Viggo Mortensen was originally cast in Platoon, but was replaced by Willem Dafoe due to budget changes.
The original Aragorn would have completely changed Lord of the Rings
For an acting career that began with 1985's Witness, 65-year-old Viggo Mortensen has certainly come a long way. With a series of star-studded roles behind him to remind everyone of the legacy he has led as far as Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, he is easily one of the most famous and respected celebrities in the entertainment industry.
But despite having done some of the best roles of all time, Mortensen also felt cold about certain roles which ended up choosing other actors over him. Like the 1986 classic action war masterpiece Platoon, which originally cast him before switching to Willem Dafoe to replace him – the same film Keanu Reeves also turned down for being a little too violent for him.
During a recent interview for The Independent's Go to Bat series, the iconic LOTR star came clean about quite a few things about his career. One of these included him candidly revealing how he was originally cast in 1986's Platoon but was replaced by another actor as soon as the film got "a bigger budget".
