Secret Invasion Star Emilia Clarke Insists Green Screen Acting Is ‘Real’ Acting

Secret Invasion star Emilia Clarke has said she disagrees with those who think acting in front of a green screen isn’t “real” acting.

Clarke, who stars as G’iah, the Skrull daughter of Talos, in Secret Invasion, weighed in on the MCU’s green screen acting debate during a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times. She addressed the misconception surrounding the practice, pointing out plenty of high-profile actors perform in front of a green screen.

“The stigma is that people don’t do any acting in these shows,” Clarke said. “[But] then you’re like ‘well, then why are they asking all these great actors to do it, and why are they saying yes?’ “

Some of the top actors that star alongside Clarke in Secret Invasion include Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Olivia Colman, and Don Cheadle. She cited the opportunity to work with such an all-star line-up as one of the main reasons she agreed to join the project and make her MCU debut after all these years. “The cast is ridiculous,” Clarke said. “I was like, ‘Where do I sign?’ “

Clarke’s comments come two years after Anthony Hopkins famously branded Marvel green screen acting “pointless” in an interview with The New Yorker. He explained that when he turned up to shoot his scenes as Odin for the Thor movies, there was “no acting required” as he simply had to “sit on the throne” and “shout a bit”.

Angela Bassett, who plays Queen Ramonda in the Black Panther movies, offered a different opinion on green screen acting earlier this year. She admitted that she had a much better experience with green screen than Hopkins, praising the production team on the Black Panther sequel for bringing the world of Wakanda to life.

“The throne room was there, the floor of red clay, the elevation with the Dora Milaje flanking around, the grand doors that they walk through,” she told The New Yorker in a separate interview. “When Shuri and I went out into the wild, we had trees and bushes and water for yards and yards and yards, and Namor came up out of the water and flew to us. We had the entire ship, and the attention to detail inside of it was just magnificent. So I had it much better than Anthony Hopkins. I’m sorry for him.”

The first three episodes of Secret Invasion are available to stream on Disney Plus right now, with new episodes releasing every Wednesday until the season concludes with its sixth episode on July 26. You can read our spoiler-free review of Episodes 1 and 2 here, plus Episode 3 here.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.