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

极致的平衡

几年前，那时我还在读研，在牛津一家叫“乔治和大卫”的冰淇淋店工作。路那头的私立学校泰迪斯的学生常常光顾我们店。艾米莉亚·克拉克就是其中之一。

她如今30岁了，是参演《权力的游戏》的众多明星之一，在其中饰演龙母，还在最新的《终结者》里饰演约翰·康纳的母亲。现在是周日的午饭时间，我正准备去采访艾米莉亚。

她的家庭

在位于伦敦近郊的汉普斯特德的一栋房子前，我的出租车停了下来。艾米莉亚的房子属于乔治时期那种漂亮的“排屋”。她出门来迎接我。

她今天不得不和一个素未谋面的人一起出去——我要带她去水晶宫玩一种叫做“手机的游戏”的游戏。那是一个带有《权力的游戏》特色的问答和寻宝游戏，是一家社交网络公司组织的，其目标人群是那些初到一个新奇的城市想要交友的人。

由于担心受到围堵，她准备乔装一下。我就是来给她乔装打扮的，有可能我还要充当保镖。

在英国，人们觉得紧张时，会做的事通常是泡杯茶。艾米莉亚给我泡了一杯茶。“你是怎么泡茶的？”她说道，“我们家经常为冲泡的顺序争论不休，我是先泡牛奶的那类。”

艾米莉亚的父亲出身工人阶级，来自伍尔弗汉普顿，那是伯明翰附近一个萧条的工业城市。他想尽一切办法要逃离那个城市，于是做了巡回乐队设备管理员，然后开始成为伦敦许多大制作的音乐剧的音响设计师。她的母亲上过秘书学校。她当初一定是动力满满，因为她自己创业，最终成为营销副总。不管有意还是无意，艾米莉亚的父母正把自己的孩子们往英国社会阶梯的高处提升。

“他们不想让我去寄宿学校，但我想去。我哥（比艾米莉亚大两岁）已经去了，我喜欢他的朋友们。”她说。

“你最后跟他们在一块了吗？”

“当然。”

语调或语速切换是艾米莉亚·克拉克非常擅长的，她在表演中也经常用到，能够从伤感或生气立马转到滑稽幽默。只要她想，这些都可以展现在她脸上——她的表情很灵动。口音在这些切换中也发挥作用，她的口音亲切而清晰，显得有教养，但她也会尝试其他口音，比如开玩笑或表明观点时用英国北部口音或美音。

她讲了一些自己三岁时被带去看《演出船》（她爸爸是工作人員）的故事。她爱上了戏剧，当时就决定将来要演戏。但她说她也喜欢受到关注，喜欢玩游戏，喜欢在游戏中获胜。

“你爸爸也是干这一行的吗？”她摇了摇头。

“他是工作人员，不是演员，两者区别很大……他想让我以非常现实的态度来认识整件事，认识到这行当赚不到钱。”

结果，他的现实主义完全是杞人忧天。有时超现实和事实更接近。

我拿来三个乔装道具：一顶褐色软呢帽、一条有点少数民族风的华丽披巾和一顶俄克拉荷马雷霆队棒球帽。她捡了棒球帽和我妻子的旧墨镜。我不知道她这样看起来怎样，但感觉还不错。

演艺经历

在我们坐上出租车，前往水晶宫的路上，艾米莉亚跟我说在戏剧中心学习时，谁都不特别“喜欢”她，但是她很努力——“我是个急性子。”毕业之后，她出演过几集《医生》（一个长期播映的英国日间肥皂剧），演过一些在科幻频道播放的电影，这些电影她至今没有看过。那时她和一些朋友住一起，同时做三份工作，在酒吧做一份，在客服呼叫中心做一份，她没有告诉我第三份工作是什么。但她告诉我有一次她的一个朋友走进来看见她做鬼脸，就是你不知道别人在看你时做的鬼脸——满面愁容。她曾给自己一年时间，想在演艺事业上取得成功，但她没做到。

“后来我的经纪人给我打电话，问我：‘你去《权力的游戏》试镜了吗？”这部剧已经拍了最初的试播部分，但是大家都不满意。所以HBO打算重新考量演员阵容，试图拯救这个剧。艾米莉亚就是在这个时候出现的。“我的经纪人告诉选角导演：‘我知道这个角色的定位是身材高挑、满头金发。艾米莉亚身型矮胖，头发褐色，但是我希望你可以见一下她。”

“我拍了两个场景，对这两个场景我一无所知，而且我也没有时间在拍摄期间读乔治·R·R·马丁的整套书，”艾米莉亚说，“所以我做了每个好演员都会做的事，到维基百科上把和这部剧相关的内容查了个遍。”

“你现在明白他们那时想要什么样的人了么？“

“明白了……一个可以在一季之内在观众眼前成长的人，一个可以养精蓄锐同时展现自己脆弱的人……”

然后这部剧火了起来——艾米莉亚是少数几个不能被杀死的角色之一。毕竟，她是龙母。

她成功地融合了大量对立的东西，使之看起来很自然：既甜美又强硬，既容易动情又冷血果断。这些对立面也可以解释她为什么这么性感。她可以演女王也可以演软妹，可以演御姐也可以演闺蜜。

玩“手机的游戏”

水晶宫并不是一个宫殿，确切地说，更像是伦敦某个火车站后面安静的后街。我们到的时候，一群表情有点冷漠的人在公园入口处等待。走近一些，我们看见了标语：手机的游戏。艾米莉亚戴上了她的乔装道具——帽子、太阳镜，操起了美国口音。我们决定喊她莉莉。

大家分成了几组。有个人穿着购物袋制成的“锁子甲”网，戴着某种面具，极力模仿童话剧里恶人的声音，看着屏幕，宣读我们的寻宝路线：“东边的那些岛是……安乔威勋爵的……”我们必须找到一个废旧电话亭获得第一条线索——某种神兽的名字，刻在某个电话号码旁。我们领到任务，向前进发。

逐渐地我们发现，在我们这一队里没有人看《权力的游戏》。但这并不妨碍他们与人为善。他们中有一个营销主任，还有一位女士是轻歌舞剧舞者。

然后就是艾米莉亚·克拉克了。她自己也意识到，她的道具完全是没必要的。作为龙母的扮演者，艾米莉亚戴着迷人的金色假发，暗藏着一股危险气息——这位有趣的年轻女王可以命令你去死——没有人会认错她。但是在这里，摘掉假发，站在陌生的中年人中，她不过是人群中一个魅力十足的女人罢了。

但是她仍坚持乔装。莉莉的口音很完美，是一个待人友好、有点心灰意冷的曼哈顿女孩。莉莉穿着靴子，在满是沙砾的路上摔了一下，接着一瘸一拐地跟上来。这时我突然很心疼她，因为我知道艾米莉亚的髋骨骨折才刚好。我有点想要退出这个游戏。

但艾米莉亚（不是莉莉）还是想要赢。她在操场附近发现一个老旧的公用电话亭，经典的英国式电话亭，像邮箱一样红，现在已经废弃了，上面满是涂鸦，还被锁了起来。那位轻歌舞剧舞者通过碎玻璃缝把手机伸进去，想要照亮脏兮兮的后墙，但还是看不到线索。艾米莉亚也伸出手机试了一下。独角兽！这就是密码。我们必须通过“大钟——悲伤之神的圣坛”把它传达给“安乔威勋爵”。

在寻找铁手机过程中，那个营销主管开始讲一个《权力的游戏》的故事，是他从报纸上读到的：一位父亲听说自己的女儿在这部剧中获得一个角色，感到无比骄傲和激动，直到他看到了开头的一部分剧本，发现女儿需要做什么：正面全裸，很多床戏。

“那不是色情片，是HBO拍的。”有人插嘴道。

我不知道艾米莉亚——莉莉——此时此刻在想些什么。但是我也知道这个故事。在出租车里时，她曾告诉我前几集很难拍，有很多裸戏，她才23岁，要暴露自己的身体。她所扮演的角色忍受着痛苦，她和这个角色一起受苦。“有一次，我不得不停下来，我说我需要一杯茶，需要哭一会儿，然后就可以拍摄下一个场景。”

“那一定很难受。”莉莉说。

她很有趣，跟大家一起讨论。

我们离开时，她决定不告诉队里其他成员自己的身份。你能感觉到，眼下别人不知道她是谁，她觉得这样很好。

“我在尽最大的努力让自己看起来不奇怪。”之后在酒吧里她这么告诉我。她所谓的“奇怪”是说产生“享受明星待遇”这样的想法。她记得在客服呼叫中心的日子，记得父亲的警告，记得她备受关注之前的生活。

一面是亲昵，一面是专横；一面是软妹，一面是性感女王。而在真实生活中，这位影星扮演了一位匿名的、有趣的美女。这就是艾米莉亚·克拉克的极致平衡。