Lena Headey was pregnant when Game of Thrones filmed one of Cersei Lannister's most gruelling scenes, but apparently that still wasn't enough to stop some viewers from criticising her for not performing it completely nude herself.
The scene in question comes from the Season 5 finale, 'Mother's Mercy', when Cersei is forced to walk naked through King's Landing as a crowd follows her, hurling insults, garbage, and worse. Headey performed Cersei's expressions and emotional breakdown, while actress Rebecca Van Cleave served as her nude body double. Visual effects then brought their performances together.
More than a decade later, the unusual production process is making the rounds again after a behind-the-scenes post surfaced on Reddit. This time, plenty of fans have one question about the old controversy: Why was Headey criticised for using a body double at all?
Lena Headey and Rebecca Van Cleave Filmed the Walk Together
Van Cleave landed the role after more than 1,000 actresses reportedly applied to double for Headey. It was also her first nude performance.
Filming took place over 3 days in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Headey completed the route wearing a beige shift, while Van Cleave walked nude through hundreds of extras as they shouted at her and threw rubbish in her direction.
The actresses were hardly working separately. Van Cleave later recalled Headey walking alongside her and helping guide her through Cersei's thoughts and movements. Headey, meanwhile, praised her double for taking on a physically and emotionally difficult job.
Once filming wrapped, the visual effects team combined Headey's facial performance with Van Cleave's body for portions of the finished sequence. It worked well enough to create one of Game of Thrones' most painfully memorable scenes, although Headey later discovered that some viewers were strangely more interested in whose body they were seeing rather than the impact of the performance.
Fans Question Why Headey Was Ever Criticised
Headey addressed the backlash in 2016, revealing that some people considered her 'less of an actress' because she did not personally perform the full-frontal nudity. Her reasoning went beyond pregnancy. Headey explained that she wanted to remain focused on Cersei's emotional state and believed being naked in front of a crowd for 3 days would have affected how she approached the performance.
The resurfaced story has produced a noticeably different reaction on Reddit. 'Why would people criticize Lena for using a body double while pregnant, when Cersei was not pregnant,' one person asked.
Others argued that pregnancy should not even be necessary to justify the decision. 'Even if she wasn't pregnant it's completely understandable to not want performing naked scenes like this, even if you're an actor,' another wrote.
One commenter put it more bluntly: 'What weird little f*cker had an issue with that?'
Van Cleave's contribution has also received renewed attention. Several users noted that she was the person who physically endured the nudity, crowds, and objects being thrown during the 3-day shoot, while Headey supplied the emotional performance audiences associate with Cersei. Perhaps the strangest part of the controversy was the assumption that Headey owed viewers her own naked body for the performance to count.
Cersei's punishment belonged to the Middle Ages, but somehow the backlash the actress received for refusing to appear naked for the scene proved that part of society may still be stuck there.
