One of the only bad things about Game of Thrones is that because there are something like nine million characters, we don’t get to spend nearly enough time with most of them. Littlefinger has been around since episode three, but we barely know anything about him, and there could easily be three seasons about his shady shenanigans, and only his shady shenanigans, before we grow tired of him. Ditto Oberyn Martell, the suave Dornishmen who instantly became everyone’s favorite character, non-Tyrion division, the first time he appeared on the show earlier this year. Dude knows how to command.
The actor who plays the Red Viper, Pedro Pascal, is just as smooth, except instead of being a pro at bisexual orgies, he’s really good at hosting Ask Me Anythings on Reddit (no spoilers).
If we see you on the street, would it be okay to ask for a picture?
Absolutely. It would be my pleasure. So far everyone has been really polite and sweet, and it’s been a total pleasure, and I mean that. Maybe I don’t get out enough, because I don’t go out to bars, where I get accosted by drunken fans, it’s usually been in the middle of the day going to and from work. People have been so kind, they really really have. It’s been really special to be back in New York and working. It’s easy to forget that people are seeing me, I mean, it’s not like I forget, I know it’s happening, but it’s always a nice surprise.
Hey Pedro love your portrayal as The Red Viper. I read that you did your audition with an accent, why did you want to give Oberyn an accent ? (Ps: love the accent by the way)
Thank you VERY much. I think that it was just initially an instinct on my part? I could tell even though I hadn’t read the books, I was up to date on the show, when I read the audition sights for the character, and I felt like they were ushering in a very new element with Oberyn Martell, and it seemed like it would be interesting if he sounded different than everyone in King’s Landing so that there was a very foreign element. He looks different, he dresses different, and I thought it was important that he sound different. He also behaves differently than the rest of the characters, the way he goes up against some of the most dangerous characters with fearlessness is very unique, so I thought it would be very unique to have his sound fall in line, and be sort of unique from others.
Someone asked how I feel about Captain Crunch: I’m capable of eating an entire box of it without any milk. It is a sweet taste that is indescribable, Captain Crunch is its own flavor.
Your wiki bio says your family “was granted political asylum in Denmark while Chile was under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet”. Can you tell us more about the circumstances surrounding this?
Well, my parents were liberals, they were very young at the time, I was just born, and they were Allende supporters, and you know, Chile at the time they were under military dictatorship, under Pinochet, and they were involved in the opposition movement against the military regime. Which really meant that they were against crimes against the people, because it was a really dangerous time, and a lot of people who spoke their mind were disappearing and in danger, it was a very intense climate for many years, they tried to help some people and were caught. They actually snuck into the Venezuelan Embassy in Santiago, Chile and claimed asylum after being in hiding for about 6 months after finding out people were looking for them.
Have you had any strange/funny fan encounters yet?
I am in New York right now, and I am in rehearsals for Shakespeare in the Park (Much Ado About Nothing) and I walk home and ride the train like I always have, and the difference being that strangers will sort of look at me and it will take a second to figure out why they are looking at me, and sometimes they will approach me and say “are you the guy on Game of Thrones?” Recently I had an hour break and was walking near Union Square to go to Barnes & Noble, and there was somebody trying to sign people up for something, trying to get them to talk to him on the street, and the guy was trying to get people’s attention and he said to me “And YOU sir, look like Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones!” and I stopped in my tracks for a second and didn’t know what to say, and he said “Holy Shit, you ARE Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones” and then he left me alone. Haha. And let me go to Barnes & Nobel!
There’s a bunch of non-shoot related cast photos floating around the internet, for example some beach photos where everyone looks to be having the times of their lives. Is the GoT cast one giant family? Have any funny stories while on set?
One of the funnier moments that I had offset was making Gwendoline who plays Brienne and the two show runners Dave and Dan pose with me on the steps of a plaza in the old city of Dubrovnik for a fantasy album cover of mine. I haven’t shared this photo yet, though! It’s just for me! Not to be too much of a tease, but the photo was taken by Nikolai too.
Mr. Pascal, thanks for the goosebumps in your speech to Tyrion. What is the best fruit?
I would say that my favorite fruit, I like berries. I like any kind of berry, blueberries or raspberries or blackberries or strawberries. They decorated my table at the purple wedding with a bowl of berries, and they kept on having to refill it because i was eating them. And the brothel had some nuts and berries, sort of decorated throughout the set, that’s why you keep seeing me eating in the scene, like I’m chewing on stuff while I’m talking, is because I kept eating the berries.
Oberyn is one of the greatest warriors in Westeros, what kind of training did you have to undertake to help fit with this trait of his?
First, thank you VERY very much. That’s always amazing for me to hear. And the production of Game of Thrones actually put me in some pre-training before I went to Europe to start shooting. I was put intro some classes with a master of Wushu, an acrobatic martial art, and they put me with a master, his name is Master Hu, and he has a studio in Los Angeles where he sort of basically showed me the basics and taught me how to fight with a spear and twist my body around and move in ways I never thought possible. And this was a guy who actually did Shaolin movies with Jet Li very early in Jet Li’s career, and fought alongside him as his sidekick, so he was the real deal. Then once I got to Europe and started shooting, there were really intensive fight rehearsals with me and the stunt team that was headed by C.C. Smiff, and other actors, and we did a lot of fight choreography and rehearsals. The Oberyn style of fighting is inspired by Wushu.
As a fellow Pedro; thank you for making our name cool again!
If I could do anything to help start hearing Pedro other than “vote for Pedro,” I’m glad to do it. The curse of Napoleon Dynamite on the name Pedro was pretty tough.
How do you feel about bourbon?
I love bourbon, how did you know?!
You can be my Champion whenever you want, Pedro.
