Jack Gleeson and Richard E. Grant (Izembaro) discuss their time on Game of Thrones
By Corey Smith
Working on a show as popular as Game of Thrones can be an eye-opening experience, even for veteran actors of the likes of Richard E. Grant. The legendary stage and screen actor recently reminisced about his brief time on the show as Izembaro, a Braavosi actor and playwright. Izembaro led the acting troupe The Gate, who performed a highly fictionalized account of the War of the Five Kings called The Bloody Hand (he played Robert Baratheon and Tywin Lannister). Grant, who recently filmed a role in Wolverine III, still remains shocked at Thrones’ popularity.
"Its reach is phenomenal. On Wolverine, I was working in New Mexico in a town of 600. And there wasn’t a day that someone would not come up to me and say: ‘I saw you in Game of Thrones.’ It amazes me. I just wish I’d been in more episodes."
I guess we can take that as confirmation that Izembaro isn’t coming back for Season 7. Anyway, Grant was also impressed with the show’s production values. “We did the interiors in Belfast, at Titanic Studios, the old paint halls,” he recalled. “The exteriors were shot north of Barcelona. It was like being in a movie – as it would be considering they spent $11m per episode.”
And what of Joffrey, who was portrayed so angelically The Bloody Hand? Speaking to Bustle at New York Comic Con, actor Jack Gleeson also reflected on his time on the show, and revealed his favorite scene:
"I think the final scene that I kind of appear in is when I’m dead. Joffrey’s corpse is like lying on a plinth on the set and I just kind of got to sleep for the whole day so that was definitely a fun experience."
Jack Gleeson, having a good time.
Getting paid to sleep? Sign me up. But what did Gleeson think about his character’s death after four seasons of tormenting all of our favorite characters? Would he have chosen a different way to go?
"Maybe like Joffrey dying in his sleep because that would be really easy for me I wouldn’t have to worry about trying to make it convincing. I could just literally fall asleep and they could [have] just film[ed] me and maybe have a [subtitle] ‘He dies.’"
Come on. Joffrey dying in his sleep? That’s way too light a punishment for all the pain and agony he inflicted. We’ll stick with the original.