Something that’s occasionally lost in the shuffle of the filming of Lord of the Rings is that Viggo Mortensen was NOT the first choice to play Aragorn. In fact, actor Stuart Townsend was originally cast but was let go from the production after everyone realized that Townsend looked far too young to be playing Aragorn (Mortensen is 14 years older than Townsend).

But Mortensen didn’t have much of an interest in the movie at all. He was much more interested in spending time with his family, specifically his son. He off-handedly mentioned to his son that he’d been offered the part of Aragorn, Mortensen not being very familiar with Lord of the Rings.

It turns out that Mortensen’s son was a huge Lord of the Rings nerd and basically lost his s@#t when he heard his father had a chance to play Aragorn. In an extreme case of irony, the family Mortensen intended to spend time with were the ones who encouraged him to take the role that would change his career forever.