Anyone who spends time on the road knows there’s something special about being in the middle of Utah or Nebraska – you sit with it, and there’s a peace about it. You can go left or right, and it opens up all kinds of doors. You take your own path.
As far as getting work, no one thought I spoke English. It was absolutely ridiculous. I’d show up at a meeting and they’d be like, ‘Oh my God, you speak English! That’s so cool.’ They didn’t really know what to do with me.
Zack Snyder is a huge fan of ‘Game of Thrones,’ and I met him in the training stunt facility that I train at, and I guess he really liked me because he later called me into his office, and we talked about playing Aquaman.
My kids are always like, ‘Why do people always want to take pictures with you?’ and I’m like, ‘Because I’m your Dada, and you’re my daughter. That’s why.’ It’s definitely mostly because of ‘Game of Thrones.’
I’m just gonna make art myself. I have a lot of ideas of things I wanna do and really talented people and friends I’m around, so we decided to make our own thing and set out to do it.
The reason why I wanted to direct is because there are personal stories that I want to tell, but also because I love every part of movie making – from the wardrobe to the set decoration to cinematography.
You get a lot of respect for ‘Game of Thrones,’ and it was a lot of fun to play, but it didn’t help my career a lot because Khal Drago doesn’t even speak English.
