Viggo Mortensen on directing The Dead Don’t Hurt and classic Westerns

Writer-director Viggo Mortensen’s new western, The Dead Don’t Hurt, is a superbly told period piece with the graceful power and beauty of the genre’s most beloved classics – something Mortensen deliberately wanted. “I wanted to stay true to the rules and traditions of the classic western,” Mortensen told IndieWire. “First and foremost, my goal with the cinematography was not to draw unnecessary attention to how the camera perceives landscapes and characters, but to use a kind of unadorned photography like you see in westerns by Howard Hawks or Budd Boetticher. Just a direct, elegant way of showing the places and the people in them.” Mortensen’s story of two lovers (played by Mortensen and Vicky Krieps) whose lives are changed by the civil war and who must ultimately find reconciliation and forgiveness in a violent world is, like Boetticher’s best films, a film as idiosyncratic and personal as it is archetypal – a unique genre film that also offers classical satisfaction.

The simplicity of Mortensen’s visual sensibility lends itself perfectly to presenting the detailed, richly textured world of 1860s Nevada that he and his department heads created for “The Dead Don’t Hurt,” a world that is the result of meticulous research. “We wanted to be historically accurate in terms of the guns, the saddles, the lamps in the saloons and the clothing,” Mortensen said. “We really documented that as best we could, using archival photos and descriptions of the period. We also wanted to do justice to the cultural diversity of the United States at that time. Even on the western frontier in a small town, there was a mix of languages ​​and cultural and ethnic backgrounds, and that was as important as anything else.”

One of the most impressive aspects of “The Dead Don’t Hurt” is the supreme control Mortensen exerts over his material as a director, with each shot and cut producing precise, carefully timed emotional effects. Yet Mortensen’s approach is anything but dictatorial, something he learned from decades of working with major directors like David Cronenberg, Jane Campion and Brian DePalma, who he said prepared for their shoots in a way that allowed for maximum flexibility on set. “What I’ve learned in my 40 years of film school or more from really good directors, men and women who are very different as people and make different kinds of films, is to be extremely well prepared,” Mortensen said. “You can never prepare too much for a shoot. There are always going to be unexpected obstacles and challenges. Filmmaking is about solving problems, small and large, every day, but if you’re really well prepared, you can adapt as a team and deal with those problems and solve them.”

Mortensen said that this preparation brings with it the freedom to incorporate the best ideas from all the cast and crew. “Communication is everything,” he said, adding that he always makes it clear before shooting that “ideas, suggestions and questions are welcome from all the cast and crew. Even though I’ve come up with the story and have a clear idea of ​​how I’m going to tell it, a good idea can come at any time and from anyone.” Aside from giving the director so much raw material to enrich the film with, such an approach is also good for morale on set, according to Mortensen. “Everyone feels like it’s not just another job. You’re not just there for your technical skills. You’re there because you’re a trusted member of the team and what you think and feel about what we’re telling is important.”

Mortensen admits he has worked with some directors who were less flexible and took a “do it or die” approach and still made good films, “but I’m convinced they would have been even better films if they had been more open and collaborative.” Mortensen adds that teamwork allowed him to finish “The Dead Don’t Hurt” under budget and ahead of schedule, a feat he feels is important to keep the Western commercially viable. He is excited that not only his film but also Kevin Costner’s “Horizon” films will be released this summer, and he hopes the films will show financiers that the genre still has life. “I like the genre,” he said. “I think it has a lot of possibilities. So I hope people see the film and enjoy it so that Westerns will continue to be made. And also so that it doesn’t take me so long to raise the money for the next story I want to tell.”

Shout! Studios will release “The Dead Don’t Hurt” in theaters on May 31.