Although he found success almost 30 years ago with his starring role in The Nightwatchman, Danish Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is still today synonymous with Jaime Lannister, the complex character he played throughout all eight seasons of Game of Thrones and for which he was nominated. twice for the Emmy. The actor returns to television with The Last Thing He Told Me, the new Apple TV miniseries in which he stars alongside Jennifer Garner, in which he plays an enigma: the husband and father who suddenly disappears and whose absence reveals a parallel life that he has known how to hide perfectly.
In The Last Thing He Said to Me, he plays a memory rather than a character...
In general terms, yes, and it is very interesting because memory seems to me a fascinating subject. It is something that cannot be trusted, because memories are not objective. If they ask us in a week about this conversation, each one will tell a different version. And in that sense, participating in this series was an interesting challenge, because 70 percent of my scenes are the memories that the other characters have of me. Obviously I had to find a way to solve it. And to tell you the truth, I didn't realize this until we started recording.
Many years ago we talked about a movie that he filmed in Bolivia, but I don't remember where or when it was...
Exact. I don't remember the place either, but we did talk about Blackthorn: no destination. And the funny thing is that if I told you that we drank tea that day, whether it was true or not, you would incorporate the tea into your memory. When you think about your childhood, your memories will mix things that others have told you or pictures that you have seen. We could talk about memories all day.
But in the series, whether Jennifer Garner's character can discover the truth depends on that...
That's how it is. The same goes for Angourie Rice, who plays my daughter, who is constantly looking to activate memories that she has covered up. Finding the truth that way is hard. Without saying too much about the plot, I also think one of the themes of the series is the loss of a loved one and how if you lose someone who disappears you become something else. If someone dies young, he will acquire mythical characteristics in which they remember him. There is no character here who passes away, but becomes a mythical creature in the lives of others.
The answer to who Owen is is found in Laura Dave's novel from which the series is inspired. Did he play the real character or the memory of others?
It was a mix. Obviously when he appears in the present it is him and then there are all these versions of who this man is. When you're madly in love with someone, you only see them one way. You can't see the flaws and there are a couple of scenes like that, where Jennifer remembers Owen as a perfect man. And then we see scenes where he's not so nice, because now she's remembering him in a different way.
How much resistance did you have to return to television, even though this is a miniseries?
The truth is that you never know what is going to happen in the future, but 10 years is a long time. It is true that when you start a project you don't expect it to last more than one or two years. Anyway, I had a lot of fun making Game of Thrones. I have been very lucky, after it ended I have been making small films that I loved, both in Europe and in the United States. And suddenly this project appeared. I didn't know the book, but I knew Josh as a writer and I think it's fabulous. I read it and I thought he was very good. Then I found out that he was married to the novelist. I thought it was an interesting series and it is a story that is told from start to finish over seven episodes. I like the miniseries format. I saw Locked Up with the Devil and I loved it. Paul Walter Hauser's work is sublime. And I also like that a series has a pre-established ending before I sit down to watch it. That's why I usually wait a couple of years before I start watching anything because I don't like open endings.
He had a great career before he was added to Game of Thrones. But now everyone identifies him with that series. Do you feel you need to remind the audience that you are an established actor beyond that success?
No. The funny thing is that the first film I made in Denmark was The Night Watchman, which had a huge impact and for 10 years I was seen as the actor in that film. That's the way things are and I take that as a compliment. Game of Thrones was the most important series in the world and that's why I'm doing a documentary series in which I travel all over the planet and it's a good topic to start a conversation, because I haven't been to any country yet where they haven't seen that series. Therefore I don't mind being associated with Game of Thrones. As long as I can keep working it's all good...
