Kit Harington moved into directing because he had a 'growing need' to step behind the camera

Kit Harington moved into directing because he had a "growing need" to step behind the camera.

Game of Thrones star, 39, has taken charge of his first movie project - a short film called Psychopomp which debuted at the Raindance Film Festival in London this month - and he's now explained he tackled the project after he decided to follow his "instinct".

Kit told Variety: "I’d be on set as an actor and thinking about how I would shoot a scene, what notes I would give to an actor. You can’t suggest a shot to a director or give a note to another actor on set, and [that] was a growing need I was feeling that told me that I had to make my own thing to see if that instinct was the right one to follow."

The short film follows a desperate man named Harry - played by Harry Melling - and hired assassin Liam - played by Ciaran Owens - as they take a road trip together and Kit explained it tackles themes of "male depression, male friendship [and] male vulnerability".

He added: "There is only so much dinner table chat you can personally handle before you need to explore it in a different way as a creative".

Kit said of shooting the first scene with the actors: "I slightly freaked out as they played the scene and they were perfect.

"It was a real joy to actually just watch actors do what they do from a completely different angle and admire them. Sounds odd but It was the first time I really realized what an amazing craft it is. It took seeing it from the outside in."