Jason Momoa talks about career difficulties after Game of Thrones, swiping things from set, and his new buddy comedy with Dave Bautista.
Jason Momoa is one of the biggest success stories to come out of Game of Thrones. He played Khal Drogo for one season, and now over a decade later he’s played Aquaman in a billion-dollar superhero movie; starred in three seasons of his own Apple TV+ show, See; played a villain in the phenomenally popular Fast & Furious franchise; played Duncan Idaho in Denis Villenueve’s star-studded adaptation of Dune; is starring in the upcoming Minecraft movie; and is doing a buddy comedy with Dave Bautista. These days, actors don’t come much bigger.
So it might surprise you to learn that after his stint on Game of Thrones ended, Momoa “couldn’t get a meeting to save my soul,” as he told Esquire. At one point he met “a famous comedian that I really love” who didn’t even realize he spoke English, which may have been part of why Hollywood casting directors weren’t interested in him. “It wasn’t until the third season came out, when the show actually caught on…when things started to kick off. That’s when Zack [Snyder] called,” Momoa remembered.
At least he had some props he swiped from the Game of Thrones set to help him through this lean times. Momoa admits he is a “natural-born thief” and took more than a few things from set. “They literally put out messages, the producers: ‘Don’t let Momoa take this.'”
“I like to take the body parts…that I’ve [been] ripping out of people…I came up with it so it should be mine.”
As for that buddy comedy with Dave Bautista, it’s called The Wrecking Crew and it’s development at MGM. “Dave willed it,” Momoa said about the movie. “I pitched him an idea, and he gets on Instagram and calls up [director] David Leitch….The phone’s ringing off the hook…We audition writers. Jonathan Tropper fromSee pitched us an amazing story and a continuation of what ours was, and we’re making it right afterMinecraft so I’m pretty excited.
“Me and Dave have a great time together. He’s a wonderful actor. We’re both very big guys but very sensitive big guys. So, I think it’ll be fun and very silly.”
Right now, you can see Momoa in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. That movie is bombing at the box office, but with this many projects lined up, I think he’ll be fine.
