A Q&A with The Mountain, the Stark sisters at Glastonbury, and Jon Snow narrates for Wimbledon
Sports Illustrated recently caught up with Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, who inherited the role of Ser Gregor Clegane in Season 4, more affectionately known as The Mountain.
In the new interview Hafþór cleared up any varying reports of just how big he is, confirming that he stands at 6 foot 9 inches, and was 419 pounds at the time of filming. He revealed that his normal regimen includes consuming 8,000 calories, and although he currently holds the title of second strongest man alive, being number one is his ultimate goal.
Hafþór also discussed the most challenging part of filming his big Game of Thrones fight scene, and how he trained for it:
What was the most challenging part of filming the now-famous Game of Thrones fight scene with Pedro Pascal?
To be able to finish the whole scene without mistakes after having learned the fight scenes — they were really fast-paced and complicated. All of this was new to me, one big challenge. But we managed to make this incredible scene, one of the more talked about of all.
You were trained by the swordmaster C.C. Smiff [who famously worked on Gladiator] for that fight scene. What did that training consist of?
We trained from morning until evening for weeks and went through every detail of the fight. C.C. Smiff is probably one of the more knowledgeable in the [movie fighting] business but the whole GoT team is incredible.
After his appearance on Game of Thrones Hafþór has been recognized by fans and is often more than happy to lift them up on cue, but he says his strangest encounter happened just over a week ago, “when a teenage boy approached me and asked me if he could have someone photograph him licking my bicep.”
And when asked which Game of Thrones character would be the most fun to kill and why, Hafþór took a logical approach, naming his own character, “Because he is a psychopath and enjoys killing.”
For the full interview visit Sports Illustrated.
The Stark sisters won’t be meeting up in Westeros any time soon, but they did collide at the Glastonbury Festival this weekend in Somerset, England. Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams were both in attendance at the five day music festival, and the notorious best friends look to have had a great time.
The pair posed with a number of Game of Thrones fans:
BBC Three caught Maisie dancing to Ed Sheeran:
And surprise! Richard Madden, our dearly departed Robb Stark, was also at the festival.
The second week of Wimbledon has commenced, and to celebrate the occasion ESPN has released a video entitled “The Reason It Flies.” With help from the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Kit Harington provides his voice for the soundtrack, detailing a competition that “brings uncertainty, turns of fate, changing fortunes, growing legends and massive victories with the passing of time.” Click on the screen capture below to watch:
If you’re a fan of Kit Harington, his video campaign as the new face of Jimmy Choo’s first men’s fragrance was released today, as well as a behind the scenes feature.
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