Kit Harington is very excited to finally get to play some real dirtbags

"My heart goes out to people playing heroes," Harington said recently, clearly still smarting a bit from 8 years of playing Westeros' nicest dope

Aux News Kit Harington
Kit Harington is very excited to finally get to play some real dirtbags
Kit Harington Photo: Denis Makarenko

There aren’t a lot of actors who came out of the filming of Game Of Thrones without making at least a bit of headway on filling out their “cinematic war crimes” demo reels, with actors like Charles Dance, Lena Headey, and Emilia Clarke all getting to regularly engage in the kinds of acts that failed to violate the Geneva Conventions solely because that particular document is decidedly unimaginative on the use of big, fire-breathing lizards in warfare.

Pity poor Kit Harington, then, who, despite occasional dalliances with dishonor/assassinating his girlfraunt, mostly had to portray Jon Snow as the good guy whose job was to frown a lot while everyone else was getting up to some delicious badness. And Harington apparently felt the loss, noting in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly—tied to his new film Blood For Dust, in which he gets to play a genuine dirtbag, big handlebar mustache and everything—that “My heart goes out to people playing heroes. They’re fucking hard to play and to make interesting. It is more fascinating as an actor, I think, to empathize with someone deeply faulted and wrong, to try and find your way into why they are doing these things.”

Harington—whose post-GoT career has been notably quiet and fairly eclectic, other than that time he drastically didn’t launch himself into the MCU with a role in Marvel’s Eternals—says he’s been deliberately drawn away from playing any more stock good guys after so many years in the Snow mines. “If I look at the roles I’ve taken since playing an out-and-out hero in Game Of Thrones,” Harington noted, “I have to admit there seems to be some sort of pushback about playing a hero. I’m not so interested in heroic roles, and if I am, they have to be pretty anti-hero-ish…I think people who do it successfully, who play classically heroic roles, are very talented actors. But at the moment, I just find it more interesting looking for the fucked-up people.”

10 Comments

  • bio-wd-av says:

    I remember that time Kit Harrington played the villain in Call of Duty infinite Warfare.  It didn’t exactly convince me he’s gifted for playing antagonists.

    • killa-k-av says:

      Same. I also recently watched GoT for the first time before I even finished the show, I wasn’t surprised that his post-GoT has been mostly “notably quiet and fairly eclectic.”

  • BlueSeraph-av says:

    I saw this movie and found it to be not that entertaining. It was for the most part uneventful and drifted in and out of being background noise. Kit does play a big role, but he’s not the main star. I would say he’s briefly in the first act and second act, and then mostly in final act of the film. However, when he’s not in the movie then it becomes just a boring drama. Even when he does show up, despite catching your attention, his performance is forgettable. It’s not so much him as it is his character and how the story plays out. I know the movie sets itself up to be a gritty violent drama. Unfortunately it’s not that entertaining. It’s no different than a straight to DVD/instant streaming Cuba Gooding Jr movie from 15 years ago.That being said, regarding this article on how Kit Harington wants to tackle roles that’s a big departure from his character on Game Of Thrones, I do like that he’s trying different things. And it is kind of smart to test it out for roles in small budgeted films instead of trying to go for big movies for wide release in cinemas. He does have a presence to play a scumbag, it’s just that in this movie it’s a wasted performance because I just felt everything was forgettable. The only highlight from this movie was at the very beginning when all the production, studios, pictures, film groups whatever logos were showcasing themselves. There were 7 different logos and brands. Although it took only a minute and a half, seeing that many reminded me of the episode of The Simpsons where Homer wants to watch a movie and gets annoyed when he has to sit through all of the studios and brands. It was annoying, but I guess it was a passion project that a lot of people invested into. Sadly that was the highlight of the film. Could make a drinking game out of it. Stuff like this happens more often than I realize. I enjoyed seeing the movie Late Night With The Devil, but the same thing happened at the beginning. Only it had 9 different studio labels, brands, pictures, productions, and etc. At least I enjoyed that collaborated passion project.

    • phonypope-av says:

      “However, when he’s not in the movie then it becomes just a boring drama.”Are you saying that whenever he isn’t on screen, all the other characters should be asking “Where’s Kittie?”

    • dudull-av says:

      Eternals basically Marvel version of DCEU Justice League. Instead of introducing us with interesting character one at a time like Avengers, they just shove multiple unrelatable character in one movie. If they plan to make Squadron Supreme, they should not do this again. GotG work because they all misfit band with interesting character. Hell, even Drax and Gamora weren’t that interesting until the second one.

      • BlueSeraph-av says:

        I see what you are saying on the subject of Marvel, but what does that have to do with what I said in terms of Kit Harington and the movie Blood And Dust?

  • peterbread-av says:

    He was good fun in Seven Days in Hell.

    Much like Emilia Clarke and Sophie Turner he doesn’t have a vast range, but when the writing is decent he’s more than capable of being entertaining in a role.

  • garland137-av says:

    He can stay with Marvel and still play a fuck-up. The Black Knight is not a warrior pure of heart who resists a cursed sword, but an impure heart who empowers a cursed sword. The Ebony Blade is strongest in the hands of someone who can barely control their violent urges.

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