Family pain inspired Paddy’s king
PEAKY Blinders star Paddy Considine drew on the death of his father and his mother’s disabilities to play a dying king in the Game of Thrones prequel.
The British actor says “seeing illness” in his loved ones fed into his portrayal of King Viserys suffering in The House of the Dragon, as he died slowly from a form of leprosy.
He told how he sat at his own father’s deathbed – urging him to “let go”.And he admitted he struggled to watch his character’s final scene because it reminded him so much of his personal loss. Paddy, right, told Variety: “I’d seen illness myself. My mum ended up blind and lost both of her legs to diabetes. She very much had those qualities thatViserys had, too. She tried to stay dignified, but there was a part of her that had just given up on herself. “My father died of cancer, and that slow decline, with that weight loss. It’s just an awful thing to see.”
Paddy, 49, said while his wife Shelley and daughter watched episode eight – in which the king finally perishes – when it aired in the UK, he stayed in another room.
But he recalled: “My wife says, ‘You’ve done the work.You need to see it,’ and she showed me the episode.
“The end, when he lies in the bed, it was very shocking to me, because I looked the image of my dad when he was dying of cancer.”
He added: “I remember one day looking into his eyes, and I just said to him, “Dad, just let go. Just let go, Dad.
“As the character developed I wondered, was it a catharsis? I don’t know how I feel about it now.
“But I was definitely playing both my parents at times.”