House of the Dragon was probably the best show to debut in 2022, and Paddy Considine the brightest gem in its crown. As Viserys Targaryen, Considine brought a new depth to the character which was missing even in George R. R. Martin’s original book, Fire & Blood. Playing a character who’s physically falling apart isn’t an easy task, and despite that limitation, Considine aced every aspect of Viserys.
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How Paddy Considine handled Viserys’ condition
In a recent interview with Variety, Considine said, “There was certain amount of, like, in Episode 2, he’s got half a finger. Episode 3, his fingers are starting to go. By 4, he’s lost half of his arm. That had to be worked out because of the VFX work for missing digits and things like that. The only thing that changed was how bad he got in Episode 8. My father died of cancer, and that slow decline, with that weight loss, it’s just an awful thing to see. That came in when we were well into shooting, so there was no world in which I could lose weight.”
“I was shooting other episodes and we were jumping around too much. Then the idea that he’d lost an eye. Then the idea that his cheek had rotted. And then he wears this mask. To me it was just like, yeah, give me it all. There was something about playing somebody sympathetic and beautiful who’s still trying to hold on to their dignity, but they also very disfigured by it all.”
Playing a dying character is a strange feeling
Considine admitted that playing Viserys made him feel strange, “Playing somebody who’s dying is a strange thing, especially a prolonged death. When you do it over a period of days, and your breathing’s shallow — my oxygen level started to go down. I had to be taken off set and given regular fresh air, because I was nearly passing out. It’s almost like your brain starts to tell your body that you are sick. It’s really quite weird.”
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