Exclusive interview with Kit Harington (Part 2)

Note: © HBO/Sky/myFanbase 2013 - The interview is exclusive to myFanbase and may not be published on other websites or the like. You may share the first 2 questions or up to 160 characters if you link back to this site. Translations other than English and German may be posted with full credit including the writer's name and link to this site.
Foto: Kit Harington, Game of Thrones - Copyright: 2013 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved.
Kit Harington, Game of Thrones
© 2013 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved.

10. And Wildling HQ is filmed in Iceland?

It is. Once we go beyond the Wall, that's Iceland. Anything south of the wall is Northern Ireland. It gives a nice contrast. You've got the complete wilderness and icy wasteland of Beyond the Wall, which is obviously very different from the beautiful landscape of Northern Ireland.

11. How do you find filming in Iceland?

I've fallen in love with that country; I cannot say enough good things about it. I've honestly never been anywhere quite like it. I did actually go there on a school trip when I was much younger and I remember loving it even then. The Icelandics are such wonderful people, they've all got this Scandinavian/Nordic calmness and maturity and then you dig a little bit under the surface and they're all crazy! I love the people, I love the country and I'd urge anyone to go there, it's an amazing place.

12. What's it like having to wear so many layers of pelts and furs as costume?

It takes about an hour to get into those clothes every morning. You've got to put all the thermals on, then the salopettes, some of the clothing underneath has to be modern to keep you warm, but the rest is the costume, which is big enough as it is. It's a great process for an actor. Spending that hour getting into costume really makes me feel like 'Jon Snow of the North' by the time I get on set. It is the heaviness and the weight – plus it's absolutely essential in that weather anyway because it's so bloody cold!

13. How can you even move for the fight scenes?

It's funny - you practice in jeans or jogging bottoms and trainers, and you get to a point where the fight becomes very fluid, really quick and beautiful. Then you put all of that costume on, you can't move and then you get out into snow that's a good foot deep, and of course it's not beautiful or elegant anymore! But it shouldn't be, for example, with that Qhorin Halfhand fight, we'd been slogging for miles and miles beforehand, so no matter how good a fighter you are, in deep snow with all that gear on it becomes this heavy, big slog. So the costume actually informs the circumstances really well.

Foto: Kit Harington, Game of Thrones - Copyright: 2013 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved.
Kit Harington, Game of Thrones
© 2013 Home Box Office, Inc. All rights reserved.

14. How are your sword skills coming on after three seasons?

The question I always get asked is, 'If you were in a real sword fight…' Ha! Of course if I was fighting against somebody who’s really good with a sword I'd lose in seconds, but you do get handier with it; and what's nice is I get more and more comfortable with my sword Long Claw each season.

15. At the end of last season we saw the White Walkers emerging en masse. How do you feel about the supernatural having an increased role in Game of Thrones?

In the first season everyone said, "Game of Thrones is great: it's a fantasy but there's no magic. It's really based in reality." Then as we go along the magic gradually starts coming out of the woodwork, like it does in the books, and everything starts getting very strange: you've got White Walkers, you've got witches, you've got dragons. I think that's one of the most exciting things, it creeps up on you and before you know it you're in a proper fantasy with dragons and ice zombies, but it's done in a very, very clever way. It's what the series is really about for me, peoples' worlds just falling apart. They start in quite a secure place and by the time you get to where we are now, everyone's lives are disintegrating because of the magic around them and the 'winter is coming' theme. Everything's getting blown apart. I love that about the series.

16. On a practical level does that mean you're spending more time doing green screen?

Do you know, there's so little green screen in this, it's quite incredible? If they can actually make something, they make it. Obviously they use elements of green screen where they have to but no, it doesn't change much. So you have wonderful days where you're out on the set and suddenly this huge seven-foot man in a White Walker outfit walks by!

17. Which set or location has blown you away this season?

It's completely true to say that there's something every season that blows my mind. This season I think it was walking into the Wildling camp in Iceland that did it. They built a city of tents all around and we had hundreds of Icelandic background artists working with us. It was beautifully done.

18. Which other character would you like to play if you could?

I've always loved Tyrion. I couldn't play him, obviously, but I think Peter does such a wonderful job with him. When I was reading the books I always loved reading Jon Snow's parts because that's who I was going to play. But then I'd also get excited when I got to Tyrion's sections. Their dynamic together is intriguing as well because they like each other. I guess they're both outsiders.

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