VIGGO MORTENSEN - RUSSIANS MISTOOK MORTENSEN FOR TATTOOED MOBSTER

RUSSIANS MISTOOK MORTENSEN FOR TATTOOED MOBSTER

The 43 tattoos VIGGO MORTENSEN displays on his body in new film EASTERN PROMISES were so authentic, Russians really thought he was a Mafia heavyweight. The Lord of The Rings star, who plays a Russian mobster in the new thriller, spent four hours in the make-up chair having the skin art applied and he realised it was worth it when he saw the looks of terror on Soviet youths he met in a London pub. He recalls, "They were looking at my hands and suddenly stopped talking. "It was right when the (Alexander) Litvinenko (former lieutenant colonel of the Russian Federation's Federal Security Service) poisoning happened in 2006, and I looked very shady. So I got up and left. They were probably freaked out." Mortensen reveals he travelled through Russia, met with real gangland bosses and meticulously studied the Mafia's tattoo art to make sure his latest character was as authentic as possible.