'GoT' actor Iwan Rheon talks violence, nudity equality

Ramsay Bolton has tortured his way through season after season of "Game of Thrones," and in doing so has out-crazied some of the most famous villains in pop culture history.

From his seasons-long abuse of Theon Greyjoy to the murder of his father, step mother and infant half-brother, the storylines of Winterfell's latest Lord have often left fans awake at night.

But they're not alone. Actor Iwan Rheon, who plays the "Thrones" villain, recently voted "Most Hated Man on TV" by New York Times readers, has also been horrified by his character's more sadistic scenes.

A slew of viewers promised to never watch the HBO drama again after the deranged Ramsay raped a young Sansa Stark on their wedding night, and Rheon in an interview with The Independent admitted to being really upset by the scene himself.

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"It was horrible," he said. "I didn't sleep a wink the night before, when usually I'm quite good at detaching from Ramsay."

He said his character's villainous side was first inspired by Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker, while his absolute glee in the horrific was initially rooted in the childlike excitement of Dennis the Menace - that is until a wholly new monster, one more terrible than Rheon imagined, was born from his early muses.

The Bolton Bastard isn't the only villain on the show, but no one else seems to get the same amount of backlash, the actor pointed out.

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"I understand why the reaction's there ... " he said. "But at the same time there was such an intense backlash about it, and it isn't the worst thing that's happened on 'Game of Thrones.' You know, burning a child... nobody seems to go mad about that."

Still though, he said it's nothing his own mother, a social worker in Cardiff, has enjoyed watching.

"She finds it more difficult than fans to detach because no matter what costume I'm in she still sees her little boy out there."

In spite of concern about always being cast as the villain -he said scripts for psychopaths have been flooding in since his time began on "Thrones" - Rheon's upcoming role has him playing the baddest of the bad.

In the satirical Sky Arts' drama, "Adolf the Artist," based on the memoirs of Hitler's teen-aged friend, Rheon will be playing the notorious dictator, pre-World War, as he struggles as an artist.

Rheon during the interview also took time to weigh in on co-star Emilia Clarke's quest for nudity equality on "Thrones."

"If it was right for the scene then yeah, I would," he said on going full-frontal. "But then whether it's distracting to have a willy waggling round in a scene... it's going to make everyone go, 'I'm walking into a minefield really, aren't I?'"

Summary: "Game of Thrones'" Ramsay Bolton has out-crazied some of the most famous villains in pop culture history.

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