It clearly worked.

If you’ve ever seen Emilia Clarke in an interview, on a red carpet, or really anywhere other than in her role on “Game of Thrones,” you know she’s not quite as intense as the Mother of Dragons. That was further confirmed during last night’s Britannia Awards, where David Benioff and D.B. Weiss recalled the time when, as part of Clarke’s audition process, she did the robot in front of the president of HBO.

“Emilia asked if there was anything else she could do to lighten the mood and David asked, ‘Can you dance?’ And without missing a beat, Emilia did the robot,” Weiss said. “She did it with commitment and she did it well…and even the president had no choice but to smile. She got the job 10 seconds after she left the room and the two of us ran to tell her before she left the building because letting her get on an 11-hour flight home without knowing seemed like cruel and unusual punishment.”

Clarke was on hand to accept the award for British Artist of the Year, and during her acceptance speech said that Benioff and Weiss “deserve their own bravery award for hiring someone whose biggest job up until then was catering parties dressed as a Snow White.”

The Britannia Awards are presented by BAFTA Los Angeles, and was hosted by Jack Whitehall in Beverly Hills. Besides Clarke’s award, Jim Carrey received the Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy, Steve McQueen received the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing, Cate Blanchett received the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige received the Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment, and Damian Lewis received the Britannia Award for Excellence in Television.

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