Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee have eaten bugs together. They’ve shivered through frigid winter air, fought off desperately hungry cannibals and walked side by side on the empty and dusty roads of some future, dystopian America.
So when the two actors recently settled into a decidedly non-dystopian hotel suite at the Toronto International Film Festival to recall these challenging film experiences — which they faced while playing a father and son fighting to survive, in “The Road”(in theaters Wednesday) — they did exactly what you might expect.
They got really, really sarcastic.
Reporter: I sense there is still a father-son bond that exists between the two of you. Can you talk about that?
Mortensen: (Gestures to Smit-McPhee.) You start.
Smit-McPhee: OK. (Gestures to Mortensen.) He sucks.
Mortensen bursts out laughing.
Reporter: You both had to go to some tough emotional places in this movie. How did you turn that off once the take was done?
Mortensen: He’d tell me I sucked.
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Smit-McPhee: Then he went back to his room and had a cry.
Even in their smart-alecky moments, it’s clear how much Mortensen, 51, and Smit-McPhee, 13, genuinely like each other. And that connection helps to elevate “The Road,” the long-awaited adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, above Hollywood’s parade of world-turned-hellish-nightmare movies.
The two actors — one an Academy Award nominee and star of one of the most successful franchises in film history (“The Lord of the Rings”), the other a young Hollywood newcomer from Australia — convince the audience that they really are family.
“Everything depended on that relationship,” says “Road” director John Hillcoat when asked his goal in casting his two leads.
Smit-McPhee is an unknown commodity to most American moviegoers. After Hillcoat looked over what he describes as “thousands” of young actors, the youngster from Melbourne distinguished himself with a little help from his real-life father, actor Andy McPhee.
After guiding the boy on their grueling, shared journey in “The Road,” Mortensen also seemed proud to usher him along another path: the one that leads to a long-lasting career in Hollywood.
“I think it’s good, when you can, to be patient,” Mortensen said at one point when asked about how he chooses his parts. “And I think Kodi’s being patient. He’s trying to find roles together with the advice of his parents, particularly his dad.”
“I’ve learned not to work with you again,” cracked Smit-McPhee, again in sarcastic teen mode, mock-rolling his eyes.
“There you go!” Mortensen said. Then he smiled a proud-papa smile: “See what I mean? You learn a lot in this business if you want to, don’t you?”