Emilia Clarke had a few minor roles before Game of Thrones premiered on HBO, but her part as Daenerys Targaryen in the fantasy epic catapulted her to international stardom almost overnight. However, she almost landed herself another huge role as the lead in the Fifty Shades of Grey movie franchise. In a new roundtable interview with The Hollywood Reporter she revealed that she ultimately turned down the role because she "sick and tired" of being asked about onscreen nudity.
Clarke took a moment to praise Shades director Sam Taylor-Johnson, but explained that she didn't want to be pigeonholed as an actress. "Well, Sam is a magician. I love her, and I thought her vision was beautiful," she said. "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." Clarke previously spoke about turning down the Fifty Shades role for this reason in 2015.
Throughout 10 season as Daenerys, Clarke had a small number of nude scenes. "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," she continued. "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."
The role eventually went to Dakota Johnson, who portrayed lead Anastasia Steele in all three films. "One thing I would not like to do is something that would have a sequel," Clarke said. “Something that could have, like, 'And then two and then three and then four.' I’d like to not do one of those for a minute." Last year she starred alongside Alden Ehrenreich and Woody Harrelson in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and it's unlikely that will be getting a sequel anytime soon.
