Photo Credit: Nino Munoz
HBO’s Game of Thrones season 3 just kicked off and the Kingslayer himself, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, appears on the May issue of Men’s Health magazine (on sale nationwide on April 16). Coster-Waldau opens about his rise to success, how he plans to stay on top and why staying fit is essential for his profession.
Nikolaj on why it took him a while to admit he wanted to be an actor: “I always wanted to be an actor, but I just never told anyone,” he laughs. “I had this superstition that if I said it out loud, it wouldn’t come true.”
On his favorite movie, Once Upon a Time in America: “Here I was growing up in a tiny village in Denmark,” he says. “And I’m identifying 100 percent with this gangster from New York. And I think how amazing would it be to explore human behavior in that same way.”
Nikolaj on how sports are like acting: “I love team sports,” he says, “and being in a movie [is like that]. If you’re not good, you’re going to pull everyone down.”
Photo Credit: Nino Munoz
Nikolaj on what years of auditioning taught him: “You have to take control of the room,” Coster-Waldau says. “You have to be sharp when the camera’s rolling,” he says. “I want to be totally unselfconscious, like a child playing. I do as much prep as possible so I can lose myself for those seconds.”
On where he shines at the gym: “Jesper (Coster-Waldau’s trainer) is huge, so he wins anything involving serious lifting,” says the actor. “I win at tire flipping, though. I’m pretty fast.”
