So I certainly wanted to know when my character kicked the dust.” “When it’s your job, or say if you enter into your job as a journalist or a writer or whatever, you kind of want to know when your turn is up and when your contract is up.
“The first thing I did was look it up the summary of the plot on Wikipedia to know when my character left,” he says. From the very first one, he had a rough idea of when Joffrey’s rule would end and when the chance to redefine his career would present itself. In total, those few weeks for Gleeson each year added up to his appearance in 26 episodes across the series. And I think leaving Game of Thrones gave me the chance to explore other avenues.” “ was an incredible experience, and I would do it over and over again a thousand times, but at the end of the day it was three or four weeks of my year for about four years, which isn’t a lot, but it’s a lot in the grand scheme of things. “But it’s also the fact that you’re able to engage more with the creative process. “Anything that you do with your friends is fun,” he says of the theatre company. His real passion was in theatre, and having started a company of his own (Collapsing Horse Theatre Company) with childhood friends Dan Colley, Matt Smyth, Aaron Heffernan and Eoghan Quinn, stepping off the screen and away from his villainous Game of Thrones character meant Gleeson could let loose creatively. When it comes to the question of why, Gleeson attributed his exit from acting to his young start (his career began when he was eight years old in Reign of Fire) and that it was always something he saw as a hobby. And so when the moment of his untimely demise as King Joffrey Baratheon in the fourth season of Game of Thrones came, one question loomed large – what next? For some, it seemed like he was turning his back on Hollywood. Hopefully they don’t have access to YouTube.When Jack Gleeson first hinted at leaving acting for film and television, it seemed to be the only thing everyone could talk about. He’s certainly talented enough to make a go of it, and if he waits a while maybe people will have forgotten he played Joffrey and cast him in some gentler roles.
Even so, it wasn’t always easy for the polite and respectful Gleeson to inhabit the guy-he said that some of nastier onscreen behavior was “embarrassing, but you got to do what you got to do.”Īs for a return to professional screen acting, I hope Gleeson goes for it. I’m not sure many people have it in their hearts to cut Joffrey from slack, but I guess you have to try if you’re going to understand what makes him tick. “Playing Joffrey was more of a challenge because, as an actor, you always try to empathise with the character you’re playing and you try to understand them,” he said. “Even though how Joffrey behaves – he has no redeeming qualities – I tried to take pity on that and understand that all his evil acts are because of how he was brought up and the influences he had as a child. Gleeson also talked a bit about the unique difficulties of portraying a character as loathsome as Joffrey. He’s since started a theater company called Collapsing Horse, so perhaps he’s reevaluating his stance. Gleeson’s comment about going “back to acting” is news in and of itself, since he had previously pondered leaving the profession entirely. When I go back to acting, I will have to think about what kind of perception there will be with my new role and I would want to maybe play a positive character or nice guy next to dispel any kind of prejudices this character has built.
When speaking at the recent IGN Convention in Abu Dhabi, which is a thing that happened, Gleeson confessed that he’d like to try showing a softer side in his next role. Joffrey may be dead, but his spirit continues to linger. Still, Gleeson has had some trouble squaring his friendly personality with his Game of Thrones character, the legendarily sadistic Joffrey Baratheon. He’s involved in charity work, his fellow cast members speak very highly of him, and he looks adorable posing with puppies. By all accounts, Jack Gleeson is a delightful human being.