Clarke auditioned for GoT when they decided to recast after a flawed pilot; she thought doing the “robot” dance almost sunk her chances & growing up, she didn’t get the ingénue roles
I read for “Game of Thrones” in a tiny studio in Soho. Four days later, I got a call. Apparently, the audition hadn’t been a disaster. I was told to fly to Los Angeles in three weeks and read for Benioff and Weiss and the network executives. I started working out intensely to prepare. They flew me business class. I stole all the free tea from the lounge. At the audition, I tried not to look when I spotted another actor––tall, blond, willowy, beautiful––walking by. I read two scenes in a dark auditorium, for an audience of producers and executives. When it was over, I blurted out, “Can I do anything else?”
David Benioff said, “You can do a dance.” Never wanting to disappoint, I did the funky chicken and the robot. In retrospect, I could have ruined it all. I’m not the best dancer.
Elsewhere, Clarke says of her past acting experience:
I didn’t get the ingénue parts. Those went to the tall, willowy, impossibly blond girls. I got cast as a Jewish mother in “Awake and Sing!” You should hear my Bronx accent.
Landing ‘Game Of Thrones’ & Flirting With Death: 8 Thought-Provoking Truths We Learned From Emilia Clarke’s Personal Essay was originally published on globalgrind.com
