Emilia Clarke has seen Hollywood from the inside — the good, the groundbreaking, and the still-uncomfortable truths. While she’s enjoying a refreshing new chapter with her latest show Ponies, the Game
of Thrones star says the industry has progress to make, especially when it comes to gender equality and pay.
Clarke, who rose to global fame as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, is currently streaming on JioHotstar with Ponies, where she stars alongside Haley Lu Richardson. For the actor, the experience of sharing the screen with another female lead was deeply meaningful — and surprisingly rare in her career.
“It’s a big thing. I don’t know about others but I have never had the good fortune of being able to work with my co-star not being a boy, be it a boyfriend or husband, or it being a woman, that is not related to my character. Here, we are just two women in this world, and there is an emotional sisterhood. You don’t see a bunch of it on screen, and this was a major part of why I wanted to do it as I knew it would be joyful,” she says.
Despite her stature in the industry, Clarke believes gender inequality remains far from resolved. “The gender disparity is not fixed by any means. There is still a wild pay gap difference, but it’s been changing for the better for sure. The thing that we are acknowledging in the Western society now is that the amount of emotional labour that women do. We are acknowledging women for what they do with that being a significant factor towards driving the change that today we have stay-at-home dads as supposed to the mum who is traditionally meant to stay at home. The situation is definitely changing but there are still many walks of life where that is deeply rooted in a culture. We are very lucky that we are empowered women who are existing in a culture that’s allowing us to speak our truths, but that isn’t the case for everyone,” she says.
Looking back at the overwhelming fame that came with Game of Thrones, Clarke describes it as a gradual, almost surreal experience rather than an overnight shock. “I experienced it over a steady time period. It started with people sort of recognising me because the way I looked with wig was completely different from how I look in real life. But then getting into the craziness was very different for me than a lot of people because my show was based in fantasy. I don’t want to use this word lightly, but it’s almost sort of gimmicky to a point, like a Halloween costume. So the interactions that I get would be very different to that of someone displaying a straight acting role.”
As the show grew bigger, the pressures of fame also began to weigh heavily on her. “In the last few seasons of the show, I was getting panic attacks. I feel like I am always in a backroom with fame. I love people, I just want to have conversations with people and hang out, have a nice time, but sometimes fame just gets in the way. So I’m just constantly trying to keep that down. But then goes a couple years not doing Game of Thrones, and you are less recognised. So, it’s a fickle thing. Fame will be there and then it will go away. You just got to make sure that that’s not the reason why you are waking up in the morning.”
