Emilia Clarke Thinks The Best Actors Work In Front Of Green Screens
Emilia Clarke is no stranger to working on shows that heavily use CGI and visual effects, with her breakout role being on Game of Thrones. While some actors don’t enjoy acting in front of a green screen very much, Clarke recently defended the practice saying, “The stigma is that people don’t do any acting in these shows,” adding, “Well, then why are they asking all these great actors to do it, and why are they saying yes?” (via The Hollywood Reporter).
Clarke is currently working on the green screen-heavy MCU show Secret Invasion, which also stars Samuel L Jackson and Olivia Colman, so she definitely has a point.
“The stigma is that people don’t do any acting in these shows, well, then why are they asking all these great actors to do it, and why are they saying yes.”
Emilia Clarke on green-screen acting
Emilia Clarke is far from the first MCU actor to comment on green screen acting, as Anthony Hopkins has previously bemoaned the practice saying, “If you’re sitting in front of a green screen, it’s pointless acting it.” Hopkins played Odin in the Thor films, and he prefers being on a real set to a green screen.
Angela Bassett, who plays Queen Ramonda in the Black Panther films, also commented on her experience, saying, “We had the entire ship, and the attention to detail inside of it was just magnificent,” adding, “So I had it much better than Anthony Hopkins.
While it’s understandable that Hopkins might have been frustrated with his green screen experiences, sometimes it’s just the most practical way to get a scene. It makes a lot more sense to use a green screen rather than create a set of an entirely different planet or travel to a different country just to capture a specific landscape.
Emilia Clarke probably prefers to work on real sets too, but a project’s budget has to be considered.
“We had the entire ship, and the attention to detail inside of it was just magnificent, so I had it much better than Anthony Hopkins.”
Angela Bassett defending green screen in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
However, it seems like Disney has at least considered its actors’ concerns with greenscreen, as the Lucasfilm company Industrial Light & Magic designed the virtual set technology Stagecraft, which marries the practicality of green screen with the immersion of being on a set.
First used in The Mandalorian, these giant LED screens are capable of creating backgrounds for films and TV shows that immerse the actor in the world while also creating dynamic, high-quality backgrounds for the shot. Emilia Clarke and Anthony Hopkins could probably agree that Stagecraft is more enjoyable to act against than green screens.
Emilia Clarke Stars In Secret Invasion
In any case, you can watch Emilia Clarke in the MCU series Secret Invasion, which is currently releasing new episodes on Disney+ every Wednesday. The series follows Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos as they uncover the plot by the shapeshifting Skrulls to infiltrate the highest spheres of the Marvel universe.
Emilia Clarke stars as G’iah, the frustrated, rebellious daughter of Mendelsohn’s Talos.
Along with Emilia Clarke, Jackson, and Mendelsohn, Secret Invasion also stars Kingsley Ben-Adir, Killian Scott, Samuel Adewunmi, Dermot Mulroney, Richard Dormer, Olivia Colman, Don Cheadle, Charlayne Woodard, Christopher McDonald, and Katie Finneran. The series was created by Kyle Bradstreet and is directed by Ali Selim.
The series will have a total of six episodes on Disney+, and it marks the first MCU TV series of the MCU’s Phase Five schedule.
