It pays to take challenges, even if you don't think you can do them – at least according to Oscar nominee Viggo Mortensen.

"To be honest, I was afraid of the role to start with," Mortensen told Moviefone at Wednesday's premiere of his new drama, 'The Road,' at AFI Fest in Hollywood.

"I thought, 'Hmm, I don't know if I am up to the task,' he says."But, that was the very reason I thought I should do it, try it. Because even if you screw up up, at least trying something different, something that places demands on you that you haven't dealt with as much or before, it's always good. Even if you screw it up, in trying to do a good job, you are going to learn something, and I did."

Mortensen, who stars as a malnourished father trying to survive in 'The Road,' was honored Wednesday by AFI for his acting accomplishments.

'The Road,' directed by John Hillcoat, is an intense film, which the Hollywood Reporter called "haunting," and the UK Times called Mortensen's appearance "cadaverous."

The 'Lord of the Rings' star joked on the red carpet that the award was coming "too early" and that "I hope it doesn't mean they're putting out to pasture."

"It's a team sport, making movies," Mortensen said. "In this case, it's a story about a father and son. If the son [Kodi Smit-McPhee] wasn't a great actor and didn't have a great emotional range, I wouldn't have done a very good job, to be honest with you. I could have only gone so far. But, because he was so beautiful as a boy, such a wonderful person, but also such a talented actor, he helped me get to places that I didn't think I could get to."

'The Road,' costarring Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pierce, opens Nov. 25.

Watch the trailer for 'The Road.'


Get more trailers & clips