Lena Headey calls ‘Game Of Thrones’ waterboarding scene she acted in a “shit time”

"People have different limits"

Lena Headey has branded a scene in which she waterboarded another character in Game Of Thrones a “shit time”.

In an interview with Insider, Headey, who played Cersei Lannister in the show, was asked about the punishing season six scene.

In May, actor Hannah Waddingham also spoke out about shooting the scene that she was in with Headey. It involved a ten-hour shoot in which her character Septa Unella was strapped to a table while Cersei poured a bottle of wine into her mouth.

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In an interview with Collider, Waddingham said: “Other than childbirth, it was the worst day of my life.”

Septa Unella in 'Game Of Thrones'
Septa Unella in ‘Game Of Thrones’. CREDIT: HBO/AF archive/Alamy Stock Photo

Headey confirmed that the scene was incredibly tough in her Insider interview. “She had a really shit time doing that scene,” she said.

She went on to commend her co-star, who claimed that she was really getting a “waterboarding” during the shoot.

“People have different limits,” said Headey. “People will go to different places. And some people will be like, ‘I don’t want to fucking put myself in that position.’ I totally respect whatever your boundaries are, but Hannah was a trooper. That was a long day of prune juice in your face.”

Sophie Turner
Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark in ‘Game of Thrones’

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The scene had originally taken a different form. According to Waddingham, Septa Unella was to be raped by The Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) as an act of revenge orchestrated by Cersei for her previous mistreatment.

“I think they’d had so many complaints about the rape of Sansa that they chose not to go with it,” she told Collider.

“I think they possibly changed it when I was mid-air flying to Belfast because suddenly I got sent these new sides that said that I would need a wetsuit top. And I thought they’d sent me the wrong bits. And sure enough, when I got there, I was then put in a wetsuit top and I was like, ‘Because?’ And they went, ‘Oh, it’s waterboarding instead.’”

Headey made reference to the scene while promoting her new film Gunpowder Milkshake.

The film will co-star Karen Gillan and will be released in cinemas internationally in July, while it will be released on Netflix only in the US on July 14.

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