The Witcher's Joey Batey Opens Up About His Nightmare On-Set Experience
When the bard Jaskier (Joey Batey) was introduced in Season 1 of Netflix's "The Witcher," he quickly established himself as a fan favorite, due in no small part to the stellar performance of actor Joey Batey. We first meet Jaskier when he joins forces with the famed Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) in hopes that their adventures would help him write more captivating music. His upbeat attitude and witty banter are the perfect foil to the cold sarcasm of Cavill's brooding Witcher, and the cocky young bard manages to steal the spotlight every time he was on screen.
By the time Season 2 rolls around, Jaskier has grown into a much more nuanced, much more complex character. He is a braver, more vulnerable version of himself, who is willing to risk his life to become the same sort of hero he once thought Geralt was. In this latest season, Batey's acting chops are on full display: he manages to encapsulate all the humor and tragedy of Jaskier's personality, and he has incredible chemistry with nearly every other character in the series (just as a true bard would, of course).
However, it's important to clarify that this impressive performance did not come without its fair share of obstacles. Indeed, Batey recently revealed that there was one particular day on set that was nothing short of a nightmare.
Perhaps Batey should stick to improvising with human actors
In a recent interview with Digital Spy, Batey opened up about one particularly harrowing on-set experience involving a few live mice and his own chest hair. The scene saw Jaskier rotting in a dingy medieval jail, befriending and even naming the various mice that shared his cell. Batey described how, in the middle of the scene, one of the mice actually became entangled in his chest hair.
Though Batey described the whole situation as "a nightmare," by his own admission he chose to laugh the experience off, rather than let it distract from his performance. "Everyone had to freeze, and they were like, 'Joey, there's a mouse in your chest hair,'" Batey explained with a laugh. "It was running all over, and I was like ' come on, Gordon.' I named [the mice] obviously."
As it happens, the plot point of Jaskier befriending the mice was actually improvised by Batey himself -– and while it certainly ended up making the scene quite memorable, perhaps Batey will be more cautious next time he tries to practice his improv skills with a pack of rodent actors.