Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke on How A Book Helped Her Cope With Her Father’s Death

The COVID pandemic has taken a lot of lives. Many of us have lost our near and dear ones. It is an inexplicable pain that persists in one’s heart throughout their lives. Game of Thrones community suffered a lot of losses too. Beloved actress Diana Rigg lost her fight to cancer last year. Coping with such a loss is not an easy task. Game of Thrones’ ‘Khaleesi‘ Emilia Clarke also lost her father to the disease back in 2016. She revealed what helped her in a recent podcast episode of BBC’s The Cultural Frontline.

She shared that the collection of essays ‘Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told?‘ by Jenny Diski has helped her cope with the loss of her father. Clarke, 34, spoke with British poet Ian Patterson, Diski’s widow, about Diski’s work and their shared passion for cultural escapism. The podcast originally came about after Patterson saw Clarke’s post on social media praising Diski’s collection of essays.

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“It was very wonderful to see the picture of you holding the book,” Patterson told Clarke. “I suddenly switched back to when Jenny was still alive, and we were watching Game of Thrones.”

“Especially subjects like death, she treats with such tenderness but also such comedy,” Clarke said in the podcast. “The way that she writes about it, it makes you feel okay.”

“I lost my dad four years ago, and it still feels like it was yesterday,” Clarke said. “And since his death, I think about death a lot, and I consider his a lot. And so to read her take on it was just really tonic for the soul.”

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George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire is one of the most popular books amongst fantasy lovers. When Game of Thrones was adapted from the novel, it created a huge hype among the fans. However, one fan, in particular, had the time of his life, when he was selected as an extra for the show. Even as an extra, he was an important part of the Game of Thrones family. Andrew McClay got his own close-up scenes on various occasions including the famous Battle of The Bastards. Talking to the Irish Mirror, he revealed he felt like a 13-year-old again.

He said, “It brought me back to being 13 again. I just remember every cell in my body being on fire and thinking to myself, there’s no way that I’m going to balls this up because I’m in the zone here. We shot that scene over two days and I had to be there every time for continuity but I loved doing it.”

“Miguel (director) said to me: ‘I need extras. Who’s loud here?’ and I shot my hand up straight away. I looked around and nobody had their hands up. I’m saying to myself, ‘you mad bastards, I’ll do it, Miguel. I’m loud.’”

“Kristof (Tormund) is right beside me at the time and he turns around and goes, ‘oh yes, he is loud Miguel He’s loud this guy!’ Kristof then just winked at me and I thought, ‘oh shit.’

“I was on fire all day and I still have my payment voucher which said unscripted line written on it. I have that framed. It will forever be one of my most beloved prized possessions.”

“All those scenes I’m in have different stories to them but with the Battle of the Bastards close-up, I had no idea the camera was on me. The guy just came down with one of the assistant directors and goes, ‘this is it, across the battlefield lies House Bolton’ and he then gives us this speech about the horrors they’ve done to House Stark. I’m just getting angrier and angrier.

“Then they shout action and Miguel picked my face because he genuinely thought I was about to kill a load of dudes.”

Do you remember the close-up scene featuring Andrew McClay? Tell us in the comments below!

When you’ve worked at a place for a really long time, you share some of the fondest memories with your colleagues. Game of Thrones’ cast and crew were one big family. Andrew McClay, one of the notable extras, shared one of his fond memories of actor Liam Cunningham (Davos Seaworth).

McClay told the Irish Mirror, “I used to have some craic with Liam Cunningham! I remember saying to him, ‘You’re like my Da, Liam. You look grumpy but you love a joke!’ He instantly replied by saying, ‘what the fuck do you mean I look grumpy? “ and I said ‘well you’re grumpy now, aren’t’ you?’ and he just burst out laughing.”

“For the end of Game of Thrones Season 8, the extras department put on a talent show and all the extras had to be in it. I was trying to get Liam to do it. He was like ‘what do you want me to do?’ I was taking the piss and trying to get him to do a dramatic monologue. Liam’s great company to be around.”

He recalled, “There was another scene at the Winterfell long hall with Kit, Liam, Kristofer Hivju and a few others. The main actors would be fully trusted to take personal cameras on the set to take a few photos and Liam brought in a lovely camera to document the filming of Season 8 and his time of the show.”

“It was the first time I ever saw him with it and I just shout, ‘how much do you think Watchers On the Wall will give you for them, Liam?’ Are you trying to sell them to The Mirror or something?!?!’ and the whole room just erupted. He was just shaking his head laughing.”

Which of these incidents do you find the most hilarious? Tell us in the comments below!

Superheroes are the stuff of fantasies, who we often wish to come to life. Sitting at the backseat of our class, bored, we often drift into our dream world, where we are our own superhero. The scribbles and doodles on the back pages are proof of one’s creativity, dreaming of writing a story. A story where one is a hero. Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke just fulfilled another one of her dreams, to write a comic book story.

Emilia Clarke has created a new feminist comic book. Titled M.O.M.: Mother of Madness, the three-issue comic series was written by Clarke and Marguerite Bennett. The story is centred around a singer and mother named Maya as she embarks on a journey that will lead her to the discovery of some unique superpowers. Maya will put her new powers to good use, fighting off a secret group of human traffickers.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Clarke described her new superhero’s vague superpowers. She explained that some of Maya’s powers are activated by her menstrual cycle.

“She can do all of these wicked things, but they all come from the fact that she is a woman who has a menstrual cycle. I thought it would be cool to have all the things that women don’t like about themselves. Flip that, and make those the things that make her superhuman,” Clarke explained.

“It’s a very personal experience that everyone has with comics. These are characters that people are passionate about, and care about deeply, and relate to. I wanted to throw a new character into the mix. See if people related to her in a way that was impactful to them.”

What do you think about Emilia Clarke’s new superhero? Tell us in the comments below!