“I learned a lot about Daemon speaking Valyrian”, Matt Smith, protagonist of “House of the Dragon”

HBO surprised all the fans game of Thrones when he confirmed that several spin-offs were on the way, but the one that reached the best destination was the one called House of the Dragon, which premieres today, August 21 in HBOMax. The universe created by George R.R. Martin returns, but 300 years before the events of the original production and will be based on the house Targaryens and in the novel “Fire and blood”, also written by the author. “He is a very complex man! He is the brother of King Viserys (Paddy Considine) and is part of the Targaryen family. He’s kind of a rogue prince though, and he’s a dragon rider,” Matt Smith told of his character to TechSmart.

Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen, played by British celebrity Emma D’Arcy, and his half brother Daemon, in the body of Smith, are the center of contention in this new fiction. Both fight for the reign after the death of King Viserys, a noble monarch. This period is turbulent for the house targaryens, as it pitted brother against brother and dragon against dragon. The issue to be resolved is who should govern in the Iron Throne.

It is starring Paddy Considine like the king Viserys Targaryens, Emma D’Arcy like the princess Rhaenyra Targaryens, Olivia Cooke What Alicent Hightower and matt smith like the prince Daemon Targaryen. The actor revealed some details about the initial conflict: “It’s quite difficult to summarize my relationship with Princess Rhaenyra because there are like a million aspects happening at the same time with all these characters. She is family, and she is my niece. There’s a real kind of bubble of a lot of tension in every scene between them.”

-Why did you want to be part of it? House of the Dragon? What convinced you the most about the project?

At first I knew that Paddy [Considine] I was working on the project and have always admired him. Then I read the pilot and thought he looked really good. A page turn and I felt like this world, in the pilot, felt pretty clear. But mostly, there are so many gray areas in Daemon, you could go this way or you could go that way. That’s interesting as an actor, because you’re kind of in charge of that narrative, as much as the script allows you to be, and it felt like a really challenging and interesting role to play.

-Is there more to Daemon than just a bad guy or a bad boy?

That’s what I wanted to avoid because it’s pretty easy to make him the better fighter, a bit of a villain, a bit of a bastard. But I was interested in more than that. It sounds like a cliché, but there is a great emotional vulnerability in him; there is a kind of childishness in his actions. He believes that he is doing the right thing. Sometimes. Or he’s just being a fucking bastard. And that’s very nice to play too.

matt smith comes from playing the villain of MorbiusI participate in Last Night in Soho under the orders of Edgar Wright and in the acclaimed and award-winning The Crown. Today he has to put himself in the shoes of a Targaryen, perhaps in a role as popular as when he starred in Doctor Who. On the challenge, Smith expressed himself: “This was the role.” in the history of game of Thronesthe villains were always a fundamental key to the progression of the story and Daemon Targaryens it was the first promotional image of the series. “He just picks fights to keep himself entertained. It’s pretty weird because there’s no kind of overarching goal to it. He doesn’t want to be king or he wants to be anything else. I approached him from the point of view that he just wants to cause as much chaos as possible, wherever he is.”

What did you have to do to prepare for the role? What was the real challenge?

The preparation was enough. There are a lot of fight scenes, a lot of battles and sword fights, all those kinds of moments. So there was a big physical challenge because I wasn’t ready to date. Actually, it was the usual kind of training: trying to learn the fights very diligently… and hoping you have a great stuntman to make you look good. And Daemon also has a special sword. It’s called Dark Sister and they made it especially in Norway. It is magnificent. They had a gunsmith in Norway who seems to work very well with steel.

“Did you have to learn to speak Valyrian?”

I can’t say I immersed myself in Targaryen lore, but I did learn a lot of the language along the way because he, Rhaenyra, and Viserys are the only people who actually speak it. I’ve had so many scenes talking like this and they are my favorites. It’s nice to get to act in a different dialect. And I actually learned a lot about Daemon speaking Valyrian because you say, ‘Ah, this is who he is, he’s got a little bit of this in him,’ and it allows a different version of his personality to come out.”

House of the Dragon premieres this Sunday, August 21 HBO Y hbo max.

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