Carice van Houten was actually quite done with Game of Thrones
‘The night is dark and full of terrors.’ For eight years, she played the red priestess Melisandre, labeled by some as the role of her life, although the actress herself does not see it that way at all. In fact, Carice sometimes felt not so chill on the set of GoT, she tells in an interview with Knack.be.
‘I have become one of the many faces of the series, but I felt like a small link in a very large machine. I often felt like an outsider on set. I often thought: they would prefer to get rid of that Dutch woman, luckily they can't just write the character out. It wasn't my happiest role, I must say.’
Recently, Emilia Clarke from Game of Thrones admitted that on days with nude scenes, she sat crying in her bathroom in the morning because she felt pressured. Not nice, according to Carice. ’I also experienced someone shoving a nudity clause in my face ten minutes before a nude scene at ten to one at night in a dark cave: ‘Do you want to sign this quickly?’ I found it a very strange moment to come up with such a document. But as a woman, I am so conditioned to please. To do what you are asked. It took me a lot of effort to say: ‘I don't think I'm going to sign that now, I don't think that's smart.’
Currently, Carice is working with best friend forever Halina Reijn on a new Dutch series, Red Light. And yes, as the name suggests, it’s about three women who lose themselves and find each other in the world of prostitution and human trafficking. Believe me: we want to see this.
Anyhow: when the interviewer asks Carice if she misses the luxury of Game of Thrones, she replies: ‘The contrast is enormous. Also in my salary. Instead of a hundred euros, I earn, so to speak, fifty cents. But the work is the same and I found my joy in acting again. The show is great and everything around Game of Thrones is luxury. But I never experienced the shoots as luxurious. I was constantly cold during Game of Thrones. Under my costume with huge sleeves and an arsenal of clothing, I wore a hundred thousand layers of thermal underwear. Going to the bathroom is a whole operation, so you barely dare to drink water when a scene is scheduled on a cliff three kilometers from base camp. I am a fragile person. I need my rest and warmth.’
During the filming of Instinct, she felt like a princess. ‘A boy brought me a glass of water or a jacket as soon as I needed it – that costs nothing because he was also my driver. On Game of Thrones, it was often a running lunch: that means you eat something quickly when you can. Then you would be startled in a dark tent somewhere on a battlefield eating something from a PVC box without recognizing what you exactly ordered. Give me the Belgians who take an hour to dine.’
