Why do they call it “iceberg”?

Ewan Mitchell has every reason to believe it. At 27 years old, English is one of the protagonists of House of the Dragonthe prequel to Game of Thrones which broke it in 2022 and returned on June 16 with a second season on HBO / Max. Like Aemond Targaryen, the ambitious, power-hungry prince he plays in the show, Ewan is a man of few words.

His profile is that of the introverted boy who uses silence to his advantage, turning what could be awkward pauses into mystery. Not for nothing, he says, his friends call him “the iceberg.”. It works on the public: its villain became one of the audience’s favorites, the cool bad guy that one can’t help but secretly root for, even if deep down he is a little deranged.

Before each question of Viva, Mitchell takes a few seconds. When answering, he does so seriously and to the point. He did not come to talk about whether she is in a relationship, or what her childhood was like (they have already tried this in other interviews and he avoided the topic). What is known about him is little by little: He grew up in an industrial city in England, comes from a middle-working class background, and since he was little he was the quiet one in the family. He wants to talk about something else: about being an actor, the passion of his life, to which he dedicates a kind of almost spiritual devotion.

-The first season of House of the Dragon was a huge success and a showcase for young actors like you. How have you been handling this moment?

-I love the recognition I received thanks to the role, but I am looking to take it calmly. Engrave House of the Dragon It can be intimidating. When you read the scripts for the first time, you realize that this is not TV: it is HBO. Each episode is like a movie. You have two options: feel overwhelmed or accept it. I chose the second. These challenges are what I live for.

-Although he is one of the villains, your character is also one of the most beloved. Do you like playing the bad guy?

-I love antiheroes. You think – or want – to understand them, but at the same time they deceive you. Characters like Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. You feel like you can relate to them until halfway through the movie they betray your trust and make you question why the hell you empathized in the first place. Performances like this really challenge what you thought you knew. That’s the nice thing about movies and TV: they help you ask yourself things that you don’t necessarily want to question.

-Game of Thrones helped make many of its actors famous. How do you imagine your career after this role?

-I feel like I’m still too young to know. I’ve only been doing this for eight years. I have a lot to learn. Every new role is another opportunity to experiment, try new things and prove to myself that I can do it. Nor I am someone consecrated who can give advice. I’m still in the stage of receiving them.

-What advice would you have liked someone to give you before becoming an actor?

-It’s not exactly advice, but If I could go back in time and talk to my 10-year-old self, I would say three words: “I believe in you.” Even when I was a kid and being an actor sounded like a dream, I believed I could do it. There were many around me who didn’t. But as long as you hold on to what you believe in, be yourself and have something new to offer, you will achieve what you set out to do.

-Did you have a plan B if being an actor didn’t happen?

-I’m sorry, but that question cannot be processed (laughs). There really isn’t anything else I like to do.

If there’s one thing Ewan and his character, Aemond, have in common, it’s determination. Just as HBO’s prince will stop at nothing to achieve the throne he believes is rightfully his – even if it involves bloodshed, dragon chases and other series favorites – Ewan always knew he would be an actor. Failing in the attempt was not an option.

He had little training after high school. At the age of 17 he entered the Television Workshop in Nottingham, a workshop for working class young people without direct access to the acting world.

Soon he began appearing in smaller productions, of which he sent DVDs to talent agencies, praying that one would open the door for him. One responded and since then his career has been on the rise: English TV productions, secondary appearances in films and now, the big role that could change everything.

It is difficult to determine if there is something of a character in his devotion to the seventh art or if Ewan “just is like that.” He once said that he tries to watch a movie a day to improve as an actor. and believes in the school that one does not abandon the character between recordings. For the casting, they say, “he entered the room as Aemond.”

If there is some mythology mixed in the anecdotes, Ewan Mitchell tries not to let it show. He really implies that cinema is an obsession that he can’t control.

-When you talk about being an actor, you make it sound like you were destined to be one. Where does this passion for acting come from?

-It is a question that I have also asked myself. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to answer it. For as long as I can remember, I always wanted to be an actor. I don’t know if it was the movies that were on TV or the experience of going to the movies to see what was new, but I always had a deep passion for acting. I knew this was what I wanted to do in my life. And now, I’m doing it.

-Was this election a surprise for your family?

-It was. No one in my family is in the film industry, I didn’t go to drama school, and I never had formal acting training. It took some work to convince them. When you are a kid and you tell others that you want to be an actor, people laugh at you. That was the case for me too, especially at the school I went to. They think it’s a dream.

-You learn to live with what they tell you and keep a low profile. But I am one of those people who believe that things have to be done, and not just said. That’s why he had to prove to others what he was capable of. It’s your turn to go out into the world and show them with every action that this is what you really wanted.

-You still keep that low profile. In times where actors are also influencers, you do not have social networks and you show a reserved personality.

-There is an element of mystery that attracts me, which once you lose it, you will not get it back. I feel that if people knew more about the “real me,” it could steal the focus from what I come to do as an actor. And what I want is for people to believe me when they see me in my roles. If I will ever have social media, I don’t know. I have learned that you never say never.