Aidan Gillen chats about his new film, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, the novelty of not playing a baddie and the revelation that some fans consider Petyr Baelish a sex symbol.
In an interview with Collider to promote Guy Ritchie’s upcoming retelling of the Arthurian legend, Gillen explained that his character, Sir William, is nicknamed Goose Fat Bill for his “slippery” nature, though he was quick to clarify that “slippery” does not mean villainous. “He’s not evil or bad at all,” he said. In fact, according to Gillen, Goose Fat Bill is more heroic than many of Gillen’s better known characters (not naming any names).
“Yeah, I have played a fair few villainous roles or bad guy roles, this is not one,” he said. “We are on the wrong side of the law, as it stands, but on the side of good in that we’re going up against a nasty king, thwarting him. Jude Law’s character, he’s a kind of feared ruler.”
When asked if Game of Thrones prepared him for the the fight choreography and battle scenes in King Arthur, Gillen admitted that he “[hasn’t] done much swordplay on Game of Thrones,” but said that the commercial success of HBO’s fantasy epic has probably helped movies like King Arthur get made in the first place.
“I don’t doubt that the popularity of Game of Thrones, for example, makes this kind of film more producible and bankable … I think everyone, including myself, even though we knew Game of Thrones was good, [was] surprised at how exactly how huge it became, which is massive and around the world. Although, that shouldn’t be a surprise in that it’s quite universal and could be understood anywhere … [The fantasy genre is] possibly more acceptable and less of a gamble nowadays. Or maybe it’s always a gamble because you never know when people are going to get tired of it. It just has to be really well made and entertaining.”
While on the topic of Game of Thrones, Gillen was asked how he felt about Littlefinger’s status as a sex symbol within certain subsets of the fandom. As it turned out, Gillen hadn’t heard about that at all.
“I’m kind of surprised by that now because I wasn’t really aware of it,” he said. “I don’t know, it’s interesting given that some of the strands in the story are unsavory or could be seen that way and Littlefinger’s relationship with Sansa Stark is quite unorthodox, without me trying to put as much warmth into it as I can and just play it for real. I’m not aware of being a sex symbol though.”
Hold the door… so Littlefinger should not enter!
He’s apparently never been on Tumblr. They’re called “Creepyshippers”. Look em up Aidan.
“the revelation that some fans consider Petyr Baelish a sex symbol.”
https://68.media.tumblr.com/8834922d4337d972054140b57e3fa454/tumblr_ogyob0b0Y01rfd7lko1_500.gif
😉
Littlefinger a sex symbol ummmm No just no.
Aidan’s a hottie. Give the man an ice cream bar.
Pigeon,
HAHA!
Flayed Potatoes,
Accurate. He’s such a creeper. Though Aidan is so GOOD at playing a creeper.
What I want to do to Littlefinger is give him the middlefinger. 🙂
Something tells me King Arthur: Legend of the Sword is going to be Cornel Wilde’s biggest hit in years.
heh, well, there is no accounting for taste, is there! 😉
You never know with Littlefinger. He may well end up winning it all, or at least having the one true ring in his grasp before being pushed over a cliff by a small person. Uh, what show or movie is this again?
If anyone needed flayin’, it’s Littlefinger. Half a season of Littlefinger getting the Full Theon would’ve been nice. Ah, Ramsay, you left us too soon.
??
Catspaw Assassin,
I’m pretty sure his goal is to collect the ring, the elder wand, the cloak of invisibility and that other deathly hallo…..wait a sec…
He does have a pretty awesome accent, I don’t particularly like Littlefinger but I love his accent.
Whoa. I never considered the actor or character as sexy. Maybe the brothel owning pimp knows a few things, but they’ve never shown any of them. And Lysa was putting on a show in my opinion.
He’ll get what he deserves – death by the Starks. I’m sure of it.
Now, who’s going to get Harrenhal? That’s my real question!
“Chaos is an elevator…Chaos is an escalator…chaos is a ladda'” . I really like that Steve Love’s impression of Littlefinger. LoL!
Those still crack me up!!! “Lalalala….” ?
Sex symbol? Well, underneath the mockingbird, he’s still
Stuart.
Alan.
Jones.
lol
Well he was a sex symbol to Lysa Arryn now wasn’t he….
Sounds odd as he is putting the dodgy accent on all the time, though if he played him like LF in the book which is a “normal” sounding trustworthy guy with a slightly odd edge, basically how show Varys is being played on the show
Think they did a character on the Telltale game who fit this perfectly and it wasn’t until part 6
well… I guess if you are..into..that..sort of..thing????
My Sexy List
Jon
Tyrion
Jamie
Rob
Jorah
Catspaw Assassin,
You think?
I was worried it would be a flop
Lf better die this season
Just saying
Well, Lysa Tully/Arryn thought of him as a hottie… (Sorry to bring back painful memories Oz)… probably she’s the one who started the Tumblr thing…
Which one?
Couple hours away from the GoT SXSW panel!
do we know anything from the GoT SXSW panel?
I’m sorry if it sounds rude, I’m just so exited!
Stark Raven’ Rad, all of them
https://twitter.com/TexasArtFilm/status/840978278609489920
Maise and Sophie have arrived at SxSW.
Dee Stark,
Oooh he’s one of the biggest villains in it for me, so I’m with you on that one! Mind you, I always want the baddies to get their comeuppance as soon as possible so it’s lucky I don’t write the show otherwise him, Joffrey, Ramsay et all would have been killed off ages ago and there wouldn’t really be any story left. Just the nicest characters sitting around having a slice of cake and a cup of tea and getting on really well, in a very boring fashion.
Oh and for anyone who doesn’t know, Dee is one of our most avid spoiler avoiders so no hints whatsoever on who may or may not be getting it in S7 thank you!
Lulus Mum,
Hahaha I agree
Thanks Lulu’s mum, for having my back!!!:)
Ten Bears,
Raamsay hasn’t left us: he is a part of Sansa now and thus the hope for flaying can remain, though I think she will choose a more starkish way to deal with the Littlefinger-shit.
Jack Bauer 24,
The Stark sisters are holdig hands – how cute!
https://twitter.com/joan_e/status/841018708843720704
GoT panel is packed!
Season 8 will be 6 episodes and Dave Hill will write the first, Cogman the second, and Benioff and Weiss the final 4.
Ed Shereen will make a cameo this season because Maisie is a fan and they wanted her to meet him…makes no sense considering she’s Maisie Williams and could have met him if she really wanted to anyway.
Still waiting for the trailer. Besides the first part about the Season 8 writers this panel has been useless.
Audience member asked if there can be a dragon white walker and Benioff said “maybe”.
David Benioff just confirmed that next season will only have six episodes. It doesn’t come as a surprise, but i’m kinda sad 🙁
http://ew.com/tv/2017/03/12/game-of-thrones-sxsw/
Maisie Williams with a smile after Benioff mentioned they filmed in Canada.
No wonder Maisie hosted the panel. That way they only asked the questions they wanted to answer.
Jack Bauer 24,
Maisie has met Ed S. before. They’re good friends and mutual admirers. The cameo was just a nice surprise for Maisie.
Dee Stark,
No worries sweetie. I think people just get a bit over excited and forget everyone is at different places on the wanting-to-know-what’s-coming spectrum. Having said that, you just know LF is the kind of guy who would find out spoilers and then use them against people, refusing those who want to know and spoiling those who don’t. He’s a great character and really adds to the story, but has absolutely no redeeming features as far as I can see, which is why I have so much fun hating him! 😀
I don’t know where to start…..
1. There is no pure good nor evil character in GoT, everyone of them, just like in the real life people, are COMPLEX. Everybody has betrayed everyone if it suits their own intentions, it it was a good decision according to their perspective. It’s a corrupt, cut-throat world, where you can only survive if you play the game, you have to wear a mask. Baelsih does it perfectly well, he didn’t rape any women, he didn’t torture anyone, he didn’t force himself on Sansa on the contrary, Sansa could thank him a lot, deal with the fact please.
Theon, Varys every character did things if it looked right according to their perspective! But lot of fans forgive them like everyone of characters have redeeming qualities except Baelish! For real?! Everybody has betrayed everyone if they needed it to survive the game! Judge righteously!
As for Ned’s death!
I honestly hope it’s obvious for everyone the only way Ned could have survived was to make peace with the Lannisters. Baelish tired to help him, and I do not blame LF for not wanting to go down with him. It’s a corrupt liar world where you can be alive only if you play the game. LF’s plan was quite rational, but Ned was too stubbornly loyal and honorable in a naive stupid way sadly, he didn’t accept Petyr’s help. And Varys agreed for once with LF and he also let Ned being arrested, because the way Ned was thinking it did not suit Varys’s intentions too. ( It seems many fans forget how dangerous Varys is too because he’s interested in Tyrion, he is the ‘good awesome hero’).
As for the Hound’s role:
He PROTECTED Cersei and her sociopath son, Joffrey all the time! It suited his intentions because he got money for this. He had several opportunities to kill them, but he didn’t, he obeyed them.
When Ned’s soliders wanted to attack Cersei and Joffrey, Sandor immediately reached for his sword and killed them! He did not help Ned! He hated the noble people! He obeyed the Lannisters! So actually Sandor also helped arrest Ned! As an ‘outsider’ he only saw Ned was a traitor and the council member Baelish kept him from escape! It was no secret in front of anyone LF loved Cat, how do you know he did not think LF was holding Ned to not let him to do anything crazy? Or LF was only acting in front of the Lannisters just like the others did? Or he did not give a _.
THE HOUND HELPED ARREST NED STARK, deal with the fact please!
Just imagine his future talk with Sansa: Hey ! When you were in love with Joffrey and hated your family, your father refused Joffrey as a king and I protected the kid and Cersei and killed Ned’s men…btw I saw LF kept him from escape, so, you should kill lord Baelish! Forget he saved you several times, risked his life for you, gave you useful lessons, encouraged you to be strong, to play the game and avenge your family, forget he saved Arya when he recognized her and kept her secret, forget he saved Jon and helped you take back your home. How rational would it be, right?! 😀 Sansa knows LF was a kind of a double agent. Everyone of them has dark things from their pasts!
But because he looked after Arya in his own rough way for money in the begining ( but people can change during their journey in their life) he became the best, he is the most awesome angel character in the serie in many people’s eyes! BUT BAELISH is the Satan himself, right?
What. Are. You. Talking. About. Seriously?! 🙂
Oh, and he brought Sansa to Cersei without a second thought, when he could have saved her!
2. As for Aidan Gillen.
Belive it or not, there are incedibly lot of women find him interesting and attractive.
For instance Kit H. is everything in my eyes, but handsome..he looks boring and empty..ect.
Because you don’t find him handsome, it doesn’t mean you have to be rude!
I’ll just leave this here:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/ariannarebolini/petyr-littlefinger-baelicious?utm_term=.eaMBBr3Vk5#.xyK77lw4Vd
I don’t want Baelish to die. I would love to see him make a run for The Iron Throne. Leave the Northern characters to deal with the winter and the WW. Keep Baelish in the political game. Letting him waste away in the North is silly to me. Bring on Cersei vs. Littlefinger!
Evningstar,
Ned was a crap player. I loved him and hated to see him die, but it was inevitable. I blame Joffrey for his death. I agree with you. Baelish is not an evil guy, he does what he has to do to survive the game. I’m not mad at him on the show or the books. That ridiculous Ramsay/Sansa marriage was the writers. The real Baelish never would have done that.