Maisie Williams, Game Of Thrones’ Arya Stark, tells of how she chose her sex scene in The Falling

GAME Of Thrones’ Maisie Williams, aka Arya Stark, has told of how she handled her first sex scene on screen and what she thinks of nudity in film.

THE runaway success of hit HBO series Game Of Thrones has made stars of many of its cast members.

Many of them have used their downtime between seasons to parlay their burgeoning profile on the small screen to blockbuster success on the big screen. Richard “Robb Stark” Madden cut a dashing figure as the Prince in Kenneth Branagh’s successful live screen reimagining of Cinderella. Emilia “Khaleesi” Clarke bursts on to our screens today in the reboot of the Terminator franchise. Kit “Jon Snow” Harrington went all sword and sandals in the disaster epic Pompeii.

FAN FURY: GoT viewers slam nude walk of shame

MORE: ‘Leaked’ future Game of Thrones script

Assassin ... Maisie Williams as Arya Stark in the controversial fifth season of Game of Thrones.

But for Maisie Williams, the tomboy princess turned assassin in training Arya Stark, last seen blinded and broken at the end of season five, chose a different path. Rather than sign up for a high-profile, big-budget project to enhance her career, she opted for the dark, dreamy The Falling. Set in 1969 in a strict English all girls school, the indie drama tells the story of a mysterious fainting epidemic that takes hold after a tragedy occurs.

Much in the vein of Aussie classic Picnic At Hanging Rock, which was used as an inspiration and touchstone by director Carol Morley, it also deals with burgeoning sexuality and repressed desire. The part of the troubled, rebellious Lydia was not only too good for Williams to refuse, it gave her a chance to show there was more to her than the feisty Arya.

“I have just always been intrigued by doing really interesting characters and whether or not that means it’s part of a studio film or an indie project, or a foreign movie, it’s all about great characters for me,” she says. “But because this is such a different audience to the one I perform to in Game Of Thrones it was a bit scary, but I feel like indie films are something that really interests me and I am so thrilled to have been a part of something that was successful.”

Dark and dreamy .. Williams in a scene from the indie drama The Falling.

Having just turned 18 in April, (she was 16 when she made the film) it also gave her the chance to tackle head-on the kind of parts she knew were going to be coming her way: The Falling also features her first sex scene — modest, but within the context of the story, disturbing.

“Being an actress and thinking of movies that you are going to do and characters you want to play and in terms of growing up on screen and taking on those more adult roles, you want to do it in a classy way and a way that’s really necessary,” she says.

“I read so many scripts with these big nude scenes that are just not necessary at all and don’t make any sense, as though someone has just written it for a bit of raciness. But I felt this was something I was very aware of that was going to be coming up soon — nudity or these sort of themes — and I wanted to do something that was really necessary and relevant.”

Given that she scored the role of Arya — her first professional acting gig — at the age of 12, Williams certainly hasn’t had a typical schooling experience. She left school at 14 and was privately tutored around the rigorous Game Of Thrones filming and promotional schedule. Now that her friends and peers have reached university age, she admits that part of her misses the bonds and experiences forged in those years.

On set ... Maisie Williams as Arya Stark and Rory McCann as Sandor "The Hound" Clegane in Game of Thrones.

“I just went to my friend’s university halls recently, like where he and all his mates live, and it was really cool,” she says. “Everyone has a tiny bedroom and a shared kitchen and compared to some of the hotels I stay in it’s not amazing but the experience of going to uni and being irresponsible that appeals. So sometimes I feel it would have been nice to have that experience and have those funny times at school because I never really had that.”

Because she spends so much time with them — GoT films for around half the year, from July to November or December — Williams considers her castmates to be her surrogate family. She and Sophie Turner, who plays her onscreen sister Sansa, bonded early in production and remain close despite not having had scenes together since the first season.

Rising star ... British actor Maisie Williams in a scene from The Falling.

She says the reunions each year are all the more joyous for the relief of having survived another year in a series where anyone can — and regularly does — meet a sticky end.

“We are totally a family when we come back to shooting each year,” she says. “There is definitely a bond between us all, which is really nice. I don’t know if it’s like a school bond but it’s still a group of people I know so much about and care so much about and have been with for such a long time.

“And it’s at such a weird period in all of our lives really because a lot of us hadn’t done anything else massive before we started this. We weren’t well known names or faces. So to be with a group of people who have all experienced that change together from no one knowing your name to quite a lot of people knowing your name, it’s nice to have other people know what you are going through.”

Red carpet favourite ... Maisie Williams attends the BAFTAs in London, England. Picture: Getty

The success of the show has built slowly into the cultural phenomenon it is today and it wasn’t until the premiere of Season 3 that she realised just how huge is had become.

“We went to the episode one premiere in LA at Mann’s Chinese Theatre and stepping out of the car we were thinking ‘this is where people come for the Oscars and I am here with my Game Of Thrones cast and were all just looking at each other going what the hell is going on’,” Williams says with a laugh.

And with great fandom comes great weirdness. As Arya’s storyline has become more and more driven by revenge on those who wronged her and she has vowed to kill, so her fans have become more fixated on murderous list.

“When I go to Comic Con or conventions where you meet a lot of fans at once, there are always interesting things they ask you to do and say,” she says. “If you have a catchphrase then lots of people want you to say that or if you have a poignant line. Arya has people that she wants to kill and people always want me to recite the list so they can record it put their name it as well. It’s really awkward. It’s so weird because they are quite nervous but excited and I’m like ‘Joffrey … Cersei …’ and their name. It’s really weird.”

SEE The Falling is now screening exclusively at ACMI.