Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow on HBO’s Game of Thrones, was profiled in next month’s issue of British GQ this week. In the interview, Harington said that he’s more recognizable now than a lot of more famous actors because he’s contractually obligated to keep his beard and long hair, which means he goes around looking exactly like his GoT character. However, he suggested that he’s not the guy we see on our televisions. He’s not actually Jon Snow. He’s not full of anguish and sadness. He’s Kit Harington, and he’s really a fun guy!
“So many people watch, and I go around looking like my character,” Harington said. The problem is, since he looks like his character, many people also assume that he’s full of anguish and sadness. He says that “people [come] up to me in the street and ask if I [am] OK.” He IS OK, “but this [face] is my default. I laugh, I make jokes, I just happen to reside in this face.”
And that is the “curse” of Game of Thrones, Harrington told the publication. He’ll also spend a “lifetime of having to talk about it.”
That said, he does feel lucky, because he landed the Game of Thrones part right out of acting school. “It would be foolish to say I wish I’d gone through a period of longing,” he said. “Because any actors going through a period of longing themselves would tear my f***ing face off.”
That would be unfortunate. On the other hand, people would be less likely to recognize a guy without a face as the sad, anguished Jon Snow. Can you imagine how many times a day people must come up to him and say, “You know nothing, Jon Snow!” That sort of negative reinforcement probably gets to a guy after a while.
Source: British GQ
