10. Viggo Mortensen - Aragorn (The Lord of the Rings)
Given all the information we have regarding Viggo Mortensen's real-life transformation into Aragorn during the making of
Lord of the Rings (he took his sword everywhere and had a love affair with his horse), one might presume that the man had set his sights on playing the iconic character for a long, long time, only to finally nab the role and dedicate himself entirely. Nope. Originally director Peter Jackson decided that an actor called Stuart Townsend was the man for the job, although - several weeks into filming - he decided that he'd made a huge mistake hiring somebody that we'd never even heard of, and promptly fired him for being "too young." That had to sting. Enter Viggo Mortensen, whose son prompted him to take the role. Viggo read the book on the plane, landed in New Zealand, and started pretending to be Aragorn within hours. And would anybody else have been quite as good? I seriously doubt it. The man
is Aragorn. And to think, Nicolas Cage was offered this role at one time.