Sparks Fly Between Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin in ‘Me Before You’
Amanda Nolan
Emilia Clarke leaves her dragons behind and takes on brightly colored frocks for “Me Before You.” The movie is based off the ‘12 best-selling book of the same name by Jojo Moyes who also adapted the story for the screenplay. Making her film-directing debut is theater director Thea Sharrock.
Clark plays Louisa, a 26-year-old living with her family and helping them out with earnings from her waitressing job. When the establishment closes, Louisa needs a new gig. She is kind, quirky and charming but has little ambition. She lands a lucrative job with a wealthy couple (Charles Dance and Janet McTeer) as the caretaker of their quadriplegic son, Will Traynor (Sam Claflin from the “Hunger Games” movies).
Literally living in a castle, Will used to lead an adventurous and indulgent lifestyle as a finance playboy who rode motorcycles and jumped off cliffs. After an accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down, his parents hire Louisa to act as a companion in addition to his regular nurse (Stephen Peacocke) who provides Will with medical care.
Spirited Louisa does her best to cheer up the brooding patient. It’s not long before he starts warming up to her and sparks begin to fly. When Louisa finds out that Will, not only mourning his old life but suffering chronic pain, plans on ending his life at an assisted suicide facility within months, her mission becomes to change his mind. They go on romantic outings and enrich each other’s lives.
Clarke is best known as the fierce Daenerys Targaryen in HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”
In a Glamour magazine interview, Clarke says about the role: “I was obsessed with ‘My Fair Lady’ growing up. As an actor, you want to be able to show a character’s growth. It’s fulfilling. And I’m very close to Lou as a person. At school, I was uncertain and unsure. So there was a sincerity that I was so desperate to play because with Daenerys I’ve spent a career putting armor on.”
“Me Before You” opens nationwide June 3.