Emilia Clarke put her acting skills to the test when she channeled ‘Sally the CEO’ and ‘Barbara the business woman’ to recreate stock images of people at work.
The 31-year-old Game of Thrones star calls the shoot a ‘career defining moment’ in the hilarious Vanity Fair video, which shows the magazine’s latest cover star giving the camera her best ‘overworked’ and ‘successful winning business woman’ poses.
‘What I am probably best known for is Game of Thrones, and then there is the Hans Solo movie that is just coming out, but I really feel confident that making stock footage is what I’ll be known for forever,’ she says at the start of the clip.
Look real! Emilia Clarke recreates business stock images in hilarious new Vanity Fair video
She’s the boss: The 31-year-old posed with her arms crossed while portraying a ‘leader of the team’
See the similarities? All Emilia’s photos from the shoot were inspired by actual stock photography (pictured)
Stock photography is often mocked for being unrealistic, but Emilia is very serious when it comes to the ideas and feelings she is trying to portray as a stock model.
While taking on ‘leader of the team,’ the actress first asked herself what it ‘actually’ means to be a leader.
‘I think it means being approachable,’ she says. ‘I think it means being amenable, but I think it means being firm — and Sally the CEO is that.’
The end result is photo of a suit-clad Emilia posed with her arms crossed while standing in front of her employees, who also have their arms crossed.
‘I’ve been waiting for this moment, this career-defining moment, this honesty and truth that I know I am going to find in Barbara the businesswoman,’ she explains.
Taking it seriously: To portray ‘pointing at statistics,’ Emilia smiled brightly while standing in front of a graph
Who did it best? The actress says achieving the perfect shot is all about the arm movement, eye contact, and, of course, the graph
The next stock image is ‘pointing at statistics,’ and, according to Emilia, achieving the perfect shot is all about the arm movement, eye contact, and, of course, the graph.
‘Some people like PowerPoint; some people like technology,’ she says. ‘I like graphs; I like diagrams. You know, a diagram isn’t going to crash on you. Those are the kind of thoughts that I think Sally the CEO has.’
Emilia insists she has been so excited that she’s been preparing for the shoot by trying to understand Microsoft and PowerPoints on a ‘deeper level.’
‘There’s a mystery around Sharpies that I didn’t know until now,’ she admits.
The Me Before You star really gets into character when she has to take on the role of someone who is ‘overworked’ — which she believes is ‘just a cry for help.’
Realistic portrayal: The Game of Thrones star truly looks like she is in pain while staring at a pile of papers on her desk to show that she is ‘overworked’
Almost the same: Emilia’s take on ‘overworked’ is similar to the pose in this actual stock photo
Inspiration: She also struck a pose with a white sign that has ‘Help’ written in black marker while imagining what it’s like to be stuck in a cubicle, begging for someone to help her
‘It’s just very honest and real and beautiful and touching,’ she explains. ‘What happens when it all goes wrong and you’ve run out of coffee? The people are really going to relate to that.’
In the photo, Emilia truly looks like she is in pain while staring at a pile of papers on her desk.
She also strikes a pose with a white sign that has ‘Help’ written in black marker while imagining what it’s like to be stuck in a cubicle, begging for someone to help her.
‘I think that the “help” can come from the Sharpie sniffing, and so I had to go there. You know, I had to go there,’ she says while taking a big sniff.
For Emilia’s ‘it’s going to be okay’ shot, she joins other stock models in giving her very best thumbs up, explaining that the gesture is incredibly meaningful.
You got this: The blonde beauty gives her best thumbs up to show ‘it’s going to be okay’
Slightly different: Emilia’s take was a bit more serious then this shot, which shows employees smiling brightly while giving a thumbs up for the camera
Celebrating? ‘You visualize winning. You see it in your mind. You feel it in your body, and you give it to the camera,’ she says of her ‘method’ acting approach to this photo
Same idea: The image is similar to this stock photo of employees jumping up and down
‘You know, it’s just a thumb, but it means so much. This is a universal sign,’ she says.
Her final pose, is her portrayal of the ‘successful winning business woman,’ and it may have been her best one of the day.
‘I’m taking a method approach,’ she explains. ‘I mean Daniel-Day Lewis — I think he could learn something from me in this.’
Emilia goes on to share the acting technique she followed while posing for the shots, which show her throwing her arms up in the air in celebration and kicking her feet up on her desk.
Nailed it: Her final pose was her portrayal of the ‘successful winning business woman’
Success: Emilia was inspired by this image of a woman relaxing with her legs kicked up on her desk
‘You visualize winning. You see it in your mind. You feel it in your body, and you give it to the camera,’ she says. ‘Its like I’ve actually won.’
The HBO star admits that the shoot is going to affect every part of her life moving forward, explaining she will never be able to look at a Sharpie or a graph in the same way ever again.
‘Maybe I will still occasionally keep an emergency Sharpie in my bag in case I need it,’ she says. ‘Making stock footage is probably the most powerful thing that’s happened to me.
‘It’s the most important thing that’s happened to me, and its really affected who I am and who I want to be moving forward,’ she continues. ‘Making stock footage, that’s the new high bar, and I just really hope that I keep meeting it.
‘I’m not sure that I can; it’s going to be hard.’