Nikolaj Coster-Waldau had trouble after hair cut prank

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HBO threatened to sue 'Game of Thrones' star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau after he claimed to have shaved off his hair.

The 48-year-old actor - who portrays one-handed warrior Ser Jaime Lannister in the fantasy drama series - told producers he wanted respect for his artistic "integrity" and sent them an old photo taken when he had a "buzz cut", making out it was a current image.

He confessed: "There'd been a lot of talk about Jaime's hair in the early seasons - his long golden locks.

"Once he lost his hand, I thought he should maybe have a haircut. And then I thought, 'Why don't I just pretend?'

"This is five, six seasons ago - I sent them an old picture where I had a buzz cut. I sent a long letter where I explained I'd taken control of my character and I want to be respected. I said that my integrity as an artist was at stake!"

Nikolaj initially "didn't hear anything" in response, but when he flew into Belfast to resume filming, he received a panicked call from the show's first assistant director and realised his prank had got "out of control".

He recalled: "I was in the car from the airport. The first AD said, 'Do you have any hair?' Then he explained how poor Kevin - who is the head of hair - had been frantically trying to build a wig with what he had, which wasn't a lot.

"I said, 'It's just a joke! Did you really believe?' They all believed it. They'd also called my manager. HBO had started to talk about suing me and it had gotten out of control."

This article originally ran on celebretainment.com.