Indiewire has recently divulged that Emilia Clarke, who played the beloved and infamous Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones, improvised a monologue in the series’ fifth season. Learning an entirely fictional language can be a daunting task, to take it one step further and perform an improvised speech without notice is even more impressive. That is precisely what Game of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke did.
Most of the cast would have to practice for weeks on end with the dialect coach David Peterson but Clarke had a proclivity for reading scenes of dialogue in several languages. “Thrones director Jeremy Podeswa remembers being shocked by Clarke after she whipped up an entire monologue in fictional language in just 10 minutes. The monologue was featured in a fifth-season scene where Daenerys orders the execution of a Meereenese nobleman who conspired against her,” according to Indiewire.
Podeswa continues his praise for Clarke’s uncanny ability to adapt to any situation by saying “Every single take, every intonation, and the way she phrased everything, you completely understood what she was meant to be saying. Then the subtitles all seemed authentic to what she was doing. She knew the language well enough at that point to make it all work. It wasn’t tracking perfectly in Valyrian, but no fan ever noticed it. She did an amazing job,” according to Indiewire.
Addressing the time that Clarke has spent delving deep into this character’s psyche, exploring the evolving complexities of Daenerys, it’s no wonder that after so much time she would be so naturally adaptive with this characters way of speaking. It lends credence to Clarke as an actress and a professional. With little to no preparation and a mere “ten minutes” as reported by Indiewire, Clarke was able to breath passion into her characters words in an entirely different language.