It’s a busy time for Harry Lloyd, cast as Viserys Targaryen in HBO’s pilot, as he gives interviews to publicize his role in the play, The Little Dog Laughed. In his latest interview, he makes an interesting reference to his audition for the pilot:
‘Lloyd may be seen on screens more often if the American pilot he recently filmed is picked up. Game Of Thrones is based on fantasy author George RR Martin’s series A Song Of Ice And Fire and sees Lloyd play the Beggar King Viserys Targaryen opposite a host of British acting talent.
He describes the process of getting the part as: “One of those auditions which you have every now and again for some big American TV series and you’re like ‘Great, thanks.’ You go in and put yourself on tape and send it off and you’ll never hear about it. So I went in and slightly took the p**s with this character, had a bit of fun with it. They loved it.”’
“Took the p**s”? Certainly interesting. On the one hand, one could be very apprehensive that the casting director and producers loved an over-the-top, camp take on Viserys. On the other, it may just be that what Harry Lloyd considers “slightly [taking] the p**s” amounts to an exciting interpretation of the character. Only time (and HBO) will tell if we get to find out.