"'Wilde' was a gay movie, my part was gay. I have a lot of gay mates, and Atti is a good kisser. That's all I have to say about this."

"You're getting that out cause you want me to play with myself, aren't you?" ~to Graham Norton as Graham struggles to get a Legolas toy out of it's packaging.~

"No matter how straight you feel, Atti is the man who makes you reconsider." ~on Andre Schneider~

"I always loved his soft voice and his looks. So it was quite easy to fall in love with him." ~on Andre Schneider~

"When a play starts rehearsing or a film shooting, the actors get bonding. How else will we be able to present the intimacy of relations that most scripts demand? When we are working away from home, new friendships help the separation from loved ones and familiar places and things. And so a temporary family knits together. Of course families often have arguments: and then there is incest . . . I should be very unhappy if I didn't meet up soon with the cast of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. A year was a long time and it's daft to throw love away." ~excerpts from a post on his official site~

"I'm Ian McKellen and I fancy Ewan McGregor as well."

"There are actors who come up to you at a Hollywood party and, just as about to give them a kiss, will whisper, 'I'm not gay in L.A.' Some people assume that if you come to their party and meet their boyfriend, you are expected to lie to the press. It's very hard."

"Since I came out, I keep getting all these parts, and my career's taken off. I want a quiet life! I'm going back into the closet. But I can't get back into the closet because its absolutely jam-packed with other actors."

"I've had enough of being a gay icon! I've had enough of all this hard work, because,since I came out, I keep getting all these parts, and my career's taken off. I want a quiet life. I'm going back into the closet. But I can't get back into the closet, because it's absolutely jam-packed full of other actors."

"I was suggesting to Peter yesterday he should insert some love interest for Gandalf in a later one. He suggested Galadriel... I said, no, I was thinking more of someone like Legolas. Oh God, Euan, put that in an ironic typeface or something, for the Americans."

My dear Sarah I'm glad you like actors but you know the most interesting part of most of us is our acting not our private lives. But that's not true of Viggo Mortensen, poet,painter and photographer. He and Sean Bean are the best of mates and two of the most peaceable hunks you could hope to laugh and drink with. ~excerpts from a post on his official site~

"Acting has never been, like, everything to me. Even before I had a son, who does mean everything to me. There's too many strange people. And too much institutionalized insecurity."

"There was one gigantic battle sequence that some of us worked on all night every night for three months straight, which is insane. It was dark and wet. That was a real tough one for the cast and crew and it forged strong friendships. People made an effort to enjoy themselves and spend time with each other because we became part of each other's lives one way or another. On a shoot that long, people get together,people come apart, marriages falter, people get ill, people get pregnant, people get injured. It's just like a giant traveling circus."

"I think he is calm and easy and fairly relaxed. Sean was incredible. He was very concentrated. I could not imagine anyone to be more centered on his work, on all the details, the surroundings (the scenes) and everything that he referred to in the film for so long. What stamina..." ~on Sean Bean~

"Well Sean has greater ability to put on a poker face than I, of course. Sometimes I felt that the situation was beating me, in truth I was a little amazed. But Sean or the Community as much as the rest of the filming crew were always there supporting me." ~on Sean Bean~

November 1999 Queenstown's flooded, which means that the river scenes may never be shot. Viggo rang this morning and asked if I wanted to go fishing. I said "Why don't you just throw your rod out the window?" The water is about three feet high outside the reception area. Drove to Arrowtown with Orlando Bloom and Elijah Wood and played cops and robbers in the forest. Also, Billy Boyd and I went round to six vineyards in a day. Not a good idea. ~from his diary, excerpt from Mademoiselle, October 2001 issue~

October 4, 2000 Hungover...very funny: at lunch we were all wearing black and sunglasses. Rang Mum and Liv when I got in. Viggo left a long message on my machine. He leaves these kind of stream-of-consciousness messages on your machine like "Yeah, this is Viggo, I'm eating chicken, I'm wearing blue trousers, the sun is shining..." I always save the messages. ~from his diary, excerpt from Mademoiselle, October 2001 issue~

"Being immersed in such a stunning location, you couldn't not be swept away by the romance of it all. On our days off we would hang about on set and soak up the atmosphere. Nobody kept themselves to themselves."

"It was crucial for the audience to see there was this complete and utter devotion from the three hobbits toward Frodo."

"We are so close and connected, especially the four Hobbits. We still meet up whenwe can. We all went through this weird experience together that I think will always tie us together. There are only eight other people in the world that know what I got up to in those 18 months." ~from UK Telegraph~

"Actually, we're more than mates."

"Even Sean Astin, who plays Sam, was very protective of me. He'd help me out and watch my back..."

"He's amazing. He's a complete Renaissance man. He can do it all, and very well." ~on Viggo Mortensen~

"I took on the role of Elijah's protector, not that he needed it. I was trying to take him under my wing and he just kept dragging us into another adventure"

"The best thing was just travelling through from the North Island to the South Island. We did it a second time, Viggo and I, and that time we got through. It was just wonderful having the opportunity to drive through this ancient forest land and mountains, to see shorelines, to stop in little villages and to spend the night there and to carry on the next day. It was a really magical time for me." ~on Viggo Mortensen~