Carice Van Houten admits 'Game of Thrones' wasn't "very appealing" to her when she was first approached to appear.
Carice Van Houten
The 40-year-old actress - who portrays the red priestess Melisandre - isn't the biggest fan of fantasy so was unsure whether to sign on for the HBO drama series from its second season.
She admitted: "It's not very appealing to me, the whole magic thing."
However, after taking advice from her friend, talk show host Seth Meyers, he told her she would be "crazy" if she turned down the role.
She recalled to Stella magazine: "He loves that kind of stuff and when I asked, 'Do you think this is something for me?' He said, 'You're crazy! That's one of the greatest shows and you should totally do that.' "
The Dutch actress began shooting the current season of 'Game of Thrones' just six weeks after giving birth to her son Monte - who she has with partner Guy Pearce - and though she was trying to express her milk between takes of filming, she admitted it was a very tough time.
She said: "Yeah, it was not great timing.
"It doesn't really work when you have pressure and you don't have the baby with you... So I had a little bit of a breakdown one day when I was with Emilia [Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen]. I burst out crying and said, 'I want to go home to my baby.' You're just completely full of hormones.' "
While Carice has had her share of sex scenes on the show in the past, she admits she isn't very confident about her body anymore.
She said: "I would struggle more with my own vanity at this point to undress, because I feel way less secure about my body, especially after giving birth and having turned 40."
And though she worries about the toll ageing will have on her career, she's reluctant to go under the knife unless she has to.
She said: "With auditions I find sometimes that if I don't get something, then I do think, 'Am I just too old?' And it's unfair because men don't have that problem.
"I don't want to give into that whole thing and do something to my face just to keep working, but at the same time, this is what the industry has become. It's tricky. And I really don't know yet what I'm going to do about it. I wish I could say I love every line on my face."
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