(Book spoilers) Lena Headey appreciation thread

[Theda Baratheon]

Oh, I think Cersei is an abhorrent person. I guess I'm just a very empathetic person.

I don't necessarily feel sympathy for her, but I empathise, and there's definitely a difference.

[DarkAndFullOfTurnips]

Oh, I think Cersei is an abhorrent person. I guess I'm just a very empathetic person.

I don't necessarily feel sympathy for her, but I empathise, and there's definitely a difference.

Empathy really goes beyond sympathy. I think you may be sympathetic towards her since you don't share her feelings but can feel for her in context, as opposed to relating to her which would be pretty weird.

[bobbybuilderton]

Oh, I think Cersei is an abhorrent person. I guess I'm just a very empathetic person.

I don't necessarily feel sympathy for her, but I empathise, and there's definitely a difference.

Well the original statement was that we feel conflicted and sympathize with her. There are those of us who feel neither of those things, for the reasons that have been stated by people who could put it better than I could.

[Warhawk137]

The word I would be using at this juncture is "pity."

[Tyrion4President]

She's a very good actress for sure. The Lannisters are all remarkably well cast. Tyrion probably the worst tbh.

Id have to argue that Tyrion is possibly the best cast lannister. Being that he is a very specific type of person (Little man) i find it hard to imagine anyone else playing him. The only small actors besides dinklege would be vern troyer, jason accuna aka wee man and warwick davis and i think we all know what everyones reaction would be to that after the HBO april fools joke. With that being said, all of the lannisters are cast amazingly. I could see others playing Cercei though

[Warhawk137]

Id have to argue that Tyrion is possibly the best cast lannister. Being that he is a very specific type of person (Little man) i find it hard to imagine anyone else playing him. The only small actors besides dinklege would be vern troyer, jason accuna aka wee man and warwick davis and i think we all know what everyones reaction would be to that after the HBO april fools joke. With that being said, all of the lannisters are cast amazingly. I could see others playing Cercei though

Yeah, although the fact that he's so obviously the correct choice for the role kind of mitigates the credit the casting folks deserve for getting him. From a pure casting perspective, insofar as finding the right actor for a role is a bit of an art form, especially when going off the beaten track for that actor, I'd say their greatest successes are Maisie Williams and Alfie Allen.

[jons nissa]

You asked me to put myself in the shoes of an imaginary young, innocent high school girl taking her clothes off in the gym, as if that's relevant to Cersei.

actually no, i didn't ask you to put yourself in the shoes of a young girl. that would be ridiculous. i merely brought up an example that i myself, being more relaxed about the human body in general, found to be very indicative of how nakedness and exposure are very serious to most girls and women. i can share the same example of adult women doing interesting contortions in the locker room of my gym because they don't want to be naked in front of strangers. i don't expect you to put yourself in their place but i also don't expect you to know about that side of women. men usually see women naked when they are lovers so they just don't realize how women frequently hide their bodies in situations other than with their lover.

Cersei has personally committed many innocents to be tortured to death by Qwyburn. We know that he has a tradition of cutting into live victims to see what makes them tick. We are talking about vivisecting live, innocent people for fun and curiosity. Cersei knows this, and is happy to commit her victims to the most lethal, gruesome physical torture simply because she doesnt like them.

i completely agree. when i first realized that cersei's sentence was a naked walk, i felt very much like you do - that's nothing big. but this punishment is only for her crime of having sex with someone other than a husband, not for any of her serious transgressions. when cersei started her walk, i really expected her to be able to breeze through it but as she continued to walk through the city, i realized it was not at all an easy thing to do. i also tried to put myself in her shoes but even for me, someone who doesn't have as many hang ups about being naked, i have to acknowledge such a walk is a completely different situation that being topless at a beach. it is meant to disgrace and humiliate and for a monarch, that is devastating. for a woman, it could break you. any woman would be seriously affected by such a walk. i really don't expect you to put yourself in those shoes - it's just not possible for you, as a man, to empathize how much such a thing could break a woman, especially a woman that has a public presence. likewise, women cannot easily empathize with some situations men face.

I felt sorry for Cersei for a while during the naked walk, though afterwards she never became better for it. She's still the same old Cersei.

i don't think that we know yet who the new cersei is and i guarantee (as much as one can with grrm), it will be a different cersei than the one we knew. it's impossible for it to be anything else. i do believe she will try to carry on from where she left off, but i suspect we will see the ongoing effects of this walk in the next book. i doubt she will become a better person, it's just not in her. but i expect her to be received differently and be less sure of her moves.

[Prince of Dragonstone]

I love Lena's portrayal because Cersei is a character that could easily have been played in a much more over-the-top, campy way and Lena rightfully decided to play Cersei in the much more realistic manner of her being icy cold and regal. A woman of her status and position would not be flouncing around like a vixen. She would be an Ice Queen who threw subtle daggers and played her emotions close to vest. I see her stoic disposition as more suitable given that she's had to form a protective shell around herself against the misogyny and pain she's suffered at the hands of her father and husband.

[Prince of Dragonstone]

Any woman being forced to walk naked before masses of ogling people is harrowing, but add in the fact that it's such a PROUD, arrogant woman like Cersei Lannister and that she is the Queen Dowager of All Westeros makes it that much worse. Having to be stripped naked before your subjects is one of the worse things you can do to a monarch. The smallfolk have lost respect for her and the image she wished to portray and Cersei's facade meant everything to her.

[Garlan Marius]

Lena does Cersei perfectly. I think she goes underappreciated, to be honest, but I think all of the female actors not named Maisie are underrated on this show.

[ladyinblack]

I think Lena does a fantastic job playing Cersei....she can convey so much with just a smirk or quick glance. superb

[PhoenixFlame]

Oh, she's fantastic. At first it was hilarious to watch her smirk die when Tywin said she was going to remarry, but when she said "please don't make me do it again," she sounded so genuinely desperate. I remember thinking how great she was when she confronts and slaps Joffrey. She really loses control and you can feel her dreadful realization that she can't just order him around anymore. I also love her way of sounding so venomously sweet, like when she talks to Sansa about her period.

I can't wait to see how Lena portrays Cersei's descent into madness.

[bobbybuilderton]

I did like the look on her face after Tywin walks out of the room. It was a good contrast to Tyrion. Tyrion just looked pissed but Cersei looked like she wasn't going to just lie down and take it. She was going to do something to stop it. And that's at least one thing to admire about Cersei. She isn't one to sit back and whine without doing something about her situation. Now, what she does may not always be the smartest thing, but at least she tries.

[Theda Baratheon]

Empathy really goes beyond sympathy. I think you may be sympathetic towards her since you don't share her feelings but can feel for her in context, as opposed to relating to her which would be pretty weird.

Why? That's what empathy is about.

I love to act, I actually want to be an actress, I'm very good at ''putting myself into other's shoes''

[Theda Baratheon]

Oh, she's fantastic. At first it was hilarious to watch her smirk die when Tywin said she was going to remarry, but when she said "please don't make me do it again," she sounded so genuinely desperate. I remember thinking how great she was when she confronts and slaps Joffrey. She really loses control and you can feel her dreadful realization that she can't just order him around anymore. I also love her way of sounding so venomously sweet, like when she talks to Sansa about her period.

I can't wait to see how Lena portrays Cersei's descent into madness.

I am SO looking forward to this you have NO idea

[SerGregori]

I do love Lena as Cersei. She is not at all what I pictured when I first read the books, but she has really made the role her own. The more I see of her, the more I think she is gonna freaking nail it when Cersei begins her downward spiral (the drunk blackwater scene was a little taster of that I think). I LOVED her in last years Judge Dredd movie, she's a genuinely talented lady (also doesn't hurt that she's a total babe).

[six]

The word I would be using at this juncture is "pity."

This. Empathy and sympathy are way too strong, given her POVs.

i don't think that we know yet who the new cersei is and i guarantee (as much as one can with grrm), it will be a different cersei than the one we knew. it's impossible for it to be anything else. i do believe she will try to carry on from where she left off, but i suspect we will see the ongoing effects of this walk in the next book. i doubt she will become a better person, it's just not in her. but i expect her to be received differently and be less sure of her moves.

I'm not so sure. I agree with the poster you were replying to; Cersei's thoughts proved she's incapable of any self-awareness, which means she'll be the exact same Cersei.

[teemo]

As I said before, I don't think Heady really understands Cersei and I'm not a huge fan of her portrayal (some of the "insights" she gives into Cersei's character are cringeworthy), BUT - when she really starts to get crazy, maybe the actress will understand her better after all, since I don't think she reads the books. For now though, not quite impressed. But lots of potential because she has that look of secretly crazy down pretty well.

As far as Cersei in the books, I'll be surprised if she changes at all, honestly.

[bobbybuilderton]

what are her insights? I've never seen them.

[Pinkie Baelish]

As I said before, I don't think Heady really understands Cersei and I'm not a huge fan of her portrayal (some of the "insights" she gives into Cersei's character are cringeworthy), BUT - when she really starts to get crazy, maybe the actress will understand her better after all, since I don't think she reads the books. For now though, not quite impressed. But lots of potential because she has that look of secretly crazy down pretty well.

As far as Cersei in the books, I'll be surprised if she changes at all, honestly.

In her defense, there's not really much to understand book Cersei. She's the typical evil queen figure that sometimes acts in ways that are pretty much borderline pantomime villainy. It's always irked me that while the Lannister brothers are complex characters with both good and bad attributes, Cersei is just straight up evil.