House of the Dragon Scene That Still Haunts Paddy Considine
Paddy Considine received widespread acclaim for his portrayal of King Viserys I Targaryen on House of the Dragon, with fans, critics and even George Martin himself expressing their admiration for his performance.
In a recent interview, Considine revealed that Martin had sent him a text message praising his Viserys as being even better than the one he had created in his books.
This compliment from the renowned author and creator of the series must have been especially gratifying for Considine, who had undoubtedly put a lot of effort into bringing his character to life.
In his recent appearance on The Adam Buxton Podcast, Considine even described Viserys as "the greatest character I've ever played" and thanked the showrunners for allowing him to make this character his own.
But notably, Considine himself long avoided watching completed scenes in which he played, and described the experience of watching his own performances as "debilitating." This might be a general quirk of his, or such aversion might stem from tragic nature of King Viserys' particular story.
House of the Dragon is a family drama at the core, and Considine's character carries much of it on his shoulders, as his attempts to preserve peace in the family only end up making things worse in the long run, allowing the conflict between the parties of his daughter and his second wife to fester, while the King's own health is ruined by a disease, which, according to Considine himself is a form of leprosy – eventually his body is visibly rotting, he has to conceal his disfigured face by bandages or a half-mask and drug himself on opiates almost constantly.
In Episode 8, Viserys finally dies, after one last desperate and doomed attempt to achieve reconciliation between those whom he loved, and his final scene proved to be especially difficult for Paddy Considine to see on screen, after his wife and daughter finally talked him into watching House of the Dragon past the first couple of episodes. Recalling the painful memories from years ago, for Considine the experience felt like a punch in the gut.
"Years ago, I'd watched my dad die of cancer and he just went downhill rapidly," the actor explained. "So, when [my wife] showed me that end thing and my face came up I just burst into tears because I looked the image of my dad when he was dying."
No wonder he had difficulties returning to that scene, or to other scenes after the point where illness starts gradually affecting King Viserys.