Emilia Clarke’s Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen might project gravitas, but the actress says her real-life persona is nowhere near as serious as that of Khaleesi. “Crazily I’ve been known for doing something very opposite from me. I have a capacity to be stoic, be still, but I prefer not to be,” she says. “I like people, and I like laughter, joy, happiness, I like making other people laugh.”
Part of playing the jokester on set includes pranking her fellow actors. Clarke recently made news for drawing on the face of the actor who played one of the threatening Khals on Game of Thrones while he was asleep. Turns out, she also pranked her Me Before You co-star Sam Claflin (The Hunger Games) on the set of the romantic film. She shared the details of their escalating prank war during an interview with TIME.
“It all began with a Khaleesi doll that I got given to sign and then kept one because it was really cool, like this little bobblehead thing. And then I mislaid it, blamed Sam, and put posters up being like ‘Doll Thief.’ Then I found it and felt so bad, I planted it in his bag. So he held it ransom,” she says. “Then I put a fart machine in his wheelchair. And so Sam stole all of the furniture out of my room—sofa, desk, lamp, everything. And then I just put fish in his socks because I couldn’t think anything else to do. I was pressed for time.”
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Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com