You may assume that the most talented actor or actress is always the one that lands the acting job. But, you are sorely mistaken. Last year, casting directors revealed that social media presence mattered more in the casting process than talent. Now, a recent interview confirms this revelation.
Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner revealed in an interview with Porter magazine that she landed a part over a superior actress because she “had the followers”.
Turner has been in the spotlight since her teens after being cast as the princess Sansa Stark in the hit HBO fantasy series at 14. It meant that she swiftly built up a considerable following on social media. In fact, she has 1.34 million Twitter followers, 5.4 Instagram followers and 2 million Facebook followers. As a result, she was able to land bigger auditions.
She told Porter: “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.”
Turner admitted that she has been encouraged to tone down her social media presence by her team in the past, after not quite realizing how famous she was. “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.”
