03x06 - Faceless Men

[bunniefuu]

[cast and crew chattering
in distance]

[Liam Lockspeiser]
Okay. Everybody ready?

Here we go, standby!

[Loni Peristere]
At the end of the battle,

one by one, we stand up,

we take in the living
and the dead,

and we come back to life.

[Liam] Ambush!

[all shouting]

[♪ thrilling music playing]

♪♪

[Fabien Frankel] I feel good
about the dagger, man.

I think it's f*ck' awesome.

He's f*cking walking over
with a dagger in his hand?

I feel like that's so powerful.

Ryan had
called me beforehand.

And I knew it was coming.
Obviously, I always knew

that Cole was gonna go
in Season Three.

And he says,
"Cole's gonna die."

And all I asked,
"Is it faithful to the books?"

'Cause I love how Cole dies
in the books.

One of me
against the two of you.

"Will that be enough
to make a fight of it?"

And he offers to spare
his men their lives.

That's all that
I cared about.

That he died how he died
in the books.

And he did.

So, I was very happy.

[Loni] All of you
are asking yourself,

"Who did this?"

"What happened here?"

That's where you are mentally
at the top of this.

It is a dead town.

This opening scene was
a bit of a horror movie.

It's the tension of what
they don't see

as opposed to what
they're looking for.

It starts with Cole and his men

making his way through a forest.

We shot that at sundown,
so we had low sun.

We had lots of atmos,
lots of smoke there.

It looks, I think,
pretty spectacular.

And then the big ambush scene,
we had to build the tension.

So, we had to keep the camera
moving all the time.

So, there was Steadicam work,
Ronin 4D work,

where we just try to live
in the character's perspective

a lot, so that we're with Cole

and we're with
Cole's perspective

as he wanders into the camp.

Something doesn't feel
quite right,

and, of course,
that's then paid off

when dead people jump to life
and engage in battle.

They've been laid.

On your guard!

[all shouting]

[Fabien] Cole's last stand
was my favorite scene

to sh**t this season.

An incredibly
choreographed scene

because it's so complicated.

In that fight,

albeit Cole is
an amazing fighter,

I wanted it to feel
sluggish and thuggish

and not look like perfect
choreographed moves,

because the reality
of fighting in that heat

after the months
they've been traveling

and all the terrain
they've had to cover

and the weather
they've been faced with,

that he finally gets
into the fight

and he's just exhausted.

And hopefully, when people
see the scene,

they'll feel that.

-[soldiers groaning]
-[Cole grunting]

Can I make-- Can I make
a suggestion?

-Yes.
-So, uh, slice my leg.

-From high slap.
-Yeah.

From-- He go--
I go to stab him again.

-Yeah.
-Bang!

And then he butts me
to the head.

-Yeah,
-Yeah, yeah.

Boom! And then that gets me
to the ground.

-To get the mace.
-Great. Perfect. Perfect.

We're using Cole's morningstar,
which is his signature weapon,

which is one of
the most difficult

pieces of equipment
to use in a fight.

And we actually got
Tim Lewis, the armorer,

to make us a real one.
Real weight.

[Tim Lewis] For us,
those sort of chained weapons

are always a challenge.

It took a long time to achieve
from doing the chain

so it doesn't snap,

to having the ball on the end

that's soft enough
to hit somebody,

but then can contain
that wax blood.

Two hemispheres of wax.

So they look like this.

And what we've got to do
is just melt them together

to create a sphere,
which we can fill with blood

and hit stunt men
in the face with.

You can't imagine how heavy
a morningstar is.

But if you think about like
holding a giant stone

or an eight-kg kettlebell,

it's wielding a weapon
like that.

And of course, you can't use
a real morningstar

'cause you'd k*ll
your stunt person.

So you have to use something
that weighs nothing,

but you have to sell that
with acting.

So, Fabien spent hours
and hours and hours

perfecting a concept of motion

to create a sense of weight.

We also cycled through weapons
with him,

so we gave him
a proper good end fight.

He starts with
the morningstar.

He loses that in the face
of somebody.

He then picks up a sword.

He loses that in somebody,
draws his dagger out.

[indistinct chatter]

[Fabien]
I worked with Joe and Paul.

Joe was my stunt double.

Such an incredible stuntman.

The way he takes punches, Joe,
is unbelievable.

Stunt men and women in general
don't get enough credit.

I really hope this
doesn't sound effusive.

They are literally laying
their lives on the line

so that things can look
cool on film.

You know, they love it

and they're fearless

and they're such positive
people to have around.

They are the best stunt team.

I can't speak enough
about them.

They deserve so much credit.

[laughter, indistinct chatter]

It's an awfully messy job,
m*rder, isn't it?

[Archie Barnes]
It's a lot to take in.

Obviously, you know
it's prosthetics

and you know it's fake,

but it's seriously realistic.

And so, it's a bit off-putting
arriving onto set,

and seeing 30 dead bodies.

But you know what,
it's Game of Thrones,
what can I say?

[battle horn blowing]

[Fabien] Tommy Flanagan
obviously is an iconic man.

And Tommy arrives
in his big black sunglasses,

most rock-and-roll guy ever.

He said,
"I'm here to k*ll you."

I was like, "f*ck'-A,
Tommy Flanagan.

I'll get k*lled by you
any day, mate."

Hold! Or somethin'.

The Winter Wolves
come howling, with drums.

The whole thing was just
such a cool scene.

[♪ dramatic drum music playing]

[Dan Storey]
Where would you
say his head's at

in those last few moments?

[clicking tongue] Uh, well,
it's filled with arrows, Dan.

[Dan laughing]

[laughing]

It's all designed
to have a story.

I think if you have your arms
slightly back... "Pfft!"

And like,
"What the f*ck is that?"

And then you turn... "Pfft!"

And then, then you're in line

-for her second one.
-[Fabien] Yeah.

[Rowley Irlam]
And then look up at which way

they're coming from.

And that's the cheek.
Yeah?

Will that be enough
to make a fight of it?

-[arrow thumps]
-[Cole grunts]

[♪ somber music playing]

[arrow whooshing]

[groaning]

[arrow thumps]

[♪ somber music continues]

[muffled weapons clanging]

[Ryan Condal] We love you.
We will miss you deeply.

We're very proud
of the work you did.

This is a series wrap
on Ser Criston Cole.

Fabien Frankel. Amazing.

[cheering and applause]

Fabien's performance
speaks for itself.

Cole hasn't come all the way
back around to be a hero,

but I think you realize
this was a deeper individual

than maybe we gave him
credit for at the beginning.

I love him as a friend,

and really admire him
as an actor.

And I'm sad to see him go.

Fabs, dear boy,

what will I do without you?

My great friend throughout
this whole process.

I'm just really excited
for Fabien's next chapter.

I think he's gonna go off
and make great movies.

God, you make me emotional.

It's been five years.

A lot of my sort of
formative set years

were on this job,

so I've made friends that I,
you know, I'm gonna miss.

It's like moving
to a different school.

And also, who knows what school
is gonna have me.

[chuckling]
Do you know what I mean?

I've laughed immensely
on this show

and I will miss that.

I'll miss seeing Matt's face,

and Freddie's face,
and Cookie's face,

and Glynn-Carney,
and all the cast.

I'm so grateful to everyone
who's worked on this show.

Every department.

Jobs like this come
once in a million,

and I'm eternally grateful
for this show.

So thank you all
so, so, so much.

[crew member]
We light the way!

[all]
We light the way! Yay!

[cheering fades out]

[cast and crew chattering]

-[Liam] Okay.
-[people shushing]

For another go.

I come as an envoy
of Lord Borros Baratheon.

You are quite welcome, ser...?

Ser Arrion Baratheon,

cousin to Lord Borros.

-[knife slicing]
-No, no!

[Liam] Cut there, cut there,
cut there, well done.

That's a really fun fight.

I really enjoyed that.

It's got that great moment,
a mini stand-off,

and then you're into it.

And we prepped
so much stuff.

We had storyboards for that.

We had a stunt rehearsal
prior to the sh**t day,

and worked very closely
with Rowley.

So, they look to each other.

I'm like, okay, that's there.

-That's happen--
-That's happening. Down!

That's right, yeah.
That's right, that's right.

[Freddie Fox]
This fight sequence

was one of the best days
filming I think I've ever had.

I had so much fun.

It was the perfect combination
of all the facets

of movie making and
Loni directed it brilliantly.

These assassins come in

and Gwayne literally
springs into action,

and suddenly I get to be
an action movie actor.

[indistinct chatter]

Yeah, so it's just
that one and pull.

Yep. Yes.

I was trained up by Rowley
and his team,

my amazing stunt double, Joe,
who is the best of the best.

And I get this amazingly
cool action sequence

that starts with like
a knife slash to the throat

that creates this amazing
blood-pumping effect.

I watched the playback and
I was like, "This looks sick."

This looks like Game of Thrones
badass action.

Fans are gonna love this.

King of the First--
No, no!

-No! Stop him!
-[sword slicing]

[David Hancock]
In the blocking with Freddie

and Will, who plays
fake Ser Arrion,

came up with this thing.

Ser Arrion is dead,
lying face down on the table.

And so, for the final line,
"He's far more comely,"

Freddie just lifts his hair.

And, uh... [laughing]
Will did this amazing

kind of cross-eyed
sort of dead face.

It just elevated
the moment so much.

It made it funny in the darkest
Game of Thrones way.

I will cleave the b*tch
from crown to c**t!

She will die wishing
she never dare... dared...

[James Norton]
Ormund is a brilliant soldier.

He's a brilliant strategist.

But he does have
this Achilles' heel,

which is that he cannot tolerate
bad smells or dirt.

[Benjamin Evan Ainsworth]
All the carpets,

they needed a deep clean.

It was grim.

It was loads of fun to sh**t.

Freddie's beating people up,

and then James Norton
throwing up all over the place.

[Freddie] James Norton plays
Ormund perfectly.

After seeing
this guy's throat slit

and another guy gets
his bowels cut open

and sh*t and piss and blood
falls all over the floor,

-he just vomits everywhere.
-[retching]

And it was really visceral.

But James was just amazing
and it was very funny.

It was a great button
to the scene.

-[James] Hmm?
-[Liam] All yours.

When you're ready, James.
All yours, mate.

I think it was a mixture,
like usually of Campbell's soup

and various things that we were
forcing him to gulp every take.

[breathing heavily]
That's very black.

[Liam] But it is quite funny,
isn't it?

He's a very good actor,
James Norton,

doing something that you
could easily get quite
frustrated with.

And we did it quite
a number of times.

I thought it would be rude
not to clap him

being sick for the 30th time.

[retching]

[gagging, coughing]

-[groaning]
-[Liam] Okay.

Cut there.
Round of applause for
James Norton!

[crew applauding]

[♪ exciting music playing]

[both]
Welcome to Flea Bottom.

-Welcome to Flea Bottom.
-Welcome to Flea Bottom.

Welcome to Flea Bottom.

-Welcome to Flea Bottom.
-Flea Bottom.

-No, he said just Flea Bottom.
-No, no, no, no.

Jesus Christ,
you got one thing to do.

-Okay.
-He said, "Flea Bottom,"
not, "Welcome."

-Ready?
-For God's sake.

[Loni] Who knew that
Flea Bottom could grow so much

for us in Season Three?

Jim Clay always wanted
Flea Bottom to be

the very dregs
of King's Landing,

under the filth and muck
and sh*t and piss of the city

where the world ran down on it.

And we just didn't have
the time or the budget

to extend it the way
he wanted it to.

Until we get to this season,

when we had some very real
storytelling to do

inside of Flea Bottom.

And where's-- And where's
the blue-eyed man?

Blue-eyed man is going
to start following you.

In this same shot?

In the same shot, yeah.

[Jim Clay] We decided
to build Flea Bottom.

And I think it's paid off.

And if I can design it
in a complex way

that offers different journeys
for the camera,

we can achieve on one set
what we would need

on a whole series of streets
on a real location.

[Dominic Masters] It must be
probably 80 meters by 40,

something like that,
as a footprint of new stuff

on the backlot for Flea Bottom.

So, yeah, it's not small.

Previous seasons when you would
be on the King's Landing Road

and you'd turn around,
you'd have to put blue screen.

Whereas now,
if you're up there,

you've pretty much got


[♪ upbeat music playing]

Walking around the extension
that they've built

that we would have shot
in Cáceres,

it is the same.

It's incredible.

It is magical.

It's a bit like
the Epcot Center.

[Loni] With the greatness
of Jim Clay's art direction

and Claire Richards' set design,

one alleyway can become


And because they have these
neat little turns and curves

that lead onto bigger,
broader, wider streets,

you can literally follow Daemon
into an alleyway

for a cat-and-mouse game
with the blue-eyed man,

and then turn right around
and just change the set dec

and you have no idea that
you're going the same direction

you came in on.

There's lots of nooks, crannies,

and alleyways down there,

and so the opportunity
to dress it

and bring it alive
was really great.

[camera operator]
What you got there, mate?

From the lakes,
a little bulrush flowers.

Yeah, just to add a bit
of texture to the sky.

[Lee Wiseman]
We do a lot of the redressing.

Our set decorators always want
everything to have a backstory.

So they'll be looking at,

"Okay, this is a shop
for this setup,

"so when we
change it around,

"it now needs
to become a house.

How do we do that?"

We'll change the dressing
inside, outside,

and we'll be using
wagons, carts,

anything to bring in
the changes

and take us into a new area.

You could create more
in terms of area,

in terms of depth,

because you could have fires

in the distance,
and awnings.

It's mainly to do
with the textures, the colors,

the lighting within their
environments.

So, we brought some of those
street sellers and traders

into the equation.

It brings normality and reality
to those spaces

because you see it as really
down in Flea Bottom,

but you've still got people
that want to survive.

It's been a minute

since you were
the Prince of Flea Bottom.

[♪ solemn music playing]

[Jim]
Trying to distinguish

between the really poor folk
of Flea Bottom

as opposed to the other street
of King's Landing,

what would really
make that difference?

Partly the scale and the
crumbliness of the buildings.

But, hey, what about
an open sewer?

And so, we built it.

It was a simple thing.

We dug out a trench
through the set.

The set happened
to be floating

in the right direction

so we could fill it
with effluence,

and, um, enjoy it.

[Effluence rushing]

[Ryan] These are all
recreations of places

where we had been in Cáceres
and Trujillo in Spain.

But because those are both
UNESCO Heritage Sites,

you certainly cannot
dig an open sewer.

That was one of my favorite
little details of what Jim did,

because even though
you're standing on a set,

you feel like you're
on a real location.

Seen this?


collected from cast and crew.

Some of Emma's is in there.

That-- That bit.
Ooh, that bit's Matt's.

Apart from no smell,

you wouldn't believe
it's not real.

-[insects chirring]
-[Liam] Playback.

[singing]

[Loni] It's like literally,
you guys are as low

as you could possibly be.

And what you do find solace in

is kinda the voice of the friend
that's next to you.

Corlys is looking
for some reprieve.

So what do we all do when we're
looking for some reprieve?

We have a few beers.

And so, Corlys has a few beers
with his mates

and they sing a sea shanty,

and it creates a sense of joy
and camaraderie

amongst bad tidings.

After you cheers,
cheers each other.

And, "Hear, hear."

[cast] Hear, hear!

[Ryan]
That's what our shanties do.

There's very little
joy experienced

by the characters
in this series,

so it's nice to see these things

as fleeting as they are.

This-- This is the strong side
right here.

-[cast laughing]
-These guys did their homework.

That was very exciting

to hear it for the first time

and meet all of
the new faces.

[all laughing]

[Loni] And the sea shanty
was a great excuse

for us to come together
in the Battle of the Gullet,

where we would start singing
these sea shanties

just to warm up the crew.

[rhythmic clapping]

[crew singing sea shanty
indistinctly]

[cast singing sea shanty]

[shouting] Let's go!

[all cheering]

We carried that through
all the way

to the end of Episode Six.

Where it's the middle
of the night,

it's cold, we all want
to go to sleep.

But the song starts,
and not just the cast sang it,

but the entire crew.

And you get this warm,
fuzzy feeling.

And the next thing you know,
we're all laughing.

And all that we were missing
is a real pint of beer. [laughs]

[all singing]
♪ The bear, the bear
the maiden fair ♪

[♪ theme music playing]