and
Kingdom of Heaven
(2005).
This month he appears alongside
Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman in
Oblivion
,
a 3D version of
Joseph Kosinski’s sci-fi graphic novel, and later in the year he’ll star
as Juliette Binoche’s grouchy husband in Norwegian production
A
Thousand Times Good Night
.
Rumour has it he’s also in the running
to play the nefarious Baron Strucker in
Captain America: TheWinter
Soldier
,
alongside Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L Jackson.
It seems a lot to fit in, given that he spends five months a year
filming
Game of Thrones
in Belfast, away from Copenhagen, where
his actress wife Nukaaka – a former Miss Greenland – lives with
their two daughters. When we meet, he’s just come back from the
Grammys in Los Angeles and is looking forward to going home
to his family. Born on the island of Langeland and brought up
in Tybjerg, he doesn’t seem the type to be overly impressed by
Hollywood glitz, but he’s not complaining. “I’m lucky I get the
chance to do things other than
Game of Thrones
,”
he says. “I think
that’s why you get these great actors doing these cable shows. And
I’m only two hours from home, so it’s not that bad.”
In between acting, Coster-Waldau has a punishing gym schedule
–
those muscles didn’t just appear one day – which he also refuses
to moan about. “It’s physical, but not when you compare it to jobs
like, say, being a miner,” he says, breaking into one of his regular
bouts of laughter. “Being an actor, you have a chair so you can sit
down between takes if you want to. So I would never call my work
hard. But it has its moments… There’s a scene in series two when
I’m tied up to a post in a cage, and we shot that over two days and it
was pouring down with rain in Belfast. But at the end of the day I go
back to my nice hotel room.”
For a man whose character commits incest and kills babies,
Coster-Waldau seems almost disappointingly grounded. The only
time he gets slightly worked up is when he jokingly tells me how
everyone hates the Lannisters. “They’re like the Manchester United
of
Game of Thrones
,”
he complains. “Apart from the team’s own
supporters, everybody hates them. When HBO comes out with
posters, I’m always like, ‘What? Another Stark poster! Bastards!’”
With that, he’s off, though I know it won’t be the last time I see
those biceps.
Season three of
Game Of Thrones
is currently screening. Season two is
out this month on DVD
Turn the page to find out if Scandinavian actors are tallest
» » »
“
The Lannisters are
like the Manchester
United of
Game Of
Thrones
...
everybody
else hates them”
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