There are no stupid questions, but there are “icky” ones, according to Jason Momoa.
The 42-year-old Hawaiian actor went cold during an interview with New York Times journalist David Marchese after the writer asked Momoa if he regretted filming a graphic rape scene during his breakout performance as Khal Drogo on HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”
The pilot episode of the series saw Momoa’s barbaric warlord Drogo assault and force himself on his would-be queen Daenerys Targaryen, played by Emilia Clarke, 34.
When Marchese asked whether Momoa “thinks differently about those scenes today,” he replied, “Well, it was important to depict Drogo and his style. You’re playing someone that’s like Genghis Khan.”
He continued, “It was a really, really, really hard thing to do. But my job was to play something like that, and it’s not a nice thing, and it’s what that character was. It’s not my job to go, ‘Would I not do it?’ ”
The scene was widely criticized by fans at the time for taking liberties with the original story as written by George R. R. Martin, in which the two characters were together consensually.
Momoa then added, “I’ve never really been questioned about ‘Do you regret playing a role?’ We’ll put it this way: I already did it. Not doing it again.”
But the “Aquaman” actor then seemingly gave Marchese the cold shoulder for the remainder of their chat, often offering only terse answers to the reporter’s questions about other roles.
When asked if Momoa would be “able to articulate” what he sees in the future for his DC comics hero, he responded, simply, “No.”
Marchese then turned his attention to Momoa’s upcoming projects, namely “Sweet Girl,” a film which implicates “big pharma,” he said.
“[I’ve] never researched anything like that before. Big pharma’s pretty scary, buddy,” Momoa said of the new role. When asked what sort of “research stood out” in preparation for filming, Momoa backtracked: “I don’t really want to talk about big pharma right now.”
As their time was nearly up, Momoa decided to say his peace about Marchese’s earlier questions about the “GoT” rape scene.
“I wanted to bring something up that left a bad feeling in my stomach. When you brought up ‘Game of Thrones,’ you brought up stuff about what’s happening with my character and would I do it again. I was bummed when you asked me that,” Momoa said.
“It just feels icky — putting it upon me to remove something. As if an actor even had the choice to do that. We’re not really allowed to do anything. There are producers, there are writers, there are directors, and you don’t get to come in and be like, ‘I’m not going do that because this isn’t kosher right now and not right in the political climate.’ That never happens. So it’s a question that feels icky. I just wanted you to know that.”
The Post has reached out to Momoa and The Times seeking additional comment.
