Emilia Clarke has already played one of the most iconic characters in film and TV history, Daenerys Targaryen. But she was very close to playing another, very different kind of iconic role – Anastasia Steele from the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise. In a recent Actress Roundtable with Hollywood Reporter Emilia spoke in detail about why she turned it down. The reason, turns out, was the nudity requirement.
As Daenerys, Emilia has done nude scenes, but those were a long time ago and always in context. However, Emilia found that she was being asked about the nude scenes in interviews years after they aired, and a lot of her public image seemed to be defined by it.
In her own words, “the last time that I was naked on camera on [Game of Thrones] was a long time ago, and yet it is the only question that I ever get asked because I am a woman. And it’s annoying as hell and I’m sick and tired of it because I did it for the character — I didn’t do it so some guy could check out my tits, for God’s sake.”
Emilia Clarke in an exuberating and powerful nude scene from Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 2.
Emilia felt that the media pigeonholed her in this way because she is a woman, and this was affecting her reputation as an actor. So when Fifty Shades of Grey came up, she had to say ‘no’ despite its director Sam Taylor-Johnson being a dear friend.
Emilia says, “I did a minimal amount and I’m pigeonholed for life, so me saying yes to that, where the entire thing is about sensuality and sex and being naked and all of that stuff, I was just like, “No way am I going to voluntarily walk into that situation and then never be able to look someone in the eye and be like, ‘No, you can’t keep asking me this question.’ “
Emilia is one of the many actors who have spoken up against the sexism and objectification of women in Hollywood productions in recent years. That an actor of her calibre had to turn down a project she wanted to do because of these things is just plain sad. Here’s looking at you, Hollywood!
