Game Of Thrones star and frequently outspoken individual Sophie Turner has taken a self-deprecating crack at her own acting abilities, telling an interviewer that she once secured a role over a superior performer because she has a bigger social media following.
21-year-old Turner, who has played Sansa Stark on the HBO show since the age of 14, has picked up a surprisingly large number of followers along the way, with 5.4 million on her Instagram account, and a further 2 million on Facebook and 1.34 million on Twitter.
Speaking with Porter magazine, she jokingly (or maybe seriously, I don’t know) said that these numbers make her attractive to casting directors and give her an edge over other actresses.
She told the publication:
“A lot of what I have achieved is about timing and luck, but it is also, and I hate to say it, about a big social-media following. I auditioned for a project and it was between me and another girl who is a far better actress than I am, far better, but I had the followers, so I got the job. It’s not right, but it is part of the movie industry now.”
While it’s not totally clear which role she’s talking about, one of Turner’s most high-profile gigs outside Game Of Thrones is playing Jean Grey in the current generation of X-Men movies.
Some light internet detective work reveals that around the time that role was being cast, Chloe Grace Moretz, Elle Fanning and Hailee Steinfeld were all in consideration, though Sophie Turner eventually won out.
That’s just a stab in the dark, though, as she could be talking about any of several entries on her IMDB page, so we’ll have to wait and see if anyone claps back.
In the same publication, Turner admitted that her team manages her social media presence closely, and she is no longer as open with her thoughts as she used to be. She said of her rise to prominence:
“It was so gradual that I still treated my life and my social media like I wasn’t in the public eye. I was a 15-year-old girl writing rash political stuff that would get a negative reaction and my team would tell me to take it down. Now I am learning to keep my mouth shut.”
Game Of Thrones season seven reaches its halfway point this week, with episode four of seven set to air on Sunday in the U.S.
