03x05 - Unbowed and Unbent

[bunniefuu]

-[insects chirring]
-[horse chomping, snorting]

[Richard Donnelly]
Go through that way,

-and go through... horizontal.
-Okay, alright.

Alright. Will do.

[crew chattering]

[Judit Soltész]
This is a longer sequence,

so just keep the quiet.

Keep the focus, please.

And it's gonna be amazing,
I promise.

Alright, ready to go.

And roll sound.

-[slate claps]
-[crew member] Rolling!

[crew member 2]
Nice and quiet, guys!

We're rolling!

[Judit] And light the torches!

-[slate claps]
-[swords clanging]

[knife stabbing]

[♪ thrilling music playing]

♪♪

[♪ solemn music playing]

[Judit] And, cut!

The night we shot on the
Riverlands army encampment

was really special.

We started with a drone shot

as you come
into the encampment

to get the last
of the evening light.

And then it was this
anticipation of waiting

for the first setup
as darkness fell.

We wanted the scene
to be visceral and bloody

and surprising.

[singing]
♪ Now I've had ♪

♪ The time of my life... ♪

It's quite a vicious attack,

and it's done in that
guerrilla warfare style

and that starts
with the execution
of Lord Piper.

[mimics stabbing sounds]

I always think about that

Joe Pesci, De Niro,
Goodfellas story.

No! No! No!

[Fabien Frankel]
Joe Pesci stabbing the body,

-going in and out really fast.
-[grunting]

And De Niro's like...

And Pesci's like, "What's up?"

And De Niro's like,
"I don't know, you know,

"I think you wouldn't be able
to get the blade in

that fast through
the rib cage."

-[g*nshots]
-Slit... [clicks tongue]

...poor Antonio's throat
first day I met him,

and he's six-foot-three
or something.

And I'm 5'10".



So, I'm just gonna practice
jumping on the box.

Alright.

-Be careful with that.
-Yeah, will do.

[chuckling] It's one of the most
embarrassing things ever.

They gave me a little platform
to stand on

so that I could cut his throat.

And I thought, God,
there's nothing rock-and-roll

about this at all,
is there, really?

We're just supposed
to be so cool.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

One of those real moments
where all my street cred

-is gone...
-It always happens.

...instantaneously.

The violence in the show

is never meant to be gratuitous.

It's meant to show how
to be a fighter in this era,

you had to be committed

to ending lives close up
and personal,

where you could see
the cost of it.

'Cause that camera's
there, yeah?

-Yeah.
-So, bang!

And then I'll just--
maybe, just...

[sword slicing]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Amanda Knight]
Cole and his men
lose the armor

when they're out
in the b*ttlefield.

So, we've gone with
the camo makeup.

So it's mud they found
in the local area,

and they've covered
their faces.

Everything's raw this season,
everyone's unkempt,

so it's more grime,
more sweat, more dust.

They look great. They look like
proper guerrillas.

And the whole idea of them

arriving into this
Riverlands army camp

and setting it all on fire
was a great challenge.

Art Department in particular

had to build a fantastic set
of tents on location.

[Kevin de la Noy]
So those camps

are all subject
to the weather.

It's been a very dry summer.

And so, the big burns we have
to do back at the studio.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

Where we've got fire engines,
and it's totally controllable.

And then drop those in
with visual effects.

-Fall back!
-[weapons clanging]

[Thomas Horton]
For the tent-burning sequence,

we can actually do CG fire.

A lot of shows and
Marvel movies will do that.

But we reset the entire camp,

matching all the camera angles

so we could get
the real tents burning.

Of course, the props people
weren't too happy about that.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[shovel clunking]

Fabs, I think hair and makeup
wanted to see you very quickly.

-All the way over there?
-[crew member] Yeah.

-[crew member 2] Freddie?
-[Freddie Fox] Yeah?

Would you like to come back
and do a quick check?

Enjoy that, Fred.

[laughter]

sh**ting the Cole and Gwayne
storyline was so much fun.

And one of my favorite scenes
is when they're in the bog.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

That was one of the most
challenging scenes

that I've shot in my career.

It was raining that day,

plus we had all these
rain towers

to enhance the rain.

[crew chattering, laughing]

And I think being out there
in the rain,

in the elements,

we all felt like we were
actually trying

to get out of this bog.

[Lindsey Powell]
When we were scouting the bog,

we wanted to make sure it
really felt like our characters

were sinking as they
were walking.

What we're being told now,
in our ears,

is some of these holes
in the bog are really deep.

If you stop, you will get stuck,
like quicksand,

-which is kind of exciting.
-[mimics gasping]

[all laughing]

And we had to put in a pontoon

to get the crew and our
technocrane onto that set.

We're here. Alright, all good?
All happy? Okay.

The locations add
a whole new dimension,

visually, to the storyline,

and to the world
of House of the Dragon.

And logistically, it was
a tough scene to sh**t.

Everybody's knee-deep in mud.

It's gray and miserable.

But that suited the scene
perfectly.

[Judit] And then,
try to find a place

where you don't sink,

until we move you around.

I'm a bit of a sadist
as a storyteller.

I like to write these things

and then trust that
other people

are gonna go
to these locations.

[crew chattering]

[Richard] You wanna take--

[groaning]

[laughter]

[Ryan Condal]
But it's really
to de-romanticize

the idea of what
Cole's campaign

would have actually been like
in a real-world scenario.

[Freddie] Oh, f*ck!

I don't know what I'm doing.
Oh God!

[laughing] I'm so sorry.

I'm so sorry.
It was my fault.

I think trudging through the bog
was probably

the most challenging stunt
of this entire, um...

[laughing] this entire sh**t.

But it was so much fun.

[Nina Lopez-Corrado]
It looks so good.

Give me Werner Herzog.
Come on!

[Judit] When we came out
from the bog,

we knew we made something
very special.

And it's gonna show
their miserable journey.

It's shouting out
from the screen.

[rainfall pattering]

[♪ tense music playing]

♪♪

[Philippa Goslett]
Episode Five is about

being lost in the maze,

being lost in the labyrinth.

Cole and Gwayne are lost
in the Riverlands.

And Alicent and Helaena

are trying to find their way
out of the Red Keep

in the tunnels where Rhaenyra
found freedom as a young girl.

In previous seasons,

we've only seen a little bit

of the bowels
of the Red Keep,

so this was a chance
to show a little more.

And how these characters
feel trapped

when they're down there.

[♪ tense music continues]

[Judit] Maegor's tunnel
is really tricky

because we patched it together

from two different set pieces.

It starts
in Alicent's apartment

with the stairs...

[echoing footsteps]

...and then the bigger
tunnel piece.

And because we wanted it
to feel claustrophobic,

dark, and scary,

that was a challenge
for the cinematographer

to light it without lights.

[crew member]


-[slate claps]
-[camera beeps]

[Richard]
In Maegor's tunnels,

there's no holes
for light anywhere,

and the two characters
are only carrying a candle

in a little lantern.

So, I did several tests

where I introduced ambient
cool light

and handheld lights,

but we ended up using
only the candle.

And the amount of light
that it gives

is literally an arm's length,

which was super real.

-[animal hissing]
-[Helaena shrieks]

[lantern shatters]

It was genuinely so dark
down there.

There's no acting required.

-[cat meows]
-[Alicent gasps]

No!

[Nina] Cut.

-That was good, wasn't it?
-Whoa!

-That was scary.
-That was super good, yeah.

Working with Olivia is the best.

Olivia is one of my best friends
in the world,

and I love working
with her so much. [laughing]

[Olivia] [singing]
♪ If you keep up with me ♪

Oh, I love working with Phia.

She's so imaginative.

Cool.

[giggles, pops tongue]

[Olivia Cooke]
And I think there's
a lot of energy

always bubbling in her mind,

and that comes across
in her performance.

[Nina]
Maybe there's a moment

where you feel it
with your hand.

-'Cause it is such a...
-Yeah.

-...weird thing.
-Yeah.

[indistinct chatter]

Thank you.
Alright, here we go.

To me, that was
such a fun scene

because there was
a cat that came in

and it would meow.

And so, I said...

And the crew thought that

I yelled, "Cut."

[Richard] Camera's cut.

[Nina] Cut!

-[Judit] And cut!
-[Richard] Oh, I thought you--

I'm so sorry.
I thought you said "Cut."

[crew member]
There was "cat," and then
there was "cut."

Oh, "cat!" And then, "cut."

-And then, "cut."
-Oh!

I think it's fine. I think--

[Nina]
I'm going to meow now
instead.

-That's better, do that.
-[crew laughing]

Meow!

[Olivia] No!

[whispering] Ah, that's better.

[studio bell ringing]

[crew chattering]

Hi! We're just doing
some tweaking.

[Waldo Mason]
I'm going to put this
in the front.

I really want
this to have its moment.

[crew member] Yeah.

That running like that is nice.

[Sara Hess]
Episode Five in particular

had very much
a cat and mouse theme.

[♪ ominous music playing]

There's this feeling of things
scratching in the walls

and things not being
quite right.

And there are a lot
of people hunting.

[sword unsheathing]

So, it did become
a theme for us,

a symbol of ominousness,

of decay.

One of my favorite scenes

since I read the script
of Episode Five

was this moment where
Daemon finds

this portrait, essentially...

[♪ ominous music playing]

...of all these gold cloaks

disemboweled,
and sitting at a table.

[Amanda] When we saw
the gold cloak m*ssacre,

we were like, "Okay,
this is Game of Thrones time."

[♪ ominous music continues]

One's getting a cut throat.

One's been stabbed in the eye.

There's so many descriptions
of how somebody can die.

-[eerie screaming]
-[blade slicing]

And Waldo and I have gone
through so many reference books

to replicate it realistically.

[flesh squelching]

[Waldo Mason] But luckily,
because a lot of our crew

do this kind of stuff
all the time,

we're no strangers to having
to look at horrific reference.

So, unfortunately it is
part of the job.

You have my good side, yeah?

-[laughing]
-[camera operator] Absolutely.

So, we've got some
of our gold cloaks

for our biggest
prosthetic day.

They've all been stabbed
in their eyes,

so we've generated
these lenses.

Which at the moment,
haven't had

their lumps of clotted blood
and gore laid on top.

So everything looks very clean

and pretty much like a toy
at the moment.

When we apply this makeup,

we'll peel open
the actual wound.

Then stick this
to the iris like that.

And position it under the eye.

And then match it with
the stab lines

in the actual eyeball.

And these are the test pieces

which don't have any eyebrows
punched yet.

So when the eyebrows come in,
it just adds that realism.

We've also got a whole
assortment of neck slashings.

[knife slicing]

And then four of them
will also be disemboweled.

[cast and crew chattering]

-Holy sh*t!
-[laughing]

With guts that are attached
to their stomachs

that will be linked
to the table.

-[crew member] Are you good?
-I'm-- I'm good.

[crew member] Good.

Got everything I need.

So it's gonna be
pretty horrific.

[laughing]

It's super dark.
So it's actually

I can only see
what's in front of me.

This is my torch.
Whoa-oh!

Then I see the blood.

That's weird.

That's even weirder.

Holy Mother of God.

And it's rather... [chuckles]

-And then...
-To here.

It's tough at the top, boys, eh?

[laughter]

It's always kinda cool
when there's

a great set piece like that.

[digital camera whirring]

Even the level of detail
on those guys

is pretty f*cking bonkers,
isn't it?

How did you feel the first time
you walked in and saw this?

[Matt Smith]
Impressed, actually.

It does look really brilliant.

-But...
-Yeah?

...that's no consolation.

[all laughing]

One of our dead gold cloaks
is, uh, is Luthor Largent,

played by Tom Cullen.

And he came in for a scan
so we can do a slit-throat,

stabbed-out eyes.

-Another day at work.
-[laughter]

[Tom Cullen]
I've had a face scan

and they've shown me
what they're gonna do.

It's great. It looks grisly
and horrible.

[Emma D'Arcy]
This isn't like
the scenes I sh**t.

We don't do scenes like this.

-[laughing]
-[Tom] Is that Emma?

-[Emma] Yeah, it is.
-Hey, babe.

[Emma] Hey, you look--
You look amazing.

-I feel amazing.
-[Emma] Yeah, yeah.

[Tom] The only sad thing

is that I wish that
I was dying on camera.

[chuckling]
But being found dead is

just as good.

[♪ curious music playing]

[Jim Clay]
Ryan sees hand props
as museum pieces.

And one was
the Cyvasse set...

[Ellie Murphy]
You like Cyvasse?

-[Ryan] I do.
-[Ellie] Excellent.

...which George Martin devised.

It's not been seen
in House of the Dragon,

nor Game of Thrones.

[Ryan] Anybody that reads
the books knows Cyvasse,

which is sort
of Westerosi chess.

And the game was never
fully described.

So, the fun of this is getting
to build out what we know

and then expand where
there are holes.

[Ellie] Welcome to Cyvasse.

There's references
in the books

to them not being able
to see each other's setup

or like the setup might start
and then you can see it.

So, we included a screen
for the beginning of it,

which when the screen is in,
everybody calls it

"House of the Dragon
Battleships."

And then the screen comes out
and everybody's like,

"Oh, it's
"House of the Dragon Chess."

Funny enough, those two games
and Stratego were mentioned

as George R.R. Martin's
reference points for Cyvasse.

We played them all as a team

so that we could
combine them into this.

[studio bell ringing]

The synopsis that stuck with me,
is it's Risk meets ch ess.

So, very complex, multi-layered,
but loads of fun

and just amazing work
from the prop department.

[James Norton]
It was actually
really humbling.

It was one of these moments
where I was aware

of how much work and attention
goes into this job.

I remember thinking,
there's so much craftsmanship,

there's so much talent
on this board alone.

[game piece thuds]

[Lee Wiseman]
The Cyvasse board was
the final prop this season.

So much concepting
and referencing went on,

meetings with Ryan
to make sure that things

were moving in the direction
that he wanted.

[Ryan] Is this gonna be clear
that it's a game board

and not a design?

[Ellie] I think we're
gonna take back

a little bit of the design work,

and we can make each tile
a larger triangle.

-[Ryan] Yeah.
-[Ellie] So it's more visible.

In developing this,

the pattern on the table is
taken from an old Roman fresco.

And in keeping with
the Footly set deck,

we worked to make sure that
every piece and every color

suits the vibe of Footly.

Ryan very much wanted it
to feel like

a Footly pass-me-down.

Because it's a Footly board,

this could have
leather embossing.

[Ryan] Season Three budget:

-"Everything's leather-lined."
-Yeah.

Everything's leather-lined.

-Everything's embossed.
-Yeah.

I'm wearing leather shirts now.

-Are you?
-Yep.

[♪ upbeat music playing]

Pass me the torch.

Don't think they would
have had that back then.

They wouldn't have had that.
But the standbys are allowed it.

[laughing]

So, if you look,
it shows you the five moves

of the pieces, on the day.

And this is all just so that
the actors can really quickly

get on board.

[Ryan] We coached them up
on the game,

and we talked a lot
about choosing the right time

to bring your dragon in.

And the irony,
of course, being

Season Three story
of House of the Dragon

is very much, when do I bring
my dragons into it? [chuckles]

I was lucky.

[nervously exhales]

Let us start again.

[board thudding]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[pieces clattering]

[Nina] Rest for a second
while we just set up.

Richie, Richie, Richie!

We've got this angle
and that angle.

Yeah, that's better.

[Judit] We are set!

[Nina] Alright, here we go.

At the end of Episode Five,

Cole gives his speech
to his men.

And we had lots
of conversations

about what that looked like,

and what the line was
of too much or not enough.

And how to make
the audience feel like

the team had come to its end.

We wanted to ground it
in a real character

and emotion
and human experience.

And I think Fabien metabolized
all of that.

Putting them out in this
very real environment,

I think helped to put him
in the shoes of the character.

The very wet shoes
of the character.

[Criston Cole]
We have suffered much.

And though we languish,

now,

in the darkness,

we will not lose heart.

[Nina] The speech was
one of the scenes

where we spent a lot of time
finding the right balance.

When we first started,

we chose to do
more of a w*r chant,

something to really bring
the men up and get them going.

[camera beeps]

[shouting]
And the Stranger!

The Stranger
will offer us rest

when our day is f*cking done!

[soldiers cheering]

[Nina] In the end,
we saw it as their final prayer

before they go on this
impossible mission

and give themselves up
for the realm.

And the Smith.

Let the Smith bless us
with his strength.

[Nina] It ended up turning
into a really beautiful scene.

Really nice work, guys.

[Ryan] This is a guy who's
trying to ultimately die

with his own agency.

You see this very pure
expression

of what one man
sees knighthood as.

And Fabien's performance of it
speaks for itself.

[♪ theme music playing]