Game of Thrones director's simple but effective method for getting Emilia Clarke to look menacing

Because it's hard to command respect when your teeth are chattering

(HBO)

It’s tricky to look menacing when you’re freezing cold, as Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke found while filming season six’s dramatic final sequence.

Clarke, who plays dragon-mummy Daenerys in the hit HBO series, had problems shooting the scene which sees her armada set sail for Westeros because she was too busy trying to stop her teeth from chattering.

The scene was supposed to be shot in a Mediterranean climate but, as misfortune would have it, it was pouring with rain on the day. Director Miguel Sapochnik spilled the beans on how Clarke managed to regain Daenerys’ famed composure.

“Emilia got so cold her jaw started shaking uncontrollably and she totally lost her thread as far as what she was meant to be thinking in that moment (the cold will do that),” he told Vulture. “She asked me to help, so I suggested that she just hum the theme to Game of Thrones in her head while we were rolling the cameras and apparently that worked because it’s the take we used in the final cut!”

So there you have it, next time you find yourself turning into a snowman while you’re supposed to be commanding respect, you know what to do.

Clarke said after Sunday night’s finale that she worries for her character’s fate in season 7. Khaleesi might be heading for King’s Landing with ships, manpower and “dragons that breath fire”, but the bloodthirsty showrunners have a history of killing off our favourite characters.

“I apparently cannot be killed. I don’t even have an attractive man who wants to take his shirt off anywhere near me now so there are no distractions,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “But as with Game of Thrones, you know when your character is looking good, that’s when you know you’re not safe. Because they’re all, ‘Oh, do you like her? We’ll kill her!’”

Showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss have confirmed that just two seasons of Game of Thrones remain, with an estimated 13 episodes left.