There was a lot of interest in Sammie’s story about hot Lord of the Rings actor Viggo Mortensen turning 50. The actor was in Rome this weekend promoting his film Good, in which he plays a literary professor in Germany during the Nazi’s rise to power. Mortensen’s character is a “good” man who is suspicious of the Nazi party and their motives. He reluctantly ends up being lauded by the government when a book he wrote is used for propaganda. The film is out in the US in limited release on December 31. That’s just in time for Oscar season. Advance reviews are tepid, though, and say that the film is predictable and not as moving as it should be. Variety says it’s “merely competent, uninspired and a bit old-hat,” while BoxOffice.com says people may be “disappointed by the film’s lack of gripping emotion.”

That’s a shame because Mortensen definitely has leading man ability. He won Best Actor from the British Independent Film Awards for his role in 2007’s crime thriller Eastern Promises and was also nominated for a Golden Globe. Next year he stars in the probably depressing film The Road, based on a book with the same title about a father and son struggling to survive in post apocalyptic America. I tried to give that book a chance, but it was so bleak I ended up skipping a third of it and just reading the end. It still haunted my afterwards though. He also will start work on the film A Wing and a Prayer, which IMDB describes as “A hard-luck pilot and a mysterious spiritualist join forces to collect a quartet of relics vital for the preservation of the planet.”

Are there no leading man hunk roles left for Mortensen? I know the guy is 50 but there are plenty of women who still find him incredibly swoon-worthy.

Here’s the trailer for Good:

Thanks to Bauergriffin for these photos of Mortensen, taken on 10/25 and 10/26 at the Rome Film Festival.