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Kit Harington and Rose Leslie fell in love in real life while on the set of Game of Thrones, in which their fictional characters were entangled in a forbidden romance between a brother of the Night’s Watch and a Wildling raider.
Now the couple has reunited on screen to play out a different troubling relationship: between U.K. banks and the fossil fuel industry.
Created by agency Mother London for the organization Make My Money Matter, “The Hidden Relationship” shows Harington and Leslie in couples therapy, representing a bank and an oil company, respectively. Leslie questions her partner’s devotion to her, given that he is constantly bragging about his investments in green energy yet doesn’t talk publicly about their relationship.
The two-minute video ends like a rom-com, with Leslie asking Harington who he really loves. He responds, “Obviously it’s you. It’s always been you,” before they passionately embrace.
“People want to know who their bank is in a relationship with,” Mother creative director James Ross-Edward said in a statement. “We hope that our subtle use of humor will help get the truth through to people across the U.K. Having real life and onscreen uber couple Kit and Rose acting this out for us was phenomenal.”
The video launched Tuesday on makemymoneymatter.co.uk. The website encourages consumers to tell their banks to break up with the fossil fuel industry and offers a form email that can be sent to Barclays, HSBC, Santander, Lloyds or Natwest.
“Our largest high-street banks are in a dangerous relationship with the fossil fuel industry, and it’s time we all knew about it,” Make My Money Matter founder Richard Curtis said in a statement. “In 2022 alone, household names like Barclays and HSBC poured billions into the fossil fuel sector, ignoring clear warnings that new oil and gas fields risk causing catastrophic climate change. Such activity is not only bad for people and planet; it also runs against the wishes of millions of UK citizens who want their money tackling the climate crisis, not fueling the fire.”
