In Game of Thrones’ Daenerys Targaryen, Emilia Clarke has created one of the strongest, most enduring female characters in our pop-culture consciousness. So where does all that fire come from?
She wasn’t the first choice to play Daenerys Targaryen. The part supposedly called for a tall, willowy blonde. But when the pilot episode of Game Of Thrones ran into problems, Emilia Clarke, a then 22-year-old Londoner – petite, curvy and blonde only by dint of that now-trademark platinum wig – dived headlong into her audition.
“We intentionally chose heavier scenes requiring a bold, Joan-of-Arc faith in herself that extends beyond the bounds of reason,” wrote the show’s co-creators David Benioff and DB Weiss via tandem email from Los Angeles, where they were adding final touches to the seventh and penultimate GOT season, now on our screens. “We watched her audition on a tiny video window on a computer in David’s kitchen. Then we met her in London – this fun, friendly, easygoing person who was about five-foot-nothing. And we were like, ‘You did that?! Do it again!’ So she did, and we knew she was the one.”
This story is from the September 2017 edition of ELLE Australia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September 2017 edition of ELLE Australia.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Books: Shelf-Care
Find a little respite in this season’s most exciting new reads
Men's Rites
Deciding to go through a gender transition isn’t easy for anyone. But the hardest person for journalist Daniel Mallory ortberg to convince was himself
Kick Start
In these uncertain times, louis vuitton’s artistic director nicolas ghesquière is looking to the past to help make sense of the future
Music: Everything Is Illuminated
Phoebe Bridgers is a musician who revels in the darkness, albeit having earned her place in the spotlight
SUPER NATURE ESCAPISM WILDERNESS BREATHING INFRESH AIR BATHING IN SUNSHINE
IN THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY AND NEW HORIZONS, MODEL GEORGIA FOWLER HEADS FOR THE GREAT OUTDOORS
THE big CLEANSE
WE’VE PURGED OUR KITCHEN CABINETS OF SUGAR AND CULLED THE CLOTHES THAT DON’T SPARK JOY, BUT WE MAY HAVE ARRIVED AT THE MOST BENEFICIAL (AND EASIEST) CLEANSE OF ALL
TALKING to strangers
SINCE THE EARLY 1900S, AN AGONY AUNT HAS BEEN A WILLING EAR. BUT AT A TIME OF DMS AND ASKME-ANYTHINGS, SEEKING ADVICE FROM SOMEONE YOU DON’T KNOW HAS BECOME RISKY BUSINESS
singled OUT
WE’VE ENTERED AN ERA OF MYRIAD RELATIONSHIP STATUSES – COUPLED, FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, OPEN, POLYGAMOUS, THREE-DIGITALDATES-IN-BUT UNSURE-WHERE-THIS-IS-GOING. But is flying solo the last taboo?
GYPSY CREEK
INTERIOR DESIGNER LOUELLA BOÌTELGILL TAKES US INSIDE HER QUIRKY BYRON BAY HINTERLAND CREATION, WHICH OVERFLOWS WITH A BEACHY, HAPPY VIBE
DRIVE: DESIGN in motion
HOW THE HOTTEST INTERIOR TRENDS COULD DEFINE WHAT YOUR NEXT CAR LOOKS LIKE