Watch Game of Thrones star Jason Momoa perform a Haka for his intense audition tape

Khal Drogo has never looked so terrifying

Jason Momoa looks scary on the Sarasota Film Festival red carpet (Getty Images)

There is little doubt how Jason Momoa won the role of feared warrior Khal Drogo after watching his Game of Thrones audition.

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Rather than read from a script, the actor decided to perform a Haka, an ancestral war cry of the Maori people of New Zealand often performed before rugby matches.

The clip, which was uploaded to YouTube in 2012 but has only recently gone viral, shows the actor in front a blue screen, singing the Haka “Ka Mate” while slapping his thighs and baring his teeth in a black leather tunic.

A translated line of the Maori song reads “this is the hairy man”, which is a good fit given Momoa’s visible dark chest hair.

The actor told The Huffington Post that he was originally given a Drogo scene to read for the audition, but decided on the Haka after an actor friend suggested it.

The dance impressed showrunners DB Weiss and David Benioff so much that they asked him to perform it for a second time, which the video above shows.

Although he only appeared in Game of Thrones for a full season, Momoa has recently been cast as Aquaman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and is due to appear in a number of DC Comics’ forthcoming films.

Prior to starring in the hit HBO series, the actor was best-known for playing Ronon Dex in Stargate: Atlantis.

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