Emilia Clarke reveals she was 'terrified' to do Game Of Thrones nude scenes

The actor says she’s been pressured to shoot naked since the show but considers herself "a lot more savvy" now 
EE British Academy Film Awards 2020 - Arrivals - London
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Tobi Akingbade20 November 2019
The Weekender

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Emilia Clarke has revealed she felt uncomfortable and unsure of herself while filming Game Of Thrones nude scenes.

The star also hinted she was unaware that she would be naked while shooting until after signing up for the HBO drama.

Clarke was 23 years old when she began playing Daenerys Targaryen and the role saw her feature in numerous sexually explicit scenes.

Speaking on actor Dax Shepard’s podcast Armchair Expert, she agreed filming them was often "terrifying."

HBO

Clarke, now 33, told the host: “I took the job [on Game Of Thrones] 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 going to make sense of it and that’s what I’m going to do and everything’s going to be cool.

“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."

HBO/Helen Sloan

“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.”

Clarke credited her co-star and on-screen husband Jason Momoa with protecting her and helping her through the difficult scenes.

On the podcast, Shepard mentioned an infamous season one scene in which Momoa’s character, Khal Drogo, “virtually rapes” Daenerys on their wedding night.

Clarke responded: “He was crying more than I was.”

Close bond: Jason Momoa starred in Thrones as Dany's husband in season one
HBO

She added: “It’s only now that I realise how fortunate I was with that, because that could have gone many, many, many different ways.

“Because Jason had experience – he was an experienced actor who had done a bunch of stuff before coming on to this – he was like, ‘Sweetie, this is how it’s meant to be, this is how it’s not meant to be, and I’m going to make sure that that’s the f**king gaze.’

“He was always like, ‘Can we get her a f**king robe? She’s shivering!’ … He was so kind and considerate and cared about me as a human being.”

She also revealed Momoa encouraged her to speak up about her reservations and said she became more "savvy" in her later roles.

Standard Online has contacted representatives for HBO and Game Of Thrones creators David Benioff and DB Weiss for comment.

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