With Lottery franchises and tax breaks a go go, the Brits are coming home. And we’ve got the repetory to carry it. Empire is proud to introduce you the official Britpack…

Sit back and think British for a moment. The words brash and bold sprind to mind where once we crept around, heads down, almost apologising for our talent. Sure, we’d always had our luminaries but Hillywod had the history and the majority of talent. But that was way back then. This is now and the exciting thing is that there is just too much British promise to be able to coer it all in one magazine.

When Empire went to Cannes this year, we hosted a party on a swish boat of near QE2 dimensions, and onto it we invited a host of young British stars. And as we talked, we got to hinking: we need to document the British pack as they are now. Celebrate the arrival.

Jason Flemyng, who’d thrust himself upon our psyche in Stealing Beauty, Hollow Reed and Alive And Kicking, started talking alone the same lines.

“There are British actors who can get a film financed just by attaching their name,” he said. “And if membership can be defined by an actor going up for a lot fewer feminine hygiene adverts, and a lot more films whose directors’ names you don’t have to look up in Halliwell’s then I guess we’re Britpack.”

Flemyng mentioned he had an old school friend who’d become a photographer called Dan Smith. It transired they’d been thinking for a while they wanted to do portraits of this Britpack, not all styled up and synthetic, but looking as they are.

“The photos,” explains Flemyng, “came about from a desire to work together and to do portraits of actors in a way that is seldom seen: no lights, no makeup artists, no lengthy set-ups. All these pictures were done within ten minutes, giving them a natural energy which is what we wanted to try and capture.”

As a contemporary would see them, he thought. And so the project progressed over the months, and the portfolio you see over these pages is the product of that collaboration. There are many more we could have done, but then that’s the thing: the Brit troupe is massive. And growing…

Lena Headey
Age
23
Height
5ft 6in
Eye Colour
Green
Occupation
Controversialist (see Luv’d Up, Band Of Gold)
Distinguishing marks
The next Liz Taylor?
Comments
Caused a stir starring opposite Jeremy Irons in Waterland whike she was a wee A-lever nipper, followed up with Century, Remains of the Day and The Jungle Book. Last seen as sultry Connie in Face and next up in The Man With Rain In His Shoes, Mrs Dalloway and in the new series of Band of Gold.

The actress who plays down and out as well as up and in charge.

In her short – and very successful – career, Lena Headey has played a druggy teenager, a shy bride, a sado-masochistic prostitute, Mowgli’s love interest and much else besides. But it was not until she saw herself in the Antonia Bird’s new film, Face, that she finally felt she had played a woman. In Face (released on September 26) she is Connie, a social worker who runs a boys home and whose boyfriend (Robert Carlyle, of Trainspotting fame) is caught in a downward spiral of crime. “Watching it I thought, ‘That’s me as a woman, a grown up.’ I was pleasantly surprised.”

One could say that much of her career has been a pleasant – indeed, a wonderful – surprise. It began six years ago when, at the age of 17, she travelled down from Huddersfield with a gang of mates to perform in the finals of a schools’ drama competition at the Olivier Theatre. We all had our photographs taken, and somebody spotted mine. I was asked to go and meet the director of a film called Waterland.”

Was she nervous? “It was my second time in London. The director was like, American. I was just so excited I was completely nerve-free. It was ridiculous.” At the second interview she was offered Mary, a leading role opposite Jeremy Irons. “All the way back in the train my mum kept saying, ‘You must finish your A-levels,’ but in the end I didn’t, so I’m completely undereducated.”

She tried to go back to school when Waterland was finished, but couldn’t settle. Once she had got an agent the offers started rolling in: Clothes in the Wardrobe with Joan Plowright and Julie Waters; The Remains of the Day with Siry Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson… “I had planned to read drama at university, but I don’t regret that I had no formal training. People used to bang on about it, but I’ve always relied on instinct.”

People used to bang on, too, about her Yorkshire accent. “They’d say, ‘Can you speak the Queen’s English?’ – as though I was someone who couldn’t read and had an outside toilet! The accent’s gone now – just disappeared – but it comes back as soon as I get on the train home. I don’t want my friends thinking I’m a southern poof!”

Headey moved south to be near the young actor Jason Fleming, whom she met while filming The Jungle Book in India, and with whom she now lives. “Being in the same business we understand each other, but it does annoy me when – as so often happens – he gets sent scripts which have seven parts for men and only two for women.”

To rectify this she would like to write herself, and to direct. “I think I’d like that. I see everything in pictures and I also think I’m good with people.”

But for the time being she is happy ‘cruising along with my fishing net’ to see what comes up. In the meantime as well as Face she appears this autumn in the drama series Gold, the LWT sequel to Band of Gold.

She was flattered to be included in the list of Britain’s brightest young stars, invited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival this year, but admits that otherwise things have been – by her standards – quiet. “It’s impossible to plan in this business. At the moment my main ambition is to pass my driving test.”

Based on the number of people still waiting in line when the Game of Thrones panel started, it could easily have been held in Hall H. Stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, Jason Momoa, and Emilia Clarke were on hand for the most anticipated TV panel of the con. They were joined by executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and moderator (and GoT mastermind) George R.R. Martin. Peter Dinklage earned the loudest cheers and applause – as one would for playing my second favorite character in the books – but it was Jason Momoa who walked out like a rock star. Long hair flowing loose, dressed all in black with big black sunglasses. When he dipped them, he revealed blacked out eyes Khal Drogo style. Jason Momoa IS the Great Khal. I don’t think that’s a role he’s going to be able to put aside any time soon.

Q: Producers – What was your first introduction to The Song of Ice and Fire?

A: David hadn’t heard of the books when the first four showed up on his doorstep six years ago. He didn’t know how he was going to get through them, but he was hooked as soon as Jaime pushed Bran out the window. “It’s like crack on paper.” (Seriously. Or possibly heroin.) Rejecting the mad idea that the books could be adapted into a 2 1/2 hour, PG-13 movie, David called G.R.R.M. directly and proposed it as an HBO series. To his surprise the author went for it.

Q: Emilia – Yours is quite the Cinderella story. You came to this project right out of drama school. If you could go back in time three years, what advice would you give yourself?

A: “Do exactly the same thing.” Her education hadn’t entirely prepared her, “there were no dragons at drama school”, but she immediately fell in love with Dany on the page. It’s changed her life, but without the wig (she’s a brunette) people rarely recognize her. She was concerned that when she walked out onto the stage the hall’s reaction would be, “Who IS this girl??”

Q: Lena – You played a hero in T:tSCC, and now you’re playing a character that many of these people hate. How is that different for you? How do you prepare?

A: “It’s kind of fun to be able to play a character who isn’t trying to be morally good.” She loves Cersei, saying she thinks she’s misunderstood. That got a laugh from the audience because, no. No she isn’t. She did admit that it’s horrible to have people come up to her and say, “I HATE you!!”

(In the Ringer panel someone asked SMG who she would come as if she dressed up in character. Lena was clearly cosplaying as a hipster.)

Q: Nikolaj – Did anything in your past prepare you for the intense internet discussion of your nose?

A: (Really? There was intense discussion about his nose?) He told a story about shooting a movie in Iceland, and one of the gaffers coming up to him drunk at the wrap party. “He said, ‘I gotta tell you, when I saw that nose I thought ‘Sh*t, I’m in trouble.’ ”

Q: Jason – The question on everyone’s mind: What is best in life Who would win, Khal Drogo or Conan?

A: “Between you and me, Drogo would kick Conan’s ass!” To emphasize the point he leaned into the mike and let loose with a raging stream of Dothraki. It may have been the most amazing thing I saw at Comic Con. I think if he had ordered us to storm Hall H and bring him the heads of the Twilight cast we would have done it in a heart beat.

Q: Jason – The incredible moment where Drogo rips out Mago’s throat isn’t in the book. How did that scene come about?

A: He had just finished shooting Conan, and chopping off 100 people’s heads. “Drogo’s just such a bad ass, I wanted just to do one scene. The most intimidating thing to me would be to not even use a weapon. I had a dream I wanted to rip someone’s throat out. I wanted to do something so it looked like he was just the baddest man in the world.” He apologized for deviating from the source material, but G.R.R.M. assured him he loved the scene, as one would.

Q: Peter – Tyrion is many readers favorite. What is it like to step into a situation where so many people already know and love the character?

A: He thinks everyone on the panel was faced with something similar. They all had big shoes to fill. “Yeah. It was terrifying.”

Q: Kit – “You realize that your poster is going up in the bedrooms of thousands.” You’ve been working with animals a lot – both actual and puppet – which do you prefer?

A: He began by answering that he finds the prospect of becoming a teen idol “terrifying”. As for having a casting preference, the thing about puppets is, “they do what they’re told. But I love my dog. I love Cooper, or Ghost, as he’s called. We got on very well, he just didn’t do what he was told.”

Q: Producers – what kind of extras can fans expect on the Season 1 DVD?

A: There were very few deleted scenes because they used almost everything that they shot. There was very little left on the cutting room floor. What will be included are the casts’ original auditions for their roles. “If you could see what Momoa does… You need to see him do the haka. (I need to see that like I need air to breath) It’s the dance that won him the role.”

That led to a thank you to the fans for bringing Jason to the producers’ attention. “We were looking all over the world for Khal Drogo [and] couldn’t find the right person. We went onto [a discussion thread] on Westeros… and no offense, I hadn’t heard of you before. I hadn’t kept up on my Baywatch.” That earned David a middle finger from Jason. “We clicked [on a link to his picture] and thought ‘he kind of looks Drogo-ie’. He came in and he read the scene, and then – there’s no dance in the actual scene – Jason decided to show us how good he was, he was going to do the haka, and just tore off his shirt…” Cue the cheering and demands that he recreate the moment on stage. (Didn’t happen. Great was our sorrow.)

Q: Jason – Almost all of your dialog is in a made up language. That must have been an interesting challenge for you.

A: “Yes, very interesting.” At the first table reading the producers pulled him aside and told him about their idea. “It’s like German-Arabic. It literally sounded like Jabba the Hut and Fozzie the Bear. ‘Wokka-wokka. Chewbacca’. I was like, ‘I really want this job, I’ll do anything!’ Ordered a lot of pizza and got a lot of Guinness, and next thing you know… That’s all it takes. A little bit of Guinness.” The producers gave credit to linguist David Peterson for creating the Dothraki used in the show. Jason called it an amazing, beautiful language and an achievement for his character to be able to communicate in that way. Emilia added, “Shekh ma shieraki anni”. (“My sun and stars”)

Q: What was your favorite scene? The one you got most excited about, or looking back, one you’re really pleased with?

A: Nikolaj – “Isaac was really annoying, so pushing him…” He kids! He kids! Instead he chose Jaime’s last scene with Catelyn when she confronts him about Bran.

Kit – The scene with Arya (when he gives her Needle), calling it a sad and wonderful moment for Jon.

Lena – The scene with Mark Addy (when Robert and Cersei discuss their relationship and marriage) because it was so revealing. She said many of her favorites are still to come, having just read some of the scripts for Season 2.

Peter – Slapping Joffrey. “When I’m on trial, that was fun. It was a long day, and there’s a lot of extras in that scene. I felt like the master of ceremonies for a bunch of bored extras. It was entertaining off screen.”

Jason – His big speech after the attempt on Dany’s life. “When I read the book, it was the greatest war speech I’d ever heard. I had to have this role. That was it for me.”

Emilia – “Mine’s pretty easy. Definitely the final. Getting to see it properly on screen was, ahh, just the sound of those dragons. Shivers. Amazing.”

David said Emilia stole his, so he chose the scene with Arya and Syrio. (*tear*)

Q: How many of you ran home after filming Season 1 to read ahead and find out what happens?

A: Emilia read – “devoured, I was obsessed” – the first book after her first audition and was ready to move on to Book 2, but “I wanted to be with Dany as we were filming Season 1. My celebration at wrapping Season 1 was starting Book 2. All I want to do is read ahead but I’m trying to pace myself.”

Jason was blown away when he read the book, but “when it came to me dying… I was so in love with Drogo and I started panicking. I went to Barnes and Noble and started reading and I was so mad at you [pointing at G.R.R.M.]. I hated you!” He pantomimed flipping through the pages and then angrily flinging the book away. To cries of ‘bring him back’ George said he would take it under advisement. “Who knows, he may have a twin brother somewhere.”

Q: “Mr. Martin, why is it you’re always killing off people’s favorite characters?”

A: “It keeps you on your toes. I want people emotionally involved in my story… I want the readers to be almost afraid to turn the page, not knowing who’s going to live and who’s going to die. We all know books and movies where the hero may seem to be in deep trouble, but you know he’s going to get out of it because, after all, he’s the hero. Those shows are fun, but they don’t really involve your emotions and that’s what I’m looking for.”

Q: Lena – How do you play all of the different sides of Cersei, and how damn heavy were those wigs?

A: “I’ve been criticized for giving her some humanity, but I think everyone deserves a chance. I just think she’s a confused woman who thought life was going to be something very different, and she just tries to cope with what is, and hold on. The wigs? Part of the game.”

Q: How do you end the series if you could? What would you do?

A: Kit – “I want Jon Snow to be on the throne, definitely.”

Nikolaj – Fade to black. “20 years later. A small cottage. Jaime and Cersei. ‘Finally, my love.’ ”

Lena – “Bring Khal Drogo back, for sure, and have him and Tyrion co-rule. I think things would get interesting.”

Peter – “Dance number.”

George then pointed out that the new book is called A Dance with Dragons.

Q: Jason, “You are my sun and stars.” How hard was it to do the fight scenes with the long hair?

A: It was easy compared to the weight of the dread-wig he had to wear on Stargate: Atlantis. “That was just like a little rat tail. It wasn’t very hard at all. Thank you moon of my life.”

Q: What was the moment in the book or the script that hooked you?

A: Nikolaj went back to Jaime pushing Bran out the window. “I thought ‘what the hell?’ Suddenly you’re in that dark, dark place. You know all bets are off, and that’s brilliant.” Peter liked the opening with the supernatural element of the White Walkers and setting the landscape. “And then I lost interest when I came on. My scene was over, and then I was interested again.”

Q: Producers – what can viewers expect in Season 2?

A: “Everyone dies.

“It was all a dream.”

“It’s a season of exploration.” New characters will be introduced, including the Red Priestess and “it’s time to see those dragons and wolves.” Looking beyond Season 2, David thinks that Book 3 in the series will be the most difficult to adapt into a single season because of its length. They don’t know yet how they’re going to approach it. His ultimate hope though is to get to what he cryptically (in an effort to avoid spoilers) referred to as ‘R.W.’ “If we can get to R.W. then I can retire.”

Q: Are you going to be able to film the Battle of Black Water the way it was written?

(Wordy McWord of New Wordington. When I finished that chapter in Book 2, I said a silent prayer to the gods of HBO that they would give the production the budget to do that scene justice.)

A: There will be a battle, and George (who is writing the episode) is planning to pass his hat around for contributions. (Put me down for $20) “The guys from WETA [Workshop] came up to me and said they were huge fans of the series, and I asked them if they would like to donate some free special effects. For some reason they declined.”

Q: (And the stirring the pot / balls big as Tuesday award goes to…) “I know that the writer can’t always do what’s going to make the audience happy. Are you still concerned about – to put it in your words – ‘pulling a LOST‘?”

A: George prefaced his answer by saying he was going to be careful because Damon [Lindelof] was in the room. He admitted that with two more books to go he is concerned about the ending. “I’m juggling a lot of balls, and of course there is the deep fear that eventually some of them are going to fall on my head and knock me unconscious or kill me. All I can keep doing is juggling as fast as I can and hopefully bring everything together in the magnificent way that I see it vaguely in my head. It’s easier to dream these things than to do them. I certainly hope that the ending will tie together. In terms of making people happy, well hopefully it will make some people happy. I’ve always been a fan of the bittersweet ending.” He cited his love of Lord of the Rings and The Scouring of the Shire. “There was a cost to the war. It was a human cost. It’s a triumph yes, but there’s also tragedy mixed in the triumph. I think Tolkien did it brilliantly. I hope I can do something half as good.”

Q: Emilia – Dany is one of the most identifiable characters. How do you portray such a strong, but realistic and feeling woman? Do you have any tips?

A: Dany felt very real to her on the page, and she could understand everything she was going through. Her instinct to survive was the fundamental thing about the character that came through for Emilia. “It’s women. We’re strong. We’re good. We’re powerful. We’re sexy. Own it. Be true to yourself.”

(Not to go all women’s studies, but something very interesting occurred during this question. As Emilia began her answer, David Benioff looked at Jason Momoa with this ‘seriously?’ look on his face. Jason tapped him on the shoulder, and the two of them leaned back in their chairs with an air of, ‘Yes please tell us how to be strong women. We’re all ears.’ In the moment it was kind of funny, but thinking about it later, it was kind of a Richard move. Emilia couldn’t see what they were doing. She wasn’t in on the joke. She was focused on the girl in the audience who asked the question, and it threw her when a ripple of laughter started through the hall. She powered through it, but it was disappointing that that was their reaction to a young woman talking about finding strength and inspiration in another woman’s struggle. /End rant.)

Q: Kit – What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming season?

A: He loved Jon the minute he saw him on paper, and he has a big journey – literally – ahead of him as he goes beyond The Wall. He hopes that Jon’s decision to choose the Night’s Watch over his family will allow him to “get on with a bit of his own agenda.”

Q: Kit – Has George revealed to you who Jon Snow’s mother is?

A: “Um… no. I’d love to know. Haven’t got a clue.” Lena offered her own opinion by pointing to herself.

Q: G.R.R.M. – Did you set out to break the cliches of ‘good guys always win / the hero never dies’? Is there a character that you’ve mourned as you’ve killed them?

A: “I mourn all the characters as I kill them.” He described a process of climbing into the skin of his POV characters in order to make them human. He’s lived with some of them for 20 years, so it does make it hard to kill them. “I tell myself it’s not me killing them, it’s the other characters.” He called R.W. the hardest scene he’s ever written. It was as “emotionally wrenching and painful for me to write as it was hopefully for all of you to read. I think that when they film it and show it I’m going to try and arrange to be out of the country, someplace that doesn’t actually have television.”

Questions submitted from email and Lena’s Official Facebook page.

Lena has sent me part of the answers to the Q&A. She’s working on the rest. (Answers will be posted here and on the Imagine Me and You Fansite from the questions gathered here and by email.)

Joe : When will the episode of White Collar air? Will we ever see you on Covert Affairs?
I have no idea about white collar.
Would be definitely up for covert affairs …. Hmmmmnnn ???!!!

Hadeel: Why haven’t we seen any photos of little boy Wilie yet?
Cause he’s OURS !!! ! I may put one out … MAY

I’m one of those people who are SO waiting to see you in upcoming movies (no matter if it’s British or American.. love you speaking the British accent though).. is there any in the near future?
I just shot judge dredd in February. I don’t know it’s release date. It was the darkest character I have played to date!!! …. MaMa is American … I’d love to do some heavy drama someday soon … Maybe I’ll get to play British ..

Is there any common character/s between Lena and Luce? if yes, what?
Well Luce wore my clothes … … we share that. And I’d say she’s one of the most human characters I’ve played … Emotional and real .. So yes we share those traits.

Can you cook? ’cause I can’t really, lol
Yes I really can ….. You fancy dinner ?

Out of curiosity >> Your favorite singer? actress? cartoon-character? novel/book?
Singer.. Bob Dylan/joni Mitchell .. Many many others … Though they spring to mind .
Actress … Miranda July. Penelope Cruz. Vicky mclure . Elle fanning …. Cartoon character … I love stewie and Lois ‘ relationship in family guy. Novel .. Birdsong is a favorite of mine and the corrections

Jamie: The scene at the end of ‘The Broken‘ with Gina and the doppelgänger in the bathroom together was brilliantly acted. The character’s face expressed a litany of emotions; from shock & horror, to pain & lost, and finally realization & acceptance. You managed to make these feelings overlap and bleed into one another as they were happening. You could see it in her eyes the moment she understood everything while the rest of her was still distraught. As an actor, how did you approach that scene, what was your process? How many takes did it take? Was it as emotionally and physically exhausting as it appeared?
I’m so happy you noticed … It was an intense shoot and I LOVE being tired and challenged … It’s a fine line between too exhausted and just tired enough that you can surrender yourself …. Happily it was one of the last days of filming and I just put my self in the moment and let go.

Alexis: Is her Game Of Thrones accent her normal speaking voice? Or did she alter her accent for Cersei?
that’s me Alexis… Though cersei is a WEE bit posher …

Isabel: what is the most challenging role you’ve played so far?
Hmmmnnn challenging .. I equate challenging with exciting … So Kaisa from Aberdeen.

Claire: Are you enjoying playing a somewhat complex villain (im not even sure this is the right thing to call Cersei) on Game of Thrones?
Yes …. I enjoy not playing to be liked.

Noemí: What is it that you more love about Cersei?And it that you more hate?
I admire her love for her kids and that she holds it together. I don’t hate her …. Yet

Mical: Have you read all the books? If so, which one is your fave?
I haven’t read the books and I know some of the fans will never let me live that down but it’s a choice for me. All I heard is that cersei is one note and pure evil. With the clever scenes and the journey David and Dan have for the character we are making her more than that …. She will continue to drift into darker territory … You have to have a journey… She will boil and some point but for now she’s on a manipulative scheming sizzle

Dagger, mace, or sword?
What ? …. Laboutains …. Oh ok …sword .

Ana: Does Lena follow the (rather split) reaction of the ASOIAF fanbase regarding her rendition of Cersei?
I don’t follow no … Though I understand fans of this genre are super loyal and especially fans of the books. For me as an actor I want to bring dimension and investment to a character….. But hey .. You ain’t gonna please everyone out there …

What are the sources of inspirations for Cersei’s character, where does she draw from when playing it?
I’m now a mother so I understand the immeasurable power of that …. And to be a woman in a mans world … Strangely … I also understand that!!!

Kristina: Is there a certain type of character, or even a specific role, that you haven’t had a chance to play yet but would like to do so in the future? – Q2: What is the status on your own projects at the moment? Anything new in planning/coming up?
I want to do some comedy. Trying to balance work motherhood and my own stuff. Tricky.

Came up with one last question(Q3 from me): Comparing Sarah Connor & Cersei, would you say they have similarities? Or are they completely different characters? Also thank you to Lena for taking the time to answer our questions
Their fierce love for their kids is where the similarity ends. And a will to survive.

Ananda: Has filming for Season 2 started yet? Will you be returning to LA when it’s over?
We start in July. I shall return to LA as it’s where my house is

Marcia: One more question: if you could be more like ANY of the characters you’ve portrayed, which would it be and why?
I think Angelica From Grimm … I’m still a tomboy and she was physically free. I like that combination. And I love to horse ride.

Kaye: Did you have any opinions about Cersei before you were offered the role? Were there other characters you were interested in playing?
I was excited by her from the start. Even before I saw pages. She will have such a journey and hopefully a huge fall from power.

Anna: You’ve had a very interestig movie career in UK, I love most of the roles you played in then. How are the chances for us followers to see you in American movies? Or will you focus mainly on TV and directing?
I like working. Keep practicing. Don’t wanna get rusty.
I am pushing on with my intense passion to direct. Patience is not my forte but I’m in it for the long haul.

Ruth: As a Spaniard, I’d like to know why do you like Pedro Almodóvar so much? Are his actresses, his scripts… what do you like the most? Which one is your favourite movie of him?
I just love his movies … I love that even if a character is on screen for 2 seconds he manages to pull memorable performances from everyone. I love his movies stylistically. And he celebrates women.

Christopher: How do you see Cersei handling her emotions when they conflict with her wishes for her blood relations? For as cold and calculating as she seems at times she also seems to still have the capacity to really be hurt. She seems genuinely disgusted and embarrassed by her husband’s public womanizing for example. She also seemed authentically disturbed, haunted in a sense, talking about her dead son.
Of course she has a capacity for hurt … She is human after all. She has a vivid emotional history, her kids keep her pushing through. She struggles a lot .. Her fear of her father is huge … Though she is desperate to prove herself to him.

Do the lotus tattoos have an expressly religious significance? The design looked like it might be Tibetan inspired and I also read that you are a vegetarian and work for animal rights. One of my professors from college is a Tibetan buddhist and that reminded me of a conversation we had on karma and rebirth and other sentient beings. (My rub-on Count Chocula tat is purely decorative.)
Yes it’s Tibetan . …. Always seeking to find some place of self acceptance … Ha!! Our lifelong journey …I was veggie for a long time. Meat is back in my diet .. Very rarely… And I always know where my produce is from.Acceptance … Ha! exactly. It’s a fucking struggle .. But an interesting journey.I actually enjoy getting tattooed. Without sounding like a cheese ball .. I have found a state of peace unlike any other during a 7 hour session.

Karen: If you gave sweets to your son would they be Gummy Bears, or carrot sticks?
Ha ha … Carrots. He is an absolute crazy boy with HUGE energy… Sugar and my son would be explosive.I always have a stash in my car ….. For me to eat on the DL … Double standards !!!!!

Holly: How long did it take you to get used to driving in America?
Two seconds. Didn’t have a choice. LA is not foot friendly

What is your favorite beer? Wine? Drink?
Any cold beer and I’m in !

Do you find it funny you’ve played gay 4 times? (if you count “Mrs. Dalloway“) Would love to see more.
Not funny …. Awesome. I love the characters I play … Even if they are somewhat less than sweet. I am always up for anything that I find interesting.

Do you mind paparazzi or when fans stop to talk/take pictures?
I LOVE it when people who get a kick from what you do ask for photos. …..If you’re not in the middle of something personal…. I am always happy to oblige.
Paparazzi ????.. Chancers … Whatever they are … Don’t make me swear …

What is your favorite book and are you reading one now?
Right now I’m reading the secret lives of people in love by simon van booy .. A gift from my best friend … And bossy pants … I read two books at a time … Though I am deeply inconsistent.

Is Pete going to be gigging around LA anytime?
Hope so … Daddyhood and work is all consuming right now.. Will keep you posted.

Do you play any musical instruments? Did you play sports in school?
Ha ha … And yes .. A lot of sports ..

Do you have an interest in doing live theater?
Absolutley definitely . Wish I could sing. I’m a SUCKER for a musical

If you could write an additional scene for IMAY, what would it be?
I think when Luce and Rachel are 90 and drunk on holiday …

When do you leave to film 2nd season of Game Of Thrones?
July.

Sil: Are you going to Comic Con this year?????
Will let you know asap.

Cindy Ligon Pilkinton In the movie category, what is one drama you love to watch over and over? What about a comedy?
Ahhhh Cindy …. Don’t know if it’s classed as a comedy but dirty dancing is a fave .. And Miranda july’s. you me and everyone we know ( dark comedy)

Kelly: I see that you are a dog lover, are all of your dogs spayed or neutered? )
Absolutely yes.

Sylvia: When are you coming back to South Africa and bringing your family for a holiday on the wild side?
I fell in LOVE with south Africa. Magical.

Marifer: I just want to say Lena is: Talent! Gorgeous! Simplicity! Brilliant! And Funny! Go Lena!! You have fans here in Argentina who support you!! Kisses & Hugs!
Marifer … You have great taste !

Actress thrilled to play ‘Game of Thrones‘ queen

Lena Headey realized she had struck a nerve with viewers of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” (tonight at 9) when her friends started telling her how much they loathed her character.

“I don’t know if it’s cool to have your mates call and say, ‘I want to push her out the window,’?” Headey said and then laughed from her adopted home of Los Angeles. “They hate her, but hopefully people will dislike her but realize there’s something going on.”

Headey plays Queen Cersei Lannister, – a willful, manipulative woman obsessed with increasing her power.

“She seems very hateful, very black and white. But I don’t believe she is,” Headey said. “It would appear so on the surface, but I believe there’s a history of abuse in her family, so she’s got a real history. She’s full of fear and distrust out of necessity. She trusts her twin brother because they’ve got a long history and relationship — a very odd and disturbing relationship.”

So Cersei is evil, but not really?

“This is the cool thing,” she said. “Every single character in the show continuously evolves and changes into the unexpected, which I love. Literally, every character. You think you’ve got someone figured out, and then five episodes later you realize who they are and then they change again. And everyone is plagued by their family history.”

“Game of Thrones” is based on a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, a one-time television writer who created an incredibly dense, complicated world populated by the likes of Cersei and her conniving family.

It’s not all backstabbing and usurping for the queen. Well, it is, mostly. But there are a few admirable qualities about her, Headey said.

“I like that she lives for her children,” she said. “Her children are totally her sanity. And she pours a lot into them, though not all good, probably. Though she believes it’s good for the sake of the bloodline and power. I admire that in a world full of men, she’s left to grow up and left alone and she’s trying to make it by herself. Obviously (her son) Joffrey is a sort of prodigy. He’s very impressionable and a twisted child. I don’t think she fully realizes yet what she’s creating, but it’s out of love. She doesn’t know any better; it’s a sort of cycle.”

The strength of Cersei is attractive to the 37-year-old actress, who formerly played the equally strong Sarah Connor in “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.”

“The best part of playing strong women is actually the weaker sides of them,” she said. “It’s the broken pieces you don’t really see. It’s something you see in Cersei possibly at the end of next season.”

Until then, Headey settles down on the couch every Sunday night with her husband, who excitedly calls it “‘Game of Thrones Night,’” and the two watch like fans.

“I’ve got my own favorite characters,” she said. “I really love the boys at the wall, Jon Snow and the new guy, Samwell.”

Is it safe to get attached to such characters, given that Westeros is such an unforgiving world? Headey isn’t so sure.

“He’s ruthless,” Headey said of author Martin. “I don’t know.”

The tale told herein is the not-so chance encounter a not-so humble ‘Winter Is Coming’ scribe had with the woman who is Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. All is not as appears. You should all read this, and you will know her better than you ever did before.

This is long. It might even be long enough to tide you Game of Thrones fans over until Sunday.

Lena Headey does not sweep into the room like some grand dame; she does not wave a disdainful hand or lift an imperious chin to grant occasional nods of approval to random, adoring strangers. When Lena enters the green room at the CBS studios in Los Angeles, she at first looks smaller than her 5? 5? frame, shoulders forward, both hands clutching her bag, large eyes shadowed by an interesting woven straw-colored hat that covers an equally interesting, very short but not-quite-pixie hairstyle.

If I have to give an immediate first impression, it was something akin to spying Ally Sheedy from her role in The Breakfast Club — which I know is completely odd, since Lena wasn’t wearing a fur-lined parka.

But there’s a sense that when she enters a room she does not want to be noticed right away—probably one of the hazards of being a recognizable star in a city filled with people looking for stars. Lena is not an attention hound (something I cover in my interview), yet I don’t want to ascribe the “painfully shy” tag to her, because once she’s sitting at a table across from you, away from the press of people, she opens right up. There is a sense that she is wary of her surroundings. Some actresses go through life in a haze; Lena seems sharply aware of everything going on around her. That is until later, when she begins talking about acting. Then her eyes get that wonder-filled look—for that part of her world is still undeniably magic—and you can tell she’s onto a subject that very little can distract her from.

Lena’s eyes, chameleonic and apt to change color depending on the light, flit about in order to get their bearings. She’s just finished her appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (in which bottoms, Starbucks, and mouth organs were openly discussed, not to mention How’s Your Father). Mara Mikialian, HBO’s awesomesauce publicity honcho, accompanies Lena into the green (teal) room, along with a chipper CBS rep named Sienna, and Tina—Lena’s publicist and/or personal assistant (I was too stupid to ask—but she was smart and snappy, so I’ll go with publicist). (EDIT: Tina is her manager. Duh.) Introductions are made, Lena smiles, a little shyly, and she and I head off to a corner of the room to conduct the interview… though not before Mara can get in a few choice words at me. (See below).

Side tale: FaBio imprisoned! (Not really.) Because of my penchant to use pen names, my driver’s license does not bear the same name as my e-mail address. This grim fact has gotten me in trouble before, and this time it nearly kept me off CBS property and almost forced me to miss the interview altogether since … A. I clearly look like some weird stalker creep and B. they could not find my real name on the guest registry. My pass for the show was taken from me and my entry wrist band snipped from my wrist whilst I was whisked off to security. Politely. Always politely. Mara eventually rescued me. And she will never let me forget it. Good times.

Things eventually worked themselves out, and there I was, sitting across from Lena Headey. It was slightly surreal. I’ve never seen this particular hairstyle on her—or anyone—but I really dug it; it’s basically short and brunette, but with little uncut tufts of blond sticking out, and very cute. (From now on I’m calling it a “Lena.”) It looks almost tailor-made for the hat, because the blond locks stick out like bits of straw from underneath. That added to a wispy black flowered sun dress makes for an almost bohemian look, complimented by sparkly gold loop earrings.

Lena Headey is nothing in real life like anyone she has ever portrayed on film, at least not to my knowledge. She’s beautiful of course; that’s not an illusion. You can’t accuse this lady of being photoshop-gorgeous. (Sorry, insecure women of the world.) As many actors do, she communicates with her eyes, widening and narrowing them often and dramatically. She does things with her hands. She gestures a lot; not idly like someone’s nervous habit, but rather to help accentuate her words. She spreads her hands wide, fingers splayed as though to cup the world when describing something encompassing, or plants her fingernails onto the table to show immediacy.

She also points and laughs. A lot. She’s quick to join in on any jest (be it at her own expense or the interviewer’s). There’s a worry-free air to her, once she’s found her comfort zone. Lena is a wife and mother in her mid-thirties, but she has the appearance and aura of someone much younger. I want to say she’s “fey-like” but that’s not quite accurate. Nor is “winsome,” but the definition lies somewhere within there. Carefree with a touch of mischief, perhaps. She clearly likes the idea of mischief, but not the personal, nasty sort; you don’t get the sense that she wishes ill for anyone. I spent a good 40 minutes in her company, and never once did I get any sense that she possesses the sort of insecurities that plague some actresses. There’s zero vitriol, no jealousies. Her tattoos don’t so much say “rebel” as they say “free spirit.”

She can be quiet and reflective one moment, and then cackle madly, a large grin flashing, rocking forward in her seat the next. She tosses off the “F” word with occasional relish, though usually to punctuate a positive. I don’t think I’ve ever met an actress less concerned with her image. She’s a self-described “goof,” and exhibits a rather amazed look when the subject of her more recent “heroic” roles comes up. Like she can’t imagine why anyone would cast her in such a role, being that she is, well, a goof. On occasion Lena will (very briefly) slip different accents into her sentences. Listening to it on playback, I think I was able to identify them all. I noted the ones I recognized. Quirky chick!

Finally, perhaps her greatest quality, besides her talent, is the ability to make a total nerd and amateur interviewer feel completely at ease. It’s like hanging with a friend. (A really, really good-looking friend.)

So the interview began and… I’ll be honest, I think I was all over the place. Live performance is not my strong suit. And rather than professionally steering me back to any salient narrative, Lena gleefully followed along, very likely amused by the chaos she was witness to. I was like a dog lost in a field of flowers who had completely forgotten his sense of smell, and she was like a grinning fox happily bounding along beside me.

Because of the chaotic nature of the interview, I’m getting it back on track by putting some of the questions back in the order they should have come in in the first place. (I probably brought up Peter Dinklage on more than three separate occasions.) Also, I’m omitting all my “uh,” “um,” and “…” sounds so as to make it seem as though I spoke English during the interview.

Finally, a lesson for you all: if you as an interviewer are prone to drumming on tables with your hands, try to at least refrain while your subject is answering your questions. Especially if you’ve laid your recorder on said table. Double especially if the table is metallic. Consider that advice my gift to you all.

The interview:

There was a cursory congratulations for the show being picked up for season two, but before I could shoot any questions her way, she had one of her own:

Lena: How many [episodes] have you seen?

FaB: Just one so far.

Lena: Just one. What do you think?

[I imagine I stared for a long second before saying with incredulity...]

What do you mean what do I think? It’s awesome! It is so good. And I have to say, even early on … I knew you’d nail Cersei. I touted it.

[This is not lip service---go back to any of previous posts in which I mention Lena! Score!]

[I continue...] But… that’s part of all this. Let me start with the questions.

Alright.

The first and most important thing is: How’s [your son] Wylie?

Wylie is the best thing, ever, everever. He’s super. He’s walking, he’s talking. And he’s just… He’s the light of my life. Cheesy as it is. He’s the light of my life.

I have a daughter. So I know.

How old?

Sixteen.

Oh my god!

[She's shocked because I often act like I'm twelve.]

I’m five and a half years your elder, young lady. Respect your elder!

You are? [she adopts a rather funny American accent with a southern drawl] Well that still makes you a young faaa-ther. [back to normal] I’m scared about the teens.

The teens are interesting. You can’t control the personality, you can guide them. And you can set down rules. But if you’re too controlling…

You have to back off a little from time to time.

You do, because they push back. Because that’s what teenagers do. You remember being a teenager.

Yes. My mom often said it’s karma. So… slightly scary.

Is Wylie going to be prepared for the Coyote nickname? Because that’s going to come.

But it’s a cool nickname!

It is! “Wylie Coyote!” And you know what, that’s how the girls will get him to chase them. They’ll be like “Beep beep!” And they’ll run off. And they’ll call over, “Wylie, you have to chase us!”

Then he’ll be like, [cheerfully] “Thanks for the name, mom!”

He’ll go through peaks and valleys where he’ll like the name, he’ll love the name, he’ll hate the name… and then he’ll really love the name…

Like we all do.

You know, I’ve never met another Lena.

There’s a lot. I’ve met many in my travels. [New York accent] They’re common.

You’re sort of an International Woman of Mystery….

[Lena cackles. That amuses her!]

Well, you’re an Englishwoman, you were born in Bermuda…

[She says menacingly] I’m from the ‘Triangle.’

Ahh, see, I should have planned questions about the Bermuda Triangle… Do you know anyone that’s disappeared?

Plenty.

Okay. [Into mic] Interview over.

[Whispering into mic] He’s disappeared.

[After composing self] Does this mean you’ve “settled down?” You’ve worked in many places. You have a child. Does this mean you’re setting roots down?

I wish. But… seemingly, we’re picking up and going to Belfast. They’re choosing locations right now, but… I wish I could say my roots were set, but I don’t think they ever will be so long as I’m an actor. Because…

That’s part of the territory.

It’s part, yes. It’s crazy. My poor son will be like, “Where’s my bed? Where am I?”

If you’re able to bring him with you… he’ll be able to see all sorts of cool places.

I know. But you kind of feel bad as a parent. You do. A little bit of you. I want him to see the same friends, I want him to take swimming lessons… all that.

[At one point we talk about the so-called "fame game." The fact that actors sometimes get caught up in whose face is where, who gets mentioned on this talk show or that talk show, who has how many Twitter followers, and the fact that certain celebrities feel the need to be seen at all the right places. It's a given that actors have to promote their projects, but it's gotten a little beyond that with some people. And living in the L.A. area I can tell you it's just a known fact. There are certain clubs, restaurants, etc. where people go to "be seen." Put it this way: if you want a picture of Kim Kardashian, I can go get it in person within three days, because she knows exactly where to go to be seen. Lena does not play that game. So I mentioned it...]

[She's laughing but grimacing] No. I hate it.

You don’t really put yourself out there. I hate to use the word “actor’s actor…” but that’s kind of what you are. You like the craft.

[She's quieter] Yes, I do. I love what I do.

I spoke to Peter Dinklage [at the TCA's], he’s that way as well. It’s a craft. He’s not looking to have his face plastered all over every billboard.

He is but he won’t admit it. [She said that quickly and with a straight face.] Pete and I share a definite connection, and we both laugh about that. That world.

What attracted you to acting? Because that’s kind of a dichotomy. If parts of you are shy… As a child, how did you…?

I don’t know… I really don’t know. I watched lots of musicals, and I thought, “All the women look like that, and you get to dance and you get to wear all these sparkling things…” And I guess I found something in the emotion of acting. And it’s a constant challenge to find the truth. I’m not a big actor, I’m not “Rahh! Hear Me Roar!” [irony appreciated] It’s weird, because as I get older, it’s like I get more shy. And I’m still doing it. It’s a strange, addictive, weird thing.

I think the reason some actors become more shy over time has to do with the times. It’s a change in the media. It’s more aggressive.

Yes. You’re not allowed to just… work on your art. And there’s an immense pressure to be… You know. And I don’t bend to that at all. I go out the door looking like… really uncool. If someone wants to be like [makes camera clicking noise]… Me and my husband laugh, and say, “If the paparazzi comes ’round we’ll just have to do some stupid dance or something.” I’m out at 6 am. Come on. Everyone looks like shit in the morning. There’s a whole ‘nother world that’s becoming more important than the work, and so when you go to a junket where you explain every scene, explain the character, explain what you do… there’s no one left who seems to want to enjoy the entertainment. And I find that fucking weird.

[I stammer something about us being a "fan site"...]

Yeah, and with you there’s a genuine interest. And there’s a passion with the fans. There’s a want for it to be great. Which is not the paparazzi.

There is a want for it to be great. And I don’t want to say there’s a relief… but when you are, for years, telling people “This is going to be great,” you’re thinking to yourself, “Boy, this better be great.”

[She cackles] Yeah, don’t fuck up.

Yeah. When it comes out, and it gets the accolades, and the numbers start stacking up, and you’re reading all the great reviews. And you’re like, “Okay. This is good. This is real good.” And then you can go, [smugly] “Well, we were right, weren’t we?”

[Talk shifts to the subject of Peter Dinklage...]

How did you find out about the role of Cersei? How did that first come to your table?

Well, funny you should mention it. Pete and I did a little film called “Pete Smalls Is Dead” in L.A. It was low budget, and we were in this funny little trailer, and he mentioned to me, “You know I read this part for this great script, great pilot, and there’s the part of my sister…” And I said, [possible New Jersey accent here] “Mmmmreally?” And he’s like, “Mmmreally.” And I met Dave and Dan, and read for it a number of times, and you know I thought, “If you’re going to be in a series, to have a character that literally constantly changes… that’s what you want to do as an actress.” To me that’s it. To me she never stops shifting.

Yes. That’s true. And that’s true about Tyrion as well. Peter, who plays Tyrion [I said this like she didn't know---very smooth, right?] … We interviewed him, and said he loves doing movies, but the one problem with movies is you don’t get as much of a journey as you can have on a television series. There’s a freedom that you can explore this character from point A to point Z.

Pretty much all of these people, every character [in Game of Thrones]. That’s why it’s so absorbing, that nobody stops evolving, whether its good or bad. It’s just kind of brilliant.

And it’s interesting that he would have immediately thought of you as the role of Cersei…

I don’t know if he did. He just said “You should check it out.” You know how actors do…

How did you meet him?

I met Pete… we did a pilot for CBS, years ago, in Canada for a show about superheroes, and he was my professor. We keep sort of meeting. We’ve done I think three jobs together… we kept in touch… I am incredibly fond of him. In fact, I love him. I’ll put that out there.

SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t finished the first book yet, the next few questions are slightly spoilerish.

So, that in mind, season 2 is a lot of Tyrion vs. Cersei.

Is it?

Yeah. He comes to King’s Landing, he’s been told by his father, “You’re now the Hand of the King,” and she’s like…

[Cersei voice] “Wot!”

Exactly. HE’S in charge?

Right. Okay. Immediate conflict!

Yep. And you know, she’s got her plans, he’s got his plans, and they generally do not overlap.

No. Oh, that’s cool.

You are going to have such brilliant scenes with him this year.

Ahh! That’s exciting!

This may be sort of a stupid question… but do you think your friendship will affect your performance in any way?

I said to him—we spoke yesterday—well he actually said, “I think we’ll have a lot to do together,” and I said, “Yay, finally!” And then I said, “If we can not laugh [during every scene] it would be great.” But… he’s such a fucking great actor, that I get excited to work with great actors, and your game comes off, and you’re just… you’re focused. So… a massive pull for me for this was Pete. A massive pull.

That’s excellent. [FaBio waxes eloquent] When you’re an actor, and you’re in the moment, you want everyone else to be in the moment, to share with you. It’s synergy I guess?

Yes. It makes it easy.

I don’t want to say you’ve been pigeonholed… but you’ve been certainly cast in heroic roles.

[Lena breaks into mad giggles. She really finds this funny; the thought of herself playing heroic roles just tickles her.]

Sarah Connor: very strong female role. Queen Gorgo: she stabbed McNulty to death…

[To be fair it was the evil Theron she stabbed to death, but he was played by Dominic West, so it's the same thing as stabbing McNulty to death, which is pretty cool.]

Guilty.

[I swear she purred that word. Like a cat.]

Even as far back as The Brothers Grimm, you played Angelika, which was… heroic-ish. Though it could have been more heroic. [FaB sort of mutters to himself] After all that she was captured a little easily…

[There were editing issues with The Brothers Grimm. But I forgive Terry Gilliam any crime because he's a Python alum.]

Yeah. Me as that… [any heroic character] … It’s a bit of a comedy. I’m really an idiot. It’s hilarious to me. I’m such a goof.

Well people don’t know that side of you. If they go on Funny Or Die… [Lena laughs knowingly] … they will see you in a very funny skit where you’re attempting to give your grandfather to a charity.

[Breezily] And why not?

Yes, why not? Exactly. …I have no idea how they could conceive this idea.

They are crazy over there, but hilarious.

Back to the role. Your role as Cersei has been praised. A lot of people have been praised. NewYorkMag basically said your role is essentially played as “Lady McBeth meets Mama Grizzly.”

[Primly] I take that as a compliment.

It is a compliment! Critics Alan Sepinwall and Dan Fienberg of HitFix.com said, “Cersei is a better character in the television series than the one that was in the books.”

[Pleased!] That’s cool.

So… yeah. But enough of those actual lauded critics. NewYorkMag, L.A. Times people. Sepinwall, Fienberg. Who are they? What do they know? Who cares what they think?! We care what Twitter thinks!

[Lena laughs] Yes, we love Twitter.

[it is known] We love Twitter. So I was following Twitter as the show was rolling, and what certain people were saying about certain characters.

All right!

@ArleighTSL says: “Lena Headey makes royal condescencion hot.”

That was my aim.

I’m not even sure how you do that. But here’s my favorite: @JayTeeBlaze says: “Apparently Lena Headey’s ass is so good, it will make you kill a 10-year old without hesitation.”

[Lena laughs loudly] That’s… I’m flattered! [then quieter] It’s not my ass.

Well. I’m not sure they meant ass as in the actual… ass. They may have meant it in a more… general… ass sense.

In a general sense. In a less perverse sense.

[FaB is unsure it is less perverse] Well…

You never know.

Strangely there were no Twitter mentions of your brunette eyebrows. Who knew?

[Lena laughs] Who knew!

Or Nikolaj’s nose.

Nikolaj’s nose, my eyebrows, Pete’s hair.

Yeah. You’re going to get sections from… Here’s the thing: you’re used to fandoms coming from certain directions.

Yes.

You’ve played Sarah Connor. So you had praise, you had criticism.

Lots of criticism.

You had a lot of praise too though. There were people who loved you in that role.

Yeah. [a wry laugh] Mainly my family.

But… Okay. But there were other fandoms. I mean… What was it? With Piper [Perabo]. You were in Imagine…

And that was relatively small film, small release. But there are multiple fan sites that are dedicated to that film. They love you, they love Piper in that film. So you’ve sort of tasted… [devoted fans] … It’s interesting.

Yeah!

Now you’re going to have a flood of fantasy people coming your way.

[Happy fists] Yaaaaay!

You’re really getting a little bit of every–

I’m collecting!

Yes, whoever collects the most by the end of their lifetime—

You win a lifetime supply of pancake batter.

[FaB did not know this! FaB needs to start collecting fandoms!]

How would you describe Cersei?

I do genuinely find her interesting. And I’m not familiar with the books. I haven’t read George’s books. Not that I don’t think George is insanely cool. He is. But I take the script as it is. And I don’t want to kind of… pile myself with these expectations, and the… you know. And I believe she’s somebody who, I think in innocence and in naivete, married a guy she loved. And I do think she loved Robert. And I think her world was shattered when, as she says, she quickly discovered the love was not reciprocated…

The truth comes out [on the wedding night].

The truth comes out. There wasn’t a chance for [them]. I think her relationship with her brother is a pure… kind of getting needs met. For her. I don’t think there’s any love lost there too. I think her children are who she lives and dies by. That’s it. Her world revolves around her children. That’s where her heart came back to life, with her children. That’s where it lives. And I think when she’s in court, in that arena, or she’s with her brother Tyrion… I think she just exists on paranoia and survival. And that’s it. And that’s why—I hear—later on she kind of crumbles and gets her comeuppance.

SPOILER ALERT! Some pretty big spoilers here from book four.

Well. That’s up to interpretation. One thing about George’s book, until a character’s actually dead and buried in the ground, and even sometimes not even then, you really don’t … [know their ultimate fate]. As to Cersei’s actual motivations, George had stayed away from that in the first 3 books. We only knew her from what other people saw. Her public persona. It isn’t until the 4th book, where he started to write Cersei chapters, where you say, “Wow, she had a very interesting childhood.”

And what happened with that?

[FaB is nervous] I don’t want to spoil it…

Come on!

[And here is where FaB may have failed in the 'Winter-Is-Coming.net' "House Gatewatch - Always Support the Bottom" oath. This was tricky territory. I knew we only had a limited amount of time left with the interview. How much to go into? How much to spoil? There's a huge part of me that says, "Tell her all of what went on, all of it!" Except ... Lena's got her own method, that's clear. I don't want to screw with her process. And what if Dave and D.B. have changed pieces of the past? Cersei is certainly a more nuanced character in the television series. Does her fucked up childhood even exist here? Lena clearly wants to know, but ... I was really hesitant.]

There were definitely some controlling issues. Her father is extremely controlling. It’s… there’s a… I don’t want to say there were abuse issues. Not physically, but I think certainly there were emotional ones.

I think she is incredibly… There’s a part of her that wishes she was a man. Because they have the power.

And she does what she can to control her world. And manipulate what she can.

And I think she absolutely operates on fear. Her own, and other peoples’.

Yes. She knows how to…

Fuck with people. Fuck over people.

[I had to laugh] Yes.

[Lena speaking as Cersei] “Thanks, dad!”

Her mother died when she was relatively young. Tyrion’s birth killed her [Joanna Lannister], so there is some blame that is going there for that. Suddenly you now have Cersei, who is the only woman now—the only female—in this family of men. So… personally, I think her father Tywin expected her to step up into almost a “queenly” role right away, which is why he manuevered to do what he did, marrying her to whoever would be king.

[So from here I was going to bring up more backstory. But again I hesitated. I wasn't sure I had much time left for this huge information dump:]

SPOILERS FROM A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE:

1. Tywin had intended to wed teenage Cersei to Rhaegar, Mad King Aerys’s heir, which would make her the eventual queen. And Cersei’s crush on Rhaegar was a lot like Sansa’s crush on Joffrey; for a while she was out of her mind “in love” with Rhaegar.

2. That plan goes to hell when the Mad King tells Tywin he is “the ablest of servants,” but does not intend to marry his son to a servant’s daughter. (Which is of course part of what motivates Tywin to aid in overthrowing the Mad King.) Rhaegar instead marries the princess of Dorne.

3. Rhaegar, apparently not happy with just one wife, later steals Lyanna Stark (Robert’s love), which pretty much starts the war.

4. Lyanna dies… Robert kills Rhaegar in battle… Jaime murders the King… and Tywin instead brokers a marriage between Robert and Cersei, making her queen.

[Cersei loved Robert. I think the only thing up for debate, exactly, is for how long? He certainly avenged her wounded pride. He was handsome and heroic in his day. I think for the shortest moment he replaced Rhaegar in her mind. But that ended on the wedding night. And later in A Feast For Crows she says that she never forgave him for killing Rhaegar - her first crush.]

[Why am I going through all this, you ask? Because all this went through my head in approximately 1.5 seconds when I was trying to consider how much time I had to give Lena all this backstory. Which is why I ultimately couldn't do it. It was just too much information in too short a time. But go ahead, boo me at will.]

[Lena asks...] Doesn’t she go to prison, ultimately?

Yes, but… she’s still imprisoned at the end of the fourth book, however we don’t know what the end result of that is going to be. There’s still a swing of power going on. She could still slither her way out of that and back into power. Which is why we’re in part waiting for this fifth book, and hopefully that will reveal…

You’ve been waiting for how long?

A long time. Well, for me it’s been less. I started reading late. Five years for me. [Four actually. I can't count.] But six for everyone else.

And when’s it out?

July.

[Lena claps] Ahh! Well done, George!

Yes, well done George.

[As time winds down, I quickly ask Lena about a side project she's been working on, because I heard about it on what is probably her most popular fan site, Lena Headey Online. She's writing it, directing it, and getting a number of colleagues and friends together to work on it, including one of my favorites, John Cleese!]

Tell me a little about Sophisticates. Or it’s been renamed?

Yes, Desperados. It’s just a sort of observation. A story about people who have a desire and drive to create and to be recognized in some way. It’s about getting recognition. Whether it’s through filming a scene in your living room, or playing the DVD for their friends, and them being reactive… It’s about that. When you put a camera on anyone, there’s always a certain curiosity to see themselves. Even if they’re like ‘No no no!” they still want to see themselves. And some people are like, “Ohh, I’m quite good.” Or, “Oh, I’m awful.”

What sort of progress have you made?

I experimented with it a couple of years back. And that for me was … sort of me putting my money where my mouth is, as a wannabe aspiring director. So I went and shot it for like 5 days… but we never got to edit, and then I did a rough edit… and then it sort of fell by the wayside because life gets in the way. And I have kind of reconfigured it… I have been shooting stuff myself, I’m going to shoot the other episodes, and have been teaching myself how to edit. It’s become a really funny, organic mockumentary. I’ve written three episodes, we’re shooting two episodes the 14th and 15th of May… It’s very rough. But I think that adds to the whole tragic-ness. It’s really about desperation. Hence it’s called Desperados.

That sounds great!

[If this is even half as funny as her Funny Or Die skit, it will be hilarious.]

‘Winter Is Coming’ will get a sneak peek.

Oh, excellent. We would love that!

[FaB finally comes to the reason behind the whole interview...]

Lastly, this is more of a personal issue for myself. I am currently starting my own movement to ban the color indigo from the seven color spectrum. It doesn’t belong. Indigo is just another version of purple. To me. I just feel deeply about this.

Okay. [She sounds a little... amazed?] Wow. Yes.

I want to know: Would you support that or are you pro-indigo?

… I’m going to have to say I’m pro-indigo. [gently] I’m so sorry.

It’s alright. Sophie Turner is also pro-indigo. Loudly.

I have to agree with the girls. It’s pretty beautiful.

[Distantly, coolly, primly...] I’m afraid I have to wrap this up now.

[She's laughing and coughing. Either I'm funny or I've completely worn her vocal chords out.]

Sorry to leave you like that.

The warmth I was feeling from Lena Headey…

It’s gone. It’s been ripped from your heart.

I’m cold.

I’ve slapped you across the face with indigo.

Why?!

You have to accept it.

Thanks, Lena!

Lena Headey has managed to bring the Godiva chocolate shop in Covent Garden to a standstill. In jeans, a skimpy top and high- heeled sandals, she is writhing on a counter and playing with a tray of chocolates for part of our photoshoot, while the assembled male customers can do nothing but stare helplessly. It is quite some performance.

Half an hour later, safely back within the confines of the camper van, she rips off her clothes, settles into tatty combat trousers and desperately swabs at her face with some tissues, trying to rid herself of makeup.

‘Sorry,’ she apologises, ‘this is so rude, but I just can’t bear it.’ The men in Godiva would be disappointed.

Headey, you soon gather, is not your normal sort of actress. While most would prefer you to see them in a constant state of fully made- up allure, Headey would rather you didn’t, pointing out her faults without any prompting – an easy enough thing to do when there aren’t any. ‘Ooh, yes, there are,’ she says quickly. ‘When I was in Hollywood, everyone out there became very concerned about the gap between my teeth and kept saying: “Is it spinach?” and “Do you think we should dye her teeth and fill in the gap?” ‘But when you look like she does – green eyes, huge mouth and long, model-like limbs – such things do not dent your confidence easily. ‘Oh, it was hysterical,’ she laughs. ‘You can’t take it personally, they probably thought I was really odd.’ Well, she is certainly not your average careerladderclimbing actress.

Best known for her role in the TV drama Band of Gold and for playing opposite Steve Coogan in The Parole Officer, 28-year-old Headey has, consciously or not, chosen roles for their quirky interest rather than to fulfil any ten-step career plan. She has tried the Hollywood thing, going up for parts in the Ben Affleck action film Daredevil and for the part of Nurse Johnson in Pearl Harbor that eventually went to Kate Beckinsale: ‘But I didn’t get them and I think to myself, “Thank God for that!”‘ Her latest part in The Actors, a film about two struggling thespians who decide to swindle some local criminals out of cash, is another offbeat role to add to her list. ‘I did it because I knew it would be a great crack,’ she says, ‘and because I wanted to work with Michael Caine, Dylan Moran and Michael Gambon, who was a lunatic.

Acting allows you to be rewarded creatively, but I certainly wouldn’t say I was wildly ambitious as I’m far too lazy for that. And as for schmoozing at parties, I’m like a chocolate fireguard – utterly useless.’ Just to compound the sense she has a rather unusual way of doing things, Headey tells me that she has just come back from a six-week trip to India, where she ‘chilled out and did some yoga. I hadn’t been there for five years, so it was lovely to go back.’ India has poignant memories for Headey as it was there, nine years ago, that she met her boyfriend Jason Flemyng on the set of The Jungle Book.

They started seeing each other almost immediately and split last year after eight years together. Clearly, it is something Headey still feels raw about.

‘Me and Jase were together for a long time,’ she says, ‘and it just came to a natural end, which was totally amicable. I met Jason when I was 20, so I did a lot of growing up with him. It’s been very painful,’ she adds, suddenly looking wretched. ‘I mean, seriously painful and I miss him a lot. I miss not lying in bed next to someone and I miss the silliness we had between us, but I wouldn’t change the decision we made. We both needed to go on. It’s been a stressful period, which is why I went off to India.’ Did the usual problem of two actors not being together for long enough periods of time cause problems?

‘We’d go through spells where neither of us would be working so we’d see each other all the time, which was pretty intense, or we’d both be working and so it would be hard to meet up. But we were happy. We had talked about marriage and kids. And no, I don’t know whether he’s seeing anyone at the moment.’

Headey had a tattoo of Flemyng’s name inscribed in Thai on her arm when she was in the throes of first love. It has now been altered to a butterfly. She insists no one else was involved in the couple’s split, although reports have linked her with Soldier Soldier star Jerome Flynn. When I mention this, Headey suddenly gets angry.

‘We are absolutely not going out with each other,’ she says.

‘Jerome and I are good mates but to say that we’re seeing each other is nonsense.’ Her eyes flash. ‘I’m very single at the moment, which is quite exciting and challenging. I’d say that I was probably quite co-dependent. It will be good for me to be on my own. I know it won’t last forever, though, but I think I need to take some time away from it all.’ She has been working non-stop for just over ten years since she was spotted in a school production and cast alongside Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack in Waterland. The following year she appeared opposite Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson in The Remains of the Day.

When Ruby Ryder met Harry Starks, her star was definitely on the descent, rather than the ascent.

In her own words, she’d “spent 10 years waiting to be Britain’s next blonde bombshell” but it was beginning to look like it was never going to happen.

The same cannot be said for Lena Headey, an actor since the age of 17 when she was spotted in a school play that was entered for a competition at the National Theatre.

Lena has appeared in movies including The Remains Of The Day, The Parole Officer and The Man With Rain In His Shoes (with Mark Strong, The Long Firm‘s charismatic Harry Starks).

She has also recently finished filming The Brothers Grimm in Prague, alongside Hollywood superstars Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, and appeared in The Gathering Storm for the BBC.

Lena jumped at the chance of playing bottle blonde Ruby.

“I’ve never really had the opportunity to do anything as character-based as Ruby,” she says.

“Most of the characters throughout the piece are quite intriguing. They are characters you can get underneath and they are all quite strong and feisty, but they are all flawed and frail.

“There are only the briefest of moments when you actually see how fragile Ruby is under all her make-up and charm-school training. She’s a survivor though.”

Ruby and Harry’s paths cross when her husband, Eddie, introduces the two in a club.

But, before long, Eddie is behind bars and he asks his old friend to keep an eye on his lonely wife.

“He is looking after her and they become friendly and I think Ruby enjoys Harry and he opens up to her.”

As Ruby herself says: “Harry Starks had a talent for finding people just when they were becoming lost.”

Like all the others, Ruby soon has a soft spot for the torture-loving gangster.

“I think they have a real, genuine friendship,” says Lena.

“When she meets him, he’s different from all the others because he is not trying to hit on her, and I think Ruby is probably a bit disappointed at first.”

However, when she’s introduced to Harry’s toy-boy lover, the confused Tommy (Joe Absolom), the penny drops and she realises why.

To help transform herself into Ruby, dark-haired Lena wears a wig and spent an hour a day in make-up.

“It was pretty quick really, which was great, because I have the patience of a goat,” she laughs.

“The wig was really weird for the first few days – I felt like a drag queen!”

But Lena confesses that it took more than a blonde wig and make-up to make her look the part.

“I was built up here, up front,” she says, coyly, glancing down at her chest. “They had to make me look more curvaceous.”

When Harry opens up The Stardust club, Ruby finds a new niche for her talents and ends up training the club’s erotic dancers.

With no dance training herself, did Lena find it a tall order?

“No, I was really lazy and just went along and winged it,” she admits. “I didn’t really worry about it because we had a choreographer, but I did get it wrong a few times.”

The Long Firm is set in the Sixties with a soundtrack to match.

As a Seventies child, best known for her work in period dramas, the Sixties are new to Lena.

“I think I would’ve been more of a hippy than like Ruby. I would have liked the long hair, flower power, everybody happy,” she says.

Despite their close friendship, Ruby knows that, if she ever put a foot wrong with Harry, she would be in trouble:

“She’s absolutely educated within the gangster world and she knows what Harry is capable of. They have a close friendship but he ends up changing her life forever.”

There’s no doubting that people have a certain fascination with the gangster genre and Lena is no exception:

“I love The Sopranos – the acting is awesome and hilarious. I didn’t watch the Lock, Stock TV series but I saw the film and thought it was great; it was a real benchmark film.

“I think that any extreme lifestyle is fascinating. There is something attractive about it all and I think The Long Firm has brought it back to the ‘old school gangster’.

“You know there are rules and, in a way, they are quite chivalrous in the way they treat their women.”

The Long Firm aside, Lena is currently busy off-screen, writing, and hoping that her work will be commissioned.

“I’ve nearly finished six screenplays but I’m still chasing money to try to finance them.

“One is an out-and-out Farrelly brothers-type comedy – I wanted to make something unapologetically funny. I’m still banging on doors to get the money though.

“I don’t think you can be an actor forever if you’re a woman. I don’t have any definite ideas but I’d like to broaden my horizons and try something different,” she concludes.

Thanks for the Hollywood makeover, but Balham is still home to up and coming actress Lena Headey, reports Sheila Johnston.

Lena Headey eyes the poster for her new film Gossip with mild disbelief.

Could this glossy, airbrushed face peering out moodily from a line- up of equally gorgeous, unreal creatures really be her? “All of us have these lips,” she laughs. “Yeah, like, I always have these glowing lights around my cheeks.”

Headey, 26, has been edging up the ladder, with scene-stealing supporting parts in British movies: Liv Tyler’s flighty sister in Onegin, a free-spirited suffragette in Mrs Dalloway and the servant who ran off with the under-butler in The Remains of the Day. On television, she whipped clients into line as an S/M prostitute in Band of Gold and got hooked on Ecstasy in Loved Up.

But now she has been given the full Hollywood glamour makeover, and she’s not sure she likes it.

“It was a bit like being at school camp. Appearance-wise, the producers commented all the time. They wanted to reshoot scenes because I had a spot.

My favourite was when they wanted me to shave my moustache. It was outrageous. People have hair on their bodies. It’s natural,” declares Headey, who claims that the fur (invisible to all but the most eagle- eyed studio executive) remained intact.

Gossip, which opens in London on Friday, is about a coterie of achingly rich, beautiful and cynical students who drink endless martinis, hang out in Manhattan’s hippest nightspots and constantly redecorate their designer lofts. In between this vital business, and inspired by a journalism course about news distortion, they initiate a project. Start a rumour and watch the Chinese whispers grow. Except that they swiftly spin out of control, leading to accusations of rape and suicide.

The movie has taken flak from literal-minded American critics who observed that these characters spend more on a leather jacket than real students live on in an entire year. “Well, it’s not Bicycle Thieves,” Headey concedes cheerfully.

“But it helps the popcorn go down for an hour and a half. It makes me laugh and I’ll definitely see it again when it comes out here. If you want to be a successful working actor, doing great little movies, you have to get a profile. So you do a film in America. Gossip was good fun but more of a career move than the part I’ve been waiting for. Which is Aberdeen.”

Currently winning acclaim at film festivals, Aberdeen stars Headey as an abrasive young lawyer who goes to Norway in search of her alcoholic father, played by Stellen Skarsgard.

The industry magazine Variety praised her “fearless performance” and “emotional abandon” when the film was world-premiered last month; it is unveiled at the Edinburgh Festival on Wednesday.

Headey was first spotted by an agent casting the film of Graham Swift’s Waterland. “I played Sinead Cusack as a young woman. They gave her big teeth to match mine. Big teeth and a hairy lip – ooh, I’m a sex symbol! They’ll have me on the cover of FHM next.”

It goes without saying that, for all her comical self- deprecation, Headey looks effortlessly delicious, with her grey- green cats’ eyes, pencil-slim figure and the glow of one hot off the plane from a holiday in the Greek sun.

Alas, she has already been claimed, by the redheaded actor Jason Flemyng, whom she met in Jodhpur while they were both filming a live- action version of The Jungle Book.

THAT was six years ago and, despite tempting fate by having each other’s names tattooed on their arms, they are still together, fixing up the Victorian house in Balham they bought last year (“London feels like my home now”) and leading a contentedly low-profile lifestyle. “The thought of losing my privacy terrifies me more than anything. I don’t want to be hugely famous, I just want to have my lovely life.”

This could become increasingly difficult, for Flemyng’s career has been taking off too since his role in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

“He’s only been home for 26 days this year. I’ve hardly seen him,” sighs Headey, who went to Greece with a mate, Flemyng being otherwise engaged on a Second World War drama called The Bunker.

“I ought to leave soon – Jase has got a day off and I want to go home and snog him,” she adds rather sweetly. There’s just time to enquire about her own plans. “I want to do a low-budget film called Fry, written by this crazy Italian. I get to play an inbred hillbilly with a glass eye.” I wonder for a moment if she’s putting me on, but on reflection I wouldn’t count on it.

Lena Headey is well settled in London these days, but at heart she remains very much a Northern lass — that is, warm, informal, irreverent, self-deprecating and probably more forthright than is recommendable for a fetching young actress trying to make her name in movies today. But that’s what happens when you are raised in Yorkshire: you don’t put on airs and graces, and you speak your mind.

“It was hideous,” Ms. Headey, 27, said with typical bluntness of her recent experience of working on “Ripley’s Game,” directed by Liliana Cavani and starring John Malkovich, which will be released next year. “I wouldn’t want to repeat it. We had no freedom to do anything. But that’s what being an actor is all about, that you have an energy that you need to expel and experiment with.”

It was her good fortune, then, that the Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland was looking for an English actress with just such an independent spirit for his first English-language movie, “Aberdeen,” which opens in New York on Aug. 17. In fact, he gave Ms. Headey her biggest film role to date, casting her alongside Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Rampling and Ian Hart, without even giving her an audition or a screen test.

“I knew she had the right instincts for the job and we went from there,” said Mr. Moland, 45, whose last feature film, the Norwegian-language “Zero Kelvin,” also starred Mr. Skarsgard. “She’s bright enough to know that roles like this are demanding and they don’t come around that often. If you look at how many films she has done, you see that she has never been challenged as much as this. She wanted that challenge.”

In the movie, Ms. Headey portrays Kaisa, an aspiring lawyer whose life in the fast lane of contemporary London is suddenly interrupted by a desperate telephone call from her mother, Helen (Ms. Rampling), in Scotland. Helen begs Kaisa to find her estranged husband — and Kaisa’s father — in Norway and bring him to Aberdeen, where she has been hospitalized. Irritated at first, Kaisa soon understands the urgency of the request: 15 years after the two separated, Helen’s dying wish is to be reconciled with Tomas (Mr. Skarsgard).

The problem is that Tomas, a former worker on oil platforms in the North Sea near Aberdeen, is now an alcoholic. Kaisa rushes to Norway, finds her father in a bar and virtually kidnaps him. When an airline refuses a boarding pass to the inebriated Tomas, Kaisa has to take her increasingly unruly father to Britain by ferry and drive him 450 miles to Aberdeen. The trip is fraught with mishaps, but Kaisa shows her mettle, with an amiable truck driver Clive (Mr. Hart) they encounter along the way occasionally offering a hand.

The movie has its funny moments and a good many funny lines (“If you want bad sex,” Clive promises Kaisa, “you’ve come to the right man”), but the journey that it portrays is essentially that of a young woman discovering herself in the mirror of her drunken father and dying mother. It is a testing role that requires Ms. Headey to be both tough and vulnerable, one that she performs with both power and sensitivity in a convincingly Scottish accent.

“When I read this fantastic script, it just excited me,” she said in a recent interview in a West End hotel. “I thought, ‘I want to speak these words, I want to get in there, there’s so much in there to do.’ I thought, ‘Kaisa, now there’s a real person.’ ”

There was good reason for Kaisa to ring true.

“Growing up with an alcoholic father is a landscape that I know from my upbringing,” Mr. Moland, who wrote the screenplay with Kristin Amundsen, said by telephone from Oslo. “It is something I have tried to give shape to for many years. It’s not an autobiographical film as such, but it reflects being torn between a person you actually love and one who acts in ways that are incredibly disappointing at times.”

Ms. Headey said Mr. Moland had given his actors the freedom she so covets, but he also provided them with an emotional compass to the plot.

“We’d go through scenes and he’d tell the story of how that scene came through his experience to be on the page, even though it wasn’t a direct translation of what happened to him in life,” she recalled. “After that, we were free. And he’d have a big smile on his face, or he’d look concerned and you’d know — or wouldn’t know — that what you were doing was right or wrong. Sometimes he’d be quite moved because he was watching himself with his Dad and re-living the frustration and anger.”

The proof that she is “only” acting, of course, is that in person Ms. Headey is quite unlike the abrasive Kaisa. Rather, at least in Mr. Moland’s experience, “she is very sweet, very uncomplicated, warm and loving human being.” And yet this does not belie a stubborn Northern streak that has led her to pursue her career on her own terms. Put differently, she believes in herself.

“I seriously think I can do anything,” she said with a slightly embarrassed laugh, “and that’s not meant to sound arrogant at all.”

She was just a pretty teenager 10 years ago when a casting director spotted her in a group photograph of her Huddersfield school theater company, a stroke of luck that brought her a small role in Stephen Gyllenhaal’s “Waterland” and prompted her to leave school and embark on an acting career. Her parents wanted her to go to college, while some friends counseled her to attend drama school, but she chose to learn from experience and work from instinct, keeping busy with small roles in film and on television.

The roles have kept coming. Since shooting “Aberdeen” in 1999, she has appeared in “Gossip” (2000) and has filmed Neil LaBute’s “Possession,” Alberto Sciamma’s “Anazapta” and John Duigan’s “Parole Officer” as well as “Ripley’s Game,” all forthcoming. But for this petite, dark-haired actress, whose longtime boyfriend, Jason Flemyng, won attention in Guy Ritchie’s “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” her hopes for a breakthrough to bigger roles clearly lie in “Aberdeen.”

Mr. Skarsgard, for one, believes she is ready for them.

“Lena has the unique quality of producing true lives in front of the camera,” he said in a telephone interview from Stockholm. “She is very talented, and there is no vanity in her. She can be very beautiful, but she doesn’t mind being ugly as well. And the lack of vanity is fantastic when it comes from such a beautiful girl. I don’t think she is working hard to do big Hollywood movies, but she is so good that there will be always be work for her as an actress.”

Mr. Moland, who is also Norway’s most successful producer of commercials and music videos, said that talented actors often worked for years before being noticed. But recognition can also bring different problems.

“It often happens, if you deliver something striking in a performance, all of a sudden you get better scripts,” he noted, “but you’re also competing against bigger stars, so it might not necessarily result in more work.”

For the moment, at least. Ms. Headey seems willing to bide her time.

“I can’t do anything that doesn’t make me feel massive emotion,” she said. “If you read something and don’t like it, well, occasionally you have to do it because you need the money. I have more choice now, but it means waiting seven or eight months a year. That’s it. You wait. You’re powerless. And things like ‘Aberdeen‘ are so rare. It’s actually quite terrifying.”