Viggo Mortensen will be making his directorial debut with the film ‘Falling’, a family drama he will also be writing, producing and starring in.

‘Falling’ tells the story of a son’s relationship with his aging father. Mortensen wrote the screenplay and will play one of the two leading roles.

The cast also includes Lance Henriksen (whose credits include the likes of ‘Aliens’, ‘Near Dark’ and ‘The Terminator’) and Sverrir Gudnason (who starred opposite Shia LaBeouf in ‘Borg vs McEnroe’ and plays opposite Claire Foy in the upcoming ‘The Girl in the Spider’s Web’).

Sverrir Gudnason in 'Borg vs McEnroe'

 

Mortensen will portray a man who lives with his male partner and their adopted daughter in Southern California. Henriksen will play a farmer whose attitudes and behaviour belong to a far more traditional era and family model. When the father travels to Los Angeles for an indefinite stay with his family in order to search for a place to retire, these two very different worlds collide.

HanWay Films will handle international distribution. They will commence sales at the American Film Market, which opens on October 31st, so any news of an Irish release won’t be known until after that. UTA Independent Film Group, meanwhile, will oversee the U.S. sale.

HanWay Films managing director Gabrielle Stewart said, “The industry has always regarded Viggo as a really soulful artist. He is a talented photographer, poet, and musician. His screenplay for ‘Falling’ is a powerful, well-observed family drama. We are thrilled to be part of his promising and exciting directorial debut.”

Viggo Mortensen in 'Green Book'

 

Mortensen is best-known for his role as Aragorn in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy and for his Oscar-nominated performances in ‘Eastern Promises and ‘Captain Fantastic’.

The actor has also been garnering a lot of Oscar buzz for the upcoming film ‘Green Book’. The actor stars opposite Mahershala Ali (‘Moonlight’, ‘True Detective’) in the drama, which relates the story of a working-class Italian-American bouncer who becomes the driver of an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South.