He plays one of the most terrifying villains on television, but Hafthor Julius Bjornsson is even scarier in real life.
Towering 6 feet 9 inches above the Earth and weighing 419 pounds, Bjornsson is an absolute mountain of a man. That’s appropriate, because his character in “Game of Thrones,” Gregor Clegane, is nicknamed “The Mountain That Rides.”
Clegane will feature heavily in the show’s next episode, as he duels Oberyn Martell in one of the season’s most hotly anticipated scenes.
“It’s one of the best, if not the best, combat scenes we’ve done so far,” co-writer Dan Weiss told Entertainment Weekly.
“It’s the culmination of 20 years of anger and hatred and thirst for vengeance coming to a head.
“One of the most important characters in the show will live or die based on this fight.”
Believe it or not, Bjornsson had never acted before he was drafted into the “Game of Thrones” cast. The Icelandic hulk is actually a professional strongman, who spends much of his time lifting huge weights and pulling trucks with ropes, among other things.
“During the audition I lifted a guy up (well he asked me to) and they were really impressed.”
How strong is this guy, exactly? Well, Bjornsson can bench press 500 pounds, squat 770 pounds and deadlift 925 pounds. That’s a lot.
He came in second in this year’s World’s Strongest Man competition, losing narrowly to four-time champion Zydrunas Savickas. These guys all have cool names.
Bjornsson’s brutality in the 2013 competition so impressed Jim Isray, who owns the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, that he publicly considered signing the Icelander to play football.
Apparently, Bjornsson managed to impress HBO as well. The network approached him while it was in the process of recasting Clegane (he’s the third actor to have played the character).
“HBO contacted me and called me in for an audition,” Bjornsson said in an Ask Me Anything Reddit thread two months ago.
“During the audition I lifted a guy up (well he asked me to) and they were really impressed. They said they were also impressed by the way I move, because I am very quick and powerful.”
Bjornsson let some other intriguing titbits slip during the AMA session. For example, his diet is even more monstrous than you’d imagine.
“I consume around 10,000 calories per day,” he said. “It varies a lot though, depending on whether I am working as an actor or to compete in the World’s Strongest Man or the likes.”
That diet is combined with a strict training regimen, which actually sounds like a lot of fun.
“Cardio equals sex, and from moving heavy weights at the gym,” he said. “Women have never complained of me not being able to handle them ‘softly.’”
The Icelander is already getting love from “Game of Thrones” fans for his part in the series.
“For some reason people are very polite to me, but some ask me for autographs and photos,” he said. “Girls ask me to pick them up all of the time, and I have to admit, sometimes it’s hard to put them down again.”
If his performance in the next episode is as stellar as the show’s writers claim, Bjornsson’s popularity is about to soar even higher.
This story originally appeared on News.com.au