't love you more
this winter
keep the comb you left behind
the honey that healed your wound
and the black pearl of my doubt.
Just an observation. But I feel Viggo does choose his words with care. So it's possibly not a coincidence. Even if it is such a sad poem. Most poems in that book are, it seems. Why was his state of mind such at that time? All about a love lost.
Sometimes, I happen upon one of these photos of Viggo and I'm once again struck by what a gloriously beautiful creature he is. Inside and out.
This one is dated July 2001, so right after filming LotR. It's really no wonder everyone (and Orlando) fell in love with him there.
Dominic and Orlando in Cannes 2001. (I think, right?)
So young and adorable! Dom has this whole sexy thing going, and Orlando is like a cute, but quite lost, puppy. But man, they are so weird and out of it. Probaby extremely hungover. Or still drunk even? Possibly high? I think it's hilarious. Orlando can't really talk properly, slurring away. (One can see how this entire visit would lead up to Orlando giving Viggo that famed smooch later this very evening.)
It's fascinating to see them, pre-fame, all innocently and privately enjoying themselves at the beach, having parties and god-knows what else. Before everything changed. They had no idea!
And this is them this weekend. Still friends, 23 years on. Still cute and weird. Aww.
Dear Bernard, It is your turn, today, to ride into the unknown lands. You will be sorely missed by all of us who had the good fortune to get to know you a little and love you for as long as we have presence of mind and memory of the good cheer, optimism, and adventurous spirit that you so generously shared with us. And you will continue to be held in the highest esteem around our world by countless followers of your fine work as an artist. You will always be our brave King Theoden, a person able to lead through example, to adjust his course and evolve, a beacon of love and our steadfast riding companion. Steady as you go, friend.
Viggo's words for Bernard Hill are so beautiful. So poetic and melancholy.
Makes me kind of wish Viggo did use some social media, just to share his beautiful mind more with the world, via his words, his photos, his paintings. He doesn't feel the need for such things and I have the highest respect for that, but I do feel the world would be a little better for it. Because he has this rather old fashioned thoughtfulness and kindness in him which is becoming more and more rare.
But really, no, he should continue as he does, it's what makes him special.
This is an interview with Viggo in Danish, from 2023. (being Swedish, I understand most of it. And Viggo speaks Danish slowly, making it a LOT easier to understand). It's an interview about his film Falling, mostly, and about his parents getting old and sick.
I find it fascinating to just watch him; he's 65 years old, he looks great and he kind of still has the body language of little boy. A little shy, very thoughtful, very natural and quite adorable. If you're allowed to call a 65 yr old man adorable? Well, now I just did anyway. :)
Viggo is also a very good example of how different you can seem depending on what language you speak. I feel like he speaks and acts differently while speaking English, Spanish, Danish or French. I just listened to a podcast (at around 24 mins) with him in French and he mentioned himself that he does act differently depending on the language and that even his gestures can change. I think he speaks quite fast in Spanish, a lot faster than in both English and Danish. Spanish just is that kind of language, I guess? Temperamental. While Danish isn't. I guess he speaks French slowly, since it's not a language he speaks a 100 % (but still so very beautifully, and with a slight Quebecois tint).
Speaking a language is not just using words, after all, it's also a cultural expression. I feel that Viggo's talents for acting, also makes it easier for him to learn different languages and how you behave while speaking them. But he also said that he works quite hard at learning languages. I'm in awe of his language skills.
Viggo really is an endlessly fascinating, brilliant, beautiful, lovely man.
In celebration of the minor reunion taking place this weekend, here are my favourite bits from the Fellowship reunion on zoom in 2020.
Firstly, that "oh no my boy, no no" impression of JRD from Viggo. Viggo says it with so much fondness. Both for JRD and Orlando.
Secondly, Sean B asking "as people?" and Dom saying "no, as gasses" - is just as funny everytime I hear it. It's so weird and off-beat. And Sean's question is so strange yet completely serious. Hilarious.
Thirdly, Sean A being boring and his zoom freezing - they are such a boyishly cruel gang, they love to tease mercilessly, obviously.
Fourth, Ian calling Orlando an "easy boy recliner". Not sure what to make of that really. It's a joke, obviously, but is it also a dig (or hint?) at Orlando? Is Ian implying he was "easy"? Someone one would want to "recline" on, being such a pretty boy? It's such a seemingly random segue from the story Viggo was telling about JRD, I find it intriguing. Particularly since it's from Ian. (And maybe Ian just thought Orlando was very, very easy on the eyes...)
It made my mind go off on a tangent and think of this old interview with the hobbits:
Premiere: Dom, weren’t you telling me that there was a real ‘boys club’ during the filming of the movie? Dom: Yeah, how there were no women there. Elijah: Well, Cate Blanchett came over. Billy: And Orlando, who’s quite feminine, was there. Elijah: Yeah, he was kind of the girl of the group, wasn’t he? Billy: He was a bit of the bitch. Dom: He would tidy up for us. Billy: We had parties, and we’d dress him up in a apron. Dom: And he would have to clean up afterward. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be invited to the party. (Bloom, who dubs himself “an honorary hobbit” and who, by the way, denies he wore an apron. “Maybe in their wet dreams,” he says. “They’re suffering from elf envy. But it’s hard when you’re three foot six”)
The Fellowship seems to have (had) a slightly harsh, very boyish kind of jargon going, where they tease each other mercilessly (probably due to being too many smelly guys in one place for too long, like an all-boys school, or the military service). So, these comments probably don't mean more than that. But together with that "easy boy recliner" comment, I kind of get the feeling there might have been a particular kind of teasing, directed at Orlando. And I wonder why? Was it just about Orlando being the prettiest, prissy elf? Was it just that famous elf-envy?
The female cast was only there off and on, after all, so maybe Orlando, in their absence, got cast in that "role"? I always get the feeling that young Orlando was quite nervous about his first role (and so working hard), very jittery (from being ADHD, as O says himself), very open and thus quite vulnerable. I get the feeling he didn't quite fit in, he seemed to hang with the hobbits (who were a tight unit), work very closely with Viggo (and Sean B - both older than O), but perhaps not really belonging with either. They were obviously a good group of people who were and are very fond of each other, but maybe Orlando just didn't really have his own group within the group. And so got teased more?
(Except, of course, how O, in my mind, was very close with V. As a devoted disciple or as something more. That would most likely have affected the dynamic of the whole group... And led to more teasing. And yes, I know drawing farfetched conclusions...)
Aww, there they are, on this very evening! Three hobbits and an elf, still friends 25 years later.
Next, let's get the whole Fellowship in a room together!
These boys will all meet up this weekend, at comic con in Liverpool. I hope they'll take lots of pics together for us. It's been ages! (It's too bad Viggo never attends these things. Feels like he never will...)
Dom posted this the other day, seems it was while on their way home after finishing the LotR shoot. So, this is what you look like after working non-stop for 18 months, eh? A bit off your head.
Really, though, must have been so weird to step out of that insulated world, after such a long time. In the second half of the shooting, I understand they had very little time off, and very long days. Probably not meeting anyone except the cast and crew for the longest time. Must have been a relief when it was over, but also a giant anti-climax. Like, what on earth will I do now? After knowing exactly what to do for 18 months.
The shortest little clip from a LotR premiere in 2002.
Viggo is probably on his way to do interviews or whatever, but decides to stop and speak to Orlando, making the assistants stress out, trying to make Viggo keep walking.
What my wild imagination sees: Viggo coming up very close to Orlando, getting right up in his face. It kind of turns sexual, like he's stalking his prey. He starts saying something to Orlando, long before he's up close, like he's asking or demanding something. Maybe saying "where have you been?" or "when can I be alone with you?" or maybe even "bathroom, in 10 mins?". (And Orlando seems to nod, "yes, but make that in 5 mins.")
And then those harried assistants, looking like they're thinking "Oh no! Got to keep him away from Orlando or they'll start making out again!"
Considering how they were all over each other at all the premieres they attended together, it's no wonder they tried to limit their contact... And it took not one but TWO assistants to keep Viggo going.
If you feel like being conspiratorial (which is bad, but also a little fun), maybe this is why we never really saw them in public together, except for at the LotR-premieres. Too much happening, too much fireworks, too obvious.
The two certainly had that elusive thing called chemistry.
Dominic Monaghan, who’s been in Hawaii shooting “Lost,” says the “LOTR” fellowship, which includes Viggo Mortenson and Orlando Bloom, does more than just stay in touch. “I still see the guys all the time.” In fact, he’s expecting visits from the “LOTR” gang through the holidays. “Viggo and Orlando are coming over for Thanksgiving. Then Billy and Elijah are coming over for New Year’s Eve.” They’ll need all of Gandalf’s magical powers to keep the “LOTR” groupies away, that’s for sure.
I love this little tidbit. In my mind, it sounds wonderfully and casually couple-y; Vig&Orli coming to celebrate Thanksgiving. Like it's self evident that they come together, as a pair.
Speaking of couple-like things; I also love the photo. It's just such a beautifully, inpropriately intimate grab. It's really quite erotic. One must wonder what Orlando might be whispering to Viggo. It's such a shame there is no video of this moment, I would have love to know for how long Orlando felt it apropriate to hold Viggo like this. And what Viggo's reaction was. If it was all par for the course for the both of them and it just felt completley natural to them.
I don't have the exact source for the quote, nor from exactly when, but should be 2004 or later, at any rate (since Lost started filming that year).
During award season 2017, when Viggo was asked about the lovely minor Fellowship reunion that happened in January that year, I noticed he used (at least) three different ways of addressing Orlando (if anyone knows of any more, please let me know!). So I cut them together in a video.
Edit: Found a fourth name: Orlando Bloom - the maximum elf
Viggo also says it with a distinct pause, and a laugh. It's funny and adorable. So many pet names for his favourite elf boy!
Also, the reunion happened like 2 weeks after Orlando turned 40. Did they all celebrate that together as well?
Thsnk you for this mini compilation! There is also "Captain Hook". :)) When the interviewer mentioned that photo of Orlando nsked on the sea in 2016. :) His laugher here too is adorable. :D And I love when he does these pauses, nods or averts his eyes.
Ah yes, of course! Good one.
Although, this nickname is only for one particular part of Orlando...
I love that he said that in a split second, obviously knowing exactly what the interviewer was talking about. Means he watched Orlando doing his naked paddling. So yeah, heh, intriguing.
Also, even as a boyish joke, you got to wonder why his brain would even think of this nickname (maybe it even dates back to Orlando's time in Pirates?) Even implying it's a name he usually uses for Orlando (and his private parts). Can't help but wonder what other names he's uses for Orlando (and all his different body parts).
I adore this cheeky, childish side of Viggo. It's ridiculously cute. He even looks quite pleased with himself, being a little naughty.
In this new video, Viggo talks at length about his favourite movies of the past. He's a true cineaste.
And he always talks so wonderfully about the things he's passionate about. I've seen some of these movies, but he makes me want to see them all. He really has a way of drawing you in, doesn't he? He speaks slowly and thoughtfully and with his soothing voice. He's got this lowkey, boyish charm which is quite irresistable. I could listen to him for hours. He talks a lot about telling stories, and he himself is a great storyteller.
He's such a beautiful man.
My deep dive into the past has really heightened my love for him. A really nice side effect of insanity.
Me going obsessively through the history of Viggo and Orlando and I keep thinking of how they lost touch at one point, after knowing each other for eight years.
In 2007, there were frequent reports on the two being seen together here and there. Like Viggo attending Orlando's 30 years bday party and seeing Billy Boyd's band together etc.
But after the BAFTA's in feb 2008 there's no word on them being in the same room until 2016. If you are so inclined (and I am) that could sound like a breakup of some sort.
So here's the final time, during the first decade of the 21st century, that they were seen together: at the BAFTAs February 2008. Ian, Viggo & Orlando all attended. They weren't interviewed nor photographed together, just accidentally caught on camera, having a group hug. Such a lost opportunity.
Look at Orlando's face! He looks at Viggo with such wonder and love. And grabs Viggo's arm like he's thinking "is he real?". Looking at him, up and down. They are so delighted to see each other.
So what actually happened after 2007/8? Viggo said in 2009 that he hadn't seen Orlando in a while. Orlando said in 2013 that they'd lost touch for "quite a while", but were lately "trading emails". Were they in fact just two busy people with very diverging lives and careers? Maybe it's not dramatic at all, they were just busy with work and other relationships. Orlando later got married and had a kid, Viggo met his partner and eventually moved to Spain. But it's the difference between those quite regular sightings for many years, and then... nothing that intrigues me.
Until 2016 and 2017 when there are, all of a sudden, several reports on meetings and they started mentioning each other in interviews. Maybe it this point, their lives had settled more?And maybe whatever happened in the past stays in the past now.
But in my head, there's something about the happiness in this brief little clip that makes that separation seem tragic. Like they lost something. Lost each other. I hope they found it again. No matter in what form.
During award season 2017, when Viggo was asked about the lovely minor Fellowship reunion that happened in January that year, I noticed he used (at least) three different ways of addressing Orlando (if anyone knows of any more, please let me know!). So I cut them together in a video.
Edit: Found a fourth name: Orlando Bloom - the maximum elf
Viggo also says it with a distinct pause, and a laugh. It's funny and adorable. So many pet names for his favourite elf boy!
Also, the reunion happened like 2 weeks after Orlando turned 40. Did they all celebrate that together as well?
I keep writing Viggorli fanfiction in my head, sometimes with a little help from Viggo's poetry. I think Viggo uses his art and poetry to express himself, but of course no one but him can know what he was thinking when writing it. But I can imagine. And I wish to imagine he wrote some of them thinking of Orlando. I'm sure my imaginations and theories are only new to me.
As with the O+H painting, the poems which are dated from the time frame of filming LotR (1999-2002) can reasonably be considered to be quite influenced by everything Viggo experienced while in New Zealand. He spent 18 months+ there, after all. For this reason, I read his poem Communion imagining he was also under the heavy influence of love for his elf boy. And to me, it reads like a very romantic but also very wistful poem. So this story would be labeled "friends to lovers, angst".
In my view, at least two sort of objective facts, support my not-very objective theory that Orlando is the unamed object of desire, namely Viggo's choice of words:
"Bloom of compassion" - the most obvious (too obvious even? - or hiding in plain sight?) - it's a common enough word, sure, but in this context, during this period of Viggo's life, is it really a coincidence? It seems to stand out like a neon sign: BLOOM. It's difficult to unsee.
"Anglican doorway" - "Anglican" mostly refers to "Church of England" or the Anglican communion as a whole. But it can also be another way of saying that something is English. And so it can be read as "English doorway", if you wish. Regardless, it certainly leads your thoughts towards England. Furthermore, Orlando was brought up in the Church of England (and born in Canterbury, the place of origin for the church, no less), while Viggo has no known connection to any religion really. It's perhaps not as obvious as bloom, but it's still quite a significant choice of word. Again, in this context, at this time, when we know Viggo spent so much of his time with Orlando.
Here's my interpretation of Viggo's Communion:
we've left shore somehow become the friends of early theory close enough to speak desire and pain of absence of mistakes we'd make given the chance.
The two are described as friends, who have become closer, intimate in words and thoughts. Sharing secrets, fears, feelings. Bordering on something more.
each smile returned makes harder avoiding dreams that see us lying in the early evening curtain shadows, skin safe against skin. bloom of compassion respect for moments eyes lock turns forever into one more veil that falls away
He seems to be having thoughts of them becoming lovers, the veil of "just friends" falling away. But it seems to be still just a dream, a hope. It's such a beautiful image: the two of them, together, intimate, safe. And that "bloom of compassion", maybe V just wanted to get the word in...
this after seeing you last night, first time smelling you with permission: shoulders to wonder openly at as carefully kissed as those arms waited impossibly on. they've held me now and your breath down my back sent away the night air that had me shaking in the unlit anglican doorway.
But seems they've already been intimate, maybe just a first kiss, a lingering touch, holding each other. The "smelling you with permission" implies he's smelled O without permission before. Sneaking a little sniff when in close contact. Inhaling the sweet scent of a beloved friend. If we accept "anglican" as a reference to O, then what is this unlit doorway? Is it just an image of being allowed inside O's private space? And why is it unlit? As in Orlando being from that church, but not believing in its god? Or an opening into this other person which is difficult to find, maybe not fully opened to him.
are we ruined for finding our faces fit and want to know more about morning? is friendship cancelled if we can't call each other anymore in amnesia, invite ourselves to last glances under suspicious clocks telling us when we've had enough?
A worry that sex will ruin their friendship, implying it's not clear what their relationship should be, even after crossing that line. I love that phrase "finding our faces fit", it's both funny and beautiful; finding that when they kiss, they felt a sense of belonging. And that they probably don't want to stop. I'm not sure if he also worries about other people seeing, finding out, being in the public eye. And he worries that they won't be able to talk like they did before, as friends.
your steady hands cradling my grateful skull: were you taking in my face to save an image you've rarely allowed yourself after leaving that cold alcove? am i a photograph you gaze at in moments of weakness?
Again, he seems to feel this relationship only exists in private, in bed. Maybe implying that O regards it as a weakness, these feelings. This part could also be read as if it's him looking back, when the relationship is over, or changed, distanced, wondering if O thinks of him.
you ordered me off my knees into your arms. wasn't to beg that i knelt; only to see you once from below.
The image of V on his knees could both be a sexual thing, but it could also be about worship; that he wants to be on his knees to adore O. But it's also a part of the poem's religious theme; you usually kneal while taking the communion. You kneal to pray.
tried to say something that filled my mouth and longed to rest in your ear. don't dare write it down for fear it'll become words, just words.
The relationship seems fragile, filled with fear of loss. Like he can't say everything he wants to, afraid it'll lead to it ending. There's so much desire and longing, but also so much despair of the relationship being so brittle, that it can fall apart at any time.
Once I read it this way, like with that painting, I can't see anything else. Maybe it's just coincidences, maybe it's just something from inside Viggo's brain (and not connected to reality), maybe it can be read in many other ways. But since my brain is warped, I can only read it like this.
Just wanna let you know that i Love these little deep dives you are posting here about viggo and orlando. I wasnt around that time so it is rlly interesting to read all that info together
I'm glad you're enjoying it just like I am! I'm really finding it fascinating to look back like this, with all the hindsight you have 20-25 years later.
I was aware of them back then, but only marginally. Like for so many people, seeing Viggo being accosted by an adorable wild child was the first time I ever considered these two together.
It was an eye opener, to say the least. I remember seeing this clip, way back when (but still, not until maybe 2002?), and just thinking, ahhhhhhhh! Or something eloquent like that. I might also have thought something about Orlando being a terribly adorable, naughty boy. And with Viggo looking so very pleased but shy, both seemingly completely smitten by Orlando's childish antics, but also a little reluctant and trying to be the responsible adult (after giving in to a little flirty scuffle). The dynamic was completely fascinating from the start.
But I also remember, very distinctly, seeing these pics of Elijah jumping Orlando, and loving it. Maybe I loved this a bit more back then, to be honest. And it's still one of the cutest red carpet greetings ever, one must agree. I certainly shipped these two upon seeing this. They were just too cute!
Those first LotR-events were wild, weren't they? Like they didn't quite know yet what impact everything they did had. Like they just continued being just as they'd been on set. Rowdy, happy, boundless, loving. Not caring what it looked like. It was a beautiful thing.
