Viggo Mortensen & Vicky Krieps on Their Realistic Romance in The Dead Don't Hurt

Viggo Mortensen writes and co-stars in his second directed feature film, The Dead Don’t Hurt, a captivating period Western about unlikely lovers. Vicky Krieps astonishes as Vivienne Le Coudy, a formidable French-Canadian woman who makes a daring choice after a passionate meeting. She leaves with Holger Olsen (Mortensen) to Elk Flats, Nevada, where a corrupt mayor (Danny Huston), a ruthless businessman (Garret Dillahunt), and his murderous son (Solly McLeod) rule with impunity. Their romance is tested in unforeseen ways when Holger decides to fight against slavery in the Civil War.

You can watch above and read below for our complete interview with Viggo Mortensen and Vicky Krieps. They craft a story rarely seen — “What happens to little girls when their dads, their brothers, their partners, their sons go off to war?”

Viggo Mortensen Praises Vicky Krieps

The Dead Don’t Hurt (2023)

4/5

Release Date: May 31, 2024
Runtime: 2h 9m
Studio: Talipot Studio, Recorded Picture Company (RPC), Perceval Pictures
Distributor(s): Shout! Studios

MovieWeb: Viggo, the press notes state that the idea for The Dead Don’t Hurt came from an image of your mother as a girl. My first question is to bridge that gap. How do you go from that picture of your mom as a girl to casting Vicky as Vivienne?

Viggo Mortensen: I’ve been fortunate. I’ve gotten to work with Vicky and got to know her a little bit. They’re obviously very different. [To Vicki] But you have, in common with my mom, a very strong mind. No matter what the circumstances are, nobody’s going to take away what you think about something. Nobody’s going to manipulate your feelings about something. You’re your own person, and strong-willed, and stubborn about it. I think that’s great. That’s the way my mom was, like the little girl you see, who then becomes the woman, Vivienne, in our story.

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Portraying an Unlikely Western Romance

MW: Vicky, Vivienne is certainly a formidable character. She’s not afraid of anything. She kind of picks and chooses what she wants. One of the best scenes is when she meets Holger at the fish market. What made her instantly attracted to him? What made Holger stand out to her?

Vicky Krieps: There’s one I like in the movie. I always have two versions. One is the more mysterious one, and one is the more down-to-earth, probably the reality of the time. So, one is the romantic one, because he’s very beautiful, and she’s immediately attracted to him. She looks at him, and he has this air, sitting alone with his horse. Nowadays, it would be the guy chewing gum on the baseball field, or, I don’t know, basketball field, looking cool. I’m the lonesome cowboy, which is something she feels kindred with because she’s also alone in her world, and in her way. The other thing is, I think he was the only guy looking at her (laughs). No, I’m joking.

Vicky Krieps: No, I mean, there’s a bit of both when people find each other. It’s also timing. And I do think at that time, he was lost. And he was, he knew maybe where he was going to go, but not really. She was definitely lost. She was telling herself she was independent, and dating that guy. But the truth is, you can tell she’s worried she’s pulling the chewing gum as far as she can go. There’s nothing further she could go with that guy. So she’s also getting to an end, and probably wondering what to do.

Viggo Mortensen: I don’t think they expect to meet each other. I don’t think either of them is looking for someone to be with all the time. In fact, the next day, I won’t ruin it for people. But in the light of day after spending the night together, she kind of looks at him, and he sounds kind of a little bit bumbling. She’s thinking, okay, how can I get rid of this guy?

Viggo Mortensen: He’s actually a bit of an idiot. Let’s get rid of him as quickly as possible. Where are you going next? Then I say, who says I’m going anywhere? She sort of likes that. Okay, he’s got some guts. Let’s see. See how this works out. But she’s putting him to the test in the beginning a lot.

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Strength in Silence

MW: One of the most powerful scenes, without revealing spoilers, is when Vivienne returns to the bar after what happens to her. It shows this incredible courage. For you both, there’s a lot of silence in that scene. I thought that was so striking. Vicky, do you agree that it was best that she not say anything?

MW: And Viggo, why did you have that scene play so quietly for her character?

Vicky Krieps: Yeah, I mean, it was written that way. But I immediately read and understood it was one of the scenes that talked to me. We didn’t even talk about that scene. It was just so clear what it takes. Maybe because it’s what I use a lot in many movies or in my life. I believe we are strongest when we accept our greatest weakness. In that moment, that’s what she’s doing. If you do that silently, a silent protest, or a silent resistance, it’s always stronger than the riot. To me, that scene really resonated with that.

1:40

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Viggo Mortensen: When I was writing the story, I was thinking, “Okay, this character, Vivienne — some of the other characters as well, but especially her — I was imagining someone who could have a very strong presence, even in silence. Sometimes it’s just as important, sometimes more important, what’s not said in a movie. I was dreaming of a character that would be like what Vicky did. But Vicky went much further, surpassed what I was hoping for.

Viggo Mortensen: If you get lucky, and you get Vicki to play this part, and as someone else who maybe doesn’t have that same presence, or that same ability to transmit so much in silence, then you can’t really hold on that shot so long of her, for example. But in this case, once Vicki said yes, in the beginning, I was like, ‘Okay, now there’s not a limit for this character to make a good Western with a strong woman at the center.’ We just have to do a good job of surrounding Vicki with good actors, and do a good job of the storytelling. But I knew when [she] said yes, that okay, now this is going to be unusual.

Viggo Mortensen: I didn’t want to. I don’t want to make any pressure on you. But I knew it. I knew from what I’d seen you do before. But you went further, which is always great.

MW: David Cronenberg’s new film, The Shrouds has just been released and is getting a lot of critical acclaim over at Cannes. You worked with him for many years. Viggo, Vincent Cassel took over for you because you couldn’t star in that film. Did you have a chance to see it? What do you think of the final product?

Viggo Mortensen: I haven’t had a chance to see it yet. I did work with Vincent [Cassel], obviously, in Eastern Promises. He’s a good actor. So I look forward to seeing it.

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An Honest Relationship

MW: This is a tonal question. I love Westerns. I love Louis L’Amour. I love Larry McMurtry. Viggo and Vicky, you’ve managed to capture the grittiness of the western frontier, but also this beautiful romance. Talk about basically capturing that perfect middle line, where it’s not one or the other?

Viggo Mortensen: I wanted to make a classic Western. I’m glad you saw it that way, in terms of the look of things. You really see the characters, see the landscape, the language is historically correct, the slang. There’s a diversity. The two main characters don’t have English as their first language. It’s more representative of the way the country was. You don’t just have a couple of Mexican bad guys in the background, some characters of different ethnicities. You see somewhat of a mixture, even in that small town. I wanted to do all those things.

Vicky Krieps: And the romance, because when you say middle line, I think we both just wanted to do an honest, just an honest story. People that you believe…

Vicky Krieps: Yeah, he shows her the house. She goes, ‘Really, that’s the house?’ It’s not what you expect, and therefore more honest and real.

Viggo Mortensen: It’s more real because it’s a bit clumsy. There are some differences of opinion. They’re both stubborn. But the thing that’s good about both of them, even though there are mistakes made, especially from my character’s side — they don’t always agree on everything, but they at least are interested in what the other person feels and thinks. When both people do that, to at least some degree, that relationship can prosper. When one person decides, ‘I’m not going to evolve. I’m not going to adapt to what you want,’ the relationship doesn’t usually work out, or it just sort of fades away. In this case, they have lots of obstacles. Some of them self-created…

Viggo Mortensen: Better late than never (laughs). No, but there’s an understanding that they have. There’s a connection that they make. I think, like you say, it is real. It’s not a fanciful thing. It’s a love story, but hopefully a believable one.

The Dead Don’t Hurt will be released theatrically on May 31st from Shout! Studios.