VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: ‘Game Of Thrones’ Star Iain Glen Reveals How He Prepared To Play A Disturbed Character In ‘The Last Front’

Actor Iain Glen reflected on how he was able to play a deeply disturbed character in his new film The Last Front.

The Last Front follows Leonard (Glen), a grieving father forced to become a hero amid the chaos of World War I and the threat of a vengeful enemy.

Glen, known for his role in Game of Thrones, delved into what attracted him to the character and storyline. “I thought it was a very beautiful, tender depicted story, and an insight into what war can do because we kind of get to know the major characters and Leonard in particular,” he told uInterview founder Erik Meers. “He’s forced into becoming a kind of reluctant hero. He’s given the role to try and get as many villagers to safety as possible and that’s the journey that he goes on. He suffers great personal loss through this story, but I loved the piece, and I enjoyed doing the piece immensely in Belgium.”

On the film’s small production, Glen noted, “Things are changing out there in the business and I think maybe there is a little bit more space for these independent films getting a broader audience. So I’m very happy that it’s opening in America.”

Glen explained how he was able to play such a mentally disturbed character. “It’s not easy. During the course of the film, I’m not someone who really disappears to the trailer given the chance,” he said. “Certainly, in a world like this where you’re being given the place you live in, the farmstead as a setting, as my home, I just stayed there and I lived in there — not in any intense way, I mean I went home at the end of the day — but I would just hang out there.”

He expanded on the skill it takes to depict such a character outside of the setting. “For the emotional things, there’s no preparation, you just leave yourself open to it,” Glen said. “But of course, by the nature of film you have to repeat it, you have to repeat what you’re viewing for the first time. So you get into it, you just try to get into an open receptive state and allow yourself to go through the wringer, there’s no magic to it.”

“But if you’re inside the story and you believe the story and the believe the words being said to you and you believe what you’re looking at, then you just need to be open,” he concluded.

The Last Front is now in theaters.