02x06 - Smallfolk

[bunniefuu]

I was running all day with Seasmoke.

Obviously, there is an element
of "anything can go wrong"

but it doesn't, it won't.

Very good Health and Safety
on House of the Dragon.

I can't believe
they got away with that.

I was so lucky to watch it firsthand.

We're always ready for whatever
they're gonna throw at us.

I'm a Targaryen, baby. Ya know?

When I got my script
and I realized that

Paddy was in two of my scenes

I was... I was really thrilled
by that.

Did you say it?

"The heir for a day."

I love Paddy, I really do,
and I miss him terribly

and I miss what he brought
to the show and also to the set.

The things you don't see on camera.

- Thank you.
- Have you got your pictures?

- Thank you, love.
- Lovely.

Ryan had hinted at me

coming back and I was like

"Well, how you gonna
manage that one?"

And the first day that I came to set,
there were actually people

when I arrived,
who were a bit like, "Wow"

you know, you could feel
this reaction like

"The king's here, the king's here!"
It was kind of odd, really.

And seeing these giant statues,
now you're dead.

You're just this giant carving.

Well, I'd walked past it
about 20 times

and then I just sort of caught it
and went, "Whoa!"

I told my wife about this
and she said

"That's amazing. Can we have it?"

And I said, "No, we can't
put that in the garden.

You can see it from f*cking space."

If we don't build a small version

then we never have a quick way

of working out our mistakes.

And then, when it comes
to the big version

we know what to do.

Our chief sculptor got the likeness

absolutely perfectly.

And when you're talkin' about working

in a piece of four-meter
by four-meter polystyrene

it isn't always the easiest thing
to get somebody's likeness.

It's so much more difficult

when it has to look like someone

'cause it's easy to have all
the features of someone's face

and it not look like them
at the same time.

So, it was great
to actually feel proud

about something you've worked on.

Daemon's dreams are
an interesting aspect of this season.

I think it was very important
for both Paddy and for Matt

to ground the dreams in reality.

There's the second dream
where he comes across Viserys

who is mourning Queen Aemma
and their son

after the tragic cesarean section
of season one.

Why is my son wrapped in a sh*t rag?

- That's the scene, innit?
- Yeah.

Because the Silent Sisters' set
has a wall of candles

the challenge for us
and the art department was

that they needed
to be lit all the time

but they would burn out.

So, we came in in the morning
and Vanja had said

"Listen, guys, we need
the candles lit all day

'cause I'm using them for lighting."

I have to keep the candles
going the whole day?

And Vanja was like, "Yeah."

We could only work

when all the candles were on

so we couldn't make any decisions

before all the candles were lit.

So many candles.
I can't believe that

there's a single candle
remaining in England

after our show comes through here
like candle locusts.

I wasn't nervous because I knew
I was in good hands

so compared to some other
fire work that we were doing

this was... it seems very safe.

Lick the... f*ck' hair goes all...

We were in Cáceres and the exterior
of the Grand Sept location

which has a steep staircase
that comes down the front of it.

Rickard Thorne
gets Alicent from the Sept

and they come outside
and we have a large crowd.

It was definitely one of
the most challenging scenes.

Fifteen or 20 horses, 180 extras

day and a half to sh**t it,
and the sun's going down.

One thing that really stood out to me
was the passion and energy and love

that the background
artists work with.

They really take it seriously.

They really want
to get into character.

They really want to give you 100%.

We're asking them to create
these little stories

within the scene
where they're arguing over food

or they're having conversations

or running in different directions.

One of the early decisions
for the riot scene

was that we wanted to sh**t it
almost like a documentary style

as if we were reporters
hidden inside the crowd

with the handheld cameras
and long lens

which we could only do
because the stunt coordination

and the way the crowd
was directed was so realistic

that we could employ that approach.

We wanted to stage it
with as many cameras as possible

so she can really run down the stairs
and do all the actions continuously

without us interrupting her

for different angles
and different shots.

And we wanted to see Alicent
bein' pelted with fish

by the starving townspeople.
And obviously

they couldn't be good fish

otherwise they'd be eatin' 'em.

We were concerned
about how many times

we're going to try
to hit Olivia with the fish.

Even though it was a prop,
it was still nasty.

We had this methyl cellulose
that we mixed

into a kind of pinkish, gray sludge.

We then have
a nominated stunt performer

who's the fish thrower.

Olivia, who's not only
a fabulous actress

but very generous and giving
with her performance

and she's like, "Yeah, just... just
hit me with the fish. It's fine."

You know, "Let's not use the double."

By the way, the person
who threw the fish

used to be a pro cricket player.

When I say my head swiveled 360

I'm not... I'm not jokin'.

We'd done one fish hit and I thought,
"Oh, that was great!"

But I don't think it was
quite perfect for Andrij

and he needed it again.

The second hit was, like,
really gooey and juicy

you know, and we got her,
so it was worth it.

They spent all day
running down these steps

and I'm like, "Oh, how many times

are we gonna run down these steps?"

We ran so much
up and down those steps

in the heat, in this dress.

Olivia, there's a bit where
she falls down the steps at the end

and it was always planned that

she falls towards us onto a mat.

Rowley's just like, "Just fall."
And I'm like, "Yeah, but

I'm running down some steps."

He's like, "Yeah, yeah,
you'll be fine. Just fall."

I'm like, "Okay."

We put some decent knee pads on her
and she did a really convincing fall.

I mean, if this acting
doesn't work out

she can come work with us.

It was fine. It was fine.

In the middle of the sequence

we have an elderly man
that asks for food

played by a very seasoned
stunt performer called Terry Cade

who's in his mid-seventies
and still performing.

He grabs hold of Alicent
and gets his hand chopped off

by one of the Kingsguard.

This is the trigger for the crowd
to erupt and go crazy.

Prosthetics gave us the arm

and we used that for the arm
landing on the floor shot.

We do a shot with a blue sleeve,

we do a shot where Terry
physically grabbed Olivia

and then we did the sword
coming down

but obviously
stopping short of Terry's arm.

Action!

So you have to do
a combination of shots

to deliver the final effect
for something like that.

The guy having his arm chopped off
is this much in the script

so you're spending
a lot of sh**ting hours

for a very small moment.

f*ck' escalated quickly, didn't it?

Someone lost his f*ck' arm.

It was really fun. It was really fun.

I'd look back at Phia
and we're both runnin'

and she's got this massive
smile on her face.

We'd got the adrenaline rush of
almost like it was a roller coaster.

Like, every time

I kind of believed it was real

because I think if I had stopped,
I would've been trampled.

It was, like, pretty scary.

But I don't get to, like

do the running around stuff
in this show very much

so it was really, really fun.

The boy's a liar

Prosthetics, stunts,
Olivia's contribution.

- That was a really good team effort.
- Perfect.

- Thank you.
- Okay.

You go through all the emotions
in a day as a director.

Hopefully, you leave
sort of relieved or satisfied

and it was definitely
that feeling at the end of that.

Okay, folks, so, we're gonna
break for lunch here now. Thank you.

Alyn and Addam of Hull,
the b*stard sons of Corlys

and they have very different
attitudes about Corlys.

Alyn's the one that has
the Targaryen blood

the silver hair that
he needs to shave every day

so that no one else recognizes it.

The challenge is that person
can shave only one time

before we have to wait
for a couple of months

for the hair to grow.

I remember reading
the scene and thinking

how are they gonna do this?

When I read the script, I was like

"Oh, this is gonna have to..."

You know, "How are we
gonna make this work?"

The haircutting scene
with Alyn of Hull

was probably one
of the trickiest scenes

that we had in the episode.

I think we had as many meetings
about the riot in Spain

as we did about the haircut.

The hair and makeup team here
are just on another level

and they came up
with this really cool idea

of, essentially, spraying
my head with white hair

but it would stick on end
and we'd get this dull razor

that allowed me to shave it
with water and take it off

and it looks incredible.

We ended up with a double

who was actually one
of the props department

who was a really good match
for Abubakar and the hair.

Obviously, we had lovely Steph
who's a crew member

and he was just walkin',
mindin' his own business.

I think he was getting
scanned by Waldo

to be one of the ratcatchers,
I believe.

Every time you see somebody
cut their hair, it was a double.

I've never had to shave
my head in my life

but this is something that Alyn
has done religiously, every day

and so, I had to make it look
like it was a ritualistic act.

We even got one of our barbers,
as well, to come in

to tell us how to actually
properly shave the head.

I'm... I'm imaginin' that the blade
will be wet, right?

So, I'll be wettin' the blade
and then comin' back

- and then comin' down...
- No, you wet your hair.

I'd wet the hair,
so the hair would be wet.

And so, to have the right
people around to tell me that

I didn't have to really
think about the act of it

all I had to think about was
the scene and what I was doing.

We cut from Abu and we actually
used a close-up of Steph

and then we used Mark
as the hand to use the cut throat.

So it involved, like,
four different people

to achieve this one look.

So, I feel like, after this

I won't be able to

walk around with my hands up

because everyone's gonna notice it

and be like,
"Hey, those are the hands!"

Like, even me as Clinton

I'm like, "Why would you shave

that beautiful silver hair?"

If I had that hair

I'd be rockin' it every day.

- Stand up straight.
- Yeah, you're with your dad.

Rhaenyra, in her desperation
to have a dragonrider

goes into the archives
in the Valyrian temple

and finds out that Darklyn's ancestry

is connected
with the Targaryen ancestry

and therefore, thinks that
it's a good idea for Darklyn

to potentially be paired
with Seasmoke as a rider.

We have the sense that
Seasmoke is missing his bond.

That's why Rhaenyra
seizes upon that idea that

perhaps, he's lonely
to try to give him a companion

in Ser Steffon Darklyn,
who becomes Ser Steffon Sparklin'.

The Dragonmont cavern went
through a lot of process

in terms of getting the right space

getting the right height
for the gantry

getting the right
extraction systems in place

so that we could use the fire.

So technically and logistically,
there was a lot to do.

Dragonmont is a big network of caves

so what do you build that connects it
to the human space of Dragonstone?

This gantry could exist
in this giant cave

and dragons could come up to it

and that's how
you step on and step off.

This set, built by Jim Clay,
is 15ft, 5m off the ground.

Everyone at the beginning was
questioning why it was built so high.

And then you stand on it

and you understand
why it's built that way.

It's scary.

We were so high up from the ground

that we had to worry
not only about the fire

but also about
nobody falling off the plinth.

It was the first time
Rhaenyra attempted this

and we didn't know what was
going to happen to Darklyn

so the idea was to be
as shocked and surprised

with his death as Rhaenyra would be.

[High Valyrian]
Serve, Seasmoke!

So what do you reckon to this lookin'

anything like me, do you think?

I think they've got the nose.

Maybe it's a bit bigger there
than here.

Stunt masks provide a protection
for the stunt guy

which means a thickness of silicone

which means that
we're never gonna be able

to make it look
convincingly like a person

who hasn't been attacked by bees.

Do your best
Michael Myers impression.

Then, to be honest, like,
once they're up in flames

all you're really aware of is that

he's got black hair
and he's got two ears

and the rest of it
is down to your imagination.

On season eight of Thrones,
we learned that with prosthetics on

it felt like havin' a fire mask

'cause the silicone
would protect you.

So this year we went,
"I know what we'll do."

We'll assume that people
have been fully engulfed initially

so they would be burnt
and have lost their hair.

So, we got Waldo and his team

to make prosthetic masks
that covered the ears.

And it's the ears
that always get burnt

when you do a burn
without a mask on

that go 'round the back of the neck

so that we could literally
have people on fire

without masks on, but stood up.

- That was a bit innovative for us.
- And action!

I think... I think it's already...

The knife's already on there.
And then you go...

like that.

That's prosthetics on a prosthetic.

So we have to stick the neck on first

with the tube, that wound,
running down his back

and out the bottom
of his trousers on a pump

and then, while he's on fire,
he has to find his mark

and cut that

and then, fall to the floor
and all this sort of gushes out.

That was Levan.

It's one more piece
for us to stick on

but Levan has to hit
all these marks while he's on fire

'cause, obviously,
he can't see what he's doin'.

Yeah, props to Levan.

Levan, are you okay?
Lee, you alright?

Having thought that

I was up for most things

having watched it, I thought

"Oh, it turns out, I actually
don't want to be set on fire."

We provide the fire gel.

We make it ourselves.

It's almost like a protection.

They have their own protection on

but just the top burns
rather than the costume.

They put the gel on underneath
and then on top of the costume

and then special effects
paint them up

with IPA and alcohol and off they go.

We ignite them

with a flamethrower, which is scary.

We used a podium one,
which is basically a powder

like a pollen

and we fire that out
and ignite it at the same time

and it burns very clean,
very yellow, and it's very limited.

You can't be panicky, though,
'cause it's not a good look.

You gotta be really positive and like

"Yeah, it's gonna be great.
It's gonna be fine and..."

It's just alien to do that.

It's alien to squirt somebody
with ignited gas, isn't it?

But you've got to plan it

you've got to build it,
you've gotta show Rowley.

We have dummies that we dress up

put them there, squirt them on,
show him how it burns.

He likes it, he doesn't like it.

And then, we go to the real people.

Action!

One, two, three

four, five, six

seven, eight, nine, ten!

Out!

You have to be conscious
of when you put people out

because you can blow burning stuff
off them onto other people

because they're not out.

They would burn for a lot longer.

And then we put
some cold towels on them

and stuff like that
just to keep 'em cool.

But if they do that,
we know we're alright, you know?

Definitely won't be becomin'

a stuntman anytime soon.

That is mad.

Felt the heat from there.

It's always better
to do things in camera.

But fire is one of the things

just because how it reacts
to wind and movement

it's really hard

and I don't think it's yet convincing
for that to be computer generated

certainly not in its entirety.

You can enhance

but I don't think
you could replace real flame.

Not just yet. Maybe 20 years

we won't be setting people
on fire anymore

but right now, thank goodness,
we can do it better.

Top man.
Thank you, Lev. Great work.

- That's so great.
- Thank you.

Addam is walking home
after a day of fishing

and there's a chase scene
between him and Seasmoke.

You look at a storyboard
and go, "That's not so bad."

And then you go,
"Oh, hang on, it's still going.

"Oh, it's... oh, it's still...

The shot's still going.

Oh, the shot's still going."

We planned the route,
as you do always

as to what does
the background look like.

And often, it's the route
that's the most uncomfortable

or awkward for the performer.

Clinton, fantastic actor,
great athlete.

He did all his own stunts.
We provided him with a stunt double

and he was like,
"No, I'm doing this."

When an actor wants
to do their own stunts

I'm at the monitor going like.

Clinton was so exciting

and he was in such
great physical shape.

We tried to have long takes
and long choreography

and for somebody to repeat
that a couple of times

running up the hill,
running down the hill

could've only done it with him.

I don't know how we'd do it
with another actor

and he was happy to do it every time.

Shootin' that scene with Seasmoke

was a dream come true for me.

As a kid, what did we all imagine
when we were, like, playing

you know, make-believe?
It's always a dragon.

We have this bit at the end
where he falls down this rock face.

So it was a real rock face,
which we covered

with a fake rubber rock face,
and he did a great job.

It's always better if it's in camera
and it's the real person.

Visual effects
cover the dragon overhead.

We had then picked him up on a drone

so we built a drone shot in

where he runs through
the woods and we track him.

And then, of course,
we had some local mortar cannons

that shot debris and tree branches.

So we had some physical effects.

When the dragon comes
crashing through the trees

we had something
to blast through the shot

so that we don't rely completely
on the digital aspect of that.

And then, of course, when the dragon
comes face to face with Clinton

that's when VFX were reintroduced

so that we can have that moment

where Clinton and the dragon
are nose to nose.

When we storyboarded the sequence

and we previs'd it,
and we budgeted it

we're like, "Okay, it's big,"
and then we shot it.

It went amazingly well,
but when we got into post

it was so good that the scene
doubled in size

so we got twice
as many dragon shots.

And can I tell you, you know,
each dragon shot is very expensive.

I mean, it's like owning a dragon.

The scene is incredibly dynamic.

We shot it in a very similar way

that we shot the Steffon Darklyn
moment just before he's burnt.

At the moment that Seasmoke
kinda goes in for Addam

we cut out of it...

leaving the audience wondering
what's gonna happen next.