About 
X-Men '97 star Lenore Zann reflects on how stacked the X-Men: TAS cast was and when they realized that they had something special.
Posted in: Game Of Thrones, HBO, TV | Tagged: game of thrones
Game of Thrones: Lena Headey Hits Back on Fans' Body Double Backlash
Game of Thrones star Lena Headey (The Abandons) reflects on Cersei's infamous Walk of Attonement and the toxic backlash from fans.
Article Summary
- Game of Thrones star Lena Headey revisits Cersei’s Walk of Atonement and why the scene remains so infamous.
- Headey says using a body double for Cersei’s nude walk was about safety, comfort, and protecting the performance.
- The HBO veteran recalls shock at fan backlash, saying viewers felt “duped” after learning CGI was used in the scene.
- Headey contrasts her experience with younger co-stars, stressing how age and confidence helped her set boundaries on set.
In an industry that thrives on deceit for entertainment purposes, there's a fine line between comfort and presentation. Most importantly, safety is emphasized in everything, but there are far too many who feel that they're obligated to suffer for their craft, and it's something that Lena Headey is all too familiar with as an actress in Hollywood. As part of HBO's critically acclaimed Game of Thrones, Headey played Cersei Lannister for all eight seasons of the David Benioff and DB Weiss-created series that adapted the George R. R. Martin A Song of Ice and Fire novels to the screen, something the author still hasn't finished with The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring. In the HBO series, Cersei was originally the Queen, married to King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy), mother of both successors with Robert's death, and ascended to the Iron Throne herself as Queen before being deposed and killed by Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) in the series' final battle for King's Landing. Upon looking back at one of the character's most infamous moments, The Abandons star spoke with The Telegraph about her infamous nude walk through King's Landing as penance for her incest and her shock at the backlash when a body double was used in the season five episode "Mother's Mercy"
Game of Thrones Star Lena Headey Reflects on Walk of Attonement Backlash from Fans
To set the scene, Cersei was arrested as rumors spread of her love affair with her first cousin, Lancel Lannister (Eugene Simon). Her three children, Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman), and Myrcella (Nell Tiger Free) are her brother Jaime's (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). As punishment from the Septon, Cersei was imprisoned until she confessed. Lancel converted and served them. Given the series' proclivity for gratuitousness, Headey stepped in to explain how she wanted her scene handled compared to her younger peers.
"By that point I'd been through the wringer," Headey said. "I could stand up for myself. I'm not saying those actresses couldn't, but they were much younger and more vulnerable, and had far less experience of being in front of people and the camera and performing. Whereas I was of an age where I'd just tit about and diffuse anything uncomfortable with idiocy." Upon deciding to opt for a body double with CGI, and the subsequent fan backlash, "I was really shocked by the anger, by this idea that I'd duped the audience," she said. "But by that point, everyone knew [the cast], it was insane simply going anywhere, and I was with 3,000 extras. Acting is a joy, but it requires a lot of you. I wouldn't have been able to do the emotional part of the job; I'd have been in full-on defensive mode."
For more on her career and anger about Hollywood protecting predatory men, you can check out the entire interview. Game of Thrones is available to stream on HBO Max.
Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!
Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!
