Emilia Clarke Accepts Award for British Artist of the Year | Britannia Awards 2018

[Music] emilia clark is a small person the first time we saw her she was 2 inches high we were watching casting videos on a laptop in New York and many many many casting videos many many fine British actors who were auditioning for the role of Daenerys Targaryen they were each doing two scenes one of them was a scene in which Daenerys finally fights back against her cruel older brother and smacks him down literally with a heavy piece of metal jewelry quite a few actors did a good job with that one for some reason but the second scene and the second scene Dany prepares to walk into her husband's funeral pyre her confidant Jorah begs her not to but Dany reassures him she knows the fire will not harm her she doesn't know how she knows but she knows she gives a speech to her a few remaining followers promising to protect them and proclaiming herself the Dragons daughter and then she marches into the flames no one was getting that scene quite right no one was projecting the religious certitude the conquerors charisma the uncanny calm of a woman with a singular destiny that the scene demanded and I wish that success of the role and therefore the show would hinge and then we clicked on the name Emilia Clarke there she was two inches high looking to the camera and delivering that speech with an intensity that was almost unnerving she was Joan of Arc she was Lawrence of Arabia she was the Dragons daughter our first meeting with Emilia was in Nina Gold's office and it was a strange meeting based on her edition tape we're expecting someone who is extremely intense the woman who walked in to Nina's office was not intense she was relaxed she was funny when she laughed her face transformed from that of a proper English person into an anime character and and that's not an exaggeration if you were ever talking to Amelia when she laughs her eyebrows literally turned upside down we have never seen anyone else whose left turns their eyebrows upside down and while it was impressive and remains impressive it didn't seem very Joan of Arc but then she performed the final scene again and our certitude was as religious as Daenerys is she was the one unfortunately we still had to convince HBO after the initial pilot we had shown them their faith in our opinions was less than complete so Amelia flew out to LA for a final audition in HBO's corporate theater which was large dimly lit and empty except for us too and the president of HBO we were smiling he was not it was quite possibly the least inviting audition environment we had ever witnessed and none of it mattered she nailed that audition too still the president of the company was playing it close to the chest he nodded poker-faced Amelia asked if there was anything else she could do to lighten the mood David asked can you dance and without missing a beat Amelia did the robot she she did it with commitment she did it well maybe she'll do it later for you if you ask nicely and even the president had no choice but to smile she got the job ten seconds after she left the room and the two of us ran to tell her before she left the building because letting her get on an 11 hour flight home without knowing seemed like cruel and unusual punishment and from her from her first day of shooting in 2010 to her last day nine years later and all the days in between she has been she has represented the very best of the UK's film and TV talent and that's why she's receiving the Britannia Award or Prytania Britannia Britannia Britannia Britannia which is meant to honor a person for doing just that we despaired of ever finding anyone who's arranged in nuance but one who can project this is hard one who can project extraordinary power ordinary humanity and all the colors in between she is the box of 128 crayons with the built-in sharpener and she has only just begun and that only covers what she has achieved on screen which is amazing as it is is only a portion of what makes her so singular being cast in this role as a 23 year old straight out of drama school was like getting shot out of a cannon but in nine years amelia has never once lost sight of the ground she's not about complaints she's not about demand she's about getting the job done and getting the job done right her commitment is unflagging both to the work she's doing and to the people doing it alongside her her basic decency runs right through to her core as anyone who knows her can attest she was out of her way to make the day better for everyone around her and if you'll allow a couple of American upstarts to stereotype your nation for one moment when we think of British values we think no-nonsense commitment and decency those two things immediately come to mind I really suck at reading a teleprompter I apologize but those two things are a big part of what made the UK such a special place for us to spend 10 years and Emilia embodies all of that and so much else besides if Britannia was the goddess who came to personify the British Isles we can think of no better mortal to personify Britannia than Amelia Isabel Euphemia rose [Applause] when Game of Thrones started none of us really had any idea what a playable phenomenon it was gonna become [Music] Emilia came into this first big job young vulnerable I don't want to be his queen it's probably one of the greatest character revolutions I've ever seen her story kind of paralleled her Daenerys storyline and she had to do all these crazy things and her first season and for anyone else they probably would have broke him down and said no I can't do this and then she literally like a phoenix rises out the ashes at the end of season one and ever since then she's been a superhero I feel like after so many years of working with her like she still doesn't know how good she is we will lay waste to armies and burn cities to the ground turn us away and we will burn you first she's definitely a warrior she's a bit of a chameleon what you see her as in Game of Thrones with this platinum blonde hair she's not like that in person you know I mean it's amazing she is a character actress when you think of Game of Thrones that's a difficult role and she's managed to give it so many different colors when you watch her media's performance is she is just a complete badass but I think she tries to play complexities of the experience of women okay know you think you're here so you can just lock me in a room until I give birth to the leader of the resistance right but this this is the only way to stop Skynet for good I already said you're right wait what she plays women who are relatable so what are you gonna do about your little problem problem I oh please it's just us to pretend you can fall in love with her on screen it's very easy to fall in love with her in any character she plays she has such versatility you all right every role that she plays kind of mirrors who amelia is she's such a strong woman she's retention [Music] Media is a huge role model for young women she makes her own decisions doesn't take no as an answer I'm looking forward to anything Emilia does she's gonna smash it Emilia huge congratulations on the Britannia Award for British artist severe you're awesome you're hilarious you're talented I look up to you so much congratulations I'm so excited and proud of you enjoy the evening you deserve and I can't think of anyone more deserving this show has meant more to us than we can put into words and Emilia you have meant more to us than we can put into words as well to to the most weird wonderful joyful and outrageous decade of our lives whenever we think of it we will think of you the rightful queen of the Seven Kingdoms standing at the head of an army of mounted warriors doing the robot we we love you come on up here and take this goddamn trophy [Applause] oh my goodness me that was a lot to watch yeah and firstly I just I just really like to thank BAFTA for this amazing award and quite honestly for allowing me even within three feet of these incredible masters of their craft I feel like I can't look directly at them as I fear there might be a figment of my imagination I mean Steve McQueen Cate Blanchett Damian Lewis Kevin Feige Jim Carrey SUSE I really had wandered into the wrong room that being said I think I've already cleared a space for this and my downstairs loo so um the reason why you're giving this to me begins and ends with the two ludicrously talented men standing behind me they actually deserve their own bravery award for hiring someone whose biggest job until then was catering kids parties dressed as Snow White yeah be kind to your service everyone there might be thanking you in a speech someday but really I was I was just plucked from unemployed actor obscurity and thrust into the most defining part of my adult working life and for the next almost decade there I stayed growing and learning and falling off horses and being attached to CGI dragons setting fire to a lot of stunt men and women all the while I was being nurtured and taught by incredible writing incredible direction an incredible cast incredible crews incredible hair makeup costume special effects CGI stunts drivers I mean the weather seriously could have given us a break but um it makes for one incredible family so for better and for worse we really we really are a real family we fight and we play and we laugh and we drink but the vital part of my life begins and ends with the magic of HBO and David Benioff and Dan Weiss my heroes seyoung they and the and the people who make the really big decisions gave me my career which gave me a lot of strength to fight the real-life battles and so just give me determination to do them proud and that's something I'm going to take with me forever so BAFTA LA I just want to thank you for giving me an excuse to thank them in front of more people than you know the moco unit of Game of Thrones so thank you so much [Applause]

Channel: MOD4LYFE

Views: 3,147,010

Rating: 4.9329596 out of 5

Keywords: emilia, clarke, emilia clarke, daenerys, targaryen, khaleesi, mother of dragons, game of thrones, got, MOD, britannia, awards, 2018, britannia awards, above suspicion, me before you, solo a star wars story, solo, star wars, voice from the stone, terminator

Id: Z4tfo0_b8HM

Length: 13min 56sec (836 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 28 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/southern_mimi]

This is a lovely story about a really nice person. Bravo Emilia!

[u/corndogs88]

Emilia said the writing was good I'm literally shaking

Seriously though, great speech by D&D. You can tell everyone is a big family and love each other. Well deserved for Emilia