Paddy Considine names the best role of his career: “Probably the greatest character”
He might not be a household name or the face of a Hollywood franchise, but Paddy Considine is a proper actor. Be it in one of Edgar Wright‘s comedies, Shane Meadows’ dramas, or behind the camera with his starkly brilliant piece Tyrannosaur, the Staffordshire-born star has proven that he is as talented as he is versatile.
There’s something gritty about him, something real, throwback to an era where any only schmuck could walk in off the streets and, if they were good enough, be in the movies. That era may have never even existed, but Considine makes you feel like it did.
Since he first began acting in the late 1990s, Considine has played many memorable roles. His portrayal of a vengeance-driven soldier in Dead Man’s Shoes caught everyone’s attention when it first came out, especially when they learned the harrowing real-life story behind the film. On TV, he’s played Father John Hughes, an outwardly pious priest with a dark side, in the BBC drama Peaky Blinders, and was nominated for a Tony for his portrayal of a troubled father in Jez Butterworth’s play The Ferryman.
All of those are great parts, and Considine plays them perfectly, but they’re not the one he’s most proud of. Speaking on The Adam Buxton Podcast, he told his old Hot Fuzz co-star all about a recent role that he was really enjoying. “The King Viserys character in House of the Dragon, I think that’s probably the greatest character I’ve ever played in my eyes,” he explained. “The story was right. The character was right”.
House of the Dragon serves as a prequel to Game of Thrones, set about 200 years before the events of HBO’s massively popular (until it wasn’t) series. Considine plays King Viserys I, ruler of the Seven Kingdoms and head of the infamous Targaryen family. Despite the perceived drop-off in quality of the final seasons of its predecessor, the first season of House of the Dragon was a massive hit, drawing in millions of viewers and scoring well amongst the critics.
While he plays a key role in the inaugural season of the show, Viserys doesn’t stick around for very long. He is stricken with leprosy and, as the years wear on, his body deteriorates, leading to his death in episode eight. Considine acts out this scene brilliantly, but admitted on the podcast that he’s never gone back to watch it again.
“I didn’t watch episode eight, but my wife had watched it, and my daughter, and they were pretty upset with it,” he said. “Years ago, I’d watched my dad die of cancer, and he just went downhill rapidly from being diagnosed to being on death’s door… I just burst into tears because I looked [at] the image of my dad when he was dying, the image of him, and it was shocking… I’d put so much of my mum’s characteristics into this character, Viserys, but when I saw that I thought ‘That’s my dad’ and it was terrifying.”
George R R Martin, the man behind A Song of Ice and Fire and its associated world, is known for writing brilliant characters. The combination of a writer this good and one of the great character actors of his day is a potent one. No wonder Considine enjoyed himself so much in Westeros.
