Emilia Clarke's range

[PhoenixFlame]

Not a bad actress; Nina Gold is a very good casting director.

But, Emilia's young when it comes to acting. Some directors are great at getting actors to perform their best but others it's just not their forte. MacLaren's strength, in my opinion, is her attention to detail and framing. Gorrrrgeous shots. I think Emilia has plenty of potential but could benefit from a more attentive director. I'm not saying this is the director's fault either. She's not bad but some of her lines some off really stiff and stagey. A veteran actor can take that idea and give it a ton of nuance, like how Headey takes Cersei's ice queen persona and shows you all the cracks. Emilia's performance doesn't quite have that depth.

Regarding Kristen Stewart, I'm not a big fan of her as an actress but in real life she's very shy and it can make her come off as cold. She's not mean though.

[Roose Seal]

Not a bad actress; Nina Gold is a very good casting director.

But, Emilia's young when it comes to acting. Some directors are great at getting actors to perform their best but others it's just not their forte. MacLaren's strength, in my opinion, is her attention to detail and framing. Gorrrrgeous shots. I think Emilia has plenty of potential but could benefit from a more attentive director. I'm not saying this is the director's fault either. She's not bad but some of her lines some off really stiff and stagey. A veteran actor can take that idea and give it a ton of nuance, like how Headey takes Cersei's ice queen persona and shows you all the cracks. Emilia's performance doesn't quite have that depth.

Regarding Kristen Stewart, I'm not a big fan of her as an actress but in real life she's very shy and it can make her come off as cold. She's not mean though.

So are Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner, and they nail every scene they're in.

Maisie Williams was, what, 14 years old and had been acting for barely a year when she held her own (and then some) opposite Charles Dance.

Emilia Clarke is a bad actress who isn't helped neither her lines nor the directors.

Directors are supposed to bring out the best in their actors: I'm sure with actors like Dance or Headey, there's minimal director involvement cause they're such pros and probably don't need much direction, but when the initial performance is dodgy, a good director will intervene and try to make something out of it.

So with good lines and a talented actor director, I'm sure she could be passable, but as it stands, she is bad to the point of irritating.

After 4 seasons of being bad (she was barely acceptable in S1) under I don't know how many directors though, I think it's safe to say that her monotonous and try-hard delivery is the problem.

I'm sure she is very nice person, but lets call a spade a spade, she's just not good at acting.

[Seneti]

She turns an already rather grating book character into someone I just want to repeatedly punch in the face on the show. So many faux bad-ass one liners. So little range. Drives me crazy how many show watchers are in love with her.

This.

Meh, Daenerys scenes in season 3 and 4 have been just painful to watch. I didn't like her before, but now I just openly hate her character. Whenever she's speaking to someone without an army at her back or dragons by her side, I find her regal tone absolutely ludicrous. All I see is an angsty teenage girl thinking she's the queen of the world. Not sure if that's the actress' fault though. She's shown that she's capable of emotionally diverse scenes in Season 1, maybe it's just the director instructing her to speak that way, I don't know. All I know is that her scenes annoy the hell out of me whenever one comes up.

Agreed. Season 1 had so many moments where Emilia just nailed it... making it all the more shocking to watch the decline in quality that followed.

You can;t blame the director, because she's been sucking through 3 seasons with all the different directors. You can't blame the script, because her delivery is the same no matter what words she's speaking, and what the emotional resonance of the scene. Even when she saw a crucified child, her face held the same expression it does when she's looking at her CGI dragons.

An actor gives resonance to the lines, even bad lines, with delivery, with tone, with facial nuance, with feeling behind the eyes... Emilia gives nothing.

Actually, I blame all of them a little bit. I blame the writers for giving her too many cheesy one liners. I blame the directors for not encouraging her to emote more. But most of all I blame Emilia for playing this character with a permanent "deer in the headlights" look that strips any scene of all emotion.

[Cas Stark]

All of her scenes now give me a sense of her thinking "If I look back I am lost"...they are totally one note.

[iknownothingjonsnow]

I'm still torn as to how much is bad acting/lack of range compared to bad writing/editing/directing.

A great performance still needs to be 'worked' into a great final product, and part of the directors' job is knowing when they've captured the best 'raw' shot to achieve that end. Having said that, it seems that everyone else in Emilia's scenes is making it work while she consistently comes up well short, so...

I thought the conversation between Peter and Jack in 4.02 was incredibly wooden and awkward (reminiscent of basically all of Emilia's scenes) and I consider the two of them to be extremely talented actors. Is it possible the producers are trying for "wooden and awkward" with her?

[Roboginger]

You can;t blame the director, because she's been sucking through 3 seasons with all the different directors. You can't blame the script, because her delivery is the same no matter what words she's speaking, and what the emotional resonance of the scene. Even when she saw a crucified child, her face held the same expression it does when she's looking at her CGI dragons.

An actor gives resonance to the lines, even bad lines, with delivery, with tone, with facial nuance, with feeling behind the eyes... Emilia gives nothing.

This is stated perfectly, I almost get embarrassed for her watching some of her scenes.

[sj4iy]

I think she was trying to sound confident, but it didn't quite come out right because the look on her face didn't match the words that she said.

Oh, well- all of the actors have some good days and bad days. I just hope that they find a way to make her storyline interesting.

[direwoofwoof]

She was great in season 1- the fear of her brother, marrying the Khal, falling in love with him, becoming Khaleesi, and then becoming the mother of dragons. Since then, her scenes seem to be more about the scenery than her. Now that she is in the "I'm just gonna stay here and lead for a few years" it's almost like she has pushed the pause button on that role.

[Natalie Underfoot]

I feel like her acting has just dropped so much and so I believe it's the quality of the writing. If she was given more to work with other than righteous indignation and declarative sentences it would be great. We get it, she found her spine that's great, but she's still a kid in a world she knows nothing about who has had a lot of people kiss her ass for awhile but some uncertainty would be good. I actually like her better when she's either a) not talking or b) interacting with Daario as that's the only place that seems natural. He's not a yes-man, a bad guy, or a worshipper which is basically the only people she's been surrounded by since Drogo died. Just goes to show that the depth of the characters in her part of the world has been neglected to make her look ascendant.

[marsyao]

I don't think Emilia is as bad an actress as her line delivery suggests. Instead I'd classify her as an average actress who can't really lift the material to a new level. Combine that with the trailer-dialogues she's given and you have a bad performance.

To be fair to her, Danny is a very annoying character to begin with in the novel, so it is very hard to make her likable in the TV

[C0bR]

Turn her back to Jorah.

Look off into the distance.

Make sure not to make eye contact with camera.

Deliver line.

Pause for suspense.

Turn around and look at Jorah.

Calmly deliver line with inflections on certain syllables.

Nailed it.

David Caruso school of acting

[Colonel Green]

Clarke isn't the best actress on the show by any means, but the writers seem to have largely reduced Dany to the imposing queen figure; various moments where I thought a bit more emotion and/or doubt could have been put into the writing (like with the slave children or the crucifixion order reprisal, or in this episode) she was still just written in conqueror mode.

Also, some of the dialogue she's been given lately isn't great, like the bizarre exchange with Daario about why he took control of the Meereenese navy. Because it would be useful to your cause, maybe?

[gash]

she's a terrible actress. she was just about passable as a naive young girl but acting like a queen is way above her pay grade.

[marsyao]

Also, some of the dialogue she's been given lately isn't great, like the bizarre exchange with Daario about why he took control of the Meereenese navy. Because it would be useful to your cause, maybe?

I am OK with this, this is just plain old flirting

[Cas Stark]

Clarke isn't the best actress on the show by any means, but the writers seem to have largely reduced Dany to the imposing queen figure; various moments where I thought a bit more emotion and/or doubt could have been put into the writing (like with the slave children or the crucifixion order reprisal, or in this episode) she was still just written in conqueror mode.

Also, some of the dialogue she's been given lately isn't great, like the bizarre exchange with Daario about why he took control of the Meereenese navy. Because it would be useful to your cause, maybe?

I wasn't bothered by the lack of emotion at the children, I thought Stoic Emilia was appropriate there.

But she now speaks in the same regal tone of voice with the same bearing whether she's standing before thousands of troops or talking to 3 people in a small room. That is bad acting that was enabled by feeble direction.

[A Man Is A Man]

She's pretty bad. Everything she does comes across as artificial. Even when she smiles, I don't ever believe she's smiling, it's like she's thinking: "okay, now just stretch the sides of my mouth up to form a smile, I'm saying something nice to one of my advisors...."

[Autumn is Coming]

I've thought this for a while, but I usually just tend to let it go. Emilia's a stage actress, so she's used to having to project her voice rather than focus on her facial expressions.

(That said, she sometimes seems to have problems emoting with her voice, as well :ohwell: )

[El Guapo]

The delivery on the "I will do what queens do ..." line was very cheesy, but the rest of the scene wasn't bad.

Her interaction with Daario, for instance ... the very subtle irritation she displayed was spot on.

I really don't think Emilia's as bad as everyone says. I think the writer's just have this tendency to change moments that should be solemn, and try to make them sound triumphant and regal in the end (like with the Mysha scene).

Her explanation that she can't rule seven kingdoms if she can't rule slaver's bay was handled well. It was just that last line. Unfortunately it was the last line she speaks, so it's what sticks with people.

I agree with pretty much all of this.

[PatrickStormborn]

I thought both Emilia and Iain Glen were very disappointing in their scene together... They honestly both looked stoned. :dunno:

The scene was far too rushed, the dialogue was weak and completely lacked the severity that the book scene had, the directing was poor, and it seems like the showrunners don't know what they're doing with the characterisation of anyone in Dany's retinue.

Most of these problems would be resolved if they stuck closer to the book dialogue and spent more time on Dany's scenes instead of wasting it on pointless filler. Dany has felt like an after-thought in every episode this season with the exception of episode three. Considering she's THE iconic character of the show, it's a very strange decision (particularly in an episode without Tyrion, the other iconic character).

[Pib_Juju]

I think she's a capable actress, and proved as much through seasons 1-3. Her character changes a lot over that period and she portrayed it well (along with the writers and directors).

I think the problem with her scenes this season is a lot deeper than a performance. It's the show writers and directors doing not-so-hot work with not-so-hot source material. Dany's story is a snooze fest, imho, from Astapor onward.