'The Dreadful' director open up on casting Sophie Turner, Kit Harington as lovers

LOS ANGELES — Director Natasha Kermani, who has helmed ‘The Dreadful’, has spoken up on casting Sophie Turner and Kit Harington as lovers.

The director has added to the “forbidden fruit” element of the movie, reports ‘Female First UK’.

The pair played half-siblings Sansa Stark and Jon Snow in ‘Game of Thrones’ before being cast as childhood friends turned lovers Anne and Jago in new dramatic horror movie ‘The Dreadful’ and director Natasha Kermani believes their past work just adds another element to the new film.

She told ‘Variety’, “These characters were always childhood friends. One of the themes of the film is growing up, so she has these memories of this character as a child and their childhood together. Now here they are as adults, reevaluating their relationship”.

She added, “They’re not related in our film, but there is a bit of a love triangle, so there is a forbidden fruit feeling in our film. I think it’s interesting that it worked out that way”.

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As per ‘Female First UK’, the horror film is set during the War of the Roses, at the end of the Dark Ages and stars Sophie as Anne, who is living with her mother-in-law, Morwen (Marcia Gay Harden), while her husband is at war.

Praising Sophie’s performance, Natasha said, “One of the things she latched onto was the character’s spirituality and inner strength. I think that was something I didn’t necessarily see up front. I thought maybe this character would feel more childlike, a bit of a blank slate that evolves. But what Sophie brought that I loved so much, and I’m so glad she did, is that you can actually see that strength and steeliness in her from the first time she appears onscreen”.

She shared, “She has these instincts and intuition for the characters that she is able to string through in a very consistent way. That core relationship between the two women, specifically the older generation and a younger generation, and the struggle between them as it starts to fray and to fall apart, and the one character is trying to move away, and the other one is trying to hold onto her, felt to me like an interesting sandbox to play in. Everything else, the mythology, the fantastical elements, the period - really came out of exploring that core relationship”.