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Emilia Clarke is no stranger to green screen acting. She starred in Game of Thrones as Daenerys Targaryen, which used extensive green screen technology to create the show’s fantastical world. In a recent interview, Clarke dismissed claims that green screen acting is not “real” acting. This comes after comments by former MCU star Anthony Hopkins (played Odin) who called it “pointless acting.”
What did Emilia Clarke say about green screen acting?
The debate over whether or not green screen acting is “real” acting has been going on for years. Some people believe that it is not real acting because the actors are not actually interacting with the environment they are supposed to be in. Others claim that it is deifnitely not pointless and it is harder to do green screen acting than roles on traditional sets.
Clarke falls into the latter camp. She believes that green screen acting is just as challenging as traditional acting, and that it takes just as much skill and talent to do it well. “The stigma is that people don’t do any acting in these shows,” she recently said in an interview. “And then you’re like, ‘Well, then why are they asking all these great actors to do it, and why are they saying yes?'” Emilia’s point was that if it wasn’t real acting, her incredible A list Secret Invasion co-stars like Samuel L. Jackson, who was also defended green screen acting, would not be lining up for these roles. “The cast is ridiculous,” she added, talking about her Marvel series fellow castmembers. “I was like, ‘Where do I sign?’”
What were Anthony Hopkins’ comments agaisnt green screen acting?
Emilia Clarke’s comments come two years after Anthony Hopkins, who also starred in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Odin in the Thor films, made controversial remarks about green screen acting in an interview with The New Yorker in February 2021. “On Thor, you have Chris Hemsworth — who looks like Thor — and a director like Kenneth Branagh, who is so certain of what he wants,” Hopkins commented at the time. “They put me in armor; they shoved a beard on me. Sit on the throne; shout a bit. If you’re sitting in front of a green screen, it’s pointless acting it.”
Another member of the MCU who played Queen Ramonda in the Black Panther movies, Angela Bassett, publicly made comments after Anthony’s dismissal of green screen acting. She told outlets that she has had different experiences using green screens than Hopkins has, describing how incredible it had been to be on the Marvel set. “When Shuri and I went out into the wild, we had trees and bushes and water for yards and yards and yards, and Namor came up out of the water and flew to us,” Angela said. “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. I’m sorry for him.”