A man and his father try to find middle ground in a clash of their respective cultures in Director Viggo Mortensen’s drama, Falling.
Mortensen also stars in his film as John Peterson, a gay man who lives with his partner Eric and their adopted daughter in Southern California. When he is visited by his aging conservative father Willis who is searching for a place to retire, their two very different worlds collide.
On February 11, Mortensen discussed the making of Falling in a DGA Virtual Q&A moderated by Director Matt Ross (Captain Fantastic).
During the conversation, Mortensen spoke about the challenges of directing as an actor.
“The surprising thing it was easier in some ways than normal,” said Mortensen. “I second-guessed myself hardly at all compared to what I usually do. The reason is because as I’m acting with Lance Henriksen and I’m looking at him, as a Director I’m listening very careful to his tone to everything watching every gesture and looking at everything around him within the frame. I’m just hyper-aware and really that’s what you should be doing as an actor anyway all the time.”
Falling is Mortensen’s directorial debut. He became a DGA member in 2019.
You can listen to Mortensen's Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find more DGA podcast episodes here.
About the DGA Virtual Q&A Program
Mirroring the ever-popular DGA Membership Screening Q&A program in the virtual space, DGA Members can now learn more about films directly from the filmmakers in this series of livestreamed conversations.