On-screen, Daenerys Targaryen was fighting for ultimate control of the Seven Kingdoms — off-screen, however, Emilia Clarke was just fighting to keep her private bits private.
The Game of Thrones star discussed the struggles of dealing with on-screen nudity demands in an interview on Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert, during which she reminisced about the time she refused to perform a nude scene despite being told it would “disappoint” her Game of Thrones fans.
Related: Playing Daenerys Gave Emilia Major ‘Lady Balls’
The revelation came after the Last Christmas star recalled being asked to perform a nude scene she hadn’t agreed to in advance. She explained:
“I’m a lot more savvy [now] with what I’m comfortable with, and what I am okay with doing. I’ve had fights on set before where I’m like, ‘No, the sheet stays up’, and they’re like, ‘You don’t wanna disappoint your Game of Thrones fans’. And I’m like, ‘F*** you.’”
Of course, Game of Thrones fans were treated to a whole lot of Clarke in the show’s first season, which contained, as she called it, a “f**k ton of nudity.”
At the time, the British actress took the demands of the role in stride. She remembered:
“I took the job and then they sent me the scripts and I was reading them, and I was, like, ‘Oh, there’s the catch!’ But I’d come fresh from drama school, and I approached [it] as a job – if it’s in the script then it’s clearly needed, this is what this is and I’m gonna make sense of it… Everything’s gonna be cool.”
Acting naked on one’s first professional film set is easier said than done, though. She continued:
“So I came to terms with that beforehand, but then going in and doing it… I’m floating through this first season and I have no idea what I’m doing, I have no idea what any of this is. I’ve never been on a film set like this before, I’d been on a film set twice before then, and I’m now on a film set completely naked with all of these people, and I don’t know what I’m meant to do and I don’t know what’s expected of me, and I don’t know what you want and I don’t know what I want.”
But being the professional actress she is, Clarke sucked it up and performed — whether she was comfortable or not:
“Regardless of there being nudity or not, I would have spent that first season thinking I’m not worthy of requiring anything, I’m not worthy of needing anything at all… Whatever I’m feeling is wrong, I’m gonna cry in the bathroom and then I’m gonna come back and we’re gonna do the scene and it’s gonna be completely fine.”
Thankfully, Clarke ended up doing many of those nude scenes with former costar Jason Momoa, who played her on-screen love interest Khal Drogo; and just like Khaleesi’s sun and stars, the Aquaman actor offered her protection — by telling the actress she could set her own rules about how much skin she was willing to show.
She recalled:
“It was definitely hard. Which is why the scenes, when I got to do them with Jason, were wonderful, because he was like, ‘No, sweetie, this isn’t okay.’ And I was like, ‘Ohhhh.’”
As fans know, the 33-year-old opted to show far less skin as the seasons progressed — save for a few super empowering Khaleesi-emerges-from-a-fire-stark-naked shots. As for her fans, we don’t think they could ever be disappointed in the Emmy nominee!
JUSTICE FOR DAENERYS TARGARYEN ALWAYS!!!
Do YOU like Emilia Clarke better when she’s naked?
[Image via HBO]
The post Emilia Clarke Was Pressured To Get Naked For Scenes So She Wouldn’t ‘Disappoint’ Her ‘Game Of Thrones’ Fans! The F**k?? appeared first on Perez Hilton.