From the time of their promotional work leading up to the release of “A Star Is Born” up to their performance at this year’s Oscars, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper were showing off a chemistry that was almost too palpable for us to comprehend. Either these two are better actors than we all thought, or there were some serious emotions firing between them. Their respective characters in the award-winning film were obviously passionately in love, but that attraction seemed to follow the actors off screen -- just consider how Gaga talked about Cooper in every single interview she did.
The Gaga/Cooper chatter seems to have died down (to Cooper’s partner Irina Shayk’s relief, I’m sure), but it looks like we have some contenders to take their place as the couple that are just really good friends definitely in love: Gwendoline Christie and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, better known as Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister of “Game of Thrones.”
The two are obviously the best of friends, but could it be more? Christie especially always has great things to say about Coster-Waldau, like during an interview with the BAFTA organization.
“The storyline with Jaime Lannister has been incredible, and the scenes I’ve loved best have been my scenes with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, because he’s taught me so much about acting,” she said. “I know you’re going to love me saying that,” she goes on, looking right into the camera, talking to Coster-Waldau. I mean, cute.
Christie also went deeper into their connection as actors, explaining, “It’s been amazing to have that sort of play going on, but to work with an actor who’s so committed and so generous and so caring towards you and wants to make sure that you are safe.”
Safe! He makes her feel safe! A recipe for love for sure.
As for working on the last season together, it sounds like Christie and Coster-Waldau really enjoyed exploring their characters’ dichotomy together, especially making time to riff on the more intimate parts of their story.
“It’s been this strange relationship between a man and woman that’s never been able to find its true form...So there is something that seems tangible between them, but she’s never had a relationship before and he’s only had a relationship with his sister,” Christie told Entertainment Weekly. “So you’re dealing with two people who are not terribly functional in the emotional world.”
“I received a text from [Nikolaj] just laughing. I sent back a being sick emoji. How modern,” she said of the discovery that Brienne and Jaime would finally do it in season 8 -- fan service that no one was mad about, given their arc together.
Their banter is reminiscent of that thing you did when you were a kid and poked fun at the boy or girl you had a crush on just to push their buttons and get a reaction out of them. Christie has called Coster-Waldau a “disappointment,” which he chuckles at, and they’ve admitted that their buddy-buddy relationship has annoyed the rest of the cast and crew. Sounds like a case of jealousy to me.
Coster-Waldau is also very good at eliciting Christie’s contagious laugh.
The point is, even though both actors are happily spoken for, this work-spouse connection is lovely.