Despite her terrible choices and general villainy (or perhaps because of), Cersei Lannister has been one of the most consistently compelling characters on Game of Thrones. Fans are locked in a perpetual state of wanting her to get her comeuppance for the lives that she’s ruined, but are also ready for her to unleash hell on the High Sparrow and his followers, the Faith Militant. Either way, Lena Headey is a magnetic presence on screen.
In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Headey discussed Cersei’s journey last season, which saw the once powerful queen fall quite low, and how that affects her going forward.
It’s probably her most interesting season – because now she really has nothing to lose and she has everything to gain from a horrible position she finds herself in. Her relationship with Jaime is at an all-time weird level. Even though they’re back together, a part of her must f*king hate him. He let Tyrion go. He failed to protect Myrcella… She’s also super emotionally vulnerable in a way she’s never been before.
One of the biggest turning points for Cersei in the entire season occurred last season, when she is forced to do a naked walk of shame through the streets of King’s Landing. It was a painful and poignant scene, but, because some people are scum, there was some criticism directed Headey’s way for using a body double instead of stripping down herself.
She addressed the uproar head on in the interview, saying:
It was really a bit shocking. I’ve done nudity. I’m not adverse to it. But I know I’m a very emotional actor and I get really driven by that. In order to do my job, I allow myself to be really vulnerable. I don’t know any other way to do my job. Things really affect me. And the thought of being naked for three days and trying to contain her in the way she would be I think I would feel very angry. I didn’t want to be angry. I don’t think Cersei would be angry. I did what I thought she would do, emotionally. And wonderful Rebecca [Van Cleave, Headey’s stand-in] was able to contain herself and be naked. She found it very difficult, obviously. It’s not a natural thing to do. I film every year and I have kids and they know me now and [being naked in the scene] was just too much on top of that. So yeah, people that get it thought it was great. I didn’t phone it in; I was actually there for three days with Rebecca.
How about we just let people make their own choices regarding how they want their bodies portrayed without being jerks about it, yeah? Cool.
On top of handling this controversy with aplomb, Headey adds her name to the cacophony of cast members saying that season six is the best yet, and that the show “keeps getting better.” We’ll just have to wait and see. LESS THAN A WEEK, NERDS.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
