Charles Bronson never actually played a Lithuanian, or Peter Ustinov an Englishman (well hardly ever), but Viggo Mortensen, the actor who Denmark has always liked to claim is its own, is coming home!

After playing an American, a Russian and on one occasion a Middle Earthian, the half-Danish (father), half-American (mother) actor has finally signed up to play a Dane in Lisandro Alonso’s as-yet-untitled film, which is set in Denmark and Argentina.

He will play Gunner Blixen, a Dane who travels with his daughter to Argentina, “to a desert that exists in a realm beyond the confines of civilisation”, Variety reports.

For Mortensen, the role holds particular significance. He spent most of his childhood in South America, where his father managed ranches in Argentina and Venezuela. The actor then attended high school and university in New York and later spent several years in Denmark, first working as a truck driver and then as a flower stallholder.

Although Mortensen has received offers for Danish films in the past, this is his first role as a Dane.

Mortensen most recently starred in the film adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’, and can be seen next in the upcoming ‘Two Faces of January’.

Production is set to start early next year. Further details about the film have yet to be announced.