02x04 - The Red Dragon and the Gold

[bunniefuu]

It's the movie magic
behind the curtain.

Explosions.
There is a lot of explosions.

The level of preparation.

Those guys are puttin'
their lives at risk

on a constant basis.

Three dragons, not two.

That's gonna be a huge thing
for the audience.

They're so clever, those guys.

Once dragons get introduced that way,
there's no turning back.

We've talked about this
since creating Daemon as a character

is George always said about Daemon

"He's heroic and villainous

in equal parts"

and that's what makes him
fascinating as a character.

Well, that was the first shot

of the whole season.

- Set.
- Here we go.

Cameras set and action!

And we were the first actors there

because Mills
was goin' off to do a play.

So, we were just right into the
sort of nuts and bolts of it, really.

There was a lot of conversation
ahead of time

and also during the sh**ting

as to whether these were dreams

we were experiencing or visions

or something magical.

Should we sh**t it
on different lenses?

Should we light it
in a very distinctive way?

Should we give it its own

visual signature

that would signal
to the audience immediately

"Oh, okay, this is a dream"?

And the decision led,
of course, by Ryan and by Alan

was that, no, we shouldn't do that.

That we should sh**t it
as we would sh**t a normal scene

and let the content of the narrative
make it apparent that it was a dream.

[High Valyrian]

I can't understand.

This felt like a real way
to dramatize something

very core to Daemon's character
that was going on with him.

It's a throwback
to a scene from season one.

In season one, Daemon was
sitting on the throne

and Rhaenyra comes in to meet him.

This time, we reverse that,
so that Rhaenyra's on the throne

and Daemon comes in to meet her.

It's Rhaenyra,
but it's the wrong Rhaenyra.

The fact that it meant that we got
to bring back Milly delighted me

because I adore her and
all that she brought to the show.

And I really did know that
the fan base would really delight

in, hopefully, the surprise
of seeing her come back.

Feels like I never left

which is what's kind of weird.

It's nice to be back.

And it was one of those very
House of the Dragon moments

where we're doing the scene

and, finally,
she comes down into a close-up

which is sort of the crescendo
of what's goin' on between them.

And she's radiant
and there's tears in her eyes

and she's speaking
full Valyrian the entire time

without stumbling in perfect accent.

[High Valyrian]

And we cut. Brilliant.

So my brief encounter
with her was great.

And then I chopped her head off.

Well, I loved that when I read it.

I always wanted the dream sequences

or whatever you call them,
I was always pushing that

they felt mad
and horror-like as possible.

If we're gonna go for it,
let's go for it.

Great having Milly back.

We really miss her.

So much fun, I love Matt.

Matt's such a sweetheart.
And he's incredibly talented.

It was actually really nostalgic.

I sat on... I sat on the throne

which is actually kind of lopsided.

I mean, it's a throne
made out of swords

so it doesn't look very comfortable.

- Don't listen to her, honestly.
- Go on.

It was great seeing
the warmth between them

because they know each other so well

so, there was that.

And I think they were both
very happy to get back together

even if violently.

Very nice. And we cut. Very nice.

Appreciate it. Thank you.

It's a touch late to be
stalkin' about a strange castle

putting its people to the sword.

- You.
- I'm called Alys.

Alys Rivers was definitely

one of the iconic costumes

in that she's residing

at Harrenhal

but shouldn't really look
like she belongs there.

Let him go. Take one in, mark.

We didn't want to lean
too much into the witch thing.

She just needed to look like

a sort of strange member

of the household.

We wanted it to have this
kind of aged grandeur to it.

And that the palette there
is purples and lavenders.

When I saw that they'd cast Gayle

it was a dream come true.

I always had a vision of
that porcelain skin.

We embraced her paleness.

When I read the book, I saw long hair

and we managed to pick

quite an inky raven color

which, you know, is so beautiful

against the complexion
of her skin tone

and her eye color.

And I don't think there's
anything witchy about it.

Thirteen delta, take two.

Gayle was very happy
and she looks fantastic.

It's been a complete

complete pleasure.

To feel embraced
by the cast and the crew

was just really special.

How are you?

Well, how are you?

Matt and I got to have the experience

of meeting each other
for the first time.

And he's such a generous actor

and so fun to work with.

She's a fabulous, fabulous actor

and I think she's created
a really great character.

Here, drink this.

You'll need your sleep

if you're to win this place
to your side.

Rook's Rest is the biggest thing that

House of the Dragon
has mounted, to date

in terms of the size
and expense of a set piece

and we needed to get it right.

Rook's Rest, for us,
is a big setup.

You never quite can understand

how big something is

until you really turn up on the day

and you see
the size of the operation.

Stand by, guys, stand by to sh**t.

And this is a big operation.

Rook's Rest was our biggest obstacle
of this season for sure.

We were sh**ting
down in the home counties.

We had 500 crowd in total,
four different houses.

So, we had Rosby, Stokeworth,
Darklyn, and Hightower

all in different looks,
in different stages of the battle.

All right, we're all set.

- All right. Thank you
- Oh, brilliant.

- It's alright?
- Yes, it was great.

Good...

That was a complicated scene.
Big battle.

Dragons, dragon fire,
horses, dead people.

Complex, logistical thing
to put together.

What should be a small campaign
to take a small keep

turns into a kind of watershed moment

that tilts the w*r.

We experienced what it really is like

to unleash dragons
for the first time.

- Dragon!
- Dragon!

Advance!

Thankfully, we had Alan Taylor

the veteran filmmaker
on Game of Thrones

and countless other shows to do it.

Alan came to it
and really brought

just kind of
another level of scale to it.

Working with Alan's fantastic
'cause he's one of those directors

who knows what he wants
before he gets there.

The thing with Rook's Rest
is that Alan storyboarded Rook's Rest

really, really carefully in advance.

Shout out to Jane Wu,
our main storyboard artist

because I was collaborating with her,
that designed the action

both in the air and on the ground

and sort of shaped it into the story

that we wound up
sh**ting and telling.

And then I was shown Bourne Wood.

Bourne Wood is
a bit of a popular location

because it goes back to
Gladiator days and Ridley Scott.

So you think,
"If Ridley Scott chose it

then it's gotta be pretty good."

And it is.

I had been out there before
'cause we had...

I think we had scouted it
in season one.

It was pointed out to me,
and I just said

"Oh, we have to come back here."

We needed a tree line

and we also needed

an open space and a ridge

where the castle could be based.

So we did look
at a number of different places.

And Bourne was the winner.

- King Aegon!
- King Aegon!

You really felt like
you were at a battle.

You know, what was so amazing

is that it felt like

we were talking about it
for such a long time

Alan and I, and Freddie and Ryan.

It felt like we were in endless
conversations about it

and watching previs,
and talking through each beat

of every single scene,
and then you finally get there

and it's just
this incredibly iconic set.

It's like one of those moments,
me and Freddie were talking about it

where you go like,
"Ah, this is pretty amazing."

I mean, the battles
in episode four, I think

are probably gonna be

water cooler conversation

for quite some time.

I never really thought it was
a battle until I got there

and saw the scale that
we were bringing with us.

So, you know, four battering rams
moving across the field

and more horses than I can count,
all in full armor.

Not just the riders, but the horses.

Three or four houses
with different livery

and different banners
and different insignia

all marshaling together.

Sadly for them, most of them
are there as dragon fodder

and they don't know it.

It was a much bigger dress time

for set dec when we had
various army encampments.

We did all the tents and the bivouacs

and our fabulous drapes department

made all of those for us

and then, props department
put them together.

Rook's Rest was
a logistical issue for us

to make sure
we had enough bodies

we had enough dead horses,
we had enough w*r machines

and that we could move 'em around.

It's a big location

multiple cameras
shootin' in multiple areas.

It was about havin'
the right crew there

that could cope with rushing things

from one area to the next.

We had our main unit working for us

and a sizable splinter unit
working for us.

Any of the larger kind of
stunts or tricks and flicks

were led by Rowley Irlam,
the stunt coordinator.

Bring the battering ram
dropping down, yeah?

That's where it goes from.

I worked with Rowley
many times before.

His field of operations
was close to mine

so he could send me images
and I could watch takes

and ask for adjustments if necessary

but he also embellishes things
and raises things.

And then guys doin' the arrow hits,
you can come a little bit closer

to the battering ram, please.

The huge setup there

with the big burns of dragons.

So Meleys
would be flying through

and setting fire to people.

We can do things in CGI

but actually sh**ting real people
doing these things

it just gives it another
level of authenticity.

That was kind of our big number.

There was a lot of stuff

done in the tree line.

We did a lot of fire work there.

We burned eight people
on a battering ram with a strafe.

Every time there's a dragon strafe,
it's just so much fun.

Dragon roaring flame is different

but when you're in the field
and it...

it's quite exciting.

Yes!

I've never seen another human
so happy to burn people alive

let me tell you.

So we should do another one

- at 45 degree, then, yeah?
- Yeah.

We set down 20 Tamars
which we bury in the ground

and special effects
basically ignites the flames.

So you end up with a sort of


Please clear behind the barriers!

We had eight of my guys in there.

They're all covered in, like,
really flammable accelerant gel.

I, personally,
would turn and run

but they just stand there

and it just comes towards them

and they're engulfed in it.

We ended up doing these garments

which had burns built into them,
so you've got a shirt like this

with the burn makeup on it

so you could, literally, pull it on

without having to do an application.

We are, and we should be, quite good
at settin' people on fire by now.

The big dragon fight
that's happening in the sky

a lot of it was shot
on something that's a cross

between a Volume
and a blue screen stage.

This was buck 2.0 this year.

I mean, they did learn from
the first season and improve it.

It can be programmed in ways
that the other one was not.

So, to simulate
the flaps of wing movement

and sudden changes in direction.

It's very animal-like.

You know, almost feel the breath

of... of the beast.

The camera's adjustin'

to your movements as well.

We did it slightly differently
this year.

We... we have a... a robot camera.

We worked out a plan

to attach the camera

to the buck rig

and having the movement
match to the buck.

And the two working together
can provide almost any angle.

The way World w*r II dogfights
were shot, plane to plane

most of our stuff is shot
dragon to dragon.

You want the camera to feel like
it's, essentially, on another dragon.

And three, two, one, action.

The buck work, all of my...

my only memory of the buck work

is a large amount of wind

on the face.

The Rook's Rest work

this saddle's throwing itself around
all over the place.

Action.

[High Valyrian] Attack, Meleys!

The most critical
character work has to happen

you know, while it's bein'
slammed around.

The quality of performance
you're used to with her was all there

even though she's being flung around
on a bucking dragon

and chased by a robotic camera.

f*ck me sideways.

Fire in three, two, one!

We have a set on the backlot
pickin' up lots of different elements

so we don't have to go
for a CG approach

because, of course

real fire looks real.

It is mental, yeah.
I wanted to go bigger.

Because we've got Vhagar

I really wanted to go dirty burn

you know, like,
an intense burn and big burn.

And it is horrific.

And it goes 50 foot maybe.

It's a weapon
of mass destruction, really.

I think the most showstopping moment

is when the two bigger dragons
engage in the air

and it comes to a death spiral.

What Alan did was went back

and actually did a bunch of research
around birds of prey

and how they fight with each other.

Alan was really keen on
this kind of ritual

where they lock talons
and they spin around.

A lot of the work
was dumped on previs

'cause you can have
two dragons spiraling

in a kind of triple-axis turn
to the ground blowing fire

but it takes a lotta work
to work out what that really means.

I kept trying to protect that
as the "nuclear event" in the story.

Storywise, is the kind of
the turning of the tides

in terms of what kind of w*r
people have experienced.

The idea was that Cole has been
broken by this experience

and he's basically been
completely knocked out.

And when he wakes up,
it's to a new world sort of.

And the world
had to feel almost surreal

in its level of devastation.

You've got people crawling along.

We had amputees with their legs
burnt off, with arms burnt off.

People walkin' around on fire.

Waldo and his team created

the... the "Dust Man,"
as we called him.

When I, you know, went to touch it

it was just a really intricate affair
where you had to time it just right

touch it with just
the right amount of pressure

so they could pull it.

Yeah, it was pretty amazing.

Every time they had
to reset that, I was like...

I don't envy them.

Just sort of crumbles into ash,
that was a way of saying

whatever you thought
you knew about soldiery

has been burned to a crisp
and you're on your own.

And we cut. Checking.

I mean, I think it's
a Pyrrhic victory for both sides.

The Blacks lose Rhaenys' dragon
and a dragonrider

and one of Rhaenyra's
most trusted councilors.

And the Greens,
we don't really know the condition

of Sunfyre or Aegon

but certainly, Sunfyre is not
going to fly again tomorrow

and the king is not in good shape.

Well, I mean, all of Aegon's
worst fears come true

when he's plummetin' to the Earth
after being hit by a ball of fire.

Because they cross the nuclear line,
it's been devastating for everybody.

Both sides have lost something major.

Oh, my God, massive loss.
What a disaster. Total disaster.

Best fighter down
and best dragon down.

I mean, the whole thing's
total chaos.

But, yes, if you've gotta go,
going on the back of a dragon

in the middle of the best,
kickarse fight

that there's ever been,
is quite a good way.

It's never nice.

As particularly someone

who is such a wonderful person

and such a brilliantly
talented performer

and we've become very close
and very good friends

over this short period of time.

But it's an absolute,
absolute dream to work with her.

So, it was a bit, like, "Oh, wow.

Oh, that's really, you know"

but we're not gonna stop
being friends so, you know.

To deliver these really
dynamic dragon flying shots

and have those intercut
with this sort of drama and action

happenin' on the ground

it's comin' together
to be a really incredible scene.

I think Alan pretty much got

an incredible battle sequence

that he's put together.

Really proud to be a part of that.

You're in the middle
of something so huge

that the kind of thing that,
as actors

you don't get to do very often.

- Thank you.
- Alright, mate. Thanks, Alan.

- Okay. That's the best.
- Yeah...

You just have to pinch yourself
every so often

that you're on this thing.

I sincerely doubt I'll ever be
a part of this grand scene again

for the rest of my career
so I felt very, very lucky.

It's the hardest thing
that I've ever done

as a producer and a showrunner

and frankly, as a writer.

But I'm very, very proud
of the result.