Cult TV Show of the Year: Game of Thrones

Forget unicorns, hen’s teeth and Labour politicians who’ve stuck to their election promises, I’ve just discovered that rarest of things; an Irish person who hasn’t seen a single second of Love/Hate.
“David Caffrey is a fantastic director and I know some of the actors in it, but I’ve been too busy with other stuff to watch,” Liam Cunningham tells us.
That ‘stuff’ includes reprising the role of Davos Seaworth in Season 5 of Game Of Thrones, the HBO fantasy-fest which has kept the Dubliner in regular employment since 2011.
“I was approached about the first season, but by the time we got round to talking pretty much everybody had been cast,” he resumes. “They said, ‘It’s not going to work out this time, but we’ve got some really interesting story lines coming up next year.’ I thought, ‘Yeah, more Hollywood bollocks’ but true to their word we had another meeting and there was this gorgeous character, Davos Seaworth. I’d been sent DVDs of the first season, and went, ‘Right, I’m going to spend the week looking at these.’ I remember putting the first one on at ten o’clock at night and going, ‘I have no idea what’s happening here. Who’s he? She’s what?’ I was completely fucking confused. By episode three... well, it’s like heroin, you’re addicted. I watched six back-to-back, grabbed a few hours sleep and then watched the rest. I’ve never in my entire career been so delighted to land a role.”
Was the character 100% sketched out or was Liam able to inject a bit of himself into it?
“I went beyond the character breakdown – which was pretty precise – and thought, ‘Who is this guy, Davos? A smuggler and small-time criminal, yes, but in many ways he’s a decent, principled man of his word. He’s also a very lateral thinker. Who do I know that’s like that?’ I remembered Robert Duvall’s character in The Godfather, Tom Hagen. He’s part of it yet not part of it. He tells the truth, even when that truth is unsavoury. I didn’t base it on him per se, but his attitude and quiet truth-telling correlates with who I imagine Davos to be.”
Did he have actorly buddies on set to welcome him?
“I was absolutely delighted when I heard Stephen Dillane was going to be playing Davos’ boss, Stannis Baratheon,” the 53-year-old enthuses. “He’s not a movie star, he’s an actor and I’m a huge fan. Carice van Houten who plays my nemesis, Melisandre; we were lovers in a Dutch-German co-production, Black Butterflies, which left very little to the imagination. It was really bizarre that we’d had this torrid love affair and four years later were arch-enemies.”
Richard Dormer, who played Beric Dondarrion, told me that you either faint from the heat in the studio or freeze your bollocks off in the quarry near Larne where most of the outdoor Game Of Thrones scenes are filmed.
“Yeah, there’s no in-between,” he laughs. “It’s not the Maldives, it’s full-on. I’ve done the quarry, I’ve been in Castle Black. I’m maybe going back to the quarry, but I don’t want to give too much away!”
How closely guarded are the scripts?
“They’re under lock and key with a big Rottweiler looking after them,” he deadpans. “It’s interesting because the series is up to the end of book five, and book six is only in the process of being written by George Martin. So, it’s only him and the main TV writers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who know what’s happening after Season 5. Davos may, as we speak, be coming to a grisly end or could have a new nymphomaniac love-interest – I know which I’d prefer! Actually, I’d like to see my ass on the throne sucking on a Cohiba. It’s the natural conclusion...
“The two boys went down to Albuquerque a couple of months ago and George rolled out the story so that they can start translating it onto the screen. I don’t think they’re allowed on the same plane! It’s funny, people come up and say, ‘Listen, can you tell us what happens?’ and when with a bit of divilment I go, ‘Yeah, okay...’, they’re like, ‘No, don’t!’”
While us mere mortals will have to wait until April 2015 for our first glimpse of Season 5, a certain Pennsylvania Avenue resident will probably be getting the ten new episodes for Christmas.
“Well, you know, everything in the Oval Office stops for Game Of Thrones!” Liam laughs again. “Obama got the last season before anyone else, so I imagine an aide will be on to HBO going, ‘Him, Michelle and the kids need something to watch over the holiday.’”
A contender for Tweet of the Year was the ‘Westeros Wing’ photo of the Pres and five of his cabinet, which appeared on the official White House account in May.
“I think we’re on his top 5 list with M*A*S*H, The Wire, Breaking Bad and Boardwalk Empire, which confirms that his taste in television is impeccable.”
With Game Of Thrones now officially the most-watched premium TV show in the world, Liam must turn a lot of heads when he walks down the street.
“I had to run out of a bar in Sydney this year because of the attention,” he reveals. “Before it was just the UK and Ireland, but now I find myself being chased around Sao Paolo and Warsaw. It’s a bit nuts.”
Cunningham has double nerd cred having also appeared in Doctor Who.
“The episode I was in was written by Mark Gatiss who’s an absolute genius. He was a founding member of The League Of Gentlemen, which I was in the movie of for a day, and also writes most of Sherlock. I had a wonderful time doing it with Matt Smith who had that kind of eccentric boyish thing and was a great Doctor. I shared a Royal Shakespeare Company dressing-room for 18 months with David Tennant who almost collapsed with excitement when he got the role before Matt. Chris Ecclestone’s take on it was pretty interesting and Peter Capaldi has really hit the floor running. It’s very similar to James Bond; each has to make it their own.
“I’d love to do another episode, but this time with prosthetics or inside a Dalek. I like the Cybermen, but the Daleks are the ultimate nemesis even though they can’t climb stairs!”
A man for whom time off is an alien concept, Cunningham also has a truckload of other appearances coming up.
“The way Game Of Thrones is filmed it’s possible to do other stuff around it,” he explains. “I’ve just finished Pursuit with Brendan Gleeson. He’s the shirriam and I’m playing Fionn Mac Cumhaill in what’s a modern day version of Diarmuid And Gráinne. I’m also the guest naughty boy in The Musketeers; I was in South Africa with Emily Mortimer and Peter Sarsgard for an art house film, Lady Grey, which is very beautiful; I played the Devil in Brian O’Malley’s gothic Let Us Prey and I'm in the short film that my mate David Holmes directed. I get bored easily and don’t like being typecast. Sometimes when you do something new it blows up in your face but, fuck it, you’ve got to keep trying.”
Having premiered as part of this year’s Cork Film Festival, Holmer’s I Am Here will get a Channel 4 screening in the New Year – stay tuned to hotpress.com for details. Liam and David’s cinematic paths first crossed when they were respectively acting in and providing the music for Hunger. Did they realise at the time just how big a deal the film was going to be?
“It was Steve McQueen’s first movie. He’s a Turner Prize-winner, it was a very contentious subject and co-funded by Northern Ireland Screening who were incredibly brave to put their money into a film about a hunger striker. Obviously there are certain sections of the community that wouldn’t look too favourably on that. We knew it would cause a stir, but it was only at the screening in Cannes when Hunger received a 15-minute standing ovation that we realised just how comprehensively Steve had accomplished his mission. When you look at it, it’s not about The Troubles; it’s about a man and his sacrifice and his decision-making. It’s a glorious piece.”
Central to Hunger’s BAFTA Award-winning success was the remarkable 25-minute, one camera, no edits scene in which Bobby Sands, played by Michael Fassbender, faces up to Cunningham’s Father Dominic Moran. How many takes before they nailed it?
“Four,” he recalls. “A huge amount of work went into making those 28-pages of dialogue believable and then, of course, there was no room whatsoever for error. It was up to myself and Michael not to fuck up. The relief when Steve went ‘cut’ and we knew we had it in the can was immense. It was a privilege to be a part of that scene and that film. People will still be watching Hunger in 50 years’ time and going, ‘Wow!’ Same with Game Of Thrones; it’s timeless.”
Kodaline fans would have my guts for garters if I let Mr. C go without asking about his starring role in their ‘High Hopes’ video.
“That was absolutely magical to be a part of too,” he concludes. “They sent me the track and I was all over it. The guys deserve every success. The album is ridiculous – brilliant single after brilliant single.”

Liam Cunningham is an ambassador for the €50,000 Budweiser Dream Job. See todaystheday.ie for details.