Jack Gleeson to Quit Acting After Game of Thrones

Season four of Game of Thrones doesn’t air for months (Spring 2014 is the only release information we’ve gotten so far), but the Internet gods have seen fit to smile upon us fans in this our time of hiatus by gifting us with new interviews with Jack Gleeson and George R.R. Martin. Turns out the former plans to quit acting after Game of Thrones, and the latter has very specific cheese preferences.

Said Gleeson to Independent.ie:

“[Acting] was always a recreation beforehand, but when I started doing Game of Thrones perhaps the reality was made too real for me. The lifestyle that comes with being an actor in a successful TV show isn’t something I gravitate towards… Since going to Trinity and garnering an interest in philosophy and with [working with aid agency] Goal and my theatre company I’ve kind of just re-evaluated what I want to do. I’m 21, so it’s hard to decide what kind of course life will take.”

We’ll miss him. Not Joffrey, the little jerkazoid. But Gleeson, who’s taken Joffrey and turned into someone who I think will remain high on the list of notorious TV villains for years to come. And Gleeson’s dedication to helping others—when Independent.ie interviewed him he’d just gotten back from doing charity work in Haiti—is certainly admirable.

It’s not time for his departure quite yet, but in early tribute to Gleeson let’s all take the time to watch a few minutes of Joffrey being slapped for ten hours.

As for Martin, in a webchat with Empire he did have more to talk about than cheese preferences. (Though kudos to the person who asked him that very important question—if you’re wondering, he loves “sharp runny French cheeses,” Gjetost, and cheddar, “the sharper the better.” Just don’t send a block of the stuff with your fanmail, as he didn’t specify that he likes the moldy stuff.)

He had some things to say about the TV show, namely what he thinks about the differences between it and the books:

“The only thing that I miss is the scenes that are left out, scenes from the books that are not included in the TV show that I wish they would have included. As I watch a show I’m always thinking, ‘Oh, this is coming next’ and then that scene isn’t there. But I understand the necessity for that. We have ten hours and that’s always we have. You cannot put every line of dialogue, every incident, in the TV show. You have to cut to the chase. I do rather wish we had more than 10 hours. Not a lot more: 12 hours per season would be ideal.”

And that it hurts him to kill characters, just like it hurts us:

“I have a huge emotional attachment to characters I’ve created, especially the viewpoint characters. When I’m writing from a character’s viewpoint, in essence I become that character; I share their thoughts, I see the world through their eyes and try to feel everything they feel. So when you share that bond with someone, even a fictional someone, it does become difficult to kill them.”

Then stop doing it, you sadist. I kid, I kid. Game of Thrones wouldn’t be as good as it is without its high body count. Grim (GRRM?) but true.

And he also spoke about carrying his own head around in a bowling bag. But only a fake version, for potential cameo purposes. Martin is not actually a monster with multiple heads (that we know of). Asked about the possibility of having a cameo in the show, he explained:

“[Showrunners] David [Weiss] and Dan [Benioff] were going to put my severed head on a spike at one point, but then they got the quote for what that would cost. Those severed heads are expensive and our budget is tight! So unless I provide my own I don’t get to be a severed head! But one of my fans who does that sort of thing has offered me the chance to make one next time I go out to LA. How could I resist? I could have my own severed head and carry it around in a bowling bag.”

Living the dream.

(via: Empire, Independent.ie)

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