STACK #241 November 2024

MOVIE FEATURE

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American novelist and TV writer George Raymond Richard Martin - aka G.R.R.M. - is best known as the author of the epic fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire , inspired by the War of the Roses , The Accursed Kings and Ivanhoe . Famously adapted into the award-winning TV series Game of Thrones and its prequel series House of the Dragon , the 78-year-old author has been dubbed as “the American Tolkien”. A conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, he first began selling sci-fi short stories at age 21, later moving to Hollywood where he wrote TV scripts for a Twilight WHO IS GEORGE R.R. MARTIN?

Zone reboot, Beauty and the Beast , and Max Headroom . Refusing to work at the

In a career defined by four seasons as one of the most likable Doctor Whos in the show’s storied history, you can’t blame Matt Smith for wanting to embrace his inner evil occasionally. Words Gill Pringle

pace demanded by TV, he is still writing two highly anticipated books in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

R eturning to his role as morally bankrupt Prince Daemon Targaryen in the second season of House of the Dragon , the fact that Daemon is married to his niece seems like the least of his sins. “He’s an absolute madman!” laughs Smith, 42, confessing to a sneaking admiration for his twisted, scheming character who is married to his brother’s daughter Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, portrayed by Emma D’Arcy. “What I quite like about Daemon is that he flies by the beat of his own drum and that his moral compass is his own. I admire his conviction in his mistakes and his actions. For better or worse, he does them anyway,” says the actor, who also portrayed cold-blooded killer

Charles Manson in the crime drama, Charlie Says (2018). Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood , the series - set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones - tells the story of House Targaryen. By far the most famous among House of the Dragon ’s large ensemble cast, Matt smiles resignedly when you ask if his character’s distinctive long silvery white hair might afford him some kind of anonymity, “Umm, no,” he says flatly. Unlike brunette Emilia Clarke who rose to fame as flaxen-haired Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones , Smith is already a household name - and it would take a lot more than a

blonde wig for him to pass unnoticed. Ask him what star sign he imagines Prince Daemon might be, and he becomes animated. “I am a Scorpio in life but Daemon is definitely a Scorpio. There’s no doubt about that,” he says. While audiences watched the slow death of Paddy Considine’s King Viserys Targaryen in the last season, Smith still misses the actor who portrayed his brother. “The way he died was so horrendous, and we were right there next to it, seeing him sort of decompose,” he says of Paddy’s character, who suffered a gruesome season long deterioration before finally succumbing to leprosy, but not before losing an eye, half his face, and most of his hair. The king’s death further results in fracturing the uneasy marriage between Smith’s Prince Daemon and D’Arcy’s Princess Rhaenyra. “They can't unburden themselves room constantly that they’ve sort of weaponised against each other and it's quite uncomfortable for them both. “But I personally believe there is a very deep from this sort of shadow, and I think there's this elephant in the

Matt Smith

• House of the Dragon - Season 2 is out Nov 20

sense of love between the two of them, which is challenged in many

quarters, and it's tested,” he hints.

Check out the range of House of the Dragon Pop! Vinyl available at JB.

10 NOVEMBER 2024

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