As always, when not embroiled in the wide world of Westeros, the cast and crew of Game of Thrones is hard at work on their careers. Let’s check in with some of them.
Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei) may be a supporting member of the cast, but even she’s getting endorsement deals — such is the show’s reach. She recently filmed a commercial for Speedo, hawking the company’s venerable line of swimwear.
This commercial also serves as a public service announcement about the health benefits of swimming. Can’t sell swimsuits if no one’s in the water. Anyway, good for Emmanuel for conquering the marketing world.
Elsewhere, Ciarán Hinds confirmed to The Independent what’s been rumored for a while: he’ll be playing the villain Steppenwolf in the upcoming Justice League movie. “He’s old, tired, still trying to get out of his own enslavement to Darkseid,” Hinds said of the character, “[but] he has to keep on this line to try and take over worlds.” We can see why the Justice League would be against that, yeah.
The character appeared very briefly as a giant freaky alien monster in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where he played not by Hinds but by a pile of CGI.
Obviously, the producers will keep using CGI to bring Steppenwolf to life in the new movies, but with Hinds behind the finished product. That required him to don a “very tight and embarrassing” bodysuit for motion capture work. “Basically they’re going to construct something, digitally, and then they will use my eyes and mouth.”
Justice League hits theaters on November 17.
Finally, Kit Harington continues to film Gunpowder, a BBC drama about a plot to assassinate King James I of England in 1605. Harington plays Robert Catesby, the guy behind the plan. His costar is Liv Tyler, who’ll play Catesby’s cousin Anne Vaux. Fantasy fans probably know Tyler best as Arwen from The Lord of the Rings movies, and the image of the two fantasy heavyweights together on the same set is a little surreal.
I can’t help but wonder if they compared notes about their experiences on fantasy tentpole dramas. Harington had to do a lot more stunt work, but at least he didn’t have to wear any elf ears.
