Julian we're here to talk about well so
many things that you've done over the
years I mean you've been in so many
franchises Bond you've been in Harry
Potter you've been in Doctor Who you
know in Game of Thrones U of course also
had for your eyes only yeah so also the
Star Wars Indiana Jones I mean obviously
kind of I think I'm the only actor who's
um been in all these franchises it's now
four if you count Harry Potter which has
only a voice
um but it it's five now with um Game of
Thrones which is turning into yet
another great Blockbuster of a series
and which is very gratifying I think I'm
the only actor who's been in all of them
what's it like playing the master you're
talking about Game of Thrones
though well it's like playing him
um it's actually it's not very
comfortable um although I don't have a
wig on thank God I do have that itchy
beard which the and the makeup man takes
the mustache off every lunchtime so I
can have enjoy my meal I don't
know um and the costume is rather
uncomfortable it's very we were just
filming in um uh Dubrovnik few weeks
couple of weeks ago it was really hot
and my costume is thick heavy velvet
long folds of it and the the um the
whatever it is around the neck the great
big U chain thing is really heavy it's
so heavy that um it it hangs here but it
has to be tied I have a wresters belt on
underneath my costume uh really tight
and that's tied the the the chain thing
is tied onto that to take the weight so
it's it's um if you'll excuse me it's
like having a very big bosom hanging on
your shoulder and um well so it's not
very comfortable but I love working on
with the people and uh I love playing
him he's such a bad
boy great
survivor he's a little bit different how
you how he's shown in the TV series and
he is in the books isn't he and I
believe that that's to do with you isn't
it tell me a little bit about that well
yes you obviously know but
um i' done about three episodes of it
and
um I got pry bored playing this just
playing an old man who sits at the table
so I went to the writers and I said this
is very modest of me I said look I'm a
better actor than this you must use me
and um give me something and they went
away and they brought up what I do which
is a I'm covering up uh I'm playing a
very very very old man and it's and it's
protective it means I don't get killed
and uh I never I was back the right
horse uh at any particular time which is
very clever of him uh and they got the
idea from um when you were filming you
they'd say turn over and I'd go down
into my old man pose and I'd do the
scene and then cut and I'd stand up
again I thought Ah that's a good idea
cuz Julian's not like that uh he's a
quite a vigorous old man Julian and so
that's what they wrote and it's very
satisfactory I've just played a couple
of very nice scenes in series 3 um about
being about not being as old as I seem
yeah so he's kind of a little bit
secretive and hiding things then well
yes that's absolutely he a I mean I can
say that Tywin susses me out says how
long you've been getting away with this
for years how
it's ridiculous why do you do it and I
say to survive I virtually say I want to
die in my own time not somebody else's
and you know my time will come very soon
um cuz I'm very old but cuz I'm 104 for
God's sake can't expect a very long life
expectancy and U and he he accepts that
and he uh he acts accordingly I won't
tell you anymore you're going to have
quite a run in the TV series and I can
make out from from the books as well are
you looking forward to that I hope so um
I know I'm in the next the next series
uh uh which we start filming in July I
think um I don't know how much I'm going
to be in um I wasn't in nearly enough in
the last one my but I'm still there and
I I spoke to the writers and said I do
survive do I oh yes yes yes they said
but don't worry I said when you when you
when you do die if you do die which we
don't know yet um don't worry it'll be a
good death so I expect something
spectacular you wait till you see how
Charlie dance dies that is really funny
and of course I'm not going to tell
you well how would you how would you
like to die how do you have a kind of
imagination that lead you to places and
things that would happen it's got to be
really dramatic it it's uh I would
prefer him just to die in his bed and
for people to regret that he's died and
to think well he was quite a useful
fellow cuz he he is been he's he always
backs the king and they he backs the
king and uh that's it and he's bloody
useful to the all the kings um and you
know you had to seen in the last series
when uh with Tyrion when Tyrion puts him
in prison and all that stuff um I like
the idea of him being uh sexually um
vigorous still and um having a private
life which is his own um it needs to be
as well I'll only say it the death I
would like to be
as interesting as Charlie dances I don't
want simply a decapitation or something
like that which we've done those I want
it to be as interesting as that uh so
that I could actually so I got an
opportunity to play it rather than
just I I want I'd like to be able to
play my death so but we'll see maybe I
won't something for us all to look
forward to there you go well you
mentioned Charles Dart there of course
you've worked with him over the years
haven't you um very memorably as well
and Bond you for your eyes
only yes I I'm not sure we met on that
actually um but I've known him since 19
the mid '70s
um late '70s when we were both with the
Royal Shakespeare company together uh
and we played Brothers in one play and
he understudied me in another play but
now he's a big film star um but we get
on very well indeed he's a I was filming
with him and de brodnik a few weeks ago
and uh it got on very well indeed good
good man good man very handsome man
what's it like being out there filming
in Croatia well it was wonderful I was
only there 3 days but um filming in
Dubrovnik which is just one of the most
beautiful places in the whole world
what's it like um being on location as
an actor what does that give you rather
than just being in a studio somewhere oh
well locations are always much better
unless you get surrounded by people who
GARP at you uh well yes you're on a
location you've got so much atmosphere
which is given to you without you having
to do any work and we were in De brnik
on this beautiful beach with this
wonderful Castle behind us and uh it was
it was so
lovely excuse me and um we didn't look
at the tourists who were looking at us
over the wall because we were looking
out to seea and uh it was it's beautiful
sea and the Sun and oh uncomfortable
because of the costume but you know I
don't I didn't have to join did I but
some sometimes it's it's it it can be
off-putting uh uh I remember many years
are doing doing doing a film called qb7
which was a three-part television series
very very serious stuff um and we filmed
part of it in a uh a onetime
concentration camp in Belgium which was
not a um uh a murder camp but it was a
torture camp and anyway it doesn't
matter what it was and we filmed there
on a
Sunday um so that there would be less
people but they still let the public in
the public were far more interested in
us than they were in watching nothing
happening on a film because as you know
on a film set nothing happens uh much
more interested in looking at us than
they were in looking at this horrifying
Place pretty interesting isn't it me you
talk about you know kind of fans and
having people look at you when you're on
location and various things obviously
the show Game of Thrones got lots and
lots of fans why do you think people
what do you think
people what do you think people think of
your character in particular I don't
know what they think him I've noticed um
on occasions like this this uh
convention that people rather like him
uh cuz he's such a
scallywag you know this pretend game
he's playing all the time and now that
people know he is playing a game they
see me in a different light I'm not
which is very satisfactory for me which
is what I ask for I'm not just a very
old man who gives advice I'm someone
who's uh rather more interesting than
that and and I people bu my photographs
and say oh I love him I love o pel cuz
he is such a scny wag but mind
everyone's a scny wag in
that sha Bean is about the only nice
person and even even Tyrion
who's so fantastic what a wonderful
actor he is uh he can be pretty horrible
too really pretty horrible uh when it
suits what he's going to have to do but
on the other hand his heart is always in
the right place tyon and he's and he
uses it the fact that he's a small
person and uh mind you there are some
developments coming up which you know
nothing about which you're going to be
very interested in now I'm not saying oh
you're so you're a big tease aren't you
absolutely and did you know the books at
all before you came to the show um I
have a ruer I shall read them when we
finish when well when I'm finished I
have a rule about that with fictional
stories not with real C real
characters who actually lived I read up
on those like
man uh like I played u dub of
Czechoslovakia and U I read everything I
could find about him and went and met
him and anyway um but fiction I think
well the people have adapted the script
if I like the script do the script don't
go back to the book and say oh why
haven't we got that bit in that bit
would be good oh well we don't need to
do that bit that's this bit would be
better it's a bloody news to the people
who've written and have made their
choices and um so I I I consciously as I
say don't read the books with fiction
and I think that's paid off in this one
because uh as you pointed out uh I've
built on he goes on and on but he's not
very significant in the book He's just
there and and contributes now and again
but now as I keep on saying he's much
more interesting yeah I mean are you
looking forward to reading the books
when you do eventually finish and also
what does George Martin think of the way
your character is developed well he he
likes it he it had to be put to him of
course when the writers got the idea
they had to call him up in the states
and put the idea I don't know how they
put it I should think they said you know
I I should think they did Echo what I
said that sorry I am too good an active
they they did waste me and um I was
playing a fine old da but and now they
know why I'm like I am why why I'm that
sort of daugh you my wife said I'm
actually engaged on doing a play at the
moment where I play someone 90 and it's
a great mistake to play old man to play
an old man just be you know if you they
know you're 90 um they'll know you're 90
uh but old pyel he's acting being 90
being 104 so that is a much more
interesting thing to do when it's
finished I shall read the books it's as
simple as that cuz I shall be very
interested to see about everybody
else um quite often you know you read a
script and you have no idea what's going
to happen when I read
the script of episode 9 of the first
series when sha gets it I got to the end
and head chopped off and I thought no no
no no you don't kill off hamlet in the
middle of the play scene so I went right
back to the script and read it really
properly cuz I thought I must I I've
missed something I miss no I hadn't
missed anything at all and he gets his
head chopped off I one of the bravest
things I've ever known on television and
they had the courage to chop his head
off and go on with the series and of
course I mean that the the character the
name of the character lives on because
you know that chat would always be
around in in people's minds either as a
threat or someone who was very good
uh and U to have that sort
of enormous figure chopped in the first
series but they had the courage to go on
with it and now look at it it's it's you
can't stop it it's a roller coaster and
I see no reason why shouldn't go on
right till the end of the sixth book I
or maybe you can write another one you
know because it's Timeless as we know
people come and people go mostly people
go amazing piece of imagination the
whole thing in the fact that it isn't in
a particular period it's just got every
period that ever happened is is in it
they don't have pinstrip suits but you
know what I mean and uh all the
artifacts and things come from every
period in history and from all over the
world and the idea of that ice wall in
the very the very first episode when we
went to see the first showing of the
first episode we had no idea what it was
going to look like and that ice wall
presented itself at the beginning that
little hole at the bottom of it with the
people coming out on their horses oh my
God what a piece of imagination and the
idea having two separate parts of
England which is such a small island uh
perpetually at odds with each other and
completely different sorts of people
because of the weather it's a a
wonderful idea wonderful idea so
imaginative are these some of the
reasons do you think why the show has
been such an enormous success well I
mean that's one of the reasons it's a
brilliant story it's very well
photographed and nowadays uh they can
shoot as much material as they like
because it's all done
electronically because when I first
started filming it was all on film and
um producing would come along to a
director and say k no more takes on this
one no more takes yeah this this is fine
because it cost so much in film but they
don't have to do that anymore so you
know sometimes we come off at the end of
the scene oh God they shot that scene to
death um but they always find the
wonderful bits of it to to show you and
uh very well edited and series of very
professional directors never the same
well directors vary according to each
episode as you must know and um and now
the writer have started directing
themselves which is yes which is
terrific cuz they know what they want
and I was going to say as a viewer of
the show which are your favorite
characters oh Tyrion yeah
Tyrion go no further you know he's the
guy I I always Delight when I see him
when I watch him working and when I'm in
a scene with him or watch him on the
screen he say you go oh yes wonderful
actor wonderful actor