That’s right, folks — Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, aka Emilia Clarke from “Game of Thrones,” nearly portrayed Anastasia Steele in the “Fifty Shades” film series, but she wound up turning down the role because of all the nudity.
“Well, Sam [Taylor-Johnson, the director] is a magician. I love her, and I thought her vision was beautiful,” Clarke explained in 2019, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter. “But 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. So, that coming up, I was like, ‘I can’t.'”
According to Clarke, it felt like the “minimal amount” of nudity she did on “Game of Thrones” over the years had ultimately “pigeonholed” her for life, and if she said yes to “Fifty Shades” things would only get worse. “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.'”
Clarke would go on to star in 2016’s “Terminator Genisys” and 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” along with a number of other films. She will debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the Disney+ series “Secret Invasion.” Her run on “Game of Thrones” ended in 2019.
