Viggo Mortensen with director Ana Piterbarg (and his sock monkeys) at TIFF 2012. (Juanito Aguil/Getty Images)
Doing press junket after press junket must get a bit tiresome for all the celebs promoting their films at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and beyond. So we don't blame Viggo Mortensen for bringing along a few props to keep things interesting, especially when there's usually a meaning behind them.
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Last year at TIFF, he managed to upstage both himself and Keira Knightley by posing with a Montreal Canadiens jersey and towel while they promoted "A Dangerous Method." Then, his Habs love made another appearance with "On The Road" co-star Kirsten Dunst (or, rather, around "On The Road" co-star Kirsten Dunst) at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
Mortensen shows off his Canadiens love with Keira Knightley and Kirsten Dunst. (Michael Tran/FilmMagic, George …
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But while his passion for hockey didn't show up at the press conference for his TIFF 2012 film "Everybody Has A Plan," he nevertheless had some props on hand.
"The story takes place here," Mortensen told the crowd of journalists and photographers on Monday beside the film's director Ana Piterbarg, and unfurled the national flag of Argentina.
"And it's about this," he added and held up two sock monkeys.
No, the "Lord of the Rings" star doesn't play an overgrown kid's toy. Mortensen actually plays two twin brothers in the Spanish-language thriller, one who lives a life of luxury in Buenos Aires, and the other works as a poor bee farmer with a shady past in the Tigre Delta.
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The Argentine flag not only represents the movie, but Mortensen's personal past as well. Though his heritage spreads from New England to Nova Scotia to Denmark, he spent his early childhood in Argentina where his father managed chicken farms. He learned fluent Spanish there until he was 11, when his parents divorced and he moved to Waterton, N.Y. with his mother.
"Everybody Has A Plan" is Mortensen's third film in Spanish, the first being 1995's "Gimlet" and 2006's "Alatriste," where his role of the fictional Capitán Alatriste won him the Goya Award for Best Lead Actor.