LORD Of The Rings star Viggo Mortensen has ridden horses since he was young, but even an experienced rider like him knew there were risks to saddling up for so much of his latest movie.

Fresh from playing Aragorn in the Tolkien movie trilogy, the actor stars as Frank Hopkins in Hidalgo, a cowboy who competed in the greatest long distance horse race in the Middle East.

Based on a true story, the film finds Mortensen in the saddle for much of the screen time. He insisted on doing most of his own stunts.

"There was a lot of riding in Lord Of The Rings so I had a head start. I had the ability to do a lot of stunts that an actor normally wouldn't get to do," he says.

"The director could film me as close as he wanted without cutting away. It's always nice when you like your job and your workmates, be they human or equine. I had a good time with the horses I rode."

He didn't underestimate the dangers. "I do know there is a risk, even if you are confident. I've ridden since I was a boy on and off, and I've always been comfortable with horses. But there were a couple of times when I regretted being so gung-ho," he says.

No amount of training could prepare him for the kind of jarring of his body that riding a horse day in, day out, at speed can produce.

"There was no way round it - it was going to hurt after a while. But it was worth it, if slightly painful at times and a bit scary. There were many times in Hidalgo, as in Lord Of The Rings, where you're going at speed and you know if you fall off it's really going to hurt."

He bonded so well with his equine co-stars that he bought one of them after shooting was over. He's also the owner of two horses which he rode on The Lord Of The Rings shoot.

Juggling the horse race adventure with filming the third of The Lord Of The Rings films proved pretty complicated, as Mortensen had to return to New Zealand for reshoots on the Tolkien finale.

"During the shoot of Hidalgo there were several times in different locations, including in the middle of the Sahara Desert, where I'd have to go up on a hill or a sand dune and get cellphone reception to do interviews for Lord Of The Rings," he recalls.

"And when I was doing reshoots for Hidalgo, I also had to go to New Zealand to do reshoots for Return Of The King. So it was never one thing and then another."

Hidalgo has his name above the credits but, after appearing in more than 40 movies, that doesn't impress him. "I don't really think the director or actor should ever be above the title," says Mortensen. "I'm a fan of those old-fashioned movies that don't show off anybody or any film-making aspect, but just tell the story."

The film about Frank Hopkins and the horse race attracted him because he thought it was a good, thought-provoking story with a lot of potential. The hidden message also interested him, looking at an American protagonist in a Third World Muslim country.

"He is not welcome. Whatever he doesn't know about the place he's going to and the culture, he's curious about it. He has a chance to learn about what he encounters, and he can't help learning a little about himself," says the actor.

"That kind of story, especially in times we're living in now, I think it's valuable. He makes up for what he doesn't know by being interested and learning about it.

"The way things are going today - issues of race, differences, cultures, languages, points of view - it's understandable that people in the East and West are fearful and extremely reluctant to find common ground with others. This kind of story reminds you it's worthwhile. There are benefits from sharing time and experience, and having your eyes opened. It's not a documentary, it's an adventure story. Nonetheless, it makes an effort to respect different cultures."

He is not, he confesses, a big fan of fighting. He prefers to try to work things out peacefully. Sword-fighting scenes, such as those in Hidalgo, take a little more courage because you're closer to your opponent. But the most dangerous sequence to shoot was the start of the horse race with many riders lining up for the off.

"When you have a hundred horses that close together, you're asking for trouble," he says. "Once they all take off, it can be disastrous, and we had some really bad falls. On the second take, a guy was run over by a lot of us. It was pretty thrilling and very scary."

* Hidalgo (12A) opens in cinemas tomorrow

Published: 15/04/2004