Emilia Clarke’s casting in ‘Last Christmas’ helped her to overcome the disappointment of ‘Game of Thrones’ ending.
The 32-year-old actress – who stars as Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO fantasy series – was devastated by the show coming to a close, and was thankful for the opportunity to star alongside Henry Golding in the Paul Feig-directed romantic comedy.
She told the Daily Mail newspaper: "This is it. It’s over and I cried like a baby on the last day. I felt completely lost.
"It was very strange and wonderful to get this [‘Last Christmas’]. This part couldn’t be more opposite, because dragons ain’t funny.
"Ten years is a long time. It’s like losing an actual limb. I was 22 – a child – when I first walked on the ‘Game of Thrones’ set. I grew up with her."
Henry has recently emerged as one of the up-and-coming stars in Hollywood, having made his feature film debut in ‘Crazy Rich Asians’.
Despite this, the Malaysian actor has insisted he doesn’t want to be "defined as the Asian leading man".
He said: "I don’t want to be defined as the Asian leading man. I want to be the leading man. Henry Golding.
"If it means helping inspire other Asians to be leading men, hell yeah, I’ll take it. You don’t know how proud I am to have that associated with my name.
"Sadly, we’re so underrepresented that we have to start with these labels to be proud of it, to normalise it. So s**t, I’ll be the next Asian leading man."
Emilia Clarke says Last Christmas casting was ‘wonderful’
