The Gorgeous Balance of Emilia Clarke

Years ago， when I was a grad student， I worked at an ice cream shop in Oxford called George & Davis. Students from Teddies， one of the local private schools just up the road， used to come in all the time. One of them was Emilia Clarke.

Shes thirty now， one of the stars of Game of Thrones， the mother not just of dragons but of John Connor1） in the latest Terminator movie. Its Sunday lunchtime. Im going to interview Emilia.

Her Family

My taxi pulls up2） at a house in Hampstead， an inner London suburb. Emilias house is part of a beautiful Georgian “terrace3）.” She comes out of the house to meet me.

Today she has to hang out with someone shes never met， who is supposed to take her to Crystal Palace to play something called Game of Phones—a Thrones-flavored quiz and treasure hunt put on by a social-networking company. Its aimed at people who want to make new friends in a strange new city.

Theres the worry that she might get mobbed4）， which is why shes going in disguise. Im supposed to provide the disguise. Its possible that Im supposed to be the protection， too.

In England what you do， when youre nervous about something， is you make a cup of tea. Emilia offers me a cup of tea. “How do you take it？” she says. “In my family we always argue about the order of pouring. Im a milk-first kind of girl.”

Emilias father was a working-class kid from Wolverhampton， a depressed industrial city near Birmingham. He was desperate to do anything that would get him out of Wolverhampton and became a roadie5）， then began working as a sound designer for a number of big-budget musicals in London. Her mother went to secretarial college， and must have had driven by the bucketload， because she started her own business and ended up as a marketing VP6）. Whether they meant to or not， Emilias parents were pulling their children up the class ladder of English life.

“They didnt want me to go to boarding school，” Emilia says. “I wanted to. My brother was already going [hes two years older]， and I fancied his friends.”

“Did you end up going out with them？”

“Of course.”

Theres a kind of change of tone or pace that Emilia Clarkes very good at. She uses it in her acting， too， and can go from sentimental or angry to comic at the drop of a hat7）. It all shows up in her face if she wants it to—shes got great mobility of expression. Accents play a part in these shifts. Her own accent is a nicely plainspoken kind of “well-brought-up，” but she dips into8） others， northern English or American for jokes or to make a point9）.

There are stories shes told about being taken to see Show Boat （her dad was in the crew） when she was three and falling in love with the theater and deciding then and there that she would act. But she also liked attention， she says. She liked playing games. And she liked winning them.

“And your father was in the business？” But she shakes her head.

“He was crew， not cast； theres a big divide … He wanted me to be very realistic about the whole thing， about how nobody makes any money.”

His realism turned out to be off the mark10）. Sometimes surrealism comes closer to the truth.

I brought along three disguises： a brown fedora； a glittery， vaguely ethnic shawl； and an Oklahoma City Thunder cap. She picks the cap and my wifes old sunglasses. I dont know what she looks like. She looks great.

Her Acting Experience

On the cab ride over， Emilia explains that she wasnt anyones “favorite” at the Drama Centre， where she studied， but she worked hard—“I was a keen bean11）.” After graduating， she did a couple of episodes of Doctors （a long-running British daytime soap） and starred in some movie for a sci-fi channel that she still hasnt seen. By this point she was living with friends and working three jobs， at a bar， at a call center， and—she didnt tell me the third one. But she did say that a friend of hers walked in once and saw her face， the face you make when you dont know people are watching. It had a scowl12） on it. Shed given herself a year to make it in acting and she hadnt.

“And then my agent calls me up and says， ‘Did you ever go up for Game of Thrones？” The original pilot13） for the show had already been shot but nobody was happy with it， so HBO was digging back into the casting pile to try and save it. This is where Emilia came in. “My agent told the casting director， ‘I know that the breakdown14） for this character is tall and willowy and blonde. I know shes short and round and brown， but Id like you to see her.”

“I had two scenes which told me nothing and not very much time in which to read all those [George R. R. Martin15）] books，” says Emilia. “So I did what every good actor does and Wikipediad the living crap out of it16）.”

“Do you have a sense now of what they wanted？”

“Yeah … someone who could grow before your eyes in one season， who could gather strength and show vulnerability …”

And then the show itself took off—and Emilia had one of the few characters who couldnt be killed. She is the Mother of Dragons， after all.

She manages to bring together a number of opposites， to make them natural： sweetness and toughness， emotionalism with a kind of cold-blooded determination. Something in these contrasts explains her sex appeal， too. She can play queen and kid sister， dominatrix17） and pal.

Playing the Game of Phones

Crystal Palace is not a palace， exactly， more of a quiet backstreet behind a London train station. Theres a gaggle of slightly cold-looking people waiting at the entrance to a park when we arrive. Coming closer， we can see the logo： GAME OF PHONES. Emilia puts on her disguise—the cap， the glasses， an American accent. Weve decided to call her Lilly.

Everyone separates into teams. Someone dressed in shopping-bag “chain-mail18）” mesh， with a mask of some sort on his face， reads out in his best pantomime19）-villain voice from a screen that announces our quest： “The lands of the East are … ruled by Lord Anchovy …” We have to locate a ruined phone box to find the first clue—the name of some mythical animal， inscribed next to a phone number. We troop off dutifully.

It slowly becomes clear that nobody on our team watches Game of Thrones. This doesnt stop them from being nice people. Theres a marketing director. The other woman on our team is a vaudeville20） dancer.

And then theres Emilia Clarke， whose costume， as she herself has realized， isnt necessary. As Daenerys21）， with that magical blond wig and undercurrent of menace—the fun young queen who can also order you dead—Emilia is unmistakable. But here， out of wig， surrounded by middle-aged strangers， shes just a very attractive woman in a crowd.

But she sticks to her disguise. Lillys accent is perfect； shes a friendly， slightly dead-inside Manhattanite. When Lilly， in her boots， slips on the gritty path and comes up limping a little， I suddenly feel for her—because I know that the real Emilia has just recovered from a fractured hip. Part of me wants to call the whole thing off22）.

Except that Emilia （not Lilly） wants to win. She spots an old phone booth near the playground： an English classic， red as a post box， now abandoned and graffitied and locked up. The vaudeville dancer tries to light up the dirty back wall by sticking her phone through a gap in the broken glass， but the clue inside refuses to reveal itself. Emilia has a go， too， with her phone. Unicorn！ This is the password we must deliver to “Lord Anchovy” by “the great bell， a shrine to the God of drowned sorrows …”

On the hunt for the Iron Phone， the marketing director starts to tell a story about Game of Thrones， something he read in the paper about a father who hears his daughter has just gotten a part on the show. He feels tremendously proud and excited until he sees the first few scripts and finds out what she has to do： full frontal nudity， lots of sex.

“Its not porn. Its HBO，” someone chips in23）.

I dont know what Emilia—Lilly—is thinking now. But I know the story， too. The early episodes were hard to film， shed told me in the cab. There was a lot of nudity. She was twenty-three years old， exposing her body. Her character suffered and she suffered with her. “Once， I had to take a little time out. I said I needed a cup of tea， had a bit of a cry， and was ready for the next scene.”

“That must be awkward，” Lilly says.

Shes funny. She mucks in24）.

When we leave， Emilia decides not to tell the rest of our team who she is. And you get the sense that for now， shes just fine with that.

“Im trying everything I can not to be freaky，” she tells me later in a pub. By freaky she means letting the star treatment go to her head. She remembers the days at the call center. The warning from her father. Her life before she was supposed to be noticed.

Half pal， half dominatrix. Half kid sister， half sexy queen. The movie star who plays， in her real life， an anonymous， funny beauty. This is the gorgeous balance of Emilia Clarke.

Classics

名篇名人

艾米莉亞 克拉克

極致的平衡

幾年前，那時我還在讀研，在牛津一家叫“喬治和大衛(wèi)”的冰淇淋店工作。路那頭的私立學(xué)校泰迪斯的學(xué)生常常光顧我們店。艾米莉亞·克拉克就是其中之一。

她如今30歲了，是參演《權(quán)力的游戲》的眾多明星之一，在其中飾演龍母，還在最新的《終結(jié)者》里飾演約翰·康納的母親?，F(xiàn)在是周日的午飯時間，我正準(zhǔn)備去采訪艾米莉亞。

她的家庭

在位于倫敦近郊的漢普斯特德的一棟房子前，我的出租車停了下來。艾米莉亞的房子屬于喬治時期那種漂亮的“排屋”。她出門來迎接我。

她今天不得不和一個素未謀面的人一起出去——我要帶她去水晶宮玩一種叫做“手機的游戲”的游戲。那是一個帶有《權(quán)力的游戲》特色的問答和尋寶游戲，是一家社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司組織的，其目標(biāo)人群是那些初到一個新奇的城市想要交友的人。

由于擔(dān)心受到圍堵，她準(zhǔn)備喬裝一下。我就是來給她喬裝打扮的，有可能我還要充當(dāng)保鏢。

在英國，人們覺得緊張時，會做的事通常是泡杯茶。艾米莉亞給我泡了一杯茶?！澳闶窃趺磁莶璧?？”她說道，“我們家經(jīng)常為沖泡的順序爭論不休，我是先泡牛奶的那類?！?/p>

艾米莉亞的父親出身工人階級，來自伍爾弗漢普頓，那是伯明翰附近一個蕭條的工業(yè)城市。他想盡一切辦法要逃離那個城市，于是做了巡回樂隊設(shè)備管理員，然后開始成為倫敦許多大制作的音樂劇的音響設(shè)計師。她的母親上過秘書學(xué)校。她當(dāng)初一定是動力滿滿，因為她自己創(chuàng)業(yè)，最終成為營銷副總。不管有意還是無意，艾米莉亞的父母正把自己的孩子們往英國社會階梯的高處提升。

“他們不想讓我去寄宿學(xué)校，但我想去。我哥（比艾米莉亞大兩歲）已經(jīng)去了，我喜歡他的朋友們?！彼f。

“你最后跟他們在一塊了嗎？”

“當(dāng)然?！?/p>

語調(diào)或語速切換是艾米莉亞·克拉克非常擅長的，她在表演中也經(jīng)常用到，能夠從傷感或生氣立馬轉(zhuǎn)到滑稽幽默。只要她想，這些都可以展現(xiàn)在她臉上——她的表情很靈動?？谝粼谶@些切換中也發(fā)揮作用，她的口音親切而清晰，顯得有教養(yǎng)，但她也會嘗試其他口音，比如開玩笑或表明觀點時用英國北部口音或美音。

她講了一些自己三歲時被帶去看《演出船》（她爸爸是工作人員）的故事。她愛上了戲劇，當(dāng)時就決定將來要演戲。但她說她也喜歡受到關(guān)注，喜歡玩游戲，喜歡在游戲中獲勝。

“你爸爸也是干這一行的嗎？”她搖了搖頭。

“他是工作人員，不是演員，兩者區(qū)別很大……他想讓我以非?，F(xiàn)實的態(tài)度來認(rèn)識整件事，認(rèn)識到這行當(dāng)賺不到錢。”

結(jié)果，他的現(xiàn)實主義完全是杞人憂天。有時超現(xiàn)實和事實更接近。

我拿來三個喬裝道具：一頂褐色軟呢帽、一條有點少數(shù)民族風(fēng)的華麗披巾和一頂俄克拉荷馬雷霆隊棒球帽。她撿了棒球帽和我妻子的舊墨鏡。我不知道她這樣看起來怎樣，但感覺還不錯。

演藝經(jīng)歷

在我們坐上出租車，前往水晶宮的路上，艾米莉亞跟我說在戲劇中心學(xué)習(xí)時，誰都不特別“喜歡”她，但是她很努力——“我是個急性子?！碑厴I(yè)之后，她出演過幾集《醫(yī)生》（一個長期播映的英國日間肥皂?。葸^一些在科幻頻道播放的電影，這些電影她至今沒有看過。那時她和一些朋友住一起，同時做三份工作，在酒吧做一份，在客服呼叫中心做一份，她沒有告訴我第三份工作是什么。但她告訴我有一次她的一個朋友走進(jìn)來看見她做鬼臉，就是你不知道別人在看你時做的鬼臉——滿面愁容。她曾給自己一年時間，想在演藝事業(yè)上取得成功，但她沒做到。

“后來我的經(jīng)紀(jì)人給我打電話，問我：‘你去《權(quán)力的游戲》試鏡了嗎？”這部劇已經(jīng)拍了最初的試播部分，但是大家都不滿意。所以HBO打算重新考量演員陣容，試圖拯救這個劇。艾米莉亞就是在這個時候出現(xiàn)的?！拔业慕?jīng)紀(jì)人告訴選角導(dǎo)演：‘我知道這個角色的定位是身材高挑、滿頭金發(fā)。艾米莉亞身型矮胖，頭發(fā)褐色，但是我希望你可以見一下她?！?/p>

“我拍了兩個場景，對這兩個場景我一無所知，而且我也沒有時間在拍攝期間讀喬治·R·R·馬丁的整套書，”艾米莉亞說，“所以我做了每個好演員都會做的事，到維基百科上把和這部劇相關(guān)的內(nèi)容查了個遍。”

“你現(xiàn)在明白他們那時想要什么樣的人了么？“

“明白了……一個可以在一季之內(nèi)在觀眾眼前成長的人，一個可以養(yǎng)精蓄銳同時展現(xiàn)自己脆弱的人……”

然后這部劇火了起來——艾米莉亞是少數(shù)幾個不能被殺死的角色之一。畢竟，她是龍母。

她成功地融合了大量對立的東西，使之看起來很自然：既甜美又強硬，既容易動情又冷血果斷。這些對立面也可以解釋她為什么這么性感。她可以演女王也可以演軟妹，可以演御姐也可以演閨蜜。

玩“手機的游戲”

水晶宮并不是一個宮殿，確切地說，更像是倫敦某個火車站后面安靜的后街。我們到的時候，一群表情有點冷漠的人在公園入口處等待。走近一些，我們看見了標(biāo)語：手機的游戲。艾米莉亞戴上了她的喬裝道具——帽子、太陽鏡，操起了美國口音。我們決定喊她莉莉。

大家分成了幾組。有個人穿著購物袋制成的“鎖子甲”網(wǎng)，戴著某種面具，極力模仿童話劇里惡人的聲音，看著屏幕，宣讀我們的尋寶路線：“東邊的那些島是……安喬威勛爵的……”我們必須找到一個廢舊電話亭獲得第一條線索——某種神獸的名字，刻在某個電話號碼旁。我們領(lǐng)到任務(wù)，向前進(jìn)發(fā)。

逐漸地我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在我們這一隊里沒有人看《權(quán)力的游戲》。但這并不妨礙他們與人為善。他們中有一個營銷主任，還有一位女士是輕歌舞劇舞者。

然后就是艾米莉亞·克拉克了。她自己也意識到，她的道具完全是沒必要的。作為龍母的扮演者，艾米莉亞戴著迷人的金色假發(fā)，暗藏著一股危險氣息——這位有趣的年輕女王可以命令你去死——沒有人會認(rèn)錯她。但是在這里，摘掉假發(fā)，站在陌生的中年人中，她不過是人群中一個魅力十足的女人罷了。

但是她仍堅持喬裝。莉莉的口音很完美，是一個待人友好、有點心灰意冷的曼哈頓女孩。莉莉穿著靴子，在滿是沙礫的路上摔了一下，接著一瘸一拐地跟上來。這時我突然很心疼她，因為我知道艾米莉亞的髖骨骨折才剛好。我有點想要退出這個游戲。

但艾米莉亞（不是莉莉）還是想要贏。她在操場附近發(fā)現(xiàn)一個老舊的公用電話亭，經(jīng)典的英國式電話亭，像郵箱一樣紅，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)廢棄了，上面滿是涂鴉，還被鎖了起來。那位輕歌舞劇舞者通過碎玻璃縫把手機伸進(jìn)去，想要照亮臟兮兮的后墻，但還是看不到線索。艾米莉亞也伸出手機試了一下。獨角獸！這就是密碼。我們必須通過“大鐘——悲傷之神的圣壇”把它傳達(dá)給“安喬威勛爵”。

在尋找鐵手機過程中，那個營銷主管開始講一個《權(quán)力的游戲》的故事，是他從報紙上讀到的：一位父親聽說自己的女兒在這部劇中獲得一個角色，感到無比驕傲和激動，直到他看到了開頭的一部分劇本，發(fā)現(xiàn)女兒需要做什么：正面全裸，很多床戲。

“那不是色情片，是HBO拍的?！庇腥瞬遄斓馈?/p>

我不知道艾米莉亞——莉莉——此時此刻在想些什么。但是我也知道這個故事。在出租車?yán)飼r，她曾告訴我前幾集很難拍，有很多裸戲，她才23歲，要暴露自己的身體。她所扮演的角色忍受著痛苦，她和這個角色一起受苦?！坝幸淮?，我不得不停下來，我說我需要一杯茶，需要哭一會兒，然后就可以拍攝下一個場景?！?/p>

“那一定很難受?！崩蚶蛘f。

她很有趣，跟大家一起討論。

我們離開時，她決定不告訴隊里其他成員自己的身份。你能感覺到，眼下別人不知道她是誰，她覺得這樣很好。

“我在盡最大的努力讓自己看起來不奇怪?！敝笤诰瓢衫锼@么告訴我。她所謂的“奇怪”是說產(chǎn)生“享受明星待遇”這樣的想法。她記得在客服呼叫中心的日子，記得父親的警告，記得她備受關(guān)注之前的生活。

一面是親昵，一面是專橫；一面是軟妹，一面是性感女王。而在真實生活中，這位影星扮演了一位匿名的、有趣的美女。這就是艾米莉亞·克拉克的極致平衡。