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Warning: this story discusses waterboarding and rape.
Actress Hannah Waddingham has once again discussed her character’s waterboarding sequence in Game of Thrones, and how it’s left her with chronic claustrophobia.
Appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Waddingham said filming that sequence in particular was “horrific.” She said she spent 10 hours of “being actually waterboarded” to get the shot. She was strapped down so she could not lift her head in an effort to make the scene more believable as grape juice was poured over her face. The producers going to such lengths is part of the reason why Game of Thrones remains unrivaled in terms of its production values, Waddingham said.
“It was horrific. 10 hours of being actually waterboarded. Like actually waterboarded,” she said. “Because Game of Thrones… the reason why I don’t believe it’s been touched yet in terms of the cinematography of it for a series—it’s just a different level. But with that comes actual waterboarding.”
Waddingham said she was OK putting herself through this because “you want to give the best” performance. “Thrones gave me something that I wasn’t expecting from it, and that is chronic claustrophobia,” she said.
In the scene, Cersei (Lena Headey) gets revenge on Waddingham’s character, Unella, by waterboarding her. You might have thought this would be done through CG or some kind of camera trick, but this was a practical stunt.
“Definitely, other than childbirth, it was the worst day of my life,” she said previously. “Because Lena was uncomfortable pouring liquid in my face for that long, and I was beside myself.
Showrunner Dan Weiss told Waddingham that, in order to sell the scene as authentic, Cersei would need to pour a lot of wine on Unella. So she agreed to film the scene with the hope that the production company would call cut if things go too scary.
“It was Dan Weiss that came up to me and went, ‘Look, in the script it says Cersei empties the remainder of her glass of red wine to wake up Unella. People aren’t gonna think that’s enough. What you’ve put her character through, that is not enough retribution for Cersei, especially the kind of person that she is. It needs to be more like a three quarter full [glass], also if we can cheat it even more carafe of wine,'” Waddingham said.
“My whole thing has always been, take people to the absolute nth degree of their emotions and that’s the same thing. Give of yourself and then it gives back to you,” she added.
The original plan for the sequence was for Unella to be raped by Gregore Clegane AKA The Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson), but the producers changed this at the last moment to have her be waterboarded instead.
Waddingham will be seen next in The Fall Guy, which releases in May. As for the Game of Thrones series, the spin-off House of the Dragon returns this June for Season 2.
