Emilia Clarke Explains Why She Turned Down 'Fifty Shades of Grey' for Its Nudity After Doing 'Game of Thrones'
Imagine a Fifty Shades of Grey with Emilia Clarke as Anastasia Steele instead of Dakota Johnson. It almost happened, but Clarke ultimately turned down the role because of its nudity. She first revealed that fact in 2015, although she didn't really elucidate on why nudity was such a big dealbreaker for her. (Clarke had appeared nude before in her role as Daenerys on Game of Thrones.) But now, she has in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
She told The Hollywood Reporter originally and simply in 2015, "I'd done nudity before and was concerned with being labeled for doing it again."
But in this time for The Hollywood Reporter's Drama Actress Roundtable, Clarke explained further why she was afraid of being typecast for it. She praised the first film's director, Sam Taylor-Johnson but also opened up about the repercussions appearing nude as Daenerys had already had on her career.
"Well, Sam is a magician," Clarke started. "I love her, and I thought her vision was beautiful. But the last time that I was naked on camera on [Game of Thrones] was a long time ago, and yet it is the only question that I ever get asked because I am a woman. And it's annoying as hell and I'm sick and tired of it because I did it for the character - I didn't do it so some guy could check out my tits, for God's sake. So, that coming up, I was like, 'I can't.' I did a minimal amount and I'm pigeonholed for life, so me saying yes to that, where the entire thing is about sensuality and sex and being naked and all of that stuff, I was just like, 'No way am I going to voluntarily walk into that situation and then never be able to look someone in the eye and be like, "No, you can't keep asking me this question."'"
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