Olivia Cooke, the actress who plays the adult Alicent Hightower, talks about the most difficult scene to shoot in House of the Dragon.
Several months have passed since the first season of the house of the dragon came to an end. The Game of Thrones prequel series has managed, chapter by chapter, to once again win the love of fans of the adaptation of the novels by George R.R. Martin to the screen, a love that had been lost because of the last seasons of Game of Thrones and the little love shown in them. Now we are learning little curiosities about this first season, and Olivia Cooke, actress who plays Alicent Hightower, reveals what has been the most difficult scene to shoot in fiction.
The information comes directly from The Hollywood Reporter, where the actress has given an interview with Emma D'Arcy to discuss, among other things, the role she plays in Game of Thrones. And it is that this first season has given a lot to talk about.
And it is that The House of the Dragon has many unpleasant and difficult scenes to shoot. However, Olivia Cooke mentions episode eight as the most difficult for her for two reasons when asked which scene was the most difficult to shoot:
In the eighth episode, the scene with Dyana where she tells me that my son raped her… and then also, I had to hit Tom Glynn-Carney really hard in the scene. And Tom, being Tom, would say, "No, hit me." The first time, I hit him on the chin. And he said, "No, really hit me," and I went for it until it reverberated down the hall. Luckily the camera was on Tom, and he completely took me out of the scene because he was trying to suppress a really awkward laugh.
Sara Hess wrote that episode, so I talked endlessly with her and with Geeta Patel. The situation Alicent finds herself in is very unpleasant because if she is really supporting her son to be the heir to the throne, believing this woman and kicking him out, the whole dynasty would come crashing down. You have to think at that moment what Alicent herself really defends, and that is for her children and for her order.
Her first thought is to love and protect her child as much as possible, which is so shady. But at the same time, her humanity takes over and she can't help but feel truly sorry for this girl... but then an iron shield has to come into play. There is a task at hand, and that is, on the one hand, to rebuke Aegon, but also to shut up anyone who knows. It was such a gloomy scene to shoot, and there was an eerie, quiet, and dim atmosphere on the set that day.
