Emilia Clarke became a globally renowned name with her stint in the fantasy series Game Of Thrones (GOT). Post that, the actor went on to establish herself as a leading lady, and in her recent show Ponies co-starring Haley Lu Richardson, she is enjoying getting to work with another leading lady.
“It’s a big thing. I don’t know about others but I have never had the good fortune of being able to work with my co-star not being a boy, be it a boyfriend or husband, or it being a woman, that is not related to my character. Here, we are just two women in this world, and there is an emotional sisterhood. You don’t see a bunch of it on screen, and this was a major part of why I wanted to do it as I knew it would be joyful,” she says, as Ponies is now streaming on JioHotstar.
Watch the full interview with Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson here:
Even after her being in an influential place in the industry, Emilia Clarke asserts that there is still gender discrimination against women. “The gender disparity is not fixed by any means. There is still a wild pay gap difference, but it’s been changing for the better for sure. The thing that we are acknowledging in the Western society now is that the amount of emotional labour that women do. We are acknowledging women for what they do with that being a significant factor towards driving the change that today we have stay-at-home dads as supposed to the mum who is traditionally meant to stay at home. The situation is definitely changing but there are still many walks of life where that is deeply rooted in a culture. We are very lucky that we are empowered women who are existing in a culture that’s allowing us to speak our truths, but that isn’t the case for everyone,” she says.
{{/usCountry}}Even after her being in an influential place in the industry, Emilia Clarke asserts that there is still gender discrimination against women. “The gender disparity is not fixed by any means. There is still a wild pay gap difference, but it’s been changing for the better for sure. The thing that we are acknowledging in the Western society now is that the amount of emotional labour that women do. We are acknowledging women for what they do with that being a significant factor towards driving the change that today we have stay-at-home dads as supposed to the mum who is traditionally meant to stay at home. The situation is definitely changing but there are still many walks of life where that is deeply rooted in a culture. We are very lucky that we are empowered women who are existing in a culture that’s allowing us to speak our truths, but that isn’t the case for everyone,” she says.
{{/usCountry}}Reflecting on the global fandom GOT got her, Emilia shares it was a steady growth for her. “I experienced it over a steady time period. It started with people sort of recognising me because the way I looked with wig was completely different from how I look in real life. But then getting into the craziness was very different for me than a lot of people because my show was based in fantasy. I don’t want to use this word lightly, but it’s almost sort of gimmicky to a point, like a Halloween costume. So the interactions that I get would be very different to that of someone displaying a straight acting role.”
While she enjoyed the love, it also got a bit challenging to tackle at times. “In the last few seasons of the show, I was getting panic attacks. I feel like I am always in a backroom with fame. I love people, I just want to have conversations with people and hang out, have a nice time, but sometimes fame just gets in the way. So I’m just constantly trying to keep that down. But then goes a couple years not doing Game of Thrones, and you are less recognised. So, it’s a fickle thing. Fame will be there and then it will go away. You just got to make sure that that’s not the reason why you are waking up in the morning.”