Lena Headey Responds to Critics of Her Scene in the 'Game of Thrones' Season 5 Finale
At the end of season five, Lena Headey was playing a disgraced Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones. The once-powerful monarch had become a powerless prisoner and victim of public shaming. As viewers might recall, Lannister was submitted to a penance walk that required her to strip down naked, get her hair shaven off and walk through the slums of town as disgusted onlookers shouted slurs and threw rubbish at her. Plus, a nun-looking Silent Sister followed her about town robotically ringing a handbell and saying, "Shame!"
It was not Cersei's best moment, and according to an interview with Entertainment Weekly, it wasn't one of Headey's either. The actress had received a lot of flak for opting out of filming the scene nude and using a body double instead.
"Some people thought I was less of an actress because I didn't get my tits out," she said, revealing that numerous factors like the intense vulnerability of the scene, how she would have reacted while filming and having children all weighed in on her decision.
She told EW:
"You know what? It was really a bit shocking. I've done nudity. I'm not adverse to it. But I know I'm a very emotional actor and I get really driven by that. In order to do my job, I allow myself to be really vulnerable. I don't know any other way to do my job. Things really affect me. And the thought of being naked for three days and trying to contain her in the way she would be I think I would feel very angry. I didn't want to be angry. I don't think Cersei would be angry. I did what I thought she would do, emotionally. And wonderful Rebecca [Van Cleave, Headey's stand-in] was able to contain herself and be naked. She found it very difficult, obviously. It's not a natural thing to do. I film every year and I have kids and they know me now and [being naked in the scene] was just too much on top of that. So yeah, people that get it thought it was great. I didn't phone it in; I was actually there for three days with Rebecca."
She also dropped some hints about Cersei in the upcoming episodes. According to Headey, this is the Lannister matriarch's "most interesting season" since she finds herself in such a low place. Her relationship with Jaime is also "at an all-time weird level," Headey says.
As for the season as a whole, she calls it "juicy," "f*cking dark" and "emotionally clever." Guess we'll find out what that means in six days.
