Actress Milly Alcock of “House of the Dragon” said that she was “very at ease” when shooting a sensual scene with Matt Smith, who portrays her uncle.
Daemon Targaryen (Smith), in the most recent instalment of the “Game of Thrones” prequel, gives his niece Rhaenyra (Alcock), at night, a tour of the grounds of the imperial castle. He once leads her into a brothel, and they engage in sexual activity until Daemon pulls away and abandons her.
Alcock, 22, said in an interview with the New York Post that filming the sequence with Smith, 39, wasn’t uncomfortable.
“Strangely enough, no. I was simply sort of friends with [Matt Smith]. Therefore, it was really pleasant “explained Alcock. We worked with the intimacy coordinator throughout the rehearsal phase and mapped it out months in advance.
She went on: “Our director, Clare Kilner, made sure we didn’t see any of the brothel material until we were really filming. So that was our first time into the brothel, and he is now leading her through the chamber that is filled with other dead people. That was thus extremely startling.
You think, “Wow, this is sort of strange and stupid.” There were extras that were like, 69-ing for 12 hours that we had just met. It’s rather nasty. We thought we were overdressed since everyone else was naked.”
The HBO popular series “Game of Thrones” has multiple instances of incestuous relationships, with one of the main storylines of the first episode having a covert romance between Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) and her twin brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).
Alcock previously said to the Post that Rhaenyra’s inexperienced age makes it difficult for her to “discern the difference between platonic love, passionate love, and desire,” which results in the heroine having a sexually charged connection with her uncle.
Similar dynamics exist between Rhaenyra and her guard Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), with whom she eventually loses her virginity in episode four, and Alicent, her old friend who has now become her stepmother (Emily Carey).
In a round-table discussion with Insider, Carey previously said that Rhaenyra and Alicent are “a little bit in love.”
Any woman, according to Carey, could recall their closest friend from when they were 14 years old. “I believe it’s a bond and a closeness unlike any other,” she added. You do walk a thin line between amorous and platonic.