Olivia Cooke Makes Biggest Mistake Any House of the Dragon Actor Could
And what mistake that might be? Well, reading online discussion of House of the Dragon and its cast, of course.
In fact, many actors (and other people involved in making of TV series and other content) would be well advised to stay off the Internet. But this is particularly true for Olivia Cooke. Olivia Cooke plays the adult version of Alicent Hightower, one of the highest-profile and most controversial characters in House of the Dragon, who is disliked by various group of fans for various, even diametrically opposed, reasons – from being an usurpation ringleader, to not being decisive enough in protecting her children.
But the temptation was too strong, as Olivia admitted in an interview.
"It's like the school playground – you want to know what everyone is saying about you and what's been said."
After all, though Olivia is a relatively experienced actor, with a couple dozens of roles under her belt, she never played a main character in something remotely as high-profile as House of the Dragon before.
As the result, "When my episodes aired, I was subject to an immediate visibility that I hadn't experienced before when I was walking down the street."
But Olivia was shocked and dismayed by Internet opinions, particularly about those related to her as a person: "I was self-flagellating. It's mad because what they're talking about is this fantasy version of me that doesn't exist whatsoever. People talk about you like they know you and it's just so odd."
Currently Olivia, with the rest the cast is getting ready for the filming of House of the Dragon Season 2, which is likely to start in near future, so that the season will be completed in time for its planned release in 2024. However, before their characters go back to plotting and warring, actors have some time for leisure and relaxation now, such as discussing their favorite drinks.
As Olivia noted, working on Season 1 was quite tough, and required more "mental stamina" than any of her previous roles, with some scenes taking weeks to film, so hopefully she will be able to recover her energy before the process of filming begins anew, and to provide us with more high-quality performances.