I made screencaps of Milly in this week’s episode of “House of the Dragon”. Click on the gallery link below to all caps.
Films & Television > 2022 – House of the Dragon > Season 1 Episode Screencaps > S01E02
Everything You Need To Know About ‘House Of The Dragon’ Star Milly Alcock
The Aussie actor enters the dragon’s den.
After a near flawless run, fantasy series Game of Thrones ended with a whimper. Thankfully, the new prequel, House of the Dragon shows serious promise – as does its Aussie star Milly Alcock.
Violence? Check. Sex scenes? Check. A brutal and shocking death in episode one? Check, check, check. House of the Dragon wastes no time reminding viewers why the world couldn’t stop talking about Game of Thrones until its final season three years ago.
The prequel is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and tells the story of House Targaryen (as in Daenerys Targaryen). While whispers of returning cast members have yet to be confirmed, there are plenty of fresh faces, including 22-year-old Alcock.
“I was at a friend’s house when I found out I got the part. I couldn’t tell anyone, so I just silently screamed, hung up the phone and looked my friend in the eye and asked “do you have any wine?,” recalls Alcock, who previously starred alongside Tim Minchnin’s Upright and A Place to Call Home.
Alcock will take the iron throne as a young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. So what do viewers need to know about the woman beneath the crown? “That I’ve been picked up and dropped into the lion’s den and I don’t know what I’m doing,” Alcock says.
If you missed the original series (how?!), you’re in luck. Alcock explains, “it’s a completely new story so it opens up a big audience, because everybody can watch it with fresh eyes. I hadn’t actually watched the original series until we started shooting. I can see why there’s such a large fan base around it, it’s brilliant.”
While the new series does take a new stylistic and thematic direction with its exploration of characters and relationships, long-time fans can expect the same meticulous detail that stays true to the original series.
“The attention to detail is insane,” Alcock says. “Our costume designer Jany [Temime] did an incredible job at including dragon detailing in my costume such as scaling. Jenny was very smart at thinking ‘how am I going to include this family’s sigil and plant that seed of ‘we are House Targaryen’. The clothing that we wear is also very restrictive, which actually helps get you into the character and the restricted within the world that she lives in. Although, I will admit with all the live fire and heavy costumes, it got really hot during filming, and I’m a sweater so I often had to go and stand in front of the fans with my arms up.”
“I can see parallels in the dynamics of the relationships. I recognise the relationship between mother and daughter with my own mother, and between two young women and how that friendship deteriorates. I can definitely relate,” says Alcock. “That said, I’ve never ridden a dragon!”
Despite filming taking place miles from home, the 22-year-old from Sydney was still eager to bring a slice of home to the set. “We went to the seaside in Cornwall [in England] before rehearsal, and I decided I wanted to go for a swim. Everyone said, ‘you don’t have time,’ but I did it anyway. I felt so Australian. It was 15 degrees in the water and I was just in my undies, because I didn’t have any swimmers. It reminded me of home.”
After ruling a kingdom and securing herself a place on the iron throne, you’d forgive the young star for wanting to settle into an early retirement. Instead, Alcock has a few projects she’d like to get under her belt.
“I really want to play a boxer or a musician. I’m jealous of musicians and the power that they have onstage and their ability to captivate an audience with their voice. I’d also love to do a play.”
Milly attended the House Of The Dragon Paris Premiere yesterday. Click on the gallery link below to see all new photos.
Candids, Events & Premieres > 2022 > 2022-08-28 – House of the Dragon Paris Premiere
Click on the gallery link to see the photos in full size.
Candids, Events & Premieres > 2022 > 2022-08-27 – Ray-Ban Studios at All Points East Festival 2022
Get Ready for Milly Alcock’s Reign
In the George R.R. Martin novel A Storm of Swords—the third installment of the A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series that brought us the 59-time Emmy Award–winning series Game of Thrones—it is said that when a Targaryen is born, the gods flip a coin. One side brings greatness, and one side brings madness. We know how things ended for Daenerys Targaryen, but what about Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen before her? “Greatness,” Milly Alcock responds with a cheeky smile during our Zoom call. It’s hard to say whether the actress is leading me astray with this answer. After all, HBO Max has been keeping much of its new series House of the Dragon tightly under wraps. But either way, she has me on the edge of my seat.
Set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon centers on a particularly turbulent period of the House Targaryen’s reign. Vying for their rightful place on the iron throne are Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, the would-be first queen regnant of Westeros, and her ruthless uncle, Prince Daemon Targaryen. It’s Succession, but with dragons and bloody battles. The show opens up with our first look at young Rhaenyra, a skilled dragon rider who is more interested in her father’s political affairs than getting married and bearing children. She is regal yet fierce. Alcock, who is sporting a dirty-blonde chop and thick brunette brows on the day of our call, is almost unrecognizable as the platinum-haired princess. It’s the Australian native’s U.S. debut and a striking one at that. Having only appeared in Australian television, the 22-year-old is landing in Hollywood in a big way, holding her own opposite the likes of Matt Smith in one of the summer’s most anticipated shows.
So on the precipice of her breakout moment, I caught up with Alcock to talk about her journey from “dish bitch” to small-screen star, the acting master class that was working on House of the Dragon, and that stunning L.A. premiere look.
Photoshoots & Magazine Scans > 2022 > 07 (2022-08-26 – Pip for Who What Wear)
The House of the Dragon series was announced in 2019, and you were cast the next summer. Can you take me back to when you first heard about the project and tell me about the audition process?
Well, I hadn’t auditioned in like a year because of COVID and everything. I was living at home in my family attic, and me and my friends at the time, to get through COVID, were throwing live music gigs and live art-gallery events. We would ticket them and would get all of our friends who are painters and artists [to participate]. We would curate and display the work and get the space ready, and then we’d get our friends who are musicians to play, and we’d sell booze and everything in different warehouses. I used to work at the warehouse at this restaurant, and I was washing dishes there. I was a dish bitch at the time. So that was my life. It was very different.
And then I got sent an audition for an unknown HBO project. I went to shoot it with a friend of mine, and he was like, “This scene is from Game of Thrones,” and I was like, “I haven’t seen Game of Thrones.” Well, I hadn’t at that time. I have now. He was like, “This is from Game of Thrones. This is the scene with Arya Stark. This is the needle scene.” So I watched it and was like, “Okay, cool” and sent the tape through and very quickly got a callback. I remember my agent, who was recording me for my callback. After we shot it, he looked me dead in the eye and said, “I feel like I’m just watching history being made.” And I was like, “Don’t say that!” It was just very surreal and crazy and exciting.
Let’s talk about Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. Once you were able to dive into the actual script and that character a bit more, what really appealed to you about her?
I really liked her resilience and her sense of self. She’s very assured in who she is and what she stands for. And I really adore her morals.
What was your reaction to seeing the series poster with you as Rhaenyra standing in front of the dragon for the first time?
I remember thinking, “Oh my god, I look so tired” because it was an actual still from on set. We didn’t do a separate shoot for it. And I remember Miguel showed it to me privately, and I just looked at him and was like, “What? Where is everyone else?” And he was like, “It’s you.” And I was like, “Why? Why is it just me?” And he was like, “Because you are Rhaenyra!” But I haven’t seen any real-life [billboards]. People have been sending me billboards and stuff, but I haven’t seen any, and I really want to.
This series is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, but there are sure to be some comparisons of Princess Rhaenyra to Queen Daenerys Targaryen. In what ways would you say the two are similar? And how are they different?
Their position. The way that they position themselves and navigate themselves throughout the world is very similar. But they are different fundamentally because of how they were brought up. Daenerys wasn’t brought up with the assumption of power and the perception of privilege and royalty, whereas Rhaenyra was, so that’s how they differ.
You and Emma D’Arcy both play Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen at different points in her life. Did the two of you work together on any specific mannerisms that are unique to Rhaenyra?
There was no process. We didn’t do that at all, which was really scary for me and Emily [Carey, who plays the younger version of Alicent Hightower]. I asked, “So when am I going to meet Emma?” And Miguel was like, “Ah,” and I was like, “This would have happened. If you wanted it to happen, it would have happened.” I just put my faith and trust in Miguel’s hands that he had chosen the right actor to play the part, and I think Emma’s done a fantastic job. I mean, I haven’t seen any of their work or their episodes. I haven’t even read them. I wasn’t allowed to read them, so I’m excited to see how they make Rhaenyra their own.
What about your own process in terms of getting into the mindset of Rhaenyra and building out this character?
It was a lot of different things. I always make a playlist when I’m studying or researching any character, so I listened to a lot of classical music. I read the books. … Well, I read the bit I’m in. I didn’t read the whole book because it’s a big book. And then obviously, I watched the show. I made spreadsheets and graphs trying to break down what everything meant within the world and how I could contextualize it within the world that we live in. Then, lots of pacing around and talking to myself in my bedroom and, ultimately, trying not to butcher the accent because I’m not British. But as soon as you step onto the set, you are literally in the world, and the costumes change your physicality immensely, and it’s like, “There she is,” especially the wig as well.
How was that transformation for you, working with the glam teams and wardrobe?
It was really exciting. It felt like I didn’t have to act. I just got to be in the space and be truthful within the scene, and it would all come together and contextualize itself within the world. But the wigs, the process of getting the wig made, I had two fittings. They wrap your head in cellophane. But as soon as I put that wig on for the first time, I was like, “Ah, there she is.” And I had many, many fittings with Jany, who is our lovely costume designer, and she is so meticulous and careful. Yeah, she is a pro.
Photoshoots & Magazine Scans > 2022 > 07 (2022-08-26 – Pip for Who What Wear)
Do you have a favorite look from this season?
It’s the first thing we see her in. The first scene, the first episode. You see her get off that dragon, and when I think of her, that’s the outfit. I think it encompasses the way she wishes she could behave with Westeros as opposed to the other gowns. They are beautiful, though.
In regards to her hair, will we see some intricate braids on Rhaenyra as we did with Daenerys?
Rhaenyra isn’t really into the way she presents herself in that sense. And I think it’s her inherent rebellion to who she is expected to be and how she’s expected to behave. So she’s quite simplistic with her hair—to say, “I’m not going to play into your game. Dolling me up and being someone you can balk at, I don’t want to be a part of it.”
What were you most excited to see come to life on-screen while watching the first episode?
Honestly, everybody’s acting. I cannot stop gushing about this cast. I have fallen in love with all of them. They are all such lovely people and so talented and such great mentors for me—not only for how to be a better actor [and] how to perform better but also how to behave on set and the etiquette and how to treat people and knowing when to step up and when to be quiet and just being respectful of everybody’s work. It’s like school camp. You spend so much time with all of these people. We spent a year shooting this show with all of these people, and you get to share that with everyone.
Speaking of the incredible performances, I want to talk about working with Matt Smith, who plays your on-screen uncle, Daemon Targaryen. He causes trouble for the throne, but you can see Rhaenyra has a soft spot for him in her younger years.
Very early on in the rehearsal process, I remember me and Matt sat down with Miguel, and we wanted to grasp what their relationship was like prior to this. I think they see a likeness within each other. They recognize each other’s perspectives on the crown and on the world itself, and they both have a similar attitude toward it. But … who they are—who they are fundamentally as people but also how they are perceived by the world around them—dictates the way they can navigate throughout that. So when they are put in the same world, we can see a different side of Daemon and a different side of Rhaenyra because they have a mutual understanding of what it means to be a royal, and they can strip back all of the formalities of it.
There’s also the interesting dynamic between Rhaenyra and Alicent Hightower, who was her closest friend and confidant as a young girl but later ends up getting in her way of the throne. Can you tell me about working with Emily Carey and building that foundation for those paths to eventually diverge?
I adore Em, and I feel very protective of her and like her big sister. So there wasn’t a lot to perform because we created that bond within itself. Because of the nature of how we shot the show, I was with Emily a lot of the time and then with a lot of the older actors. So we were the only two young women on set going through this major shift and change—not only in our professional lives but within our personal lives. Emily was 18 at the time that we shot this, and I cannot imagine. I was 20, so I was only two years older, but 18 to 20, you are a different person at that point. So I felt an obligation to make sure she was okay. The scenes where we weren’t the best of friends were difficult because I don’t like being angry at her in real life, and I didn’t want to pretend.
The GOT fan base is huge. Has anything surprised you in the process of working on this project?
It’s all been a surprise because it’s all a completely new experience for me. I’ve only ever done Australian television, which is so different to anything the House of the Dragon was in my experience making it. So this whole experience has been a completely new opportunity to learn everything, like everything. I didn’t have an expectation of what it was going to be like.
Can we talk about the dress you wore to the L.A. premiere? Stunning!
I work with a beautiful stylist called Holly White, and we tried on a bunch of different looks. We had three fittings, and I was trying on everything for press and all the premieres, and we couldn’t figure out what to wear for L.A. Nothing felt quite right. I was going to wear this other piece that was a shirt that was strappy and these trousers, and then it was our last fitting, and Holly was like, “I found the dress.” She pulled that dress out, and we both gasped. I put it on, and it fit like a glove. None of that was altered. And we were like, “Oh my god, this is phenomenal.” It’s also archive McQueen, which is to die for. So it was a last-minute heavenly surprise basically.
Now that you are breaking into the U.S. in a big way with House of the Dragon, what do you hope to achieve next in your career?
This is the exciting thing. Now, I have options. I’ve never had options before. I would love to do an independent film or a play. I really want to do a play. I’ve never done one before, so I think that would be a really exciting challenge and a completely different way of working because the play lives and dies in the moment it’s shown as opposed to being this huge machine. So I definitely want to do something a little more intimate.
Since dropping out of high school to pursue a full-time acting career, Milly Alcock’s trajectory has been nothing short of magical. Within five years, her onscreen CV has grown to include appearances on Janet King, Fighting Season, The Gloaming and more recently a co-starring role as the young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon, the hotly anticipated film adaption of George R. R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, which is also the prequel to the cult classic, Game of Thrones. As much of a bonafide breakout role as this is, Milly truly ascended the echelons of film and television with her co-starring role in the award-winning Foxtel drama, Upright, alongside renowned composer/writer/ comedian Tim Minchin.
In Upright, Alcock portrays the frustrated, swear-word-slinging misfit “Meg,” who is easily misunderstood as she grapples with her complicated pile of emotions. What Meg lacks in eloquence, the character of Princess Rhaenyra compensates for in articulacy and guile. Both women are equally as emotionally intelligent as they are stubborn-willed, yet their dispositions are disappointed by the authoritative male figures around them. The antics with which each navigates her battle-of-the-sexes power play are what makes both shows irresistibly binge-worthy.
On the hottest recorded day in the UK’s history, Milly put her fan on high blast so she could shoot the breeze with Schön! about purposefully losing herself in the grandeur of onset wardrobe and makeup, the need for greater Aussie representation in mainstream film/television, and more.
Photoshoots & Magazine Scans > 2022 > 06 (2022-08-24 – Charlotte Ellis for Schön! Magazine)
We’re chatting on a historic day— it’s the hottest recorded day in British history!
I don’t know Fahrenheit, but right now it’s 38 degrees celsius—I came here to escape the heat, not be re-introduced to the heat…But I’m sitting in front of a fan, sorry if it’s noisy.
That’s perfectly fine. You can go get a bowl of cold ice cream if it helps because you are in the heat of the day…What time is it in London?
It’s 12:45 pm.
Wow, you are in the heat of the day, on the hottest recorded day.
But here we are. We made it.
And to the same hot party. [Laughter]. It’s especially exciting to chat with you because I first became familiar with you as “Meg” in Upright— you gave a phenomenal performance.
Thank you, it’s lovely to hear that.
It’s true, I mean, you keep it coming, from Upright to this new Game of Thrones prequel, House of the Dragon. But speaking of Upright, I heard that you all are filming Season 2 of the show right now—
We just finished it. So I came home, finished Thrones, and went straight into Season 2 of Upright.
If you could give a 30-second elevator pitch of the premise for Upright, Season 2, how would you give it?
We revisit Meg and Lucky’s weird and wonderful adventures, and they get a lot more weird and kooky characters along the way. It’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry, but ultimately there’s a beautiful bow tie between the story…The chapter closes there for everyone.
Tim Minchin— your co-star as “Lucky”, and also the show’s writer— describes Meg as “guttural and sweary”, which stuck with me, and made me more curious about how you would describe your character, in your own words.
Meg knows when she has to do the “wrong thing” to do the “right thing”. And she’s extremely empathetic, and extremely emotionally intelligent, which usually gets mistaken for being “guttural and sweaty”. But she knows people, she just doesn’t know how to express it most articulately because of her background.
The two leads— Lucky and Meg— are both misfits of their worlds, drawn together with the beautiful bow tie around their relationship, as you said. Misfits in mind, I read that you dropped out of high school— because it wasn’t your thing— to pursue your acting career. Were you somewhat of a misfit in high school?
I wasn’t a “misfit”, but I did relate to Meg’s feeling about her place in the world— feeling a bit misunderstood, and finding it hard to grasp things that other people found quite easy. I wasn’t a misfit; I always struggled in school, and I repeated a year. So school wasn’t for me because, like Meg, I didn’t know how to communicate what I was trying to get across. I struggled with that. So, a misfit in spirit, but not in practice.
One thing I noticed in Upright is that the desert and the piano are as much a part of the plot as Meg and Lucky’s dynamic. In real life, I believe the desert has a way of upheaving whatever is bubbling beneath the surface within, or in a dynamic. That said, how do you believe the backdrop of the desert enhances the dynamism of Meg and Lucky’s relationship?
I think that the landscape in general is a very key component in our story because it’s an Australian story. And in mainstream media, I never hear my accent on screen, and I never see an Australian story being told, internationally. So think that we utilized the Australian landscape to bring in an international audience, and show that this is what we have to offer as Australians. And Season 2 reflects the landscape that we’re in far north of Queensland, so it’s a completely different landscape— a more tropical landscape. So I think that’s why it’s a key component within the story—because it’s home.
That’s funny you say that, because now when I think about it, I can’t remember the last time I watched a distinctly Australian film or tv series.
You don’t, and that’s the thing— we’ve got great actors and great films, but that’s what’s heartbreaking as an Australian within the industry. The lack of international reach is missing, out feels, at times.
Would you say that you get more roles where you have to put on an American English accent, over quality roles for you as an Australian actress within an Australian production?
I would say that recently there has been an influx in auditioning for international roles where I play an American or a British person, but that’s only because of the path that I decided to take in my career, to make it more international. I don’t live in Australia anymore, so I’m not auditioning for Australian stuff as much, but that’s not to say that there are not quality Aussie projects happening at the moment.
So where are you based, full-time?
In London.
Which part?
East London.
Back to Meg, though. She’s a bit of a feisty female character. From your representation of her, what voice do you feel she gives to women of this generation?
In a metaphorical sense, or a literal sense?
Both.
Meg’s voice is just a voice. But because she’s a woman, there’s this added pressure to overachieve and do better than the man, because that is the standard. So ultimately, she combats, or utilizes her feminine rage through swearing and being provocative so that she has the attention of Lucky, who is this middle-upper class man. So she has to accentuate her emotional state to get his attention and to get him to listen to her because if she just talked normally, he wouldn’t listen to her…as most women feel.
So she’s not as extreme, or feisty as she seems, she’s just acting out to get attention?
Yeah, she’s trying to get heard in the room.
I notice she [Meg] and Lucky have a playful kind of tug-of-war of power play between the two of them, very much like a bossy big brother, annoying little sister kind of thing. What’s your real-life rapport with Tim Minchin?
The real-life rapport between Tim and I was one of mutual understanding’s creative integrity. Tim and I very much leaned on each other over the shoot [filming] as we were faced with many challenges along the way so it was reassuring to have him by my side.
Let’s talk about House of the Dragon, which just premiered. What can we expect in this instalment that we didn’t get in Game of Thrones?
Well, it’s a different show. I think Game of Thrones fans are expecting a similar tone, feeling and pace to the original. But ultimately, Ryan and Miguel [Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, the show’s producers] focused on establishing a new aesthetic within the show to distinguish itself from the mother show. So ultimately, the audience can expect…everything. Because they haven’t seen any of it yet.
One thing I’m curious about is how you handle the proximity in the filming schedule: you filmed Upright, then soon after House of the Dragon, then shortly after that, Season 2 of Upright. Do you find yourself— unwittingly— bleeding aspects of Meg into Princess Rhaenyra, or injecting the regality of Princess Rhaenyra into Meg?
I think that ultimately when you invest so many hours into being a person— you spend more hours being them than you do being yourself— ultimately, the physicality and intonation and the way you move, and carry yourself, and think [as the role] bleeds into you and your everyday life…I’ve carried all of those women with me and unwittingly bled similar aspects, but it’s never intentional…It’s habitual, your body recognizes it.
Can you think of a specific time when you did that?
No—I’ve never specifically done that…That’s the thing, you carry them [the characters] with you, and then you don’t realize that that’s them.
There are moments when you’ve acted as these characters and then afterward realized that you were bleeding those behaviours— unwittingly— in real life. I’m not an actress, but there have been recent series that I’ve watched where I find myself unwittingly emulating certain ticks of the protagonist that I’ve been binge-watching.
Hmmm. It would be more so in a day-to-day sense since I spend more time being these people than I do being me…I am so focused on what’s going on and being truthful to the person I’m playing…Like, I’d find myself standing at the bus stop like Rhaenyra and I’m like, “Oh my God, stop! Put your hands by your side. What are you doing?”. [Laughter]. Or you find yourself standing like a different person, or your voice changes when emotion gets triggered in you in your day-to-day life because you’re so used to access that when you’re working… But never on screen; only in my real life, occasionally.
Did you read Fire and Blood since it’s the inspiration behind House of the Dragon?
Yes. I read parts of Fire and Blood because it’s massive. It’s a historical retelling, so it’s not like a nonfiction book, in a weird way.
And you read it before, or after filming?
Before— I mean, it wouldn’t serve me to read the book if I read it after filming the show.
I watched interviews, and several of your co-stars waited till after the show. I find it common that actors wait till after the filming to read the literary inspiration because they don’t want it to influence their intuitive interpretation.
I know, but everybody’s different, and you’ve got to respect everybody’s processes.
This is true…And I don’t want any of your costars to think I’m coming for them when I said that. [Laughter]. Let’s talk about costumes for the show. Matt Smith— your co-star— has discussed the transformative quality that the wigs have on the show. He starred in The Crown— and it’s funny, because I spoke with Tom Bailey, one of the costars of The Crown, and he emphasized how much the wardrobe and opulence of the set decor put him into character and inspired regality in his reenactments. So I’m curious— for you— what role did the hair, makeup, wardrobe and set decor play in getting you into the role of Princess Rhaenyra for House of the Dragon?
[Whistling music in the background]. Sorry, there’s an ice cream truck. [Laughter]. We talked about you getting that ice cream to cool down. [Laughter].
I know! [Laughter]. I can’t wait till he goes…It’s vital to have costumes and decor that allow you to lose yourself within the space. Game of Thrones is a fantasy, and House of The Dragon isn’t the real world. We don’t exist in the confines of earth, so having the sets and being able to interact with the sets, as opposed to a blue screen or something that you couldn’t tangibly see, touch and feel, was beneficial as an actor to be able to fully invest in that. And ultimately, the costumes change the way that you walk and stand. You can compare your costumes to somebody else’s costumes, and class comes into play, and status comes into play, and their ability to move and not move, and what that means. So it [wardrobe] is essential to accessing them [the characters].
You have a dynamic repertoire of roles under your belt, from The Gloaming, to Upright, to House of the Dragon. Is there a “dream role” that you have in mind that you hope to be cast in?
…It’d probably be Hedda Garbler or Eve in All about Eve.
Wow, that’s a great throwback that I never would’ve expected to hear…Apart from promotional work for the shows, do you have any interesting mid-summer plans?
No, I haven’t been in one place for a very long time because I’ve been working. So I’m really happy just settling, and just slowing down in London, and moving into my first flat.
Sounds like you’re chillin’. So what does the rest of your day look like?
The rest of my day…I’m going to go to a fitting for premiere looks and things, which is very exciting. And I’m going to try and stay out of this heat, and not get dehydrated.
Well, as we say in America, “Stay hydrated!”
Yeah. [Laughter]. And you have a lovely rest of your day…And stay hydrated!
I made screencaps of Milly in this week’s episode of “House of the Dragon”. Click on the gallery link below to all caps.
Films & Television > 2022 – House of the Dragon > Season 1 Episode Screencaps > S01E01
Milly Alcock | Go Ahead, Unleash That Voice
Photoshoots & Magazine Scans > 2022 > 04 (2022-08 – Nina Raasch for Flaunt)
Cowboy boots and a denim skirt was Australian actor Milly Alcock’s first stage ensemble. The play in question? Little Red Rocking Hood at her local church’s theater stage, her first experience feeling like an utter rockstar. Storytelling had become her refuge, she tells me, after continuously pressing rewind on a stolen Blockbuster DVD of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The spotlight that shone over her as a six year old on the local church theater stage is an adrenaline rush she’s chased ever since.
A slightly sunburnt Alcock is calling in on a Sunday from her London flat, set to head off to Greece for holiday. On the heels of finishing filming for HBO Max’s House of the Dragon, the prequel series for smash hit, Game of Thrones, where Alcock plays young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, she shares, “It’s kind of overwhelming at times because I will be just walking down the street, and I’ll get a pang of like, ‘I get to do this.’ And I’ll get teary-eyed.”
She jokes that Game of Thrones names are quite a mouthful, loaded with syllables that the actors themselves stumble on. Alcock reflects that the greatest takeaway she learned while on the set of House of the Dragon was how she needed to operate to be happy. “I was given the gift of learning by watching such amazing actors,” she shares, “but I also spent so much time alone. I was in a different country alone during lockdown. I was given the opportunity for the lack of a better word that I didn’t want to fuck up. Because I didn’t know if an opportunity like this would ever come again.” She continues, “Learning how to process those feelings was the most valuable thing, because I tried to escape it, fight it, and then I made peace with it. I came out of the other end knowing that when I do a big job, I know in my next job what to do to be happy and how to function.”
On the surface, Reddit forums and GoT fans themselves are skeptical about House of the Dragon following the contentious GoT conclusion. Alcock rebuts, saying that House of the Dragon adds a layered approach to characters that were briefly touched upon in Game of Thrones. “I think Rhaenyra is a three-dimensional character who stands on her own two feet,” she elaborates, “but her strength acts as a mask since she is not allowed to access her vulnerability. She feels that if she accesses it, it will unleash this voice of internalized misogyny that ‘She’s an emotional young woman, she cannot be the heir.’ It takes away from her being as capable.”
Unlike the confidence expressed in her Little Red Rocking Hood starting point, Alcock’s first day on the set of House of the Dragon was spent navigating a web of nervousness. “I couldn’t stop shaking,” she admits, “I was mortified. I have only done Australian TV, which is substantially different from anything of this world. I remember it was a scene at the end of the first episode. I remember going for action and thinking, ‘This is the first take that is going to change your life.’ I was so anxious and tense. I went out for a cigarette and calmed down. You get so excited to work and your body physically reacts, and that inhibits you from doing your job because you want to be relaxed and not skittish.” She laughs and adds, “At least I didn’t get fired.”
Alcock joyfully talks about the mini parties she shared with her London friends when her world was reduced to the parameters of her neighborhood. They’d gather around a flimsy projector to watch movies together, sharing beers and wiping dinner plates clean. To her, London played the host city of her own self-discovery. On cities, Alcock speaks of their power to influence one’s identity, and reckons that with each move to a new one, a new character takes shape in her mind.
Despite the openness to change, as Alcock grows older, she holds dear the words that her mother told her during the height of preteen angst: ‘Be nice to Milly, I like her.’ The phrase still serves as her residual guide, and in times of anguish or strained willpower, she reaches for it with purpose. As for any nerves on set? She relishes slowness. “I give myself time to think,” she says. “I find it hard to know when to ask for help. I’m surrounded by so many different people of different ages on set. I was listening to an A24 podcast, and Mike Mills was describing a film set as a ‘crew of misfit pirates.’ Everyone has got their own little story and we’re all on this ship together. They’re all a bit wacky and a bit weird, all a bit lost, and this passion defines them together.”
Alcock is of course an actor, but she adores photography, which she picked up during lockdown. Her Instagram features an image of Parisian children playing in the streets, something that spoke to her definition of beauty. “I think as humans we are inherently drawn to beauty,” she considers. “Beauty is completely subjective. Some people might see the photo of the kids in Paris and say, ‘Oh the composition is wrong—it’s a bit slanted.’ I think the beauty is in the mistakes because it’s alive. The ability to control an image and evoke a certain feeling is what drew it to me. And not always searching for the aesthetic, but a movement and a motive of the person in front of the lens that gets you interested.”
Above all, Alcock is a dreamer. From the cowboy boots strutting the theater stage to the tightly wound royal garments of Princess Rhaenyra, she gravitates toward an innovative performance. And somewhere between now and future endeavors, she would like to embark on a play.“I think it would be something that would help me hone my skills as an actor,” she shares, “and I think it would make me feel more legitimized, if that makes sense. To have that experience on stage that happens just once in that moment, and it’s such a shared experience with the audience.” Rest assured, that performance is going to glow.
Milly attended the House Of The Dragon London Premiere yesterday. And I also added a new photoshoot to the gallery of Milly for Flaunt Magazine. Click on the gallery links below to see all new photos.
Candids, Events & Premieres > 2022 > 2022-08-15 – House Of The Dragon London Premiere and After Party
Photoshoots & Magazine Scans > 2022 > 04 (2022-08 – Nina Raasch for Flaunt)
I added new photos to the gallery of Milly in the 14 August 2022 issue of Stellar Magazine. Click on the gallery link below to see all photos in full size.
Photoshoots & Magazine Scans > 2022 > 05 (2022-08-14 – John Tsiavis for The Daily Telegraph Australia – Stellar Magazine)
