Viggo Mortensen joins the underworld’s shadowy cast

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The typical Hollywood leading man travels with an entourage between his palatial homes, five-star hotel suites and luxury trailers.

He does not disappear alone for two weeks to meet the Russian mafia in the name of research.

But Viggo Mortensen, best known for his portrayal of Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, claims to have done just that for his role in Eastern Promises, the film which opens The Times BFI 51st London Film Festival in Leicester Square tonight.

It is the actor’s second collaboration with the director, David Cronenberg, following their critically acclaimed 2005 film, A History of Violence.

Mortensen plays a mobster working for a Russian gang in London, and to hone