Emilia Clarke says Netflix’s Twits adaptation ‘speaks to the world we live in’

Game Of Thrones actress Emilia Clarke has said Netflix’s adaptation of The Twits is a film that “speaks to the world we live in”.

Clarke, 38, voices narrator Pippa in the animated adaptation of the Roald Dahl classic, about a couple who are known for their gross behaviour and the cruel pranks they play on one another.

Director Phil Johnston said the film, which is the first screen adaptation of The Twits, is a “social satire” and “big dumb comedy about the world as I see it now”.

Clarke told the PA news agency: “It was something we (her and Johnston) talked about a lot, and still remains one of the bigger reasons why I love this movie and Phil so very much.

“He’s playing with ideas that we can all relate to as it speaks to the world we live in, but he’s getting us to suspend our disbelief long enough to feel the absurdity without being completely at a loss for the state of the world we’re living in. As Roald Dahl did, it’s a warning more than a giving up.”

The film follows two brave children and a family of magical Muggle-Wumps as they try to save their city from The Twits, amid the couple’s rise to power.

Clarke’s character, a bed bug who lives in Mr Twit’s beard, is the film’s narrator, and tells the story of The Twits to her son Jeremy.

Speaking about the voice work she did, Clarke said: “Well she went through a few iterations before we landed on the Pippa you see in the movie. She began as a very acerbic, blood-drinking ab-fab like woman with an incredibly dry wit but after a few go-rounds we realised we needed her to be the voice of calm reasoning yet still playful with her son, so a few of her drier remarks still made it in.

“You can tell her opinion of the Twits but you can also tell she doesn’t want to scare her son too much… it was so much fun getting to play.”

Netflix’s acquisition of the Roald Dahl Story Company (RDSC) in 2021 has allowed it to create a “unique universe” with the author’s classic characters.

Dahl, who died in 1990 at the age of 74, published The Twits in 1980 and is known for creating characters including the BFG and Matilda.

Clarke said: “We were a very big Roald Dahl household, I was read all his books growing up and the Twits was probably the one that freaked me out the most but fascinated me at the same time. I was convinced I was a sophisticated grown up when I read his novel Boy.”

Clarke is known for playing Daenerys Targaryen in HBO series Game Of Thrones and has also starred in Me Before You (2016), Last Christmas (2019) and The Pod Generation (2023).

Comedian and actor Johnny Vegas voices Mr Twit in the film, with US actress Margo Martindale voicing Mrs Twit.

The Twits arrives to Netflix on Friday.