Happy Sad Confused - Emilia Clarke

Episode Date: June 16, 2021

Emilia Clarke says she's had a pretty low key last year but then you find out she jumped out of a plane for her birthday and created her first comic book so you be the judge. Emilia joins Josh on the podcast for the first time to chat about comics, the end of "Game of Thrones", and her comfort movie, "Sense & Sensibility"! Don't forget to check out the Happy Sad Confused patreon here! We've got exclusive episodes of GAME NIGHT, video versions of the podcast, and more! For all of your media headlines remember to subscribe to The Wakeup newsletter here! And listen to THE WAKEUP podcast here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, Sad, Confused begins now. Today on Happy, Sad Confused, Amelia Clark on her new comic book, Game of Thrones, and joining the Marvel Universe. Hey guys, I'm Josh Harwoods.

Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Yes, proud and excited to say, Amelia Clark, first-time guest on the podcast today. I've wanted to have Amelia on for a while. I've certainly talked to her over the years. but never for a lengthy conversation like this. And what a great excuse to catch up because she is now a comic book creator.

She is the co-writer and creator of Mom, Mother of Madness, a three-issue comic book series about a single mom superhero that is well worth checking out. I got a chance to watch the first, or rather read the first issue, and it is fantastic and funny and quirky and all the things that Amelia is. It is available right now for pre-aulmonary,

on Amazon or wherever you get your comics. So definitely check that out. Get your hands on a copy of Mom, Mother of Madness from the mind of Amelia Clark. So exciting to see an actor exploring different creative avenues. And Amelia Clark is certainly somebody who has been entertaining us for many years, most notably, of course, on Game of Thrones. Yes, if you know me, you know I was late to the party that I got there. I got there before the end, guys. And I saw what all the hubbub was about. So we had a lovely chat about Game of Thrones, about that ending of Game of Thrones, which, of course, is still controversial to many.

We talk about her joining the Marvel Universe very soon. I don't know if you guys are aware, but Amelia Clark is going to be on Secret Invasion, the show that's going to be starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelssohn and Olivia Coleman, and yes, Amelia Clark. So some interesting stuff about that in here, as well as stuff on Starry, solo, and her comfort movie of choice, which was Sense and Sensibility starring and written by her illustrious Last Christmas co-star, Emma Thompson. So a great conversation with Amelia.

I know you guys are going to dig. Other stuff to mention. A lot is going on. Of course, I teased, I think, recently my conversation with Tom Hiddleston. By the time you listen to this, I believe it should be up on MTV News's YouTube page. a fantastic catch-up with Tom about all things Loki, including a look back to our first meeting way back when in 2010 at Comic-Con. That was a blast to reminisce with him about that.

Other things going on. Let's see, I'll like chat with Vin Diesel the other day about F9, the new Fast and Furious movie. That's going to be up on MTV News pretty soon. We have a new Game Night episode up right now with Bree Larson and Jesse Ennis. that's over on the Happy Said Confused Patreon page. If you guys haven't checked it out, I encourage you to just see what it's all about and see if you're interested.

Patreon.com slash HappySaid Confused. Again, that's Patreon.com slash Happy Sad Confused. And most notably, what you get there is on-camera versions of the podcast, including the Samalia Clark chat, if you want to view it instead of just listening to it. And the Game Night episodes, including episodes we've done so far with folks like Sam Huyn and Colin O'Donah and Jane Levy and Skylar Aston and Brie Larson and some other very, very notable folks coming up on that. So really thrilled about how Game Night is going. I think I'm going to leave it there because there's a lot going on.

Oh, here's my one other plug. It's sadden to see that, you know, obviously last week's guest was John M. Chud, the director of In The Heights. The film didn't perform hugely at the box office, at least not in the first weekend. I'd encourage you guys still to check it out in theaters, if possible. just because it doesn't do well at the box office doesn't make it any less worth seeing. And in fact, this is a film that I think and hope should still be in the conversation for some of the best films made this year. And I don't know anybody that's seen it that's been disappointed.

So try and see it in the theater if you can and at the very least check it on HBO Max because that's one that I don't want to see just fall away and people forget about too quickly because in the Heights was a special work. That's my unsolicited plug for the week. All right, let's get on to the main event. A fantastic chat with the delightful Amelia Clark. Again, check out her new comic book, Mom, Mother of Madness, wherever you get your comics, and enjoy our chat about all things.

Thrones, comic books, Jane Austen, where else are you going to get that triumvirate? Then in a chat with Amelia Clark, here it is. Amelia Clark, welcome to happy, say, confused, even if it happens to be on my weird little Zoom box on my computer. I'm happy to have you. It's good to see you. Oh, well, thank you so much.

I am happy, not sad or confused about, maybe confused, no, I'm not confused. We'll see about that by the end of this, how you're feeling, I'll check in at the end. How's Ted doing, first of all? You're a dog mom, as I understand it. Yes, he's so good. I can't have you just said that exact moment.

Ted right now, because he knows mom's in the room and he's not allowed in the room, so I just keep hearing like, He'll be like gay still still he thinks he might be able to slip under the door one day He's the real star over there well I'm a new I'm a new dog dad and my my Lucy is literally at my feet So we we both got people competing for our attention here so it's okay no no no that's all good What kind of what kind of puppy do you have she's she's a rescue pit pit mix oh gorgeous Gorgeous the sweetest thing I keep saying like now I think I have a semblance of a I know a little bit

what it's like to be you or any kind of celebrity walking on the street because I get so much more attention than I ever, I mean, people like do triple takes. They're like, oh my God, what is that beautiful thing with you? And I'm like, oh, this is. It's, yeah, it's the greatest conversation starter. Yeah. I mean, because obviously I've had Ted all throughout, he was a pre-lockedown puppy, but I had him all the way throughout that time and taking him on his dog walks and you just, you're like, oh, my, I've been able to interact with human beings this entire time. On my one designated dog walk a day, I get to have the chat to a bit of safe distance. I get the, you know, I can chat to people.

It's kind of perfect. Yeah, I'm generally kind of an antisocial person, but I feel like Lucy's bringing me out of my shelf after all these years. It's good. They do that. They really do, yeah. So we were exchanging pleasantries because it's always kind of the first conversation started when you see somebody for the first time in a long time in this insanity. you know, it's all on a sliding scale, right, how we're doing. You seem to be doing well, but you have been,

you were saying you've essentially been kind of in that box I'm seeing you in for most of the last year. The whole, yeah, get me out of the box. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, no, it really, the biggest thing is that I have not worked in this time. I have a production company. I have a charity. I'm busy.

Like, I've been, I've worked, but I haven't done what I do. I haven't done my day job in a year. That which defines you. Who are you when you aren't doing what you do? Tell me about it. And this is the interesting thing as well, because I'm now, I get to put on a few different hats

rather than just acting. Yeah. And I feel like I'm not the only actor that experiences this, but I was talking to a writer friend of mine the other day and I was like, I shouldn't be complaining so much, but it's just so different, like,

How do you get the, you know, we're in a profession where we chose our careers because we loved what we do. That's so lucky. And he was like, well, no, you don't get the zingy euphoria. He's like, I can have the zingy euphoria of the good stuff that my job gives me. Anytime I open up my computer, there's a chance that that might happen. He's like, for you to get the zingy euphoria, you need 70 people, minimum, can make that happen. like that's you're relying on and it's that's the crux of maybe you should he doesn't he wasn't currently acting you should have a little laugh track installed in your

in your flats just something every time you walk into the room some well no so it's I mean it's but it's not even it's not even the the like what you're getting from an audience it's doing it with this other person and they're being I'll witness to that, be it a camera or just three other people in a half-empty theater, that are witnessing you both being different people and getting the, oh, okay, you know, getting the, I miss that. So that's what I'm really missing. I'm missing.

It makes sense. Yeah. Well, I didn't have that conversation over the years even pre-pandemic with actors, because, like, especially, I talked about, like, you know, you need a theater. You need people. And it's like why some actors actually, as painful as it is, almost enjoy the auditioning process. because it's like, oh, you're actually, I get to do it, at least. I get to do the acting thing.

It's not just Ted. It's not just my, you know, and I'm not the kind of girl to sit at home and, you know, do my Hamlet's soliloquy to the wall. Like, that ain't me. It's, there's plenty other weird creative stuff that I spend my time doing when I'm on my own. And I definitely have the laughter track in my head at all times. I'm not adverse to talk, you know, Ted is just a vehicle for me to talk out loud. Like, that's just basically it.

Ted's heard it all this last year. Ted's got on some great performances, some cries, perhaps, who knows? Yes, yeah. So what has filled the void creatively? I mean, we're going to get into the comic in a bit, but has it been all the kind of different endeavors, or have you found, like, a lot of actors I've talked to have done podcasts or other voiceover work?

Yeah. So, I mean, podcasts was something that I was going to do, but that just did, it didn't feel right for me. There was a specific thing that I was going to do for it. So creatively, reading all the scripts being, I have a production company, so I'm constantly working on that. And then what is filled the creative void? I mean, the stuff that always fills the creative void, watching, reading, listening.

I have during lockdown, I may not have a starter for my sourdough, but I do have a shitty old keyboard and now the ability. to play it. So I have learnt the piano, which has been really, because I sing, that's the other thing that you want to handle on your own. I mean, you can. I can't. But yeah, so I started learning the piano so I could accompany myself and I'm now... You're a one-woman band. There you go. I just need my little drum kit at my feet. She can be busking soon on the corners of London. Just look out for her. Yeah, coming to you, coming to an oxygen queen of you. But that's been, that's been a genuinely, genuinely creative, fulfilling experience of like, oh, I feel blank.

I'm going to sit at the piano and play something. And that has helped. I was looking to earlier, though, it seems like maybe I missed read stuff on social media because that's obviously how we find out what people are up to nowadays. That's our new research tool. But did you escape your environs at least to jump out of a plane in celebration of your birthday? Oh, yes.

Yeah, I did. I did. So I thought, what's more frightening than turning 34 jumping out of a plane? So let's just get, let's just find somewhere in the middle and do it. And then you can be scared of doing that on that day. Yeah, so I did it. I had a bunch of friends who were going to come. It was all COVID friend. I mean, the whole damn things outside, obviously. And I had a bunch of friends who were going to come and join me. Everyone chickened out, apart from my mother and my brother. That's sweet. That's amazing.

My, I'm not going to say how old she is because she'll kill me. Yeah. Mother who had me at a certain age and she's not in her 30s. It was the greatest thing that's ever happened. Because I was the last person to jump out of the plane. As the door opens,

because you're in this like, like riggedy old plane and the massive door opens and my mom is at the front next to the door and she just turns around to me and goes, who is who is this woman you can't park for what's going on she's Patrick Swayze and point break all of a sudden

she's uh that's amazing yeah so that was how did you take to it did you enjoy it or was it like what the fuck am I doing no no no no I love it I absolutely absolutely loved it I'm not a bungee jumping kind of girl but I love a theme part so the idea oh it was just I love love love love love I had

I had a minute of, oh, I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Oh, God, I can't breathe. And then when you pull the parachute, you're just. Amazing. Amazing. I'll take your word for it. I don't know if I have the disposition, but I admire your. I admire yourself. Okay. Okay. Look, I'm not, I'm talking to human beings. That's a start. So I'm starting to come out of my shell in my 40s. We'll see. You mentioned your mom. I, I'm curious like, you know, as we kind of go back, into the career and your and your your life as a kid, who helped you define your interest? Was it your mom? Was it your dad? Was it your older brother? Because I do want to get a sense of sort of like how you kind of formulated the things you were into as a kid. It's really, it's

really, it's a, it's a funny one to track because on the one side I have my dad, who is a, he was in theater, musicals. And, um, and, um, and so, So he was a sound designer and so music and creativity was always there. We were always going to see his stuff. He had an incredible life being like at the forefront of the 60s and the all of it. You know what I mean? He was a rolling for a band. He took all the drugs.

He live music like live performances was what made him tick. So I grew up with that. kind of knowledge and kind of wanting to be interested in what my dad was doing when he was a kid and like the Beatles oh my god are the Rolling Stones and all these incredible Bob Dylan oh my God and so there was that my mom not not a musical bone in her body she loves a bit of Motown but like and very driven and very career focused and so that energy gave me my appetite for work you get the drive from mom but you get the artistic kind of a sensibility my dad chill clinic guy yeah like there was a lot of chillness there um and then my brother i wanted to be him

so his taste in music was like on point and was always the cool like he he was like on it like and he knew the best films and knew all the cool stuff whereas my taste in my family was a little bit sacrin it was a little bit different it was you know i was when i found my own taste in music and film and TV, it wasn't what maybe the rest of my family were interested in. And I'm saying all of these things because it's a complicated thing because

my dad did not want me to be an actor. He really, really didn't. Like, he really didn't. Like, he saw it every day. It was like, these people are sad and out of work. Yeah. That is 80% of an actor's life is that. He wasn't wrong, yeah. Yeah, and he was never there going, I don't believe you can do it. He was just going

As a loving father, I don't think I want to see my kid go through this, because it doesn't look like you're going to be happy most of the time. So me finding acting, I don't know where it came from. I really, like, aside from clearly wanting to be the center of attention, at all times, I really, I was always glued to the TV. I always wanted to be read to. I always wanted to read out loud. I always wanted to read to other people.

I read a huge amount. I watched TV all the time. I watched movies all the time. I was listening to music all the time. I always needed stimulus. Do you know what I mean? I always was kind of like itching for that. And I used to think that was a real,

my mom always says as I was a kid, I just wanted to eat sweets and watch TV. But looking back now, I'm like, yeah, and now look at what I'm doing. Like, I'm in that world of it. kind of it sort of tracks that that that is yeah you know I was I was wanted stories in some way please eating sweets and watching TV probably describe that that's on my epitaph that's what Josh Harowitz did hit most of his life with you totally so I've been asking folks for to

select kind of one of their favorite comfort movies because you know especially in the last year and a half we've needed them more than ever um so the one you selected came out around when you were 10. Tell us your comfort movie. And did you encounter this movie back then or did it take a little bit later? No, it took a little bit later. So my comfort movie is sense and sensibility. I'm British. It goes without saying I love a period drama. I love it. The actresses in this movie are my favorite actresses. You have Dame Emma Thompson. You have Kate Winslet. Beautiful, beautiful actresses. And it's an, elevated rom-com, let's call it what it is, but it is, I discovered it, I think I discovered

it in my teens for sure and didn't really, it's taken a long time for me to be okay with my own taste in films. Like I could have put Chinatown, you know, I could have done a bunch of other stuff, but truly when I'm feeling like I just need a big warm hug, every time I've watch that film. I've gone, oh, it's just lovely, everything's going to be lovely. Yeah. And so I can't remember the first time that I, that I first watched it, but it's just, it left such an impact on me in, and I think it is the acting that does it

more than anything. I think it is finding those actresses that you get to go, I want to do that, I want to do what they're doing. I'm just, it's heartbreaking and beautiful and poignant, because I'm not with a comfort movie, I don't want it to be, eh, I don't, you know, I don't, I don't just put on, like, any old, you know, a bit of junk just to kind of, like, not feel anything. I need the opposite. Like, I was going to put, and I didn't,

I was going to put Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy, the most recent one with Gary Elman. Like, I need a story. I need something, my ultimate comfort is a, is a movie that just goes, I'm going to grab you, and I'm not going to let you know for however long it is. but that one that's like you're you're you're I feel like you have to be engaged you can like I mean insensibility you will be engaged too but it's sort of more a more of a passive experience

I feel like Tinker Taylor's older spy is like yeah it's it's different definitions it's like yeah there's something for everybody I remember like Zachary Quinto selected like magnolia and like I love Magnolia more than me but no I wouldn't call it a comfort movie yeah no no no no no the frogs alone are enough to be like creeped out but it's it going to rain frogs one day is that going to happen because apparently it could happen. So for those that don't know, obviously, of course, based on the Jane Austen work, but really, I think what works beyond the acting also is the combination of Emma Thompson's screenplay and you have Ang Lee directing, which is...

Yeah. Amazing. The cinematography is beautiful. It feels, it just, it feels like it encapsulates the time. I mean, you're with Kate Windsor the whole time being like, Why are you just going to stop being so, like, repressed? So you get that, you get that part of your brain being taken care of when you're watching it. But the kind of quivering withholding of feeling until it all comes out.

It's just so satisfying to attract that. And then it does. And you get a double wedding. And it's just. You've, of course, worked with Emma. Relatively the last couple of years on last Christmas, did you, have, Have you professed? Did you come clean on your...

Yeah. Yeah, you have to. 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just get it out of the open. Where you're like, you get this all the time. I'm really sorry, but... Let me just say my piece.

I just think you're in quite, like, it's a very important film to me. And it's weird because I watched it. I didn't watch it for a while after I worked with her. Because I was like, is it weird? Because she's like, I dare I even say it, I can call her my friends now. Like, we text, we phone, we hang out.

We never walk. Is it going to be weird? And it isn't weird. It's still fabulous. I still like, because it's a different level. That's fantastic. It's fantastic. Okay, so a lot to get to.

Let's get to your latest project without any further ado. I read the first issue of mom, M-O-M-M-O-M-O-M-M-O-Madness. Yes. So, well, the first of it talked to me about, like, does this begin as just an idea, like an idea and then like what am I going to do with it or was there was there the idea to dip your toe into like the comic book world like what is it the chicken or the egg what do you how does this one come about it started with the comic book world for sure it started it was kind of it all came at once it was very much a wouldn't it be funny if you had a comic book heroin

who was relatable and believable and wore an outfit that she could pee in and if she got hungry. If she got full, she got unbuttoned. Like, it was the whole thing. I wanted something that was really relatable. And we were laughing and joking about it. And that was that. And then the next day I woke up and I was like, I'm still thinking about that thing. I think I'm just going to explore this a little bit further. And then it just snowballed. And now it's made. Like it's a literally being that process. It's, it's a, it's been a kind of, the idea happened. And then everything just fell into place in a way that you're like, well, I have to make it. This is too, not easy, but this is, things are falling into place in a way that is

allowing this to kind of be fed up. What's the satisfaction level of seeing something like this realized versus like seeing your face on a magazine or a movie poster? Is it different to see your, this realized with your name on the cover as a co-writer? What's it like? Yeah, it's, it's wild. It's so different. It's just completely, completely different. I, um, very British in my don't handle praise very well don't really like I I very rarely agree with someone if they're like that was really cool I'm like yeah well you know what seven thousand other people were there to make that happen so I kind of like you're not really complimenting me you're complimenting the costumes department or the camera department or the director or the

whatever it is and with this you're like there's a team of women because I only hired women to create this project there's a team of women that are behind this but yeah that's it's it's it's more that i had an idea and now it's in my hands that's trippy that's like yeah another level of oh my god and it goes beyond any kind of let's i wonder how it's going to be received of course it's going to hurt if everyone's like this sucks this is the worst thing i've ever read you've ruined it we hate you goodbye you're cancelled that would hurt however if this is only for three people in the world and they like it genuinely i mean this is my whole heart that's enough like that really i made a thing yeah happy i made it it it wouldn't exist without you yes there was

before yes what what was your relationship with comic books growing up like were you were you into them? Was it your brother's thing? Like, was it like, well, because I mean, like, there's a stigma, again, and the comic book world for decades has been built mostly for dudes and catered to dudes. Did you feel that growing up? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I never felt like it was an environment that was for me. There were a bunch of things that I watched and I read and I absorbed that were for me as the teenage girl or is the pre-prepressing girl or whatever it was. But my brother was massively into comics and I

would find the women in them. and love them and read them and enjoy them um and then you know you've got your wonder women's and then and then speed it up to the movies are being made and then i'm like oh now i have complete access now now i'm allowed now i'm kind of i'm with all the other masses that are going to the movies and going oh yeah remember this remember this oh and now it's being fully realized in front of my face and then and now you have captain marvel and now you have these incredible women. So I also, like I said, I was kind of, I just needed stories and needed stimulation in some creative way growing up. Fantasy novels were something I was massively

into and still am, like Philip Pullman until I die. Like they're just really, and so when, when kind of thinking up this world, it made so much sense that I would go here, not only because the comic book community has welcomed me with open arms and has followed me from franchise to franchise. Like, I feel at home there. I feel accepted there. I feel like they're, I just love them, basically. I love them. And so this seems like a, like a no-brainer for this to be the place that I would then write a story in, not only because the joy of comics and fantastical fiction, is that anything is possible. Your imagination can be as wild and as crazy as you like,

and that's definitely where my imagination is in the more cuckoo crazy land. Well, it's in the title, madness. The character in this, the lead character, she's a single mom, her powers, and I don't know the whole story, just having read the first issue, but it's really connected to her physicality, to literally her menstruation. That's something I haven't read in the comic book before.

Talk to me a little. bit about that because like I don't know if I'm making too big a leap here but like you know you obviously were very open about your own your health struggles and being kind of like not feeling in control of your own body I would imagine is a sense you had for for many years. Is there anything to relate to this character where like she is not in control of her own powers in a way? Yeah absolutely it's kind of it's a bunch of things so like you have your wonder women's and your captain marvels but what I felt was missing and why I felt this actually made sense to be made is that flea bag meets Deadpool bit for women because Deadpool is nailing it I'm going to love that

I absolutely love it and then you have what fleabag has done to female stories female stories in in film and TV and so I kind of was like well okay so what if you had a superhero that was that you could laugh with at and was relatable and was funny, like actually funny. I mean, dear God, people who were listening to this, if it's not actually funny, I'm sorry. It's funny. I'll voucher. Thank you very much. And so to try and to try and create a space for that superhero to exist.

And then as I started to get further into it, because I wrote like 50 pages of this, I wrote the whole thing. I wrote all the stories, all the characters, I wrote what the next things would be. I wrote like this bunch of stuff. It just all kind of came out. And in doing that, I started to realize that, okay, so we're talking about powers. This is fun. And I wanted to have the sense that it started as when you're on your period,

you get all this stuff that is happening to you that you hate. Not only is it still a massive taboo, if you drop your tampon in the supermarket, you're going to be slightly embarrassed. There's no need for you to be embarrassed, but you probably will. right um so there's that but then there's also the hormonal changes that happen in your body that you don't like like no i'm not going to do that thing because of x because of because i feel perfy i feel tired i feel angry i feel sad i feel happier i feel all these things that are kind of out of your control but we learn to feel like because you can't control it it's not yours

it's it's something that's happening to you and by the way people don't talk about this and it's just not a nice place to be. So I wanted to try and create something whereby women could feel the truth of it, which is that it's a powerful thing that our bodies do and that it is there in order for you to create a human being in the stomach. Like that's mental, that's beautiful, that's powerful, it's incredible. But alongside that, I didn't want this to just be for women. I wanted to be a female story, but I didn't want it to only be for them. Using your, the menstrual cycle, a period as a vehicle to discuss. We have emotions. We are human beings. Society is telling us to feel ashamed about that. That's not right. To to embrace and accept your individuality and accept these,

these feelings that we're all entitled to having. And so in turn, making them superpowered. And having this woman's journey be the journey of a woman going, I hate myself, I hate myself, I hate myself, I suck into, oh, I've been looking at this all wrong. Yeah, run at it, embrace it as opposed to hide it. Yeah, look what I can do. Look, look what I'm capable of achieving when I am at peace with these things. Yeah.

It's a grandiose statement for a comic. But hey, that was the energy behind going into this. So I wanted to try and find something that did that and also was funny and also was a very modern story. So you'll see when you read the comic, there's a bunch of nods to the climate that we're living in right now. Right.

That you will see that was, it was fun to have that, to have, oh, the out, because normally with superheroes and with comics, they're kind of, they're in our world, but they're not in our world, or they're in another world, or they're in another universe, or in another kind of, and I wanted to have one that was like,

no, we're here, we're here. We're in a heightened version of here, but sure, but we're here. There's a long history of when actors have done comics. Like, for instance, I remember, like, Keanu did a comic a couple years ago, and then, sure enough, a couple years past, and you're like, wait, that character looks a little bit like Keanu, and then it's like, we're developing this into, a film or TV series

there's something wrong with that but I'm just curious is there an eye for this to be developed as something for yourself to star in for TV or film this is what I have to keep saying it's not the reason

why I made it making it into a movie is not the reason why I made it if that is what's going to happen to it let's just deal with that when it happens I didn't want my character that I didn't want Maya to look

the spitting image of me because I just feel like that's a little narcissistic, I don't know. Like, I just, like, I don't, I don't, I don't, that's not the, she's a whole other person. She's a whole, this is a whole character with like a bunch of attributes. So yeah, there's that. So you also are at long last going to dive headfirst into a comic book project. Yeah.

Very soon. Yes. With an amazing cast. So clearly the, the concept and the scripts are. stories are there because you don't get you and Olivia Coleman joining a Marvel show. Come on. I really cried that I had that she had officially joined. I was like, can you give me some a friend? I know. So, I mean, obviously we're not going to spoil anything, but can you just give me a little backstory on sort of was this in development for a while? Had you been talking to Marvel about

various things or was it this specific thing that came up that made sense? It was the specific thing that came up. A producer, the main producer, on it, showrunner on it, Chris had worked at HBO. And so yeah, he called me

and he told me and I put my stuff on tape and then I got the job and it was kind of a sick as that. Amelia Clark has to put herself on tape for Marvel. What? I love doing auditions

because then you get, not only do you get the thing where the person hiring you knows you can do it which is really helpful right uh you also are like okay cool i'm this is something we can do like the idea that when you just get hired without doing it the first day on set becomes this like oh no oh no i'm going to get on there and they're going to find me because they never checked they never checked that this is something we were all happy with um but also i think it's a marvel thing they ask everyone to tape and i'm like i'm i'm never going to be the actor that's like, I don't take. That's not what I do. Beyond being part of Marvel,

which clearly has a track record that's kind of unparalleled, they know what they're doing. This character in particular is intriguing for you, I take it. Yes. Now, I'm going to, I'm just going to say one thing. The first people that I spoke to after getting the Marvel job was their security team. I am scared. I literally live in fear that like something's going to happen. Okay. I don't want that. We don't want that. So, but yes.

You play a character. He told me the thing. I play a character. And I'm super into everything about it. Super into the cat. I love Ben Mendelsohn. Oh, my God. Obsessed.

Okay. Me and my friends have a freaky little Ben Mendelsohn fan club. Oh. I'm going to have. He's in the category. I have like a couple obsessions in that vein. It's like Michael Shannon is one of my. my obsessions and I put like Michael Shannon

Ben Mendelsohn in like the special character actor leading man weird team no no exactly but the men Mendelssohn like our little thing of like it's a thing it's a thing you're like oh Ben's in it yeah we have there's memes it's a thing so yeah I was in that's I think the name that most of my mates

are excited about they're like oh my god you get like to be near the real thing and you start it relatively soon I take it yes we start relatively soon again there's a breaking his headline. Amelia Carr confirms secret invasion starts relatively soon. It's okay. I don't need that. I'm curious. Your history, though, because like every actor nowadays has had a long history with these kinds of projects. Like, according to, if you believe what you read, you were up for Sharon

Carter way back when for Civil War. Did you, do you remember that for Captain America? Or is that a lie? I don't know that that happened. I don't know. I could have been up for it and my agents never told me got it so i guess my my broader question is have you come close to doing stuff like this have you done the marvel dc audition thing a lot or at all no no this is the first this is my first brush with marvel um i i feel like there was the whole time i was in game of thrones with time that one would imagine this is me guessing another because none of us were in so I'm guessing it's like we don't want to take someone that's all that's in the middle of another massive franchise which I totally respect right yeah um or they just thought

I was crap until now I don't know it's just a very real possibility um so I really I mean I think that Chris um Chris Gary is the person who championed me and got me this job And he's fabulous. Obviously, fantastic taste. Amazing taste, yeah. But I'm super psyched to work with him. That's going to be a person. Did you talk to, have you talked to your old buddy, Kit?

I mean, he obviously had a recent big Marvel experience working on internals with Klois Rao. Yes, yes. I haven't spoken to him since getting this. I speak to his wife more than I speak to Kit. Because Rose is like my best mate as well. Um, uh, yeah, no, but he did. He, all I know is that he had a fabulous experience. I spoke to him a bunch when he was doing it, when he came back from it. And, um, yeah, he just loved it. So in, in the wake of, of Thrones, which, you know, obviously took up a tremendous amount of your life just in terms of headspace, physical space, just time. Um, what's it been like the last few years? I mean, like, you obviously, you had in the middle of, you were still doing Thrones, we did Terminator, and then after you do last Christmas.

I believe that was after you finished Thrones, probably. Yeah, that was right afterwards, yeah. So I guess just the broader question is, and, you know, has it been tough to kind of figure out, like, okay, what do I do now? Like, what's, what are my priorities? Well, like, because it's hard, it's going to be hard to kind of live up to, like, a cultural phenomenon, no matter what you do. Oh, yeah, a little bit. No, no, no, no, a little bit.

It's, no, it was, it was around season five or six that I was. was like this is going to end what's up what are we doing where are we going what's happening and the thing that I the only thing that I cared about moving on from the show was that I got to act but do some acting um and like the mind state that I had in the beginning of the show I've always been very I want to try to try everything. I want to see what fits. I want to be an actor that's acting in her 90s. I want to, there's no rush, there's no like strategy, like how do we get to the specific thing. I think the biggest change that happened after the show ended or rather the last couple of seasons

was that I really am director-led. Like I really, really, really just want to work with directors that I think are offering something that is juicy for an actor. You know what I mean? So that could be two lines in a whatever film. It could be dumb, you know, an indie with a director that has a first film, whatever it is.

The conversations that I have with the director are the personal connections that you crave for. I mean, it's no accident. I did a play. I'm which is coming back I'm so excited So this was Seagull which you were about to do Literally like you were rehearsals you were about to start So it's gonna it's four previews

Oh you actually were doing previews already wow Yeah yeah yeah so that's not out of the system yet You need to like kind of exercise that demon I'm sure Yeah massively massively so I think that the Because I never felt when I was in the show I never ever allowed myself to look at or or be too aware of how it was being received or how it was being, not even received,

how it was being seen. And I don't think I was ever capable of doing that because I was too in it. The show ended and I still don't quite know what it was that we did. But I don't feel like that has, like the end of that has in any way dampened what my hopes and expectations are

for the next phase of my career. right um because i'm in it for the long run i just as long as i'm acting i'm good like and as long as it's whatever i you know and now i'm going to try this and i'm going to try that and and getting to be a producer and getting to be on that side of things has been so fulfilling and so illuminating my god how in god's name you do produce the deal with actors all the time we're a nightmare oh oh baby like it's that's been illuminating but also I was always so envious

if the producers that would come onto a set and it'd be your day one and it'd be their day 10 year and you're like oh you've got this connection you've got this umbilical cord with this project and I'm truly jealous of

like I wish I had that I get to experience that in a totally different way but the actor is often the final piece of the puzzle to get something over the line and getting it made and so that kind of feels like it's a different thing now like I get to I now I now actually get to make the things that I want to be in well it makes sense I mean if you'll get thrones which was one of your very first jobs in the industry like you were I mean you were probably just frankly thrilled to be there at first and the evolution is kind of fascinating over those years because you know at the start you couldn't have been thinking okay this and you were by the way like replacing another actor. So it was a very unusual kind of circumstance.

Like, you're not thinking, like, I'm going to make, I'm going to create this character that's going to be like a feminist icon. Like, no, I'm just, this is a job. It's a legit J.O.B. job. Like, I was, I was just, I don't know what HBO was. I mean, I kind of did, but I didn't really. Like, I was just like, oh, my God, I've got a job. I've got a job.

And then the first season happened. And then I did a press tour. And I was like, oh, my God, people are going to watch the job. They're going to look at it. They're going to look at the job that I just did that I thought was just a job. Okay. And that, I mean, I had to learn really quickly the process. Just forget about whether it's a successful failure, just the process of making something

and making something that was intending to be successful in that kind of way. So that was, I had no idea. And I think what you'll see with the jobs that I did in the time that I was doing Game of Thrones was, A, I'm fitting it into my hiatus, and B, I'm a bit of a kid in a candy shop, just going, okay, cool, yeah, let's do it, let's do that one. Let's do that one. Let's do that thing. No one can be grudged you, and I know you've been open about, like, Terminator, but like, it's a Terminator movie. You're going to get to do a Terminator movie. You get to be Sarah Connor with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Come on.

Exactly, exactly. So it was very much that. It was only in the final couple of seasons of the show that it started to go, oh, no, wait a second. I can. can decide what I do as opposed to just say yes to whatever's offered to me that because with every season of the show I thought they were going to fire me with every job that I did I was amazed that someone gave me a job I mean the imposter syndrome really stuck around for a very long time for a very very long time and it's taken me a huge mental upheaval to go you know what gave a rat's ass like yeah just do what you want to do do the thing and that and if that means that you don't

work for a minute because you're waiting for the thing that you really want to do, then do that. But it's definitely not with any plan in mind. It's just the plan is happiness. That is my plan. My plan is to try at all costs to get somewhere close to one of those two things. It took you a minute, but you've gotten the healthy plan out. You figured it out, I think. Yeah. Where are you at with like the ending? I think. I hesitate to even bring it up like my brother wrote on lost so I've I've experienced this second hand for years people still you know give him crap and give them crap about the ending of that show yeah were you were you surprised by the interpretations and and the disappointment by

many of the fans to the ending and were you protective of your own character I mean you didn't write it but but you're still representing it in a way yeah it's a it's a healthy mix of all of that I think uh a it's super incredibly flattering incredibly flattering that people care like that's always good I would rather someone care and have a very strong opinion than not give a flying whatever like I don't know if I can swear on this but I swear quite a lot so I'm really sorry um I would so I would rather that um and then on the other hand I was completely waiting for it and was like yeah because we could have had the ending could have been we all go and start hairdressers and people would be

really disappointed. Like, you could have been, you could have. It's a choice. Yeah. The fact that it ended was the thing. That's the thing that people are wrestling with and people. And so whatever you do, it's impossible, completely necessarily impossible for you to ever please that many people who,

for all of their different reasons, loved the show. And then there's the bit, then there's the two brains then there's me as Dineris who like will be in my heart till the day I die like I love her I speak of her as a separate individual

probably thinking crazy that's how I did it and I'm fiercely protective over my family on the show and of the people who I admire and love and respect and watched oh the more than more than anything

the crew that made up the show like we did well they were happy so wanting that to be the case at all times was I'm massively protective over that but I get it

I get why people were pissed I totally get it but me being the actor you can't you can't do justice to the character that you pulled your blood, sweat and tears into for a decade

without getting on the same page. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. So, like, I'm not going to be there being like, fine, I'll do the scene, whatever, so pissed. No, you have to buy in, you have to go all in, yeah, yeah. You have to be, you have to turn up. You have to turn up and you have to, because why?

Because you're doing it for you and you're doing it for her and you're doing it for the show and you're doing it for the storytelling. So I'm an actor. I get given a story and I need to tell that story. Yes, I have a certain. amount of autonomy over what flavor that might take, but the editor decides what it looks like and the writer decides what I'm saying. So you just got to go in and try and give it as much truth and honesty and of yourself as you possibly can. See, I'm finding every way to

talk about this. No, I get it. But I mean, did you have a sneaky suspicion as you're doing that and you're committing 110% that like, oh, this might, this might rub some people. Yeah. Well, the first instinct when you read the scripts is you just get that gut punch of like, whoa, okay, you're thinking about,

you know, your first reaction is that. It's okay. And then you start to go, oh, maybe people are going to, hmm, yeah, I wonder. I wonder. You don't know, but you do wonder. And then also, I really, for 10 years, stayed away from reading anything about it. Aside from what people were saying to me personally, I was completely largely unaware of what anyone was saying about anything.

So when this kicked off, I kind of was like, well, I'm carrying and doing what I've always done, which is sort of not really... Earmuffs a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, because if you read everything on every Reddit page, I would have jumped out of a window by now. 100% like um yes i suppose that's my that's my spiel on no no i get it i get it the last thing i do want to mention um i feel like and i had alden was actually on the podcast a few months back and i feel like solos estimation by fans just grows i feel like it was it was colored by the circumstances it was a weird one it was like it had a lot of baggage and for good or for bad and now it's like kind of this unicorn i kind of love like i don't know if we're going to get another kind of like

isolated Star Wars story on the big story. Oh, that makes me so happy because I, yeah, I loved Kira, loved her, really, really did. I loved Han, I loved the story, I love the people, I loved the experience. It was, I feel like it was one of those ones where, you know, when you know too much about a celebrity, and you go and watch their movie, and you're just thinking about how many kids Angelin Jolie has. And I feel like our movie was that.

Everyone went in knowing what our dirty laundry looked like. And so the separation, I think, was too great. You couldn't then separate that gossip from the overall experience. But I am so over the moon that people are posthumously enjoying it. Like, if we want a better word. I remember my brother watched it. And he's much more, he lets me know the tides of the fandom. Reddit environment, because I genuinely can't look at that moment.

Not healthy for you to do it. They have a conduit, yes. Yeah, so Ben will sometimes, when he deems it appropriate, will tell me. And I remember him, I remember Solo getting his seat of approval. And I was like, oh, well, maybe in 10 years, someone might stumble upon this movie again and be like, do you know what? I liked it. It hasn't taken 10 years, so don't worry about it. There's also, it sounds like we're going to, I think we, I think it's official that we'll

going to get a Lando series, is there, not that I'm expecting you to break news here, could Kira return, potentially? I have heard nothing. I mean, and I really, like, this isn't me, like, going, oh, my God, what am I had to say? Like, I absolutely nothing. But a Lando show makes so much sense. Give that man his own show. Yes.

And what he wants. It's the Donald Gubble universe. I want to want. I'm like, yeah. Yeah. So next, if we're so lucky, we're going to see you on the stage, relatively, soon in London, if we can make it out there? Yeah, I think, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say this, but I think it should be the

summer, I think, fingers crossed. But yeah, that's, so it is just coming back. You're going to get to do your thing and also get to enjoy that, the whole new aspect of your career as a creative, you know, as a creator of a comic book, as a producer, congratulations on, so do I call it mom or M-O-M? What's the, do a... Mom, you can call it. Okay.

Mom, Mother of Madness. It's available for pre-order, wherever you get your comics on Amazon. Right now. Right now. Limited-distance-signed copies are available if you'd like to pre-order from your comic book retailer

before the 28th of June. I love it. There you go. She's a pro. I'm glad it gave us an excuse to catch up today. Amelia, I'm glad you're staying well and enjoy jumping out of airplanes with your mom.

Yeah, absolutely. I say that like the daily occurrence. I assume we're going to do that later on today again. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's just a week here, parents. Thanks for your time today. I really appreciate it.

Thank you. It's been delightful. And so ends another edition of happy, sad, confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressure to do this by Josh. Hey, Michael.

Hey, Tom. You want to tell him? Or you want me to tell him? No, no, no. I got this. People out there. People lean in. Get close.

Get close. Listen. Here's the deal. We have big news. We got monumental news. We got spectacular news. After a brief hiatus, my good friend, Michael Ian Black, and I are coming back. My good friend, Tom Kavanaugh, and I are coming back to do what we do best.

What we were put on this earth to do. To pick a snack. To eat a snack. And to rate a snack. Unitively. Emotionally? Spiritually. Mates is back.

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