Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen was spotted in the audience at a press conference alongside U.S. senators in Greenland.
The 67-year-old, born in New York City to an American mother and Danish father, was in the capital, Nuuk, as politicians from the U.S. joined forces with their Greenlandic counterparts to address the issue on everybody’s minds: President Donald Trump’s constant threats to take the territory from Denmark.
“It hurts my heart to know how much anxiety and worry you feel in these times of uncertainty,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski told the crowd, including Mortensen, who wore a badge reading “Greenland not for sale.”
Joining the Alaska Republican were former Democrat and now independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, Democrat Gary Peters of Michigan, and Democrat Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire.
They were making the trip in a bid to “rebuild the trust” shattered by Trump’s threats to annex the Arctic island, the lawmakers declared.
The Hollywood star demurred when probed on the reason for his attendance, but he has previously made his feelings about Trump’s expansionist plot known.
In an opinion piece for Sjællandske Nyheder in January, he argued that European nations should join forces and agree not to give the U.S. “so much as a square centimeter” of Greenland.
Mortensen, best known for playing Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, wrote: “I am a citizen of both the United States and Denmark. In my personal opinion, given the long line of aggressive, disrespectful, and historically ignorant statements about European nations and NATO allies by Donald Trump and many members of his administration, European nations should unite in demanding that all U.S. military bases in Europe and Greenland be closed and removed.”
He added: “I ask the Danish and Greenlandic governments not to be fooled by Trump’s intimidation tactics, not to give the US—or any other country—so much as a square inch of Kalaallit Nunaat.”
The official Greenlandic name for the Arctic island is Kalaallit Nunaat, which means “land of the Greenlanders.”
Mortensen has been in the country since at least Sunday, when he was pictured in Nuuk with Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen.
Trump’s threats to take Greenland had been intense until he appeared to cool his position while speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January.
There, he admitted the U.S. would not use force to obtain the island and added in a subsequent Truth Social post that diplomacy had prevailed. He said a “framework” had been reached for a future deal regarding the Danish territory.
“Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region,“ Trump wrote.
It is unclear what stage the negotiations are at, or what the skeletal deal actually pertains to. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly didn’t elaborate but told the Daily Beast: “President Trump believes that Greenland is a strategically important location that is critical from the standpoint of national security, and he is confident Greenlanders would be better served if protected by the United States from modern threats in the Arctic region. The President is committed to establishing long-term peace at home and abroad.”
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