Viggo Mortensen - Hollywood, Jan 16th, 2002
One of the employees, as we were waiting, would periodically come out and announce that Viggo would be doing certain things....the one that particularly caught our attention was the back massages! LOL! The employee was great and I totally wish I'd gotten a pic with him! He was quite entertaining.
With the exception of the security insisting on enforcing certain 'rules' (including forbidding taking photos inside), everything went smoothly and orderly. Much to the shock of everyone waiting near the parking structure, we watched as Rene Zeilwiger drove up and went in the back entrance of the book store...apparently she wanted Viggo's autograph as well and managed to circumvent the line to be the first one to get his signature. Eh, can't fault her for her taste...
We didn't get up to Viggo and Jude until about 6:45pm....and the garage I had my car parked in closed at 7....made for nail biting wait.
Jude was great, we chatted for a bit about me worrying about my car which she seemed to think would be ok...heh, she doesn't know the area very well! I asked her if she would be doing the ROTK visual guide and she said that is what she was in town for. She was picking images to use!
Viggo was taking his time next to her so there was a few minute wait which was
nice because she was so happy and personable.
Viggo was his usual quiet self. Looking very tired by the time I got up to him...He'd been signing for 5 hours by then. Sitting next to him was his Argentenian beer and he seemed quite relaxed (wonder how many he'd had?) when I reached him. Just had two pieces for him to sign (we were allowed 4), the visual guide and an Oscar Consideration AD with Aragorn and Brego... I'm not one for getting autographs, I'd rather have a pic taken with him, but I expect security would have tossed me out on my butt had I even mentioned wanting to take a pic WITH the man.
Viggo seemed very surprised when he looked at the ad, said hadn't seen it before so when I asked to take a pic he said to wait while he posed looking at the ad. I told him I was impressed with his Charlie Rose appearance and asked if he'd made the shirt he was wearing. He said he had. I thought it would be rude of me to ask him to turn around so I could get a pic of the back of his shirt, security was standing right there, positively annoyed that we were taking pictures despite their stern warning not to. But, Viggo had said yes, and who am I to argue with the star?
All in all another memorable Viggo experience. I WILL get my pic WITH him one of these days...when I'm not afraid security will hurt me. He's such a nice and gracious man to be willing to stand there hours upon hours to make sure every fan gets to see him and I believe he was there for more than six hours signing. Now that is dedication to his fans!
