It’s been two and a half years since Jack Gleeson’s time on “Game of Thrones” as the vicious King Joffrey came to a poisonous end. But even today, he’s the toast of the nerd world for his memorably disgusting performance.
This past weekend, Gleeson was one of the marquee panelists at New York Comic-Con, where he had a bit of an embarrassing tale to tell from his child acting days.
In 2002, Gleeson was one of nearly two dozen Irish boys involved in a scene in “Reign of Fire,” a film in which dragons are reawakened in the present day and go to war with humans to determine who is the dominant species. In Gleeson’s segment, Christian Bale and Gerard Butler re-enact the dramatic “I Am Your Father” scene from “The Empire Strikes Back,” much to the delight and shock of kids who were too young to remember a time when the “Star Wars” franchise — or movies for that matter — existed.
Gleeson says he remembers having to go to the bathroom while shooting, but was told by the crew to stay put. The nine-year-old actor gave it his best, but eventually he couldn’t hold it in.
“I just kind of had to wet myself,” he said, according to MTV News. “I was like an eight-year-old or nine-year-old kid and I had to piss my pants on set of ‘Reign of Fire.’
“I tried to be as cool and collected as possible and then I acted my socks off. I didn’t let it affect my performance,” he added.
Gleeson said that this moment, while embarrassing, ended up being an important learning experience for him when it came to building endurance as an actor. He would later use this experience when it came to acting through discomfort several times on “Game of Thrones,” particularly while filming complicated battle episodes like “Blackwater.”
You can check out Gleeson’s brief appearance in “Reign of Fire” in the clip above.
“Game of Thrones” returns to HBO, minus Gleeson, in the summer of 2017.