Despite fighting for the Seven Kingdoms in Game of Thrones and facing the bloody Galactic Civil War in Solo: A Star Wars Story, Emilia Clarke says her most physically demanding role came while filming the new series Ponies – where intimate scenes with “three men” left her with a “broken rib.”
British-born Emilia Clarke has built a reputation for roles that demand physical stamina and emotional intensity, often placing her characters at the center of high-stakes worlds filled with conflict and danger.
Now 39, the Terminator Genisys star is stepping into another demanding role with the upcoming Peacock series Ponies, a Cold War thriller that blends espionage, political tension and complicated personal relationships.
While the show features the expected elements of spy drama, Clarke says some of the toughest moments to film had little to do with action sequences or dramatic confrontations.
‘Three men, in a number of hours’
In Ponies, Clarke plays Bea, a woman drawn into the shadowy world of intelligence operations during the Cold War. Her character is tasked with navigating a delicate mission that involves gaining the trust of a high-ranking KGB operative. To do that, Bea must rely not only on strategy and nerve, but also on charm and seduction.
According to Clarke, one particular day of filming proved especially intense.
During an interview with The Wrap, the actor described a shoot that involved several simulated sex scenes filmed over the course of hours with different actors.
“Three men, in a number of hours,” Clarke recalled. “Just keep bringing it – I’m going to sit on this thing, you’re going to bring them in, we’re going to pretend to have sex.”
By the end of the day, she realized something wasn’t quite right.
“I broke a rib that day,” she added.
‘Such a tiny little sensitive body’
Clarke’s co-star Haley Lu Richardson later confirmed that the injury happened during that shoot. According to Richardson, the day involved several actors rotating through the makeup trailer before filming their scenes.
“She really did,” Richardson, 31, said, referring to Clarke’s injury. “She’s such a tiny little sensitive body.”
Richardson also remembered the unusual energy around the set after filming wrapped, recalling how several actors returned from the shoot visibly exhausted after the physically demanding scenes.
“I was like ‘So how was it?’ They were like ‘Yeah! (panting)’” Richardson joked of the men after their steamy scenes with her co-star.
‘Sex! Three times’
When Clarke later went to a doctor to have the injury checked, medical staff asked how it had happened –and she gave a straightforward explanation.
“Sex! Times three!” she told the doctor.
The actor later clarified that the injury was not as severe as it initially sounded. The rib had not fully broken but had instead shifted slightly out of place during filming.
“It didn’t fully break,” Clarke explained. “It just popped out a little bit.”
While the injury was relatively minor, Clarke’s experience highlights the often overlooked physical demands actors face behind the scenes.
Physical demands of actors
Other actors have spoken publicly about unusual or challenging experiences while filming intimate moments for the screen.
Aubrey Plaza once shared during a TV interview that she was surprised when a scene in the film The To Do List required more explicit on-camera action than she initially expected.
“In my head, I envisioned a nice scene where you just see my hand slowly go out of frame,” Plaza told Conan O’Brien. “I thought I was doing one thing and when I showed up it was a whole different thing, it was a full body shot and I asked the director ‘what should I do?’ And she said, ‘masturbate like it says in the script.’”
Actor Willem Dafoe also encountered a unique situation while filming Lars von Trier’s controversial film Antichrist. According to reports from production, a body double was used for nude shots as Defoe was “too big.”
“He’s extremely well-equipped,” von Trier said in a 2010 interview of Defoe being well endowed. “And we had to kind of take the scenes out of the film, we had a stand-in for him…Will’s own was too big – everybody got very confused when they saw it.”
Similarly, actress Chloë Sevigny sparked major discussion after she appeared in an unsimulated scene and performed oral sex for the cameras while filming the 2003 film The Brown Bunny.
These examples highlight the complicated balance actors often navigate between storytelling, artistic choices, and the physical realities of filming demanding scenes.
What do you think about the physical demands actors face behind the scenes? Let us know your thoughts in the comments – and don’t forget to share this story with others.
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