Viggo Mortensen has always been a worried father.

The 51-year-old actor plays a father struggling to protect his son as they try to survive in a post-apocalyptic world in new movie The Road and he admits he could relate to the fear of not being able to protect your offspring. The star - who has a 21-year-old son, Henry, with his ex-wife Exene Cervenka - said:

“You worry about your child’s future. You’re like, ‘What if I’m away from my infant son or daughter for a few hours, do I trust someone else to take care of them?’ Then, later in life, you’re more concerned about whether you’ll be around anymore to help your children when they’re out of the nest. This movie just takes all those concerns to an extreme.”

Viggo could also relate to his character because the exhaustion he feels in the movie mirrored the tiredness the actor experiences in his life. He told Parade, “This guy is at the end of his rope. He’s dying of tiredness. All that keeps him going is trying to keep himself and his son alive. I was tired, I’d been going from one film to another. I realized the fact I was really exhausted was appropriate for the character.”