00:02Welcome back to CBS Mornings.
00:04If only you could hear what's talked about before we hit live.
00:07All right, award-winning actor James Norton is known for his roles in shows and movies
00:11like House of Guinness, Little Women, and Happy Valley.
00:15Now he's joined the beloved series House of the Dragon as the devious Lord Ormond Hightower.
00:22Yes.
00:22The show is a prequel to the hugely popular Game of Thrones.
00:25In this clip from Sunday's new episode, Lord Ormond shares his strategy for battling
00:31the queen, who he thinks stole the crown from his house.
00:36When the usurper's host comes here, we will fight on our terms, on our ground.
00:42We have the clear advantage.
00:46Meanwhile, we are turning King's Landing against that overweening.
00:49Little by little, bite by bite.
00:53Exposing her as weak and unsuited to rule.
00:57The great houses cannot but come to our side.
01:00If any yet come, the patient hunter gets the kill.
01:08The patient hunter gets the kill.
01:10Look at you.
01:11Looking good in that armor.
01:14So, joining this in season three, this very pivotal character, what's it like playing a villain?
01:21Is he a villain?
01:21He is a villain.
01:23I've had this conversation a lot.
01:24Okay, good.
01:25All right.
01:25No, I think he is.
01:26I mean, he's definitely the antagonist to come to sort of shake things up.
01:28It's a lot of fun.
01:29He's a delicious character.
01:31From the very moment I read the script, the first thing I read is this pomander thing, you know, when
01:36he's got this intolerance to smells.
01:37And I realized the show creators were taking a kind of big swing.
01:41They wanted this guy to be eccentric and, yeah, delicious.
01:45So, it's been fun.
01:45It's been really fun.
01:46How much of a villain can he be, Noren, when we get to see his bottom in episode four?
01:51I particularly enjoyed the bathtub scene.
01:53Do you think that means he's not a villain, if you get to see his bum?
01:56His bum.
01:57Yes, we get to see his bum.
01:58But I wonder how you prepared for a scene like that.
02:01Did they come to you?
02:03I prepared my bottom.
02:06Questions only kill me.
02:08Squats.
02:09Squats.
02:10But, I mean, were you uncomfortable?
02:12Did you think, I don't know if I want to do this?
02:14Because you seemed to have fun with it.
02:15That's why I'm asking.
02:16Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
02:17I mean, I spent the whole day in a kind of milk, Ormond bathes in milk.
02:20And it was this warm kind of milk bath.
02:23I think the reason it was so fun is because Ormond is having a lot of fun.
02:26Yes.
02:26When you play the villains, often they love being themselves, you know.
02:30It's a sort of hubris and arrogance, which is lovely because most of the time I spend
02:35my life worrying about what people think about me.
02:37And then a character like Ormond can stand there completely naked in front of a room full
02:41of people and not care.
02:42He also has a scene where he gets very, very angry.
02:44And I'm curious about how you had to prepare for something like that.
02:48Because your character is described as this.
02:50He sees himself as a scholar, collects tapestries, writes ballots, despises the ignorant and the
02:56uncouth.
02:57I love that word, uncouth.
02:58But you've got a really pivotal scene where you get so angry.
03:01Yes.
03:01Did that take a toll on you?
03:03Yes.
03:03I wondered that.
03:04Yeah.
03:04I mean, it's kind of weird, those scenes, because basically I have to smash up a table.
03:08Yes, yes, yeah.
03:09And you have to find this, like, adrenaline spike very quickly over and over again.
03:14And you think the scene's shot all as one.
03:16But actually, usually those kind of bits are special.
03:18So, for the end of the day, for like two hours, I just had to smash a table.
03:22And you're telling your body, like, fight or flight.
03:24So, by the end, your head's spinning.
03:25I actually nearly fainted during that scene.
03:27Did you?
03:28It was kind of intense, yeah.
03:28Really?
03:28Whoa.
03:28Because you're, like, screaming.
03:30And then they call cut.
03:30And then you have to, like, go back to normal.
03:32Your body's like, wait, am I in sort of some kind of terrifying?
03:35Wonderful, terrifying.
03:36Anyway, it was fine.
03:38But then at the end of the day, it's kind of fun to get to really scream.
03:43Like, you don't get to do that.
03:43I know, you don't.
03:44So, you go home and have the best night's sleep ever.
03:46I find that fascinating, because I was talking with actors, and they tell me how when you're
03:51trying to find rage or anger or even pain, it's not just the surface of the eyes.
03:56It's behind the eyes.
03:57It's also with your body language.
03:58And it's with your breathing.
04:00Do you go through a checklist of these things, or do you tell yourself, I want to go back
04:04to a moment where I was really angry in real life?
04:08Yeah, I mean, it's a good question.
04:10I guess a bit of all of that, I think.
04:12A bit of all of it, yeah.
04:13Yeah, I think you, yeah, you're manufacturing a memory, aren't you?
04:17You know what it's like.
04:18But there are definitely, I recall what it was like in my life to feel that jolt, and
04:23then you have to sort of go back and you're, I don't think I'm as mathematical clinical
04:27as going, you know, my head does this, my eyes do this.
04:29You just have to, like, find it from within.
04:31So, you know, your brain is telling your body, I need you to be in this state of fight or
04:36flight in the second.
04:37And it just, you've got a great resume in terms of your body of work, but now you're
04:41playing in the Beatles movie.
04:42Yes.
04:43You're playing Brian Epstein, the manager.
04:45Yeah.
04:45Tell us a little bit about that.
04:47I can't wait to see this.
04:48Yeah, it's a mad project.
04:50I mean, it's four films.
04:51We're shooting all kind of at the same time, over a year and a half.
04:55Each Beatle has their own.
04:56Are you all done?
04:56You're all done?
04:57No, no, no, we're about halfway through.
04:58Yeah, yeah, yeah.
04:58So, I'm in the middle of that right now.
05:00It's amazing.
05:00I mean, Sam Mendes is, you know, one of the greats and the boys are just phenomenal.
05:05So, yeah, it's a very exciting set to be on.
05:07Well, good.
05:08And we're a fan of yours from House of Guinness.
05:10Is there going to be a season two?
05:12I hope so.
05:13I think a lot of people want to know what happens.
05:15I want to know what happens.
05:15You were terrific.
05:17James Norton, thank you so much.
05:19Pleasure.
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