As badass as Khaleesi is, it can’t be easy playing her on Game of Thrones. Thus far, actress Emilia Clarke has had to ride dragons (they’re real, damnit!), do a bunch of nude scenes, and try to be professional while cuddling with a shirtless Jason Momoa when he played Khal Drogo. She is honestly doing the impossible.
But Clarke’s most impressive feat on the HBO series is executing such a compelling role while speaking in at least three different languages — two of which are completely made up! In addition to the "common tongue" (a.k.a. English), Khaleesi speaks Valyrian and Dothraki. The latter would surely tongue-tie even the most experienced linguists.
In a bonus clip from the Game of Thrones season 6 DVD set, Clarke has revealed her exact methodology for memorizing the complicated language: beatboxing! In order to retain the words so that they sound believable, she rehearses them to a beat, sometimes beatboxed by another member of the film crew. As if we had not already accepted her as our queen.
Not only has Clarke mastered Dothraki for her role as Daenerys Targaryen, she can perform a snippet of "MMMBop" in the native tongue of Khaleesi’s moon and stars. The actress told Seth Meyers that she gets a copy of the script in English, then a copy with Dothraki translations, and finally MP3 files of the lines so she can listen to and memorize them.
Still no word on how she dealt with being so close to a shirtless, heavily eyelined Momoa.
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