Emilia Clarke Says Heated Rivalry Is Way Too Hot for England

-Our first guest tonight is an Emmy-nominated actress you know from "Game of Thrones," as well as films like "Solo: A Star Wars Story" and "Last Christmas."

She stars in the new series "Ponies," which premieres January 15th on Peacock.

Let's take a look.

[ Speaking in Russian ] -What the hell?

-Your accent is not [speaks Russian] at all.

-He'd pick up on that? -An idiot would.

Did you pick up on it?

-I mean, did you have to throw the peanuts?

-Better peanuts than bullets.

Every time I throw a peanut, imagine how it would feel with a bullet.

-Please welcome back to the show, Emilia Clarke, everybody.

[ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -Hi. -Hello.

-Hi. -Hello.

-Thank you so much. Hello.

-How are you? It's lovely to see you again.

It's been a while.

-It has been a while.

I feel like it's been nearly 10 years.

I'm out of practice.

-It's been -- it's been too long.

We're not going to make a habit of waiting 10 years between visits.

-No no definitely. -Okay.

-I'll work more. Right? -Thank you.

-Yeah. -And I'll work more to make sure you're here. -[ Laughs ] -So, um, this is my -- I was talking backstage.

It's like my favorite, uh, genre of show.

-Yes. -This is Cold War spy stuff.

-Yes, it is. -It's actually a wonderful clip because you play someone who is going undercover.

-Uh-huh. -A spy.

-Uh-huh. -And you have to learn Russian, both in the show, but also for the show.

-Yeah, in life. -In life, you had to learn Russian. -I had to learn Russian.

The lines in Russian.

-You had to learn lines in Russian?

-Yes. -They're not just conversational Russian, but like this Russian. -No.

-This particular Russian, because I know no other Russian.

I do not speak fluent Russian.

-So you started with no Russian, and then you had to do a whole show's worth of Russian?

-Yes. I had -- I had one teacher and she made me cry.

-Okay. -And I sucked, and she just kept saying the same words over and over again, and I kept repeating them, and I felt like I had a good ear and I felt like I knew what I was saying.

And then she would say them back and I'd be like, "That's what I'm saying."

And she's like, "No, you're not."

And then I would -- and then it would be, like, it would be very upsetting.

-That doesn't sound good at all.

-No, it was horrible. It was, yeah.

That was not good. And then my -- The amazing showrunners in the show, David and Susannah, hi, guys.

You're in the audience.

Um... -David's here?

-Yeah. -I used to work with him.

-There we go. -Yeah.

-Full circle. And, um -- And he was like, you can -- you can change teachers.

And I was like, "No, no, no, no, I'm going to do this.

I'm, you know, I'm going to -- you've given me the teacher that's going to be...

And then he gave me a new teacher, and then everything was better.

-Really? -Yes yes.

-So this isn't that you're bad at Russian.

It's that you had a terrible teacher.

-That's what we're saying.

-That's my story. -Yeah, that's good.

-That's what I'm sticking with. -I think it's a good story to stick with. -Yes.

It's a fantastic setup for a spy show.

-Thank you. -You and Haley Lu Richardson, who's fantastic. -Yes.

who's fantastic. -Yes.

-You play, uh, ponies, which is a means of what?

Person of no interest?

-Persons of no interest, yes.

-Gotcha. So your husbands are spies.

-Yes. -They die in mysterious circumstances. -Yes.

circumstances. -Yes.

Because you are persons of no interest, you can go back to Russia and the KGB will not be hip to you.

-Exactly, because we're women and no one's going to expect women to be spies.

-It's very fun. -Yeah, it's very good.

It's very good. -And, uh, did you enjoy -- Are you the kind of person who thinks you would be good at spycraft in real life?

-I would be the worst spy. -Yeah.

-I would be terrible. -What do you think would be your Achilles heel as a spy?

-All of it. Absolutely everything.

-Yeah. -I'm bad at lying.

-Yeah. -I get uncomfortable if I'm, like, having, you know, with someone and I'm maybe being mean in a certain way, or, like, that person doesn't like me.

I think I've spent the entire time just being like, okay, yeah, but this is a -- this is a lie.

Like, I'm great.

You're gonna like me and I'm going to make you like me.

-It'd be really funny if you went back and you're like, you know, how did it go with your day?

And you're like, "I think he really likes me."

-I think we did really well.

-I did tell him I'm a spy, but I do think he really likes me.

-Like, that got him on side. So therefore now we're friends.

-I feel like the same.

Like, I think here's why I think I'd be a bad spy.

I don't think I've ever tried to, like, sneakily look at somebody without them immediately noticing.

-Yes. No no no completely.

-People are always like, "I'm sorry, can I help you?"

And I feel like that's a bad thing for a spy.

-Yes yes definitely. Yeah.

I would not go incognito very well.

-Yeah, I think I would take a bad, like -- Like, people need to, like -- The secret camera, I think would be bad with that. -Yeah. Oh, terrible.

-Yeah. -Absolutely awful.

-I think I'd constantly be like, if we were talking, I'd be like...

-Yeah. No, exactly. Yes, yes.

Like the time, you know, you saw Madonna in a restaurant and you're like, I'm just gonna like...

I'm like, she knows. She knows.

-You, of course, famously, uh, had to learn, uh Dothraki... -Yeah.

uh Dothraki... -Yeah.

-...for "Game of Thrones," which was -- which we talked about. [ Cheers and applause ] -Thank you. -Which was, you know,

-Thank you. -Which was, you know, and I -- I remember 10 years ago we talked about it, was a real language.

Like, somebody wrote it. -It was a real language.

I know, I don't understand it.

I'm such a bad linguist. I speak English.

That's it, right? -Yeah, but wonderfully.

Everybody says wonderfully. -So well.

-Yeah.

-Really good at this one language.

Really bad at all the others.

And yet all of these shows, I just, like, everything that I've done.

-But at least other people speak Russian.

I mean, Dothraki was like -- it seemed like deeply unfair.

-Yeah, so this -- It really was.

I put so much energy into learning Dothraki, and then we did the show and did -- And then we moved on to Valyrian and moved on to High Valyrian and all that stuff.

And then I feel like she ended up speaking English.

But the -- the creator of the language I read in an article said that I sucked at Dothraki.

And I was like, "What?"

-There's like. -Bro.

-You're like, "I'm the only one doing it, bro."

-It's not real. It's not a real language.

I can't suck at it because me saying it on the TV, that's how it goes, that's the language.

-That's -- That's Dothraki now.

-Yeah, and forever.

-I love that guy being like, "I love to see her order dinner at a Dothraki restaurant."

-Honestly. -You're like, "Don't worry, bro, it's not real." -It's not real.

I was so hurt, and then really pissed.

-Yeah. -Yeah.

-It is fascinating today that both guests on the show had to learn Russian for the purposes of -- -Yes. -So Connor Storrie

-Yes. -So Connor Storrie obviously learned Russian for "Heated Rivalry."

-Yes. Ooh. -Have you seen "Heated Rivalry" yet? -No, no.

-Okay. -[ Laughs ] I -- No, no, no, no.

-It's not on in England. I, like, don't know -- -It's too hot for England. -It's too hot.

Way too hot. -I mean, by the way, I feel like, yeah. -The BBC ain't showing that.

-No. -You know what I mean?

-You know what? By the way, I've watched it.

The BBC can show, like, the first seven minutes.

-And that's it. -By the way, this is not a show that makes you wait for what you heard about.

-No, no. Exactly. -It's like out of the gates.

-Yes. But the interesting thing is, like, Connor, you know, and obviously, I'll -- It's a phenomenon, right? The show.

It's very similar to "Game of Thrones."

-I'm excited to watch it. I will watch the show, everyone.

-Yeah. No, no, we have no doubt No doubt. -Yes.

No doubt. -Yes.

-My mum has also told me no less than 20 times that this gorgeous young man is on the same show tonight.

-She wanted you to know who the other guest was?

-She kept saying, and I was like, "Do you have Alzheimer's?

You have told me this 20 times."

-Yeah. -I know this man is on the show, but I like, you know -- -I'm gonna say something, and I'm not a doctor.

I think that show is so horny it gives people Alzheimer's.

[ Laughter ] -But she's not seen the show.

She doesn't know what the show is.

She just knows that it's hot right now.

-Yeah. -I love it.

-Thank you so much. -I love that it's like, how viral is this show?

Like, British moms who haven't seen it are calling their daughters being like, "I have news."

-Oh, my God.

-Get ready for it. Gimme that selfie.

I'm like, Mum, you don't know who...

Anyway, yes. -Anyway, but gotta love your mom for looking out.

-Absolutely. -Does she often do that?

Does she often call you with, like, updates on showbiz?

-My mother is more online than I am.

-Yeah. Yeah. I'm really -- -I will say like that, the future of social media, if it was that, which is, you only get it because your parents are on social media, I feel like they would, like, filter out all the toxicity and you would just get like, slightly wrong showbiz stuff. -No, that's true.

showbiz stuff. -No, that's true.

But then see, like, I don't know if you're one of those people, like, I have to -- I keep like deleting Instagram. It's not good for you.

And then you redownload it and all this stuff.

But my mom consistently sends me Instagram links and I'm like, "I'm not on right now, mom." -Right.

-Don't make me go back on Instagram to watch this dog dancing.

I would really appreciate that.

-My dad sends me links all the time from the hometown paper that I need a paid subscription for.

-[ Laughs ] -And like, at this point, should just get the subscription, and I just really like that it's like -- And it's like he sends it from the newspaper website.

So it's like, "Larry Myers thinks you would enjoy this."

-But you can't unless you bought it.

-Then You click it and you need a subscription.

And then he's always like, "Did you read that?"

And I'm like, yeah. -Yeah, that's what I said.

I'm like, it's great, thanks, mom.

-But, uh, you know, when you were, uh, you know, in "Game of Thrones," that was again, that was a show very similar, which was like as soon as it came out, another HBO show that was a phenomenon.

Were you immediately, like, in the public eye in a way that was uncomfortable?

-No.

So because I had brown hair and she had blonde hair, I was completely unrecognizable, utterly unrecognizable.

I was walking down the street with Kit, Kit Harington, who played Jon Snow in the show, and people, the fans would stop me and be like, "Can you take a picture of me and Kit?"

I'm like, "Yeah, I 100% can."

And was kind of riding off that for a while.

And then people caught on that I looked this way, But there was one time we were filming in Spain, and I still don't know how these particular fans got to the hair and makeup trailer, but they were there.

-Usually their security on a set.

-Some kind of something.

Anyway, so they're like outside the hair and makeup and they're like, "Can I have a photo?"

And I'm like, "Of course you can.

Let me just get my wig off and then I'll come back out."

I came back out, they did not know who I was.

Like, at all. I just walked right by.

I was like, I'm not gonna -- -They were like, "Is Emilia coming out soon?"

You're like, "Any minute." -Any minute now. Yeah.

And I didn't feel like it was bad for me to be like, "Didn't you want a photo?"

-Yeah, right. -"It's me, I swear."

-That is, right. -I'll speak Dothraki.

-I will say there's nothing scarier than, like, when you want, when you follow up and you're like, "Did you want a picture?"

And then they're like, "Uh, no."

-"Changed my mind." -"We did."

-"Yeah, but we don't. want it anymore."

-"But now we don't." -Yeah.

-Um, is it true, uh, that, uh, back in England every January...

-Mm-hmm. -...at least once, I guess, you go into -- you swim in the ocean.

-Well, it's not in January. It's all the time, yeah.

The British sea, getting in that ice cold water.

-Oh, so this isn't like a polar bear plunge like we do where it's like to start the new year?

-No. I mean, I should. -Yeah.

-This year I just couldn't be bothered.

-But if you like -- but you would do it, like, on multiple days.

-Yeah. Anytime, anytime. -Really?

-There's -- But there is a special app.

So I was just getting in the see like, you know, you -- you go somewhere for the weekend or whatever.

Before you've had your shower, before anything, you like run into the sea and it's amazing.

-It's freezing, right? -It's freezing,

but it's gorgeous. It's absolutely brilliant.

I was there with my girlfriends and they were like, "But you got to get the sewage up."

And I was like, "What? What are you talking about?"

And they were like, "Because you know which bit of the sea is contaminated and which bit of the sea is like, okay to get into and which isn't."

And I didn't know that. So I've just -- Yeah, I mean. -It's so fascinating when there was a thing I already wasn't gonna do and then you immediately made it like so much worse.

-Yeah. -Like you were like, "Hey, Seth, before you run into the ocean." I'm like, "Keep going.

But I wasn't going to."

-Okay, good. Yes. You should though.

You should.

I can't handle warm, warm seawater.

-Really? -I went to Hawaii once and it just felt like everyone had peed.

I like couldn't -- It just made me.

-Oh, so you like cold because that means no one's peed.

Except, you know, you do know what, like, sewage is?

-Yeah, I'm aware of...

I'm now aware in this exact moment that that -- Yeah, I should. Yeah, uh-huh.

-So you're fine, and again I'm 100% sure this.

I'm fine with urine as long as it's properly chilled.

-Absolutely yeah. -Yeah.

-Just keep your mouth closed, you'll do fine.

-Keep your mouth closed. Where is -- where do you go?

Is it like -- is it like southern coast?

Like where? -So there's a place that's very near to London.

It's like an hour and a half drive and it's beautiful and it's the Kent Coast, because that's close.

-And there is -- you're not the only person?

Like, there's -- -No.

People are just walking their dogs.

And then some people are just there in their dry robes being like, Ah!

And like running into the sea.

-No one cares or notice or is it's not a thing, It's just -- you're just like, oh yeah, those are the people that run into the sea.

-Okay? -And swim.

-What a wonderful country and what a wonderful tradition.

-It's wonderful.

-It's so wonderful to see you again.

Thank you so much for being here.

-It's so good to see you. Thank you.

-Congrats on the show. You guys, this is Emilia Clarke.

"Ponies" premieres January 15th on Peacock.

We'll be right back with Connor Storrie.