Let’s check in with some of Game of Thrones cast members before we head into the long Thanksgiving weekend. How are they occupying themselves when not on the set of season 8?
If you’re Jason Momoa, you don’t have a good answer to that question, because you haven’t been part of the cast since your character died in season 1. Momoa has moved on to other things, namely playing Aquaman in Justice League, the latest superhero blockbuster from Warner Bros. But while Momoa himself is getting good reviews for his performance, critics are down on the movie as a whole. And on top of that, the movie underperformed during its first weekend in theaters. (“Underperformed” is a relative term here, since the movie still made tens of millions of dollars, but when you’re working with these kind of mega-budgets, you need a huge haul to just break even.)
But Momoa is having none of it. “I try to stay the f— away from what people say,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “Some of my friends said, ‘Justice League isn’t doing well’ and it kind of bummed me out. But I didn’t want to look it up. I don’t want to look up the bad and the negativity. I don’t think that’s useful; it doesn’t help.”
"I’ve seen [Justice League] twice,” Momoa says. “I loved it the second time even more. I’m actually going to watch it again with my kids and my godchild. I’m going to see it with the perfect crowd of people — a regular crowd instead of at a premiere. So I’m excited. You can’t get into the whole ‘why this, why that.’ I went to [Wizard World Austin fan convention] this weekend and got great praise. Now obviously, that’s a positive place, and I’m not only interested in the positive. But if people love what we did with Aquaman, it’s all [director Zack Snyder] — it’s his brainchild. He came in with, ‘I’m going to make Aquaman a badass and I’m going to change stuff, and change the myths about this guy.’ And I busted my ass."
Way for Momoa to stand by his work…even if the movie is getting pummeled. And even if folks don’t love Justice League, Momoa will get a redo of sorts when his solo Aquaman movie comes out next year.
Elsewhere, Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm) spoke to Square Mile about his alternate career as singer Raleigh Ritchie. Several Game of Thrones cast members have side gigs as musicians, but Anderson is probably the most successful. He’s got music videos and everything.
In fact, reading the interview, you get the idea that music was Anderson’s first love, and that acting was a side thing that happened to blow up. “When I was younger, I did quite a lot of acting jobs for money because I needed to pay my rent,” he said. “I was going to quit acting before I was cast in GOT. I wasn’t enjoying it anymore, so now I’m not going to do things for money anymore, because it doesn’t make me happy.”
"I like making things. So I may as well just go and make my own film or TV series. I don’t know why I’d sign myself up for somebody else’s project, unless it is the person or story that I think is really great. I don’t care if it’s not a big thing, either; it just has to be good."
In other words, he’s approaching the end of Game of Thrones with a very zen mindset, not concerned with topping what could be the biggest professional achievement of his life. “I don’t feel responsible for its success,” he said. “I feel like it’s more on the shoulders of Dan and David or Kit and Emilia . It wouldn’t be a bigger or smaller show if I wasn’t in it, so I don’t feel the pressure.
"I’m just glad that I get to be in something that I really, really like,” he says. “I enjoy going to work, I like the people I go to work with, and that’s the most important thing."
Anderson, as Ritchie, is currently working on his second album.
Finally, let’s play a quick game of “Where in the world are the rest of the Game of Thrones cast members?” Emilia Clarke was spotted in London not long ago, still sporting her Daenerys-blonde hair:
"Emilia in London today from freefolk"
Meanwhile, Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (the Mountain) is in an undisclosed location with zombie makeup around his eyes — is he in his trailer filming a scene for season 8?
And Maisie Williams attended the premiere of The Disaster Artist, James Franco’s account of the making of the 2003 cult film The Room.
If you don’t know what the poster behind her is referencing, consider yourself lucky/cursed.
Next: Season 8 filming: The Unsullied prepare for battle, and closer looks at the sets
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