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Article: Cronenberg, Mortensen together again
- Article from:
- Oakland Tribune
- Article date:
- September 18, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2007 Oakland Tribune. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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THERE WAS a time, when he was making pictures such as
"Videodrome" and "The Fly" in the 1990s, that director David
Cronenberg might have had the Russian mobster in his new film
"Eastern Promises" turn into a giant balalaika-playing cricket, just
to freak people out.
As it is, the metamorphosis in the film belongs mostly to Viggo
Mortensen, the actor who plays Nikolai and, until now, was best
known as the star of the "Lord of the Rings" movies.
Whatever else audiences or critics may make of "Eastern
Promises," Mortensen will be transformed from a Hollywood hunk who
hasn't done a five-minute fight scene totally naked to one who has,
totally.
That is no small thing. (By which we mean to ...