Today we all know it: guess which Lord of the Rings actor is hiding in this scene?

In the early 2000s, Viggo Mortensen became a global superstar with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, adapted from the works of JRR Tolkien by Peter Jackson.

Playing the mythical character of Aragorn, an indomitable adventurer, an indispensable member of the Fellowship of the Ring and, above all, the heir to the throne of Gondor (a role that was originally supposed to go to Stewart Townsend), the Danish-American actor found himself unexpectedly. Became one of the most popular Hollywood personalities of that moment.

But Viggo Mortensen – who then turned to less commercial auteur projects such as David Cronenberg’s History of Violence, Matt Ross’ Captain Fantastic or even Peter Farrell’s Green Book – didn’t start his career with this memorable trip to Middle-earth. , far away.

Apart from brief appearances (in Jonathan Demme’s Swing Shift and Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo), which were not preserved in the edit, his first film role dates back to the mid-80s. He was 26 years old then. Young Viggo, who had only acted in the theater, was offered a small role in the prestigious thriller Witness.

Directed by Peter Weir (also known for The Truman Show and The Lost Poets Circle), directed by Harrison Ford, the feature film (presented at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival and winner of two Oscars) follows the inspector’s investigation. John Buck (Ford), about a murder whose only witness was a small Amish boy.

Featured in only a few short sequences in the film (we hear him utter 3 or 4 lines of dialogue throughout the feature film), Viggo Mortensen He plays a man named Moses Hochleitner, a young Amish man from the community that John Book slowly gets to know. Throughout the film, we can see him holding Harrison Ford’s hand, handing him some tools while building a barn, or even having lunch at the same table as him during a community meal (see below). down).

“He was really into the barn building scene”said the young actor about Harrison Ford to Movieline Magazine in 1998. “I had to give him some tools and he said ‘give me something’ and I didn’t know what he was talking about.

Credited at number 12, Viggo Mortensen began his acting career with Witness. Expecting to explode with Lord of the Rings, he then took part in other diverse projects, such as Sean Penn’s drama The Indian Runner, Brian De Palma’s The Lane (opposite Al Pacino) or even Ridley Scott’s Weapons. (vs. Demi Moore).

(re)discover this movie trailer…