Kit Harrington and Sophie Turner played siblings for eight years on Game of Thrones, but for their latest film the duo will be playing lovers for the first time.
Harrington and Turner are both the stars of the new film The Dreadful, a 15th century set gothic horror starring Turner as Anne. Anne’s life is upended when a man from her past, played by Harrington, returns.
As much as celebrity actors will argue that kissing for a film can be totally divorced from reality as it’s part of the job – the film’s stars were shown to be gagging after sharing a brief smooch.
Entertainment Weekly shared the behind-the-scenes footage of the pair kissing before both gag (you’d imagine partially in jest), and have spoken out about how bizarre it is to be playing lovers after years playing brother and sister on Game of Thrones.
Kit Harrington told Sophie Turner starring together in The Dreadful would be f*cking weird
Appearing on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Turner spoke about sending the script for the film to Kit Harrington to see if he’d star.
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She said: “So, I sent the script to Kit, and he kind of sent me a message back going like, ‘Yeah, I’d love to, but this is going to be really f*cking weird, Soph.
“I was like: ‘What is he talking about?’ Then I was reading it and it’s like: Kiss, kiss, sex, kiss, sex.” She revealed this is when she realised: “Oh, shoot, that’s my brother.”
Turner added: “We put it out of our minds, and then we get on set and it’s the first kissing scene, and we are both retching. Like, really, it is vile. It was the worst.”
Harrington called kissing her ‘weird’, saying: “It was slightly embarrassing, having to get on an apple box to kiss her because she’s about a foot taller than me. But other than that, my dignity was pretty intact.”
The Dreadful lives up to its name amid terrible reviews
The Dreadful has not been met with positive reviews, currently sitting at a 38% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Frank Scheck from The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a negative review, saying that it ‘aims for classic folk horror but mostly feels tedious.’
Robert Kojder of Flickering Myth gave the film 1.5/4 stars, saying in their review: “The Dreadful serves up a Game of Thrones reunion between stars Sophie Turner and Kit Harington, which is about the only thing this film has to offer, considering it more than lives up to the title.”
A third review from a fan said: "Awkward, kind of confused, some really awkward interactions. Premise has potential but the story didn't seem to know what to do.
"It has a nice visual look but it's a bit Instagram 2010 for better or worse."
Not everyone hates it though, with Chad Collins of Dread Central saying: “Natasha Kermani’s The Dreadful is insidious, slow-burn Gothic horror and one of the year’s earliest genre delights.”
The Dreadful is available to watch in cinemas now.
Topics: Kit Harington, Sophie Turner, Game of Thrones, TV and Film, Film
Michael Slavin