Carice van Houten reveals what attracted her to the story of ‘The Affair'

The heart of a show or a film is its story. The story captivates the minds of the cast, compelling them to mould into their character. Game of Thrones had one of the most wondrous storylines ever, making it one of the biggest shows to have ever filmed. Carice van Houten, who played Melisandre on the show, talked to Collider recently. Taking an example of her new movie The Affair, the actress described what attracts her to a story.

Van Houten said, “It was a combination of a few things. There was the architectural element of this, where the house played a main part in the story. And then, there was the affair between the two ladies and the suppression of one of them and the unluckiness of it all. There was also the history and the stretch of time that we go through.”

“Originally, the producer and the director wanted to have two separate actresses for the later parts, when they’re older, and I was like, “Oh, I really only want to do it if I can play the old lady, as well.” That’s what was really touching to me, to do the whole stretch. I really wanted to finish it. That was a challenge, to make that believable. It’s always a bit tricky, of course, with prosthetics and make-up. There was the love story between them, what the house endures through that time, and just the beauty of art and what it represents. They can’t actually live up to what the house promises. The symbolism of it is what attracted me.”

What makes a story interesting for you? Talk to us in the comments below!

Game of Thrones ended more than a year ago. There were many reasons for the fantasy show’s popularity, the show’s breathtaking scenery, gory battle scenes and so much more. However, the series was infamous for showing horrible violence against women. It is true that the medieval period, on which the show is loosely based, was a very difficult time for women. However, many have objected to projecting such graphic violence on the big screen. Actress Olivia Cooke believes that won’t be the case for the prequel, House of The Dragon.

HBO created a huge stir amongst the fantasy lovers when they teased the Game of Thrones prequel in their programming line-up. Since then there have been many speculations about the story and cast. The role of Alicent Hightower went to Olivia Cooke, who has different expectations from the show, considering Game of Thrones’ history. In an interview with The Telegraph, she said :

“I wouldn’t feel comfortable in being a part of anything that has just egregious graphic violence towards women for no reason whatsoever, just because they want it to be tantalising in a way that gets viewers,” she says. “I was lucky enough to read the script before, and it has changed a lot from the first few seasons. Don’t think they’d be in their right minds to include any of that any more.”

What do you think of Olivia Cooke’s conjecture? Tell us in the comments below!

Game of Thrones wrapped up filming more than a year ago. We already miss the time we used to wait for a new episode every week. No wonder every fan all around the world is excited for the upcoming prequel House of The Dragon. The cast of the show is thrilled too. Actress Olivia Cooke, cast as Alicent Hightower, revealed to Metro.co.uk how she watched the entire Game of Thrones series with her mom.

Olivia finally had the chance to watch Game of Thrones after she was cast in House of the Dragon. She had to warn her mum not to let any major plot points slip. “I only watched it once I got the offer. I hadn’t seen it before,” the star said.

“It was so beloved and I was always going to get round to it, but then it just got away from me and suddenly it was like eight series and I was like, “I don’t know when I’m ever going to watch this” – until when I got the offer. That was as good an excuse as any.”

“I did it in like two weeks. My mum even less. She was like, “What episode are you on?” I’m like, “Mum, do not tell me anything, because you’re ahead of me now”, she said.

Who did you watch Game of Thrones with? How was your experience? Tell us in the comments below!

Sometimes we need fantasy to survive reality. Talking about survival, nothing projects it better than the Mockingjay series. Game of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie played a major role in The Hunger Games’ last two instalments. However, the Brienne of Tarth actress was a last-minute replacement for another actress. American Horror Story’s Lily Rabe was initially tapped to play Commander Lyme in Mockingjay Parts 1 & 2. Five years later, she finally revealed to Collider why she was replaced.

She said, “I think there was some stuff out there at the time that was not accurate. It was actually so simple, what happened. I was doing Much Ado About Nothing in the park with Hamish [Linklater] and I think we’d been planning it for however long and talking about it for probably a few years. Then it was happening, it was set and when I was cast in the Hunger Games, the dates worked with Much Ado. I think I was going to shoot it before we started rehearsal. And for reasons, I no longer remember that had absolutely nothing to do with me, but just to do with production, the dates pushed on Hunger Games and they pushed a few times.” 

Rabe would have loved to play both the roles, but she was just following through on a commitment she’d already put a lot of time into. Rabe would have been a great Commander Lyme if given the chance. However, Gwendoline Christie certainly fit the role well.

Gwendoline Christie is soon to appear in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman as a female version of Lucifer. What do you think about the interview? Tell us in the comments below!