Discover the Mindset of Bold Risk-Takers | Kit Harrington's Journey

When you're trying to make something which is new and bold and dangerous, you risk going too far. You know, I was alright at rugby. I was playing quite a high level. I can't stand watching Thrones and knowing it's a stuntman that's doing my bit. So anytime, you know, I can, I want to do the stunt. I'd been in a fight the night before. I'd gotten in this fight with this guy in McDonald's.

What's up, Believe Nation? It's Evan. My one word is believe, and I believe that you have the ability to do something special that can change the planet. So to help you on your journey today, we're going to learn from one of the highest paid actors on TV, Kit Harington, and my take on his top 10 rules of success. Rule number 1 is my personal favorite, and I'd love to know which one you guys like the best.

I think unless we are pushing the boundaries of what we are comfortable viewing, we're not making art. We're not making— and I think that's why Game of Thrones has— people have responded so, so much to Game of Thrones, is that they, they're watching something which shocks them, which moves them, which makes them scared or angry. I think the thing that you risk is you can, when you're trying to make something which is new and bold and dangerous, you risk going too far. You're always gonna take that risk. In Thrones, I think we have gone too far at times. And in Dr. Faustus, we definitely did. Like, it didn't work in some ways because it was too much. But I think unless you try, you're not pushing boundaries, you're not making art. I had a few moments during Game of Thrones where, you know, you're very into it and very kind of concentrated on what you're doing and constantly trying to improve and get it better and better and better. But every now and again you have a moment, and I had a couple where I was just on set in this cloak with this sword in this amazing castle that they built. And you just kind of go, "This is really cool. This is just cool." And this is what I became an actor to do, is to live this kind of world. It's every young actor's dream to play those parts where you're a badass sword fighter.

Well, I'd say every kid's dream.

Yeah. Yeah, I read the books. The minute I got the part, I went and bought all of them and read them, mainly out of curiosity about what might be happening. Also out of— I felt I had a source material there. And whenever I've got a source material, I feel that, for me anyway, I need to look at all information I can gather about that fictional character. The first description— if you read the first description of John, it informed— I think I, for my audition, I bought the book, read the first description of John, read a bit to get an idea of it, and then went in with that. But it's already in the book that he's quiet. He's quite sort of dour in a way. He's like the black sheep of the family. Within that first paragraph about who he was and what his sort of essence was like gave me that first sort of tap into how I should do that first audition. And then that template stays with you for 6 years of what character you've made. That's the way I— If I have something like that to go on, the way I work is I'll look at exactly what the writer or these writers or the writer of the book thinks this person is and try and tell that story. Did you ever try your hand at football? I was a rugby player when I was young. Rugby? Yeah, I was a scrum half. A scrum half's the little guy. Okay. He's the smallest guy in the rugby team. Scrappy. You're scrappy. Scrappy, yeah. He's hard to catch. And he takes the ball out of the scrum half and he's a back and he gets it out to the backs. The back line, you might say. So did you realize early on that perhaps acting was the better way for you to go? Is that what you're saying? I remember the tackle that did it, yeah. What was that? Uh, I, you know, I was, I was all right at rugby. I was playing quite a high level. But there's something that happens to young men when they go from being like 16, 17 years old to suddenly I was playing at 18 years old. And you know when young men go from being young men to men. Mm-hmm. And I remember that I got hit with a tackle. And I was in the drama society at the same time as being in the rugby team. And I kind of— I thought, I gotta protect this, you know? The moneymaker. I'm gonna protect the moneymaker. One more hit like that to my face and I, you know, I can kiss acting goodbye.

How physically demanding is your role on the show? And how has it differed from other roles? You do your own stunts. Do you do your own stunts?

Yeah, I do.

Have you ever gotten hurt? Have you got, like—

Yeah, you get knocks and bruises. Nothing major. I've never— You have to have physio.

You've never broken your nose or anything?

No. No, not the nose, darling.

Watch the face. Watch the face.

Watch the face. I— No, I— Knocks and bruises, I've done far worse things to myself in my own time. But Thrones is— I like doing— I can't stand watching Thrones and knowing it's a stuntman that's doing my bit. So anytime, you know, I can, I want to do the stunt. Every now and again, it has to be a stuntman, but usually it's me. Very easily, it's me. I imagine it's kind of terrifying, I imagine, like acting on stage in front of an audience every single night. It is, but that's the reason I think any actor gets into it, or any actor who starts on the stage especially, is you get into it for that kind of thrill-seeking reason in some ways, of the adrenaline rush. And it's— yeah, I love it, and I forgot what live performance was for a while, and I'm really enjoying it.

This particularly, this role in Pompeii was hard, right? Physically tough.

Yeah, I mean, when I got into it, I sort of, I looked at it and I was playing a gladiator and I thought, I better look like a gladiator, right? So I said to the director, you know, I would really like to do a kind of body transformation thing for this. It's something that I've wanted to do for a while. Like the quick trim 50-day challenge or something like that, or more of a gym thing? Yeah, like I wanted to You know, if you do some research about gladiators, they did look like monsters.

They were huge, right?

Huge. Very, very cut. Very, very chiseled.

How long did you have to transform your body, though?

I had about 5 weeks.

Oh, that's not long.

It's not long.

So what was involved then?

I wouldn't be able to lose 1 kilo in 5 weeks.

I put on 10 kilos. Wow. In 5— in 4 weeks. And then I had to— in another 3 weeks, I had to— while we started filming, the film, I had to kind of cut down those 10 kilos again. So I put on 10 kilos and then lost 10 kilos. And then by that time, you keep all the muscle, but you just sort of carve yourself up.

You look like a gladiator.

And when you're doing those fight scenes, which would be pretty intense, how long is the filming on those?

Long, long, long. Yeah, it's hours, hours and hours now. And while you're not— if you're not doing the fights, filming them, you're in a room training for the next one. And the director we had Paul, the director, he basically said, you know, he would come in and we'd have choreographed about 10 fights, you know, to show him, and then he'd come in and say, "No, I don't like any of those." Oh, wow. And they've taken you like 5 weeks to do that. And you're like, "Jesus." He said, "I don't like that one. I don't like that one." And so you'd have to go and relearn a whole— So by the end of it, you could pick up a fight pretty quick.

Do you worry that you'll get typecast with the Game of Thrones— You know what I mean? Because it is— I mean, the cast is so impressive. Imprinted on everyone's imagination that people think you are Jon Snow?

There is that worry. There is that idea, "Will I ever break away from this character?" But I know when I wanted to get into acting, I wanted to just work. I wanted to work as an actor, to do— to act, you know, is just an honor in itself. And this enables me to do that. And this may be a defining role for me, and, you know, but it's— it's gonna allow me to do lots of other things. And I don't worry about that typecasting issue. I always think people, other people worry about it too much for me. I'm like, I don't see it as a problem.

The first time Kit walked into the room, I remember thinking, oh, please let this guy be good. Because I just have like an image in my mind. With most of the characters I don't, but with Jon Snow, I had an image in my mind of what he should, not only what he should look like, but more what he should kind of feel like, a certain, brooding intensity and a kind of haunted thing. So he comes in—

Do it, do it, do it.

Do blue steel.

Blue steel. Brood steel. That would be something else.

So he came in and he nailed it. I mean, he was just— he was incredible.

I've really admired his work work. And, you know, I had seen him as Jon Snow, and I knew that this was a very different part. And he just came in where we met at the reading, and he just blew me away. He brings such, you know, a strong-hearted, intelligent performance, and yet very sensitive.

It's nice when you get to work with a friend who you know, and it actually works, because the other way is not fun. Hardest scene I had to play? Sorry, one second. I think probably it was— it was probably this— there was the scene. Okay, so it— there was a scene with, um, when, uh, Ygritte dies. It was so sad, and it was— and it was— we had 3 weeks of night shoots, so everyone was very emotional anyway. And the scene where I turn around and she's there with the arrow, and it was just a moment of like, it's funny. So I turned around and smiled because I didn't mean to, I just did. And then that seemed to work, so we kept it in. ¡Ah! ¡Champagne!

Don't talk.

Do you remember that cave? We should have stayed in that cave. We'll go about that. You know nothing, Johnson. ¡Gracias!

Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because Ivan on my team asked me to. Ivan does most of the research behind all of these videos, so I had to do him a solid and make this video. If there's someone you'd like to vote on for the next top 10, check out the link in the description and go and have your say. Finally, I want to give a quick shout out to Best You Pro. Thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word, and taking that amazing picture of you on the beach reading it. I'm so glad you enjoyed the book, and I really appreciate your support. So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love. I'll see you soon.

I'm playing a cowboy at the moment, so I've got to do loads of things that kids do, like I got to be a medieval warrior, I got to be a cowboy, I've been a spy, I've been a gladiator. I got to, like, play around, man. It was a lot of fun. Do you remember the audition for Jon Snow? I had a black eye. I'd been in a fight the night before. I'd gotten in this fight with this guy in McDonald's. I went into the McDonald's with this girl I was sort of dating at the time. It was late at night and there was no seats. I asked this guy and this girl he was with if we could sit on the same table as them, and they said yes. We sat down and quite quickly he started being really rude to the girl I was with, calling her names. We were like, "We'll just finish our food. We don't want any trouble," and then go. Then he called her something like an ugly pig or something. And I got up and said, "No, no, no, you can't call her that. Get up." So I called him up for a fight, which I'd never done before. And of course, he'd been sat down the whole time, so he got up and he just kept going. And I just realized that I had to, at that point, throw the first punch, otherwise I'd look like a complete wimp. And I got battered. So then I went to the Jon Snow audition with a black eye. Which I think that man who punched me in the face may have helped me get the job. So if you're watching, thank you. Very soon after the show had aired and I was dead, and so there was a lot of questions about whether I'd come back, and that cliffhanger had just started, and the policeman pulled me over for speeding. And I got pulled over and he sort of, he said, you know, we can take you into the office and we can give you a fine and give you points, or you can tell me whether you live in the next season of Game of Thrones. Oh my God, I know, outrageous. And I thought, you know, this is a joke, this must be a joke. And he was deadly serious. And I said, well, I'm, I'm alive. And he said, on your way, Lord Commander. No way. Fantastic, isn't it? Wow. I love that police officer. If there's anything better than being alive in reality, it's being alive fictionally as well. We did thousands and upon thousands of takes because it's such a key moment, I think, of me going like that. That they wanted that over and over again. And I had to kind of say, "I don't know how else to do it now, guys." Because I was lying down for so many hours for 2 whole episodes, I remember I fell asleep in the middle of a scene and woke up. And you know when you wake up and you don't know quite where you are? There's nothing scarier than waking up in the middle of Game of Thrones world naked and everyone standing over you and thinking, "Oh my God, I've died and I've actually ended up in Westeros." Can you speak a little about the journey that you've been on with Jon Snow throughout these seasons?

Wow.

It's, um— It's been an incredible journey. It's been a journey all through my 20s, all through his 20s. We've sort of grown up together. And it'll be very hard letting someone like that go. I'll always have an affinity with him. Loved him. Loved playing him. I've loved being part of the series. Like, it's something that will be one of the most significant things in my entire life. I'll miss the camaraderie. I'll miss the going back like an office job, but to the best office in the world once every 6 months. I really will miss that. And I'll miss the crew. I'll miss everyone who works on the show. Yeah, that'll be hard.