Sexy Kingslayer! Game of Thrones’ Jaime Lannister, or Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in the earthly realm, smolders in the April 2014 issue of Details magazine ahead of the HBO smash series’ season four return. In the new interview, the Danish actor addresses Cameron Diaz cheating rumors, the fandemonium surrounding Game of Thrones, and the downside of fame.
“There’s an expression in Denmark… ‘Don’t fly any higher than your ears will carry you,'” Coster-Waldau, 43, told the mag. “It means don’t get cocky. Keep your feet solidly planted on the ground. Don’t think you’re special. Don’t think you’re better than anyone else. It’s a fundamentally different approach than you have in America.”
In fact, the actor most recently experienced firsthand the downside of fame after his wife Nukaaka — a former Miss Greenland to whom he’s been married since 1998 — started receiving letters claiming his infidelity. The notes read, “‘You should know that your husband is cheating on you with Cameron Diaz. Cameron Diaz is not to be trusted.’ My wife just laughed, but still.”
It turned out that the claims came after Coster-Waldau — who plays a married serial womanizer in the upcoming comedy The Other Woman, opposite Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, and Kate Upton — was photographed making out with Diaz on set! (Diaz, on her end, spoke to Details and gushed about her handsome costar. “Men aspire to be like him,” the leggy blonde told the mag, while “women aspire to, well, find a man like him.”)
Even more troubling to Coster-Waldau was watching Tom Cruise go through his divorce from Katie Holmes while working with the megastar on the set of Oblivion. Holmes surprised her ex-husband back in June 2012 when she filed for divorce, just five days before his 50th birthday.
Watching the fallout happen to his famous costar, Coster-Waldau asked Cruise about what life was like in the spotlight. “It’s been like this for 30 years,” Cruise explained to Coster-Waldau. The Game of Thrones hunk told Details, “The pressure of having all that craziness around you all the time — I wouldn’t want to live that kind of life.”
However, with the anticipated return of Game of Thrones, and more projects ahead, Coster-Waldau may have to get used to it. “He’s handsome as hell, which makes him a very easy person to hate,” Other Woman director Nick Cassavetes told Details. “But he’d better get used to it, because he’s going to be the biggest movie star. I’m serious. He’s got the looks, the talent, the charisma — I’m flipping through scripts right now looking for parts for him.”
Coster-Waldau, on his end, said acting to him is purely work. “Every three or four years, something comes along that makes people say, ‘This is going to be crazy! This is going to change your life!'” he dished. “I don’t believe it can change your life. How can it? It’s just a job.”
