David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the creators of the television series Game of Thrones, revealed that, during her audition process, Emilia Clarke got the part of dragon queen Daenerys Targaryen at least partly due to her impressive robot skills.
Benioff and Weiss told the story while presenting Clarke with the award for British Artist of the Year at the Britannia Awards.
Game of Thrones Creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss presented Emilia Clarke(Britannia Awards 2018)
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According to the pair, the pilot had already been shot with Clarke. However, the president of HBO wasn't going to let the show move forward until he'd given his final approval for the actress playing Daenerys. Clarke came in for another audition in what Weiss described as a genuinely foreboding "corporate theater:"
"[It was] large, dimly lit and empty except for us two and the president of HBO. We were smiling. He wasn't. It was quite possibly the least inviting audition environment we had ever witnessed."
@marcmalkin Awww! That's a really nice speech from Dan and David. gotta love that all these GoT memebers support ea… https://t.co/lZmXITltCW
After her first reading, the president of HBO hadn't cracked a smile. Sensing the atmosphere was dragging down the mood of the room, Weiss described how Clarke tried to liven things up:
"Emilia asked if there was anything else she could do to lighten the mood and David asked, 'Can you dance?' And without missing a beat, Emilia did the robot … She did it with commitment and she did it well…and even the president had no choice but to smile. She got the job 10 seconds after she left the room and the two of us ran to tell her before she left the building because letting her get on an 11-hour flight home without knowing seemed like cruel and unusual punishment."
When Clarke accepted her award, she commented that Benioff and Weiss "deserve their own bravery award for hiring someone whose biggest job up until then was catering parties dressed as a Snow White."
Emilia Clarke Thanks Game of Thrones Creators for Her Big Break | Britannia Awards | BritBox
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#EmiliaClarke once played Snow White...sorta. https://t.co/cPsWz9OyEx
The way we see it, everyone involved with Game of Thrones deserves an award. Thank goodness the president of HBO came to his senses and brought Clarke on board!
