Emilia Clarke felt pressured to do nude scenes for and after 'Game of Thrones'
Emilia Clark attends the HBO Emmy Reception in West Hollywood, Calif., Sept. 23, 2012. (Invision/AP)
NEW YORK - The English actress Emilia Clarke (Solo: A Star Wars Story, Terminator Genisys, Last Christmas) says she was pressured to do nude scenes in the early seasons of HBO's Game of Thrones and that led to certain expectations later in her career.
The fantasy series, based on the George R.R. Martin novels, was known for its violent action sequences and controversial sex scenes. Clarke played Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons, for eight seasons.
Clarke, while a guest on Armchair Expert podcast, told host Dax Shepard and producer Monica Padman that she felt like she couldn't always say no when the producers of Game of Thrones told her to get naked for a scene because she was young and had little power in the entertainment industry when the show started. (She was 23 when she auditioned.)
"I was a complete unknown," she said. "It was a complete gamble."
Clarke said the first season had a lot of nudity (she described it, ah, differently).
Then because she did that nudity, producers on other projects she took told her she'd let down her fans if she didn't doff her clothes.
"I've had fights on set before where I'm like, 'No, the sheet stays up,' and they're like, 'You don't want to disappoint your Game of Thrones fans,'" she said on the podcast.
Clarke said she would respond with the F-word.
"I'm a lot more savvy [now] with what I'm comfortable with, and what I am okay with doing," she said.
HBO recently announced that it has ordered a prequel series called House of the Dragon, which will focus on the reign of House Targaryen before the events of GoT.
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