FYC: Gwendoline Christie for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama
Friday, June 12, 2015 at 11:01AM Members of Team Experience were asked to share personal dream picks for this year's impending Emmy nominations (with the caveat that they can't have already won the Emmy in that category). Here's Michael C...
Aren’t you just marvelous! Absolutely singular.”
- Lady Olenna upon meeting Brienne of Tarth
I’m guessing the reactions of a great many audience members mirrored that of Diana Rigg’s Queen of Thorns when they first saw Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth. She cuts such a striking figure, and the match of actress to role is such a flawless one, that it might have taken a few episodes to move beyond fascination with her presence and notice the skill. In a show with numerous longstanding mysteries, Christie has turned the character of Brienne into one of the most consistently compelling. What drives this astonishing woman with her fierce loyalty and her unshakable sense of honor?
This most recent season has offered glimpses into her past, particularly Christie’s moving monologue about the humiliation she received as a youth, but such a wonderfully complex character can’t be reduced to a single anecdote. Brienne is the closest thing to a pure hero that George R.R. Martin’s brutal worldview will allow and Christie manages to keeps her multi-dimensional enough that she is not out of place on such an unsentimental canvas. The actress articulates every wrinkle of Brienne’s prickly personality careful not to skip over her flaws like her stubbornness or the idealism that verges on naïveté.
Her Brienne of Tarth also stands as a magnificent piece of physical acting. Christie doesn’t just sell her character’s legendary fighting prowess – no small accomplishment – she is able to modulate her fighting style to Brienne’s state of mind.
In lesser hands Brienne might have come off as more of a concept than a person. A self-conscious attempt to toy with Martin’s favorite theme of outsiders with no place in society. But Christie keeps her so specific that the idea of tokenism never enters into it. She isn’t just the idea of a female warrior there for symbolic value. She is, as The Hound memorably put it, Brienne of fucking Tarth.
Previously on our Emmy series
The Americans, Best Drama | Jane the Virgin, Best Comedy | Lisa Kudrow, Actress | Jon Hamm, Actor | Ruth Wilson, Actress | Matt Czuchry, Supporting Actor and... Cara Seymour on creating "Sister Harriet" on The Knick and that insanely competitive Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Race
Reader Comments (8)
Ooh, great call. She's soooo good on Game of Thrones.
Love this. She's moved so far past the Renly infatuation, yet it's always there.
The first time I saw her I thought she must be a sister of Tilda Swinton.
At least she has the same fascinating aura around her.
I've been hearing all sorts of complaints that she didn't have much to do this season. I guess you didn't feel that way Michael?
I agree with that up to a point.
She started strong and got sidelined around the mid-point while her storyline hit a holding pattern, although all signs point to a strong finish. It is definitely a step down in terms of screen time from her strongest storyline which is her and Jamie on the road in season 3. The most apt comparison would be to someone like January Jones who is absent from large swaths of the season, but makes a big impression when she does show up.
To my mind, once she qualifies her nomination is a no-brainer. I think she should be a perennial nominee like Dinklage. They both elevate the living hell out of any scene in which they appear.
Or in less long-winded terms - Yes, I wish she had more to do this season, even as she has done beautifully with the material she got.
she's wonderful, a Drama Centre graduate and a real talent.
I love Season 5 but I'm hating on the fact that there's no Bran, Biranne's character is practically almost not there at all, and the Dornish scenes are butchered.
It's been a very feminine season, essential for Cersei, Sansa, Ayra and Daenerys, as well as the Tyrell women though they're not that much in it.
For some strange reason I still like Stannis Baratheon. Maybe it's a Stephen Dillane thing.
I am dreadfully behind on this season of Game of Thrones, but I wholeheartedly second this FYC. Christie has been consistently brilliant as Brienne and so far (I'm at episode 4) she is managing to top herself in Season 5. It is a magnificent piece of physical acting, but the rest is all there too. Great, great piece on a truly deserving - and seriously undervalued - performance!