As for Sean Bean, it is always the same thing : each time I see him talking about his roles, I dislike him : he does’nt look very sincere in his praises nor sympathetic, and seems not to really like the movie/series he is on (I had the same impression for the LotR).
But when I see him on screen, he really shines, and fleshes his characters. His Ned Stark is very different from the picture I had in mind, but he is so moving and seems so real !
If not a very likeable person, Sean Bean is without a doubt a great actor !
I don't really get this. Why would anybody 'dislike' somebody for that? To me he doesn't come across as insincere, just normal. Maybe it's an English thing, but I'd say I find people who gush about things more insincere. A lot of English people are naturally reserved and we do tend to make fun of people who go OTT about things. Some interviews I see with people fawning over the director or producer make me cringe.
He's in a lot of things - it would be seem fake to me if he was squealing and orgasmic about all of them.
My perspective (FWIW) . . . generally, we expect actors to be comfortable in front of a camera. Sean is often not very comfortable in front of a camera and his awkwardness; expressed in fidgeting, stumbling over words, lots of 'ers' and 'umms', touching his face, etc; can be interpreted as insincerity - as if he's trying for an "aw, shucks, ma'am - it's jus' my job" sort of 'everyman'.
Now, we know because we follow his every waking moment (something weirdly stalkerish there . . .) that he really IS the Yorkshire version of that 'everyman' - we know that all that fidgeting and stumbling IS because while he's perfectly comfortable in front of a camera when he's playing a role, he's no where near as comfortable when the spotlight is on HIM.
I suspect many - if not most - people do not know that this enormously talented, charismatic, intelligent man is shy - so all they see if what they EXPECT they're supposed to see and that's an actor who is supposed to be comfortable in front of a camera. Since he's not, then it must be an act. If it's an act, he must be insincere.
It doesn't help that a number of the things he does in interviews (not since his divorce, interestingly) are 'tells' - those unconscious movements and touching (like rubbing his nose) can be indicators that someone is being less than honest.
It is interesting to me how much more comfortable he is talking about GoT (since his divorce - compare that first HBO short clip where he talked about his role to the more recent interviews) . . . really makes me wonder just how miserable he was.