Emilia Clarke Does a 180 From Daenerys in the “Me Before You” Trailer
By Ani Bundel
Like many of the break out stars from Game of Thrones, Emilia Clarke has been taking steps to launch herself into a movie career before the show is over (or before her character dies, whichever comes first). Last summer, she headlined the Terminator comeback to less than stellar reviews, even though the character she played (alternate reality Sarah O’Conner) was a lot like the fierce khalessi we know on the small screen. This time she’s taking a different tack, starring in a romantic tearjerker as the star-crossed lover heroine in the movie based off the best selling novel Me Before You.
It helps that she’s not the only actor in the movie pulled from from our current Golden Age of Television. Not only does Charles Dance, the late great Tywin Lannister, appear as a stern patriarchal figure, but Clarke is surrounded by a bevy of fantasy/period movie and television show star power. There’s Jenna Coleman (Clara from Doctor Who), Brendan Coyle (Mr. Bates from Downton Abbey) Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter movies), and Sam Claflin, who was last seen as Finnick Odair in The Hunger Games franchise.
Claflin plays wealthy quadriplegic Will Traynor, who Clarke’s character Louisa (surname Clark, oddly enough) is hired to look after as his caretaker/nurse. Then all that falling-in-love stuff starts happening, and your heart starts feeling like a pregnant khaleesi is eating it and the tears start flowing like you’re about to see the Red Wedding all over again.
Ow, my heart. Ow ow ow. I’m not sure what I’m more overwhelmed by–the tragic romance that’s unfolding or the sheer amount of British fantasy actor star power the movie has hired to try and make this thing a hit. Let’s hope that, for Clarke’s sake, they succeed.