Best known for his role as sadistic boy-king Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones, Irish
actor Jack Gleeson seemed poised for big things but for a while, he was pretty much nowhere
to be found.
So exactly what happened to him?
Here's an important thing to know: Gleeson really isn't interested in living an actor's
lifestyle.
In an interview with the Irish Independent, Gleeson said:
"When I started doing Game of Thrones, perhaps the reality was made too real for me.
The lifestyle that comes with being an actor in a successful TV show isn't something I
gravitate towards."
In fact, he only started acting because it was just something for him to do.
Gleeson started taking acting classes with his two older sisters at his local community
center because there wasn't much else available.
He told Vulture:
"It was nearby [...] I did it because it looked fun.
If the community center hosted karate classes instead, I might be a karate person, but for
some reason they happened to have acting classes, so I went to them."
Perhaps the main reason Gleeson didn't much like playing Joffrey was that he just didn't
enjoy working on set.
“You can’t…”
Specifically, Gleeson isn't intrigued by the faker aspects of filming an effects-heavy
show like Game of Thrones.
He explained to Vulture:
"When you go on to a set, you realize the very visceral reality that you see on the
TV show is a product of a huge amount of processing and editing and storytelling that isn’t
present on the day of filming.”
Worse yet, Gleeson found actually doing his job to be almost entirely unfulfilling — and
incredibly boring.
He said:
"You go and put your makeup on, put your costume on, wait in your caravan-trailer thing for
an hour and then you go the set, and you film for three minutes and then they change around
the lights, and the camera angle and you wait for an hour, and then you film for another
three minutes.
It's a very boring, tedious process."
Gleeson was so not into it, in fact, that his favorite moment of filming actually came
when he played dead during Joffrey's funeral, simply because he got to sleep all day.
He joked:
"That was a fun experience."
Gleeson doesn't have any special attachments to the show which made him famous, either.
In fact, he couldn't care less about the show or the novels on which it was based of which
he only made it through one, before realizing he didn't have the attention span required
to continue.
And as for the T.V. series, Gleeson explained:
"There's too much to catch up on.
I've not a clue what's going on.
In my mind, all these characters are still alive and everyone's in this place and those
people are in that place and they have these motivations, and now everything's screwed
around so much that it's a completely different show.
I've no idea."
Gleeson's not bluffing either.
He really doesn't have a clue since he only ever read his own scenes from the script.
He told Vulture:
"I'm just selfish.
Maybe I should get into it.
I hear it's good."
While his stint on Game of Thrones might have landed Gleeson with a whole heap of fame and
money, he has admitted that he doesn't really care for either.
The former actor claims to live as normal a life as possible, residing alone in a London
flat he describes as nothing out of the ordinary.
Even today, he'd rather keep it simple and go about his business than focus on remaining
a celebrity.
Gleeson explains:
"It's maybe the status thing that I find uncomfortable.
People can be wealthy and not be mean, but this status thing [...] some people when they
become famous, they feel better, they feel more worthy.
That's what makes me feel really uncomfortable.
I try to eschew that as much as possible."
Still, Gleeson is always happy to snap some photos with fans, retweet jokes about Joffrey,
and attend the occasional convention.
And as for money, well, it's no secret that Game of Thrones actors make bank Gleeson included
but the young Irishman doesn't really care.
For Gleeson, money truly isn't everything.
He told the Irish Independent:
"I'm happy to sacrifice a big paycheck for my happiness, if that's not too corny a thing
to say.
It's probably more naive than mature to say that, maybe, but that's how I feel."
Even though Gleeson seems pretty disinterested with on-screen acting, you'll still be seeing
him on TV in the near future just maybe not where you might expect.
Coming off his off-Broadway puppet show Bears in Space, Gleeson saw himself fitting in nicely
on another popular, children-themed, but adult-oriented, television program, explaining to Vulture:
"My dream is getting into some Adult Swim–style [thing] — short little bursts of wackiness,
maybe a multimedia thing with puppets and animation and live action."
In 2016, he also told the Herald Sun:
"I wanted to be a big famous successful actor.
I suppose something just changed.
I still love acting, and I see myself acting in the future, but that kind of spark is not
there anymore."
But it looks like that spark has returned.
In early 2020, Gleeson came out of retirement to be cast in Out of Her Mind, a BBC Two series
by comedian Sara Pascoe that promises to include a cast of bizarre characters, as well as those
unusual animations that Gleeson was looking to be a part of.
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