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Mortensen’s talent to lose himself in a role has guaranteed him work on big movies ever since, even if he was rarely the lead. The high cheekbones and pale piercing eyes didn’t do any harm, either. His taste has proved interesting, taking on period costume drama, as Nicole Kidman’s suitor in Portrait of a Lady, alongside more contemporary roles such as that of a tough officer in Ridley Scott’s army girls drama, GI Jane. In 28 Days, he was a baseball player in rehab, while in A Perfect Murder he was Gwyneth Paltrow’s jealous lover, a temperamental artist. In that film, all of the artwork seen on screen was painted by Mortensen himself.

By the mid to late Nineties, Mortensen had been based in Los Angeles for some time. He’d married the actress and former singer Exene Cervenka shortly after they had met on the set of Salvation! in 1987. The marriage didn’t survive, finally ending, after a long separation, in divorce in 1997, but the union did produce a much-adored son, Henry, now 16. “Right now, my boy is with his mother because I’ve been working,” he says. “But when I finish I’ll go home to Los Angeles and he will be living with me again. He goes back and forth. Work means that I’ve been away sometimes, and the longest separation was during filming of The Lord of the Rings in New Zealand, but he came down to stay with me and watch the filming several times.”

Filming TLOTR was never dull. Peter Jackson’s decision to make all three films back-to-back meant that his cast virtually had to move to New Zealand. It was always physically challenging and Mortensen threw himself into it with typical commitment. “Most people got hurt at some point,” he recalls. “I got a tooth knocked out, broken toes, lots of cuts and strains, knuckles torn out.” When the tooth came out, he stuck it back in with chewing gum, went to the dentist at lunchtime, and was back at work in the afternoon.
It was worth it. All three films were rightly praised for the
glorious cinematic spectacle they provided. Mortensen is understandably proud of them, even if he’s a little reluctant to act in front of imaginary monsters again. “Seeing who you are playing with is a relief. In The Lord of the Rings we did a lot of things when there was nothing there. In A History of Violence I get to work with some very good actors right there with me.”

In Cannes, where A History of Violence had its world premiere, the film won many admirers, and it’s easy to see why. On one level, this is a taut, clever thriller about the owner of a small-town diner, Tom Stall – Mortensen – who becomes a hero when he stands up to two killers who have drifted into town. But as the film develops, the audience is drawn into an intriguing guessing game about exactly who this man really is.

With a superb supporting cast, including Maria Bello as Stall’s wife and Ed Harris and William Hurt playing menacing villains, Cronenberg examines not only violence and how it is portrayed on screen, but identity and authority. And ultimately, how we all have things we keep hidden. “We all have secrets,” says Mortensen. “And that’s interesting to explore. What I liked about the way David handled the violence was that it looked real; it was ugly and immediate, and it has long-lasting consequences, just like it does in real life.

“I think what the film says about violence is that it exists and it’s inevitable. Human beings are capable of violence, it’s just the way that we are. But it also says that we have a free will and that we can turn away from it. But what is more interesting is that it makes you think about identity and about authority. And that’s the best thing of all – with a David Cronenberg film, he makes you do some thinking.”
And Mortensen likes that. He’s perfectly happy when he’s alone and has plenty of time to think. “I don’t get enough of it,” he sighs. “There are always so many people around...” Usually with a picture of the mean, moody and magnificent Aragorn in one hand and a pen in the other. But then, they have been warned.

A History of Violence opens on September 30

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