Meeting Sibel Kekilli

In December 2016, we went to Dutch X-Mas Con in Utrecht. I was really excited that Sibel would be a guest. I know her for playing Shae in Game of Thrones. And as a big fan of Game of Thrones I'm always delighted when a convention asks someone from the cast to come over. And Sibel wasn't the only GOT guest: James Cosmo (who Plays Jeor Mormont) was also a guest at the comic con!  Yes! We love Game of Thrones guests! We were very excited to go to Dutch Xmas Con but we only had one day, so we had a very busy day ahead. 

 

Remember Shae? Shae was a prostitute in Game of Thrones. She began a relationship with Tyrion Lannister. Shae and Tyrion meet when Tyrion is fighting with the Lannister Army in the Riverlands. After a victory in the Battle of the Green Fork, Tyrion is made Hand of the King and he has to return to King's Landing. Tywinn forbids Tyrion to take Shae back with him, but he defies this order and sneeks her into King's Landing. I loved her character in Game of Thrones. She's so awesome! Tyrion and Shae grow closer together. Even though Shae seems a bit cynical and sharp at the beginning. You get the idea that they really care about each other. She disguises herself as a handmaiden for Sansa Stark so she can be close to Tryion. She also starts to care for Sansa and gives her some genuine advice. We see Shae develop during the seasons. I agree Shae is a very loveable charachter. Tyrioon is my favorite character in Game of Thrones, because he is fair and genuine. He has a good heart and that's what makes him stand out in the Lannister Family and makes him the black sheep of the family. When he meets Shae, he finally seems to meet someone that really loves him for the person he is. For the ones who haven't seen everything of Game of Thrones yet, we won't discuss what happens in season 4! 

 

Sibel is actually a German actress. Her family is from Turkish origin. She also plays a role in Tatort, a German crime series. Besides that, you might also know her for her roles in Die Fremde (When We Leave), Gegen Die Wand (Head -On) and Winterreise (Winter Journey). As part of my preparation for Dutch Xmas Con I watched "Die Fremde" and I have to say it's a very impressive movie. (I already talked about this movie in our post about "Movies we watched in December", so check that one out to see what it's about).  

Sigmund, Liv and I would only be on Dutch X-Mas Con on Saturday. So we had to hurry. Everything needed to fit in one day! We had no time to lose. We wanted to attend Q&As, get autographs, makes pictures, check out the merchandise. As much as possible in one day. There was no time for hesitation. We walked around the actors and there was no queue at that moment at Sibel Kekilli's table. So we decided to go immediately. I wasn't very nervous. I think it's the feeling of being hurried that took over. But we took the time for the autograph of course. Normally Carola needs a lot of encouragement to step up to the table. So when I said let's do it and Carola immediately agreed my  jaw hit the floor. We walked to Sibel and looked for a photo we wanted to get signed. I brought her stroopwafels. I looked them up in my bag and gave them to her. She was very happy with it and she even knew what it was! I was surprised by that. (Looking back it isn't that strange. Germany is not that far away haha. So many people in Germany will know stroopwafels). She loved it and gave me a hug right away. Liv also brought her a present and I heard her say to her manager 'I'm going to get fat here'. Hahaha. Indeed, I brought her "knapkook", a cookie that is typical for the south of Limburg (the province we live in). She was very grateful and immediately started hugging again. Unfortunately it wasn't allowed to take a picture/ selfie with her at the table. And we didn't have time to do the photo op. So we just have the photos of Sibel from her Q&A. We did talk a bit about Game of Thrones and the movie Liv had watched (Die Fremde).I told her I loved her in Die Fremde and she seemed surprised I had seen it. I told her that it made a big impression on me and we talked a little bit more. It almost seemed like Sibel wasn't used to being at conventions. Sometimes she looked a bit overwhelmed. She seemed a bit shy even. She was so thankful that we liked her work and that fans came to see her. 

Even though we had an extremely busy day, we didn't want to miss out on the Q&A. Most questions were about Game of Thrones. But she also talked about her career in general, Tatort and a few movies she played a role in.

 

At the beginning of the Q&A, the interviewer asked her how it was to be in a show like Game of Thrones and she answered: 

 

"I was there from the beginning, I had my audition in 2010 in June and they started to shoot the first episode of the first season in July. So I didn't have any clue about what it was going to be. After the second season I realized: Ok this is going to be a big thing and it was really fantastic. HBO was treating us very well and to work with Peter Dinklage (Tyrion) and Lena Heady (Cersei), with all the actors was really amazing..."

 

 

SPOILER ALERT!!! (If you haven't watched season 4 of Game of Thrones yet you should go on to the end of this part, where it says END OF SPOILER...

When the interviewer asked her what it was like to shoot the scene where she is killed off she laughed and said: Thanks for reminding me". She said she tried to refuse to shoot the scene, but the director said she had to (lol), because it was her job. She said she was very sad, because she didn't want to die and leave the show. She also said she couldn't bring herself to watch the next season, because she missed the show too much and later she couldn't catch up anymore.            END OF SPOILER

 

In Game of Thrones, she really likes Tryion and Cersei. Cersei might be evil. But she's a also a very strong female character and she likes that. If she could play another character (instead of Shae), she would pick Cersei!  There was also a question: In which other series would you like to play a role? She said she was hooked on Westworld. She'd love to be in that and she thinks it's very well written. When she is asked about who should be on the Iron Throne, her answer is very clear: Tyrion! But when she was asked what she thought was going to happen she said she didn't know, but if she had to guess she would think Jon and Daenerys will share the throne. 

 

Liv asked her a question about playing in he movie Die Fremde. She asked how it was to play that role. Since it's a quite heavy role.

You can check out the question and answer in the video below! When we were getting our autographs I already told Sibel how I felt when I watched the movie, but I really wanted to know what it was like for her. In Die Fremde, Sibel plays a young german mother from German descent. In the movie she leaves her abusive husband and her family is not happy about it. The movie touches on some very tragic issues like honour killing within the Turkish Community.  After her Q&A we walked past her, when she was walking back to her table. She waved at us and thanked me for asking the question. This showed us once more what a great person Sibel is..