Popularly known for playing powerful
warlord Khal Drogo in HBO's hit medieval fantasy series “Game of Thrones,”
Jason Momoa will soon be seen in the big screen squaring off against Sylvester
Stallone in the pulsating action-thriller “Bullet to the Head” from legendary
director Walter Hill.
Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures |
In
the film, Stallone stars as Jimmy Bobo, a New Orleans hitman who forms an
alliance with Washington D.C. detective Taylor Kwan (“Fast Five's” Sung Kang)
to bring down the killer of their respective partners: the mercenary Keegan
(Momoa).
Raised
in Iowa by way of Honolulu and born of German, Irish, Native Hawaiian and
Native American blood, Jason Momoa first turned heads as Hawaii's Model of the
Year in 1999, thanks to his imposing stature and exotic looks. This success led
directly to his first acting gig on “Baywatch: Hawaii,” which he followed up
with a few small films and another TV series, but his true breakout came in the
role of Ronon Dex on “Stargate: Atlantis.” Most recently, Momoa was seen in
“Game of Thrones” which led to the 2011 feature film remake of “Conan the
Barbarian.”
In
the following interview, Momoa talks about the glorious “Game of Thrones,” what
it’s like working with the great Walter Hill and fighting “Rocky” Sylvester
Stallone for the upcoming “Bullet in the Head.”
Question:
Have you spoken with “Game of Thrones” creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff
and asked, “Couldn’t you have picked me to play a character that lived longer?”
Jason
Momoa: [Laughs] I
know right. It’s funny me and Dave and Dan are very close and when they called
me back I just had such an amazing time, and it was an honor. I love those
guys. My only disappointment is I wish (and this is on George Martin) is I
wanted to see Drogo go to war, man. That was the only bummer, maybe he could
have died in battle. It was a good way to go out because it was just
heartbreaking but it would have been fun to see him kick some ass.
Q:
When you were making “Game of Thrones” did you know that it was something
special?
Momoa: Oh yeah, I’d never heard of
anything like it. When I got the script, it was the first time in my life that
I wanted to take the opportunity … take something and get it. I’ve never been
so focused on getting something in my life. It was like I had to have it.
Q:
So you’re just finishing up “Bullet to the Head” with Walter Hill. We’ve only
heard little snippets about it but can you tell us about that?
Momoa: That was an honor, it was just
amazing and I mean Stallone is just a legend. It was a dream to work with him
and my fight scenes with Stallone, it was like you just stop and pinch yourself
and say “I can’t believe I’m fighting Rocky right now!” I watched “Rocky” when
I was getting ready for Conan. It was fun and I got to play a ‘Don’ for the
first time. I’m excited for people to see it.
Q:
So did Conan drink three eggs and train in Philly in the morning, just like
Rocky?
Momoa: [Laughs] No, Conan drank a lot of
beer.
Q:
Your take on “Conan” nailed the savagery and made him the best take on the
character. How did you feel about the rest of the film living up to your
performance?
Momoa: I was a comic book fan and a huge
admirer of Frank Frazetta and when he died during our filming, it was so sad
because I wanted him to see it and say “Wow, that’s my Conan!” Just looking at
his paintings, I wanted to put that up on the screen. I absolutely remember
seeing that one where Conan's standing on a pile of skulls and it’s seared into
your memory and a I felt like Marcus Nispel is a pretty visually amazing
director. There’s just a lot of things that came into it and sometimes the
script just wasn’t there. I just wanted take a stab at doing Conan and it’s out
of your control, you can only do so much I feel like I bled over, and over and
over to do the best I could. I feel like we represented him very well. The
movie sometimes, it fell short you can only show up as an actor and be the best
you can be.
(Bullet to the Head” is distributed by
Buena Vista International through Columbia Pictures.)
It was a shame his character didn't last long on GoT. his Ronon Dex imho is more badass. I mean, going toe-to-toe with Teal'c for an hour? Too bad SG: Atlantis is no longer airing. :(
ReplyDelete