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The Miracle of Making Films: Viggo Mortensen at THE DEAD DON'T HURT Press Conference

Gustavo R. Gallardo

Gustavo R. Gallardo

Viggo Mortensen steps into the Centro Cultural Universitario in Morelia. He looks timid in a red T-shirt with the image of former Chilean president Salvador Allende, an olive green jacket, and black sneakers. As he passes by, he is met with compliments, glances, and camera shots. He moves in front of Danny Huston and then next to producer Regina Solórzano and Daniela Michel, founder and general director of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM). He looks around at times. The press waits for the beginning of the conference for The Dead Don't Hurt, directed by Mortensen and the film that inaugurates this year's festival. 

"You're no one without your team," said the Argentinean-born actor speaking about the film, adding that he woke up very early this Friday and had the opportunity to walk the streets of downtown Morelia, which he described as marvelous.

Mortensen explained that he wrote the screenplay for the film in 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic in Spain, which he describes as a "very difficult" process.

"It's so difficult to make films, its a miracle when you pull it off," he asserts, adding that most of the films that are made throughout the year aren't any good.

"You can have a good screenplay and good intentions and still miss the mark," he concluded.

The Dead Don’t Hurt stars Vicky Krieps, Solly McLeod, Garret Dillahunt, Colin Morgan and Danny Huston, who shared with the attendees that he saw Mortensen as a narrator while filming.

"It was a poetic experience and I am grateful for what he told me and what he didn't tell me," said the actor, emphasizing how "wonderful it was to work with Viggo in all his roles within the project," since he not only acted and directed, but wrote the screenplay as well.

For Daniela Michel, director of FICM, The Dead Don't Hurt is a film she has been “chasing after” ever since she first heard about it, hoping to have it at the festival. It is, she said, a feminist western that "fits perfectly with FICM's spirit."

The film was shot in Mexico. Producer Regina Solórzano expressed her gratitude for the help provided by the Mexican government to make the film a reality.

Viggo listened attentively and thanked her for having spent more time on set than anywhere else in spite of all her responsibilities, which he called “unusual."

When asked about his passion for soccer, mainly about his beloved club, San Lorenzo, he smiles for the first time, albeit shyly.

"It was difficult to film and watch the World Cup matches," the filmmaker explains, as the shooting took place during the 2022 World Cup: "It was a fairly soccer-loving team and they had to hide to find out how the matches were going because phones were forbidden."

"The director's responsibility is to carry the general tension," he says of his most recent experience behind a camera. He directed Falling (2020) before that.

The Dead Don’t Hurt is set in the 1860s. Vivienne Le Coudy gets into a relationship with a Danish immigrant named Holger. She agrees to travel with him to his home near Elk Flats, Oregon, where they begin a life together. The Civil War tears them apart, and Vivienne is left alone in a place controlled by a powerful rancher and his violent son. A portrait of a passionate woman determined to stand up for herself in an unforgiving world dominated by ruthless men.