It was the most shocking episode of an already boundary-breaking series of Game of Thrones. Now Lena Heady - the show's frosty queen mother Cersei Lannister - has hit back at viewers who criticised her for using a body double for the season five finale's nude 'shame' walking scene.
Producers used CGI trickery to put her face on the naked body of Rebecca Van Cleave, who walked through a sea of jeering extras as the regal matriarch was punished by religious zealots in front of her subjects for her affair with twin brother Jamie.
The actress - who was pregnant at the time of shooting - has now revealed that she was 'shocked' by the negative reaction the body double decision garnered among fans. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, she say: '(I had some) really great (reactions). But some people thought I was less of an actress because I didn’t get my t**s out.'
The mum-of-two adds that she gives her all emotionally to a performance - and felt she would have been too 'angry' by the gruelling three-day shoot to properly portray her cold, ruthless character.
'It was really a bit shocking. I’ve done nudity. I’m not averse to it. But I know I’m a very emotional actor and I get really driven by that. In order to do my job, I allow myself to be really vulnerable. I don’t know any other way to do my job. Things really affect me. And the thought of being naked for three days and trying to contain her in the way she would be I think I would feel very angry...
'And wonderful Rebecca was able to contain herself and be naked. She found it very difficult, obviously. It’s not a natural thing to do. I film every year and I have kids and they know me now and [being naked in the scene] was just too much on top of that. So yeah, people that get it thought it was great. I didn’t phone it in; I was actually there for three days with Rebecca.'
Body double Rebecca spoke out in defence of the actress last year, insisting: 'It should all be about the finished product, not about whose body was where and and whose head was where.'
But the aspiring actress disagreed: 'It should all be about the finished product, not about whose body was where and and whose head was where.'
Although she could not help but add she hopes her next role has 'my head in it!'
'It was one of the scariest, most wonderful, most gratifying experiences I could have imagined,' she admitted, 'I never in a million years would have thought I would be in Dubrovnik surrounded by hundreds of extras and crew members throwing food at me, but it was amazing.'
The British/American beauty's image was used in the full-frontal nude shots when Lena's disgraced character, Queen Regent Cercei Lannister, was humiliated by walking naked down the streets of King's Landing to atone for her crimes.
The shocking scenes saw Cercei's long, flowing locks being shorn off before she was stripped and made to appear in front of a screaming, mud-slinging mob.
The incredibly powerful performance involved Lena's power-hungry alter-ego being spat upon, cut, and having excrement thrown at her.
It was reported last year that producers spent an incredible $50,000 a day protecting Headey's modesty on set with 200 security guards during filming. See photo from the scene below...
