Emilia Clarke has revealed her favorite movie is a major superhero blockbuster – and it has something in common with her debut comic book series, M.O.M.
Speaking to SFX Magazine, Clarke declares that "Deadpool is my favourite movie!"
M.O.M.'s main character Maya emulates the Merc With the Mouth's metafictional approach, constantly breaking the fourth wall to chat to the reader. "Deadpool is so good, and I really want to be Ryan Reynolds so badly!" Clarke says. "You also have Fleabag, House Of Cards and, dare I say it, Shakespeare [doing this]. It's quite fun having Maya talk to the person who is actually reading the book; it gets to live outside of time, which I really like."
Soon to star in the upcoming Secret Invasion television series, Clarke also intends M.O.M. to be a wry commentary on the proliferation of superheroes in mainstream media over the past decade. "That's my usual nine to five, so I've witnessed how the blockbuster has become only about that," she reasons. "Back in the day, you'd have blockbusters that were about heists and other crazy shit, but now it's all about superheroes and comic book worlds. It seems that it's something that people want, but the popularity of that genre is being amplified through these huge, record-breaking movies.
"It's also a space where you can do anything and make everything, which was confusing to me, as you can let your imagination run as wild as possible, and yet it all looks the darn same. Deadpool was the first time where it was like, 'Oh my god, this is really different!'"
M.O.M. centers upon a single mother who somehow juggles being both a top scientist and a superhero, and the comic compares the matriarchal ability to juggle an apparently infinite number of tasks to actually having a superpower.
"I wanted to approach this material in a comic book world because I love superheroes and comics as the freedom, the imagination and creativity you have in them has no boundaries," says Clarke, who is joined on the three-issue miniseries from Image Comics by co-writer Marguerite Bennett and artist Leila Leiz.
With main character Maya's powers tied to her menstrual cycle, Clarke also hopes to shine a light on what is often a seldom- discussed topic. "It's a huge deal when it happens to a woman, but I also feel that men don't know anything about it because we don't know much about it either," she says. "We're not allowed to talk about it, so I'm hoping to educate women, girls and boys about this phenomena that happens to a female body."
You can check out our full interview with Clarke in the new issue of SFX Magazine, which features Masters of the Universe: Revelation on the cover, available from Wednesday, July 14. Subscribe here and never miss an issue.
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