EMILIA CLARKE ON HOW Game Of Thrones TOOK HER ‘FROM A CHILD TO AN ADULT’
‘GAME OF THRONES’ MAY BE NEARING ITS END BUT, AS EMILIA CLARKE EXPLAINS, STARRING IN IT HAS CERTAINLY OPENED A LOT OF DOORS
With just days to go until the eagerly anticipated final season of Game Of Thrones kicks off this month, original cast member Emilia Clarke says it’s a bittersweet event. She has played the fearsome and all-powerful Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen for ten years, shooting to fame in the epic HBO fantasy drama when she was just 22.
Her role has required her to appear nude on several occasions, including a dramatic sex scene with Jason Aquaman
Momoa in season one. Hitting back at the inevitable backlash, Emilia says: ‘I get a lot of c**p for having done nude scenes and sex scenes. That, in itself, is so antifeminist. Women hating on other women is just the problem. That’s upsetting.’
As she points out: ‘It doesn’t stop me being a feminist. Yes, I’ve got mascara on, and I also have a high IQ. Those two things can be one and the same.’
Emilia praises the show for its strong female characters, portrayed by the likes of Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Gwendoline Christie and Rose Leslie.
Rose’s now-husband Kit Harington, is also a close friend of Emilia’s, which made their recent loves scenes slightly awkward, with Kit jokingly retching after each one!
Underneath that platinum blonde wig, English-born, five foot two Emilia is witty, gracious and self-depreciating. Her experience of growing up in leafy Oxfordshire with her charity director mum and sound engineer dad was ‘idyllic on every level’. Having set her sights on acting aged three after watching the musical Showboat, she eventually got accepted into Drama Centre London ‘by the skin of my teeth’.
As a graduate, Emilia gave herself just one year to make it and was about to chuck it all in when GOT came calling.
Those 3am starts and ‘strenuous’ 18-hour days shooting in extreme temperatures – in a corset – have paid off. Emilia’s landed roles in Solo: A Star Wars Story, the tearjerking Me Before You opposite Sam Claflin and Terminator: Genisys, playing action heroine Sarah Connor alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger. She also took the Broadway lead in Breakfast At Tiffany’s and this year she’ll flirt up a storm with Henry Golding in rom com Last Christmas.
Emilia’s life was nearly cut tragically short when she suffered two brain aneurysms in her twenties. The first occurred in 2011 shortly after filming had wrapped on season one of GOT.
‘Just when all my childhood dreams seemed to have come true, I nearly lost my mind and then my life,’ she said last month. Describing that first life-threatening stroke, she says she felt as though an elastic band was squeezing her brain, before vomiting violently. Petrified, the then-24 year old tried to keep her ‘memory alive’ by reciting lines from GOT. She later underwent a three-hour operation.
Currently single, Emilia, who once dated Family Guy creator Seth Macfarlane, blames her romance status on her punishing schedule. ‘I’m soppy and I do like to believe that when the right person comes along, it will work, because you want to make it work. Everyone else seems to manage it,’ she says.
She can boast Brad Pitt as a fan though! The Hollywood heartthrob offered nearly £100k in a charity auction to watch GOT with Emilia, only to be outbid at the last moment.
Here, Emilia reveals how GOT has changed her, why she’s afraid of upsetting the viewers and why she never Googles herself…
How did you feel about saying goodbye to Daenerys?
Very emotional. Ten years of anyone’s life is filled to the brim with big moments so saying goodbye to the show is bittersweet. It’s the single most defining thing that has happened to me in my life. It took me from being a child to an adult. And it’s just magic that that’s happened.
Has the role changed you as a woman? Absolutely. Lord knows what I’d be without her [laughs]! I had no idea about anything when I started the show! Nothing. The industry, acting, TV, society, politics – nothing. I was 22.
Do you think part of Daenerys’ personality has shaped you?
Me, as Emilia, speaking to 300 extras in a fake language, really convincing them of something, requires a lot of strength [laughs]. I’m one to do as one’s told, so they ask you to walk through fire and you do. And then there’s a part of you that goes: ‘I just did that! That’s really cool.’
What can we expect from your character in this forthcoming final season?
Every character was left on a cliff edge, a precarious situation. So even for Daenerys, there’s development within the season.
Did you whizz to the end of the script to find out what happens to her and Jon Snow? Yeah, I was sent the script and I read it in an afternoon. Then I just left my house and walked for about three hours around London, aimlessly
wandering – because it’s so epic. It’s the most contemporary relationship she’s had in the show. They’re incredibly similar, they have so much that binds them. He brings out an honesty in her that she hasn’t experienced. So I think that’s an interesting relationship.
Are you afraid of disappointing the fans with this final season?
Always. Absolutely. You want everyone to be happy. But in the final season of any show there’s going to be upset people, there’s going to be fights within friendship groups, there’s going to be: ‘Whose side are you on?’ Would you have liked the show to keep going for a few more seasons?
I’m a big fan of TV shows finishing when you’re still ready for more. If the series goes on too long, you’re doing a disservice to both the characters and also to the writing. It’s important to have that want for more to still be there.
Are you done with fantasy now?
I never say never to anything. As an actor it’s important to keep doing as many different things as possible. The only way you can do that is by trying everything on for size. So I’m not saying no, I’m just probably not saying it will be my next thing.
You used to say that nobody recognised you without your platinum wig. Do you still enjoy that kind of anonymity?
I get very guarded about my anonymity. I like going to the butcher’s and having a chat and it being a normal thing. I like human interaction. It’s what makes me feel happy. So when someone is looking at you in a different guise it can be incredibly anxiety inducing. The recognising thing has got more, for sure.
What would the Emilia of today say about the nudity in the earlier series?
We needed to see the struggles that Daenerys has been through to have any empathy for her. You had to see it, you couldn’t just have it explained. So there’s not one part of the show that I’d go back and redo.
Why do you think your character is so powerful?
It’s a show that puts women in a place of power and I think that’s unique. For that to have resonance for a woman today who is looking to be in a position of power, is beautiful. Having an idea, believing in it enough to have people back you and to promote yourself as someone who can lead bodies of people… Because while in Game Of Thrones’ fantastical world the gender divide is what it is, in our society it is also what it is.
Do you read all the online fan theories about Game Of Thrones?
No. I never Google myself. I never read anything about the show online. I don’t find it helpful for my mental health. It’s just too much. But with it being the last season, I might read
‘it’s the single most defining thing that has happened to me in my life’
some reviews, because I read reviews for films and plays.
Has the show given you more opportunities in the industry?
It’s opened a lot of doors that would have remain firmly shut to me otherwise. And it’s allowed me to have the tagline that I, as an actor, come with – strong, female protagonist. That’s, like, goosebumps. Never in a million years could I have thought that would be the case. So yeah, it feels very, very good.
What’s the craziest thing that has happened to you thanks to GOT?
I don’t want to bring it up again [laughs], but there was this Brad Pitt thing that happened. I literally was like: ‘This is not even happening, this is some crazy dream. I’m going to wake up 12 years old and go: “That was a good dream!”’ [The auction] got up to some high numbers and there was Brad Pitt leaning back in his chair bidding. It was incredible. So that was one of the more recent fabulous moments that would have never happened. [laughs]
Tell us about the final day of filming It was super emotional. That was the day I realised that alcohol can also be a depressant [laughs]. I would never normally stand up and say anything, but every character got an official proper goodbye. I started to say something and couldn’t get through the first sentence without bawling my eyes out. That was the day when I was nursing a glass of wine going: ‘I don’t feel any happier, I’m feeling really sad.’
‘GAME OF THRONES’ EIGHTH AND FINAL SEASON CAN BE SEEN FROM APRIL 15 ON SKY ATLANTIC