Cork student juggles royal role with college

A summer job mowing lawns or waiting on tables is a far cry from life for one Cork student attending college in Dublin.

Game of Thrones actor Jack Gleeson revealed he was managing to juggle his acting career with life as a student in Trinity College with relative ease.

“It just worked out that they don’t coincide, in that Game of Thrones films during the summer… We only start up [college] in October and finish in May with Trinity so it’s linked up really well. It’s been really easy to man-age,” said the philosophy and theology student who plays evil King Joffrey Baratheon in the series.

The Cork native says he still has to “keep pinching himself” on the set, admitting he didn’t expect the reaction it has received from audiences around the world.

Gleeson told TV3’s The Morning Show he drew inspiration from Joaquin Phoenix’s portrayal of Commodus in Gladiator when rehearsing for his role in Game of Thrones.

“His portrayal of evil in that was very inspiring. It was subtle but very visceral and kind of tangible — his creepiness made your spine shiver.”

The 21-year-old, whose co-star Natalie ‘Margaery Tyrell’ Dormer has just been cast in the new Hunger Games movie, also revealed that if given the choice, he’d like to keep his clothes on in the raunchy series.

“When I was signing the contract, there was kind of a tick the box ‘Would you be happy to perform nude?’ If I’m going to be given the option (again), I’ll tick the ‘no’ box.”

Asked about the public’s attitude to his character, Gleeson says he’s been called “every name under the sun”. “People see me and have a kind of a gut response,” he added.

Gleeson is promoting the play Distance From The Event, which was written by Eoghan Quinn and also stars Aaron Heffernan, who is to play Detective Inspector Gavin Brogan in the new season of RTÉ’s Love/Hate.

Distance from The Event runs from Sept 7–21 at the Samuel Beckett Centre.