This North American leading man, with Buenos Aires customs and accent, is the star of the most expensive feature film in Spanish history, Alatriste. Passing through his beloved Buenos Aires, he doesn’t dismiss the possibility of falling in love with an Argentinean and winning the championship with his favourite team: San Lorenzo.

On the first floor of a luxury hotel in Buenos Aires he meets LUZ seated in an armchair, smoking a cigarette, barefoot and wearing a t-shirt of his favourite team. Before beginning the interview he regrets not being able to go for a walk and eat some pizza, as his fellow travellers are doing at that very moment. The simplicity of this New York actor, son of a Dane and a North American, who lived here from age two to eleven, overflows not only in his way of speaking – more Buenosairean than any Buenosairean - but also in his attitude and warmth. Always keen to return to Buenos Aires, he found the perfect excuse: the launch of the film Alatriste, based on the book by author Arturo Perez-Reverte, in which he plays a valiant soldier who between love stories, corruption and intrigue falls in love with the character played by Spanish actress Ariadna Gil.

- Why do you think that they chose you to play the soldier Alatriste, since it is a role that many Spanish artists would have wanted to play?

- They told me that the description of the character was very similar to me: with light eyes and the same physical type. Apart from that, I speak Castilian. But perhaps most important thing is that I am very well known in Spain and Latin America thanks to the success of the Lord of the Rings and Hidalgo.

- You have a very noticeable Buenosairean accent, how did you manage to get the Spanish tone and pronunciation?

- When I met Ariadna we had dinner for the first time and I surprised her because I spoke like a boy from Buenos Aires. But luckily, the director as well as the actors, helped me a lot during filming.

In order to play Alatriste, Viggo decided to spend several weeks in a town hidden in the mountains in the province of León. There he lived with the inhabitants, who didn’t have the slightest idea who they were sitting and drinking coffee with, and became deeply familiar with the customs and the way of speaking that resembles that of the Spanish Golden Age, the era in which the film takes place. “I made many friends; and what’s more, they made me an adoptive son the town and built a plaza with my name”, he says proudly.

- You met someone like Alatriste in the village?

- Everyone has a bit of the character. They do not have many friends, they speak little and with great care, they are not trustful and they are proud.

- Do you plan to come and film in Argentina?

- I would like to. It would be very natural because of the way I speak and the connection with this country. People might think I’m lying, but no, it is just a question of finding the right time.

- You like Argentine cinema? Have you had the chance to see any films?

- Yes, from time to time.

- Any that you remember?

- I saw many last year, but now I don’t remember the names. What I’d love is to be able to go to the theatre. The Argentineans are famous for being the best actors in the Castilian tongue.

- Does it make you nostalgic coming to Buenos Aires?

- Yes. When you’re young, you’re very wrapped up in everything, but when you’re grown, you tend to withdraw into yourself. For that reason I had kept many sensations of Buenos Aires: the aroma of the streets, the sounds, the light, yesterday’s rain that I loved, the sunset. Everything.

- Do you have any plans besides carrying on filming?

- Yes, I have some days left before I go to the stadium on Sunday. Later I go away to the North, to study the Wichi community that I’m very interested in.

Aside from the series of feature films that he must film and promote this year (Eastern Promises, by David Cronenberg and Appaloosa directed by Ed Harris), Viggo devotes a lot of time to other activities, among which are writing poetry (he is owner of a publishing house which has published various anti-Bush books), song, photography and he even has to reserve time to dedicate to Henry, his adolescent son, the product of a relationship with Exene Cervenka, the singer with a Californian punk band.

- What are you like as a father?

- You do what you can (with a resigned tone) the kid has turned out well but I don’t know if that’s my fault (laughs).

- You like Argentine women?

- That’s a difficult question, but the answer is very easy. Yes, they are gorgeous. All of them.

- Do you see a particular characteristic in them?

- No, they are like all the Argentineans. That mixture of European and indigenous culture. People are very special here, they have something that is very familiar to me. I don’t know, I feel at home here.

- So, you would fall in love with an Argentine woman?

- Yes, easily. I like them very much.

- What you would prefer, to make a film that was a super box office success or to see San Lorenzo champions?

- .....look, I guess I prefer not to talk about San Lorenzo, who are doing well. I’d like it to stay that way.