GoT’s Sophie Turner Says Social Media Helped Her Land a Role Over a “Far Better Actress”
Sophie Turner has 5.4 million followers on Instagram, and she earns more with every stellar season she appears as Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones. And while social media certainly has its drawbacks, it turns out that there’s a very real perk to having a massive online following.
According to NME and The Telegraph, Turner opened up to Porter about why she thinks that her success in the industry isn’t due solely to her talent. “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,” she reportedly told the magazine.
While it’s pretty obvious that a large online following can help celebs nab hefty endorsement deals, Turner says that hers has also helped her score roles. She brought up a specific example of social media sway in her interview, saying, “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.” (For what it’s worth, we think her considerable talent had a hand in that decision too.)
She may have a point, though. When a star has a large following on social media, that popularity (and publicity) can play a huge part in a movie or TV show’s success.
Still, while platforms like Instagram and Twitter (where Turner has an additional 1.35 million followers) have helped the 21-year-old grow her fanbase (you know, along with her role on one of the most critically acclaimed and beloved shows of our time), she says she has to tread carefully.
When she started using social media, she told Porter, “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.”
That doesn’t mean she’ll stop sharing peeks into her fab life with her devoted fans, though. Just check out the pic of her enjoying a meal with Canadian PM and (as Turner calls him) “actual superhero” Justin Trudeau.
Do you think social media can help actors score roles? Let us know @BritandCo!
(h/t NME; photos via Kevork Djansezian/Getty)
