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THE TELEGRAPH – Rose Leslie has a phobia of velvet. This is a remarkably strange coincidence as I happen to be sitting on a small sofa, in a brightly lit corridor of her agent’s office in central London, on which the only thing other than me is a giant purple velvet cushion. Truly, I’ve never seen such a large velvet object. It is resplendent in its velvetness. It seems to have been designed specifically to taunt Rose Leslie and confront her with her fears in the most extreme manner possible – almost like aversion therapy.

“No, no don’t worry!” Leslie says but I can see her actually shudder as I stroke it. “Honestly, it’s fine,” she insists politely. “It’s just the touch of it I don’t like. The sound it makes.” I put the cushion on the floor and she visibly relaxes, sitting cross-legged on the sofa in her jeans and trainers.

Luckily, the 29-year-old actress has never played a part which requires her to wear velvet robes. Her breakthrough after graduating from LAMDA was playing Gwen, the self-improving housemaid in the first series of Downton Abbey. More recently she has been on our screens as DS Emma Lane alongside Idris Elba in Luther. But the role for which she is most famous is Ygritte, the flame-haired wildling lover of Jon Snow in HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones. Leslie was swathed in furs and stitched-together animal pelts for much of the shoot which kept her warm as she filmed in Iceland.

“It was the winter months,” she says, “so we only had from 10am to 2.30pm to film before we’d lose light. We were in the middle of a glacier. It’s a really, really stunning place and we saw the Northern Lights, which was extraordinary. I’ve never before been somewhere so vast and magic. And I’m Scottish, so I have an affinity with cold, crisp days.”

When the light went, the cast would all traipse back to their hotel in the pitch black and pass the time playing card games. Did she ever wish she was cast as one of the characters who got to film in warmer climates? Daenerys, for instance, who is played by Emilia Clarke and got to waft around sunny locations in Morocco and Malta? Leslie laughs. “Have you seen my skin?” She stretches out thin, white arms. “Can you imagine what I would be like in Malta or Morocco?”

But there was another reason she enjoyed filming in Iceland – namely Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow and with whom Leslie’s character had a steamy romantic union. After much speculation, the couple have now confirmed they are dating in real life. Harington said in a recent interview: “If you’re already attracted to someone, and then they play your love interest, it becomes very easy to fall in love.”

Continue reading ‘The Telegraph’ Interview

THE EVENING STANDARD – Rose Leslie has spoken about her relationship with Game Of Thrones co-star Kit Harington for the first time — joking that he “hung her out to dry” when he revealed on TV that she had known about his character’s fate all along.

The couple, both 29, fell in love on the set of the show. Harington plays Jon Snow and Leslie played Ygritte until she was killed off in 2014. The pair kept their relationship under wraps until last month, but they had another secret to keep, too — the fate of Jon Snow, who was left for dead at the end of the last series after being stabbed. It prompted intense speculation and producers ordered Harington not to tell a soul that Jon Snow would be brought back to life. His fate was revealed in the second episode of the new series this month.

Afterwards Harington revealed to US chat show host Jimmy Kimmel that he had told his parents and girlfriend the secret — which came as a surprise to Leslie, who had been officially denying all knowledge for the past year.

She told the Standard: “I’m such a moron. I had been spewing this lie for over a year … It just regurgitated out of me to the point where it was almost effortless.

“I was completely oblivious to the fact that Kit hung me out to dry! It was so funny when I found out. So, yes that was me being unaware and not being able to pick up the ball beforehand. He should have said, ‘By the way, I’m going to speak to Jimmy about it.’ But I did find it quite funny.”

Leslie, who lives in north London, also said she had managed to avoid the intense interest in their relationship, explaining: “I’m a dinosaur when it comes to social media. I don’t have any personal accounts, so I don’t really know if there’s much attention. I’m aware because of the shows and there is some element of hype behind it. But I genuinely, genuinely don’t try to engage on that front. I try to keep myself relatively private. I don’t really look for anything so it’s not really there in my periphery.”

Leslie was speaking as she launched Sky Box Sets Club, which lets fans talk about their favourite shows — including Game Of Thrones. “It’s similar to a book club,” she said. “It will give people a platform to interact with one another.”

Leslie is soon to appear in two films — Sticky Notes with Ray Liotta and Morgan with Kate Mara. She said: “My guiding principle is to challenge myself. I will always look for the quality of the script — it doesn’t matter if it’s theatre, TV or film.” (source)

GLAMOUR MAGAZINE – We’re really sad not to see you in the new series of Game of Thrones – what are your favourite memories from being on set?
I was so fortunate; in the years that I was in Thrones we were able to shoot in Iceland. I think some of my favourite memories would have to be isolated, out there, surrounded by nothing but snow and ice. I just remember thinking [Iceland] is what I’d imagine the moon to be like. It was so vast.

You’re known to be sporty, but how did you find the more physical scenes? Could you handle it or did you find it tough?
I like to think that I can run, but I remember once running up and down through different terrains while on set in Iceland and I face planted. The director then decided to get a stunt double in just so that [Ygritte] looked like she knew how to handle all the different terrains. So yes, that was fairly difficult. But it hindsight it was relatively easy so it’s rather embarrassing that I fell over.

What do you do when a new episode of Game of Thrones comes out? Do you have any viewing rituals?
I geek out with my sister. I live with my younger sister and we are obsessed with it to the point where we get very, very excited every Monday night. Our ritual consists of popcorn and curling up on the sofa. You also have to make sure you’re comfortable.

Obviously the big ‘is he? Isn’t he?’ Jon Snow question has finally been answered; Did you know all along or was it a surprise for you, too?
It was! I was kind of just with everybody else: very happy to see him open his eyes and be awake. I was hoping, and I had an incling that that might be the case, but no, I wasn’t sure.

We can’t imagine how fun shooting must have been. Pleeeeeease tell us: What does a Game of Thrones night out look like?
I certainly remember the nights out when we were in shooting in Belfast and Iceland. That was, well… we’re talking about a bunch of actors [laughs]. Yes, there were some nights in the hotel bar, but it was all very causal. Also, my stamina is appalling so it was fairly bog standard.

You’ve tread the boards having done film, TV and stage work. What’s your favourite to do and why?
I was very fortunate to have gone to drama school in London for three years, and that was classical training in the sense that a lot of it was dominated by stage work, so I would love to go back to stage. But having said that, if you’re fortunate enough as an actor to get a job and if it’s a script that you respond to, you have to just go with your gut instinct and not think about what medium it is.

So Sky Box Sets Club is all about helping people geek out about their favourite shows… Is there any series that you’ve binge-watched recently? And why do you love it?
That’s got to be True Detectives. I absolutely loved watching it and it kind of had a heightened effect on me, as well. I was actually in Louisiana in New Orleans when I watched the first season, so that was a wonderful experience, also very frightening. I also loved the second season. And believe it or not, I’m also going to have to say Game of Thrones.

We’re big into books here at GLAMOUR. Do you read much and if so, what are you reading at the moment?
I do like to read! I’m currently reading Girl on a Train [by Paula Hawkins].

You’ve already had an amazing career, what have you got lined up next?
I’m doing a bit of theatre, I’m doing a Mike Bartlett play called Contractions. I’m very, very happy and lucky to be going back to the stage.

(source)