03x03 - Rhaenyra Triumphant

[bunniefuu]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[crew chattering]

It was on the chair.

-It was on the chair.
-Right, right.

-[crew member] Light a fire.
-[Clare Kilner] Faster.

A bit more energy.

That's it, that's it.

-[crew member] Ready.
-Stand by. And action!

[fire crackling]

[flames whooshing]

[♪ thrilling music playing]

[♪ solemn music playing]

[Clare Kilner]
For me, directing is
all about how to illustrate

what's going on in the heads,
hearts, and souls

{\an8}of people.

{\an8}So, I-- so, I really wanted this

to be Rhaenyra's experience
of the world,

and to be with Rhaenyra
the whole time.

Ryan said to me, "I don't want
this to be in the usual style."

{\an8}Somebody said that art is
creativity meeting limitations,

{\an8}and I just-- I always loved
that description of art.

{\an8}And I think a great
bottle episode is that.

So, you just take
these limitations, like,

"Let's do an episode
that's all just on sets

"that we own and cover,
and like, what is that?"

-So, let's push the dollies
back a bit.
-Yeah.

As a writer,
I love these episodes

because they are
really challenging.

And it was Sara,
Sara Hess' idea,
to tell the story

of the first days
of Rhaenyra's reign

solely from her point of view.

[trilling]

[all laughing]

I knew I wanted to push myself
and the team.

So, Alejandro and I
watched lots of films,

and we thought about how
we could develop this style

for Episode Three.

[Ryan Condal]
We actually talked
about Conclave a lot

because it has that
kind of same energy to it,

and that feeling of this
political thriller

that's really on its feet
and you're--

you're on edge for a while
in the episode.

You don't really know why.

[exhales deeply]

[Alejandro Martínez]
So, it's a very POV-style

{\an8}episode, very intimate.

We wanted to give that
different perspective.

And so, we created
a bunch of rules

in terms of lenses,
in terms of camera moves.

Whatever she experiences,
we experience.

If she's not aware of it,

the audience shouldn't
be aware of it.

Everything's seen
through Rhaenyra's eyes.

We call it the
"Rhaenyra experience."

-[studio bell ringing]
-[laughter]

[director]
Ready. And action.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

-[banging on door]
-[door creaking]

[Ryan] Clare did a lot of
subjective sh**ting with this,

a lot of POV, a lot of leading
and following shots

where you're in
Rhaenyra's headspace

and able to, you know,
spend time with her

and see what she's seeing,
or see her seeing things.

And I think that brings
a real life to the episode.

I banned any
over-the-shoulder shots

of another character to Rhaenyra

because she would never
be able to see that.

[Alejandro] The small council
would look bigger

because she would never
lead the small council.

Or, the hallways somehow
feel more crowded.

Maybe she would see servants
that she never noticed

before when she was there.

[indistinct chatter
and laughter]

[Alejandro]
Most of Episode Three
shot with one camera.

We used a special kind of lens
for more POV intimate shots.

I loved this idea
of being behind her,

like behind the workings
of her brain in a way.

Just a simple camera move,

but it's like crawling
around her head to her ear,

and then the world in front
of her being out of focus.

So, we picked out this T-lens,

the "hero lens,"
we called it.

In every scene,
we shot something from her POV,

and we wanted to take risks
and be quite daring with it.

It worked out really well,
and we evolved the look

with Sean,
the camera operator,

and Ren,
the brilliant focus-puller.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[crew chattering]

We'll get a few of these
and then we'll break it down

a little bit more. Thank you.

[Sean Savage]
The hardest challenge
was to take yourself away

from a conventional approach
to any scene.

{\an8}Especially when we had five or
six other players in the scene.

In an environment like
the small council chamber

or the Red Keep,
where we are now,

where you were so used
to that environment

and you were so familiar
with the angles,

to almost start again
and write a new language

for that particular story.

It required a great deal
of patience and concentration.

We did some very delicate moves,
which Emma was fantastic at.

[Emma D'Arcy]
It was quite daunting.

{\an8}Something that I felt I needed
to be super clear about

{\an8}was the sort of
driving machinery,

{\an8}I suppose, of the episode.

You see Rhaenyra come up
against a lot of obstacles.

But as an actor,
one can't play obstacle,

that can only sort of stand
in the way

of a character's objective.

So, really sort of
understanding

what it is that's driving her.
And I think the thing that,

in conversation with Ryan
and Sara and Clare,

the thing that became
really clear

was that it's
a growing obsession

with formalized legitimacy
that carries us through Three.

[cast and crew chattering]

[crew member] You've been
invited into the castle

to meet with the queen,
a private dinner with the queen.

A great honor afforded
to all of you.

-It's a new era. And... yeah.
-Waiting to see our new queen.

We're having great wine,

and waiting to see
what food we're gonna have.

We're hoping
for an amazing feast.

[Clare] Rhaenyra has
a wonderful plan. [chuckles]

And that is to feed disgusting
rats and gruel and worms

to these very rich,
entitled people.

Boiled rats or whatever,

whatever those were.
I don't even want to know.

I walked in that day,
I saw that, and I was like,

okay, I'm just gonna give
my notes on this scene

and then move on
to whatever else

is sh**ting on the other stage.

I'm gonna start
taking stuff over.

[speaker] Alright.

{\an8}It's really exciting
to have a rat banquet.

{\an8}I mean, that's brilliant.
I mean, you know,

{\an8}nobody gets to do that
very often, you know?

{\an8}It's a bit gore-ish and nasty.

{\an8}And, you know, it just makes you
think a little bit differently.

We had various
conversations about it.

At first we thought it was
going to be rats and squirrels,

chicken feet and just
unpleasant heads and things.

And Clare said, "No, I just
want it to be very, very simple.

Some sort of gruel.
And the rat."

He gave me rat side.
[gags]

We weren't gonna
k*ll any pet rats,

so, obviously we had prosthetic
rats made to go on plates.

We're just serving
our lovely food.

-Rats.
-So we've got some rats.

[laughing] And beetroot.

Yeah, really delish.

I'm perpetually amazed
at the things

served in this show
that are allegedly edible.

'Cause that's
the amazing thing.

All of it. Eat all...

You can-- you can have
what you like.

On here, it's just rice.

Just black rice and beetroot
and aubergine and some dates.

And the eels are just--

they're made out of
the same stuff as fish sticks.

And it did look amazing.
Like, the Set Dec team

did such an incredible job.

-It's very liquidy, this one.
-Okay.

-Very soupy. [laughing]
-Thank you.

And I really remember, actually,

that when they were
first served out,

there was quite
a strong response

from the actors
playing the nobles.

So, I think that's when you know
that the job's working.

The f*ck is this?!

-He's my friend. [chuckles]
-Yeah.

[actors chattering]

His name is Gertrude.

-[laughter]
-And he's going, "Ack!"

Yummy.

{\an8}[♪ exciting music playing]

-Okay?
-[crew member] 'Kay, thank you.

[indistinct chatter]

Hello!

Sorry, that was--
you don't want that on film.

[crew members] Rolling!

[horses nickering]

[Alejandro]
The way we planned the scene

is like presenting
the army first

and seeing how powerful
this army could be.

But then,
showing the other side...

[dragons growling]

...which was Daemon,
Ulf, and Hugh

with their dragons.

And how they were
overpowering this,

you know, 10,000-people army.

[Clare]
Thank you, everyone.

Standing up, please.
Thank you.

{\an8}From my side, it was about

{\an8}how to deal with
the crowd replication,

to turn 150 into 15,000.

You have to plan
the replication work

very carefully
with Visual Effects,

and with Clare and Alejandro.

We decided that we were
gonna tile some shots.

[Thomas Horton]
When we want
to increase the army,

we scan lots of people
on the day,

and then we turn them
into digital soldiers

and we replicate them with CG.

A lot of shows
don't do it anymore.

{\an8}It takes time to do.

We're gonna move
that group from here.

[Clare] So we have to sh**t
the army in one position,

then ask them all
to move along,

sh**t them in another position,
then move along again.

[Thomas]
You have to shuffle them

'cause you don't want
the same people

at the front of the line.

You're group A, yeah.

You're group B.
Come on in for me.

-Yes.
-Thank you very much.

They were-- you A or B?

-[actor] A.
-A.

-A group's there, mate.
-[actor] Yeah.

Keep going! Keep going!

There's a lot of prep work
up front

with our military advisor,
Paul Biddiss,

and our crowd team, and myself.

So, working out the best layout
for the army,

that looked good visually,

and then worked well
for Visual Effects,

in terms of giving them
the ease of replication

by placing certain things
like a line of horses,

would maybe block what you
don't want to see behind.

-[grunts]
-[laughter]

Shermy!

-There's nothing left...
-Shermy.

Good boy.

[Tessarion growling]

[Ryan]
Tessarion is Daeron's dragon,
the Blue Queen.

She's a juvenile dragon,

but very kind of stately
and reserved.

[Dadi Einarsson]
Ultimately, we want to act

in the way an actor would.

{\an8}This is a character in the--
uh, in the show,

{\an8}so we want to kind of imbue
that life into that character

{\an8}and make it multilayered
and give it some depth,

and something that people
start to recognize

the individuality of this one
compared to the other one.

And how would this dragon
react in this situation?

I think that's when
you kind of make it

a living, breathing part
of the show.

[Ryan]
She is undoubtedly smaller

than Silverwing,
Vermithor, and Caraxes are.

But she's a nuclear weapon

in her own right,
on Ormund's side,

and I think will, you know,
have a great role to play

in this story yet to come.

{\an8}[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Nick Heckstall-Smith]
The King's Landing set
this time around

has been greatly expanded
by Jim Clay and his team.

{\an8}The production decision was made
with Kevin and Ryan early on

{\an8}that this year we would not
return to location in Spain.

{\an8}We felt we'd exhausted
the streets there

{\an8}and that we were
becoming repetitive

{\an8}on what we were going
to show on screen.

We decided it would be
valuable to build Flea Bottom,

and that's what we've done.

I think we've, uh, maybe

officially run out
of real estate.

I think we have to start
sacrificing some things,

and we have to demo the old
to build the new.

The condition
of what we were told

was "unusable land"
in Season One,

given how we've been able
to develop it over the years,

has really been a boon
to the show.

So many of our exteriors
are so reliant on that space,

just because the show is--
it's high fantasy.

It's just very unlikely
you're ever gonna find

a real historical structure

that can give you what
you're getting on that backlot,

and also be controllable,
and that you can do

anything to it and bring
the heavy equipment in.

Without the backlot,
we would not be able
to produce the show.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Jim Clay] A set which
came in relatively late

in the process of writing

was the Grand Step Square,

which we'd traditionally
filmed in Cáceres.

{\an8}We'd filmed there
in Season Two,

{\an8}and we'd cut directly in the
same sequence to the backlot.

{\an8}And I think the feeling was
we could not see the join.

As we were not going back,
we needed to create it here.

We designed that in a way,
which was just,

I think, 10% reduced scale,


and 30% visual effects
extension.

Dan Clay, the art director
who had done Flea Bottom,

he took that on and was, um,

paramount in drawing that
and creating it.

And, um, I think
everybody has been

utterly convinced by it.

[Sean] We've had some
great weather this summer.

And perhaps King's Landing
has that Mediterranean feel.

Everything dried out,
there's a lot of dust.

And when the horses
rode through town,

you just absolutely believed

you were in,
you know, Westeros.

[Alejandro] I think the location
becomes another character.

And because we have such
an emotional attachment
to the location,

to sh**t it on the backlot
was very nice.

[director] Ready? And action!

Long live Rhaenyra!

[smallfolk cheering
and clapping]

[metallic scales rattling]

{\an8}Where do you need me
to knight you, my friend?

{\an8}-[camera operator]
Either side of the camera.
-Yeah.

[crew chattering]

I knight you.

-[crew continues chattering]
-[imitates stabbing sound]

-[indistinct chatter]
-Yeah, exactly.

-Oh!
-Hey!

-[hands smack]
-Nah!

-Slap.
-Wait, wait, wait.

-But the pop was not...
-Close.

-Yeah. Hey!
-Oh!

[echoing slap]

{\an8}Like, my day-one vibes
are like--

{\an8}are gonna be the same
as my day 69 vibes, aren't they?

I still can't believe
I'm here.

It's like someone f*cked up.

[chuckling] Didn't they?
f*cking idiots.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Alejandro] Following the rules
of Episode Three,

we wanted the knighting
to be her experience.

How would
she feel about this?

This is not as grand
and as epic

as somebody else
would experience it.

This is something
that she had to do.

So we wanted this experience

to be as she would live it.

Even on the camera,

we didn't want
to do grandiose shots.

We didn't want to do,
like, huge wides.

With the light and the camera,
we just wanted to do

as simple as it could be.

Ah, hello, hello, hello.

-How are you?
-You're all looking good.

Looking knightly.

-Ch-ch-cheers!
-Very knightly.

[cast and crew chattering]

I thought that looked good.

I think-- I-- I think we--

I think it's alright, you know.

I think we're alright.

{\an8}The dragon-riding costumes
for Ulf and Hugh

and Addam,
they're all different.

It's not a uniform.
They're bespoke to them.

I remember when we talked
to Ryan about it,

they've sort of rummaged
through Dragonstone

and seen what they can get
and they can find.

And that's what they've put
their looks together as.

So, they're all
individual looks

and they're meant to look like

they are dragon riders
from Dragonstone.

[Clinton Liberty] My costume
fits absolutely amazingly.

{\an8}I've never had anything
in my life fit so well.

{\an8}And it feels light, as well.

-But obviously...
-[metallic clinking]

...it's real metal.

So, ready for battle, you know.

{\an8}Addam is the most
sort of conforming

{\an8}to being a Targaryen

{\an8}because he's used
to being in service.

{\an8}He was part
of the Velaryon fleet,

so his armor is
the articulated metal plates.

[metallic scales rattling]

Hugh is a blacksmith,

so he would appreciate the
craftsmanship within the armor.

So, he's chosen something
that's beautifully crafted,

very practical,
lots of movement.

Ulf would just choose what he
thinks looks the most expensive

and the most flamboyant.

-Beautiful.
-Oh, it's-- this is velvet.

-Real deal.
-But it does the job.

Yeah, the boys have gone
a bit chainmaily armor.

I've gone a bit fancy.

[all laughing]

-[indistinct chatter]
-[whispering] It's Matt Smith.

-[crew member] It is for camera.
-[Matt Smith] Okay, very good.

[indistinct chatter continues]

[director] Okay, here we go.

Ready? And action!

In the name of the Mother,
I charge you to--

In the name of the Mother,

I charge you to defend
the young and the innocent.

-Is that it?
-[Rhaenyra] Ser Ulf.

-[Emma clapping]
-[speaker] Ayy!

[applause]

-Thank you very much.
-[laughter]

I'm here all week.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

Back at home, which is nice,
back in your own bed.

Get the, uh, Green banners
down and all that.

In Episode Three,
one of the backstories

is they're changing
from Hightower Green

to Rhaenyra's Black.

[Clare]
This is how wonderful it is

when you work with
a production design
and art department.

Because Claire,
it was her idea entirely

that we could create
this sort of bonfire.

And then the idea
grew from that,

that we would have
this sort of changeover,

this huge sort of
chaotic changeover

throughout the whole
of Episode Three.

-[crew chattering]
-Yeah, so something like that.

Yeah, great. From where you are,
doing what you're doing
is great.

Stop-- hold fire there, mate.
Hold fire.

{\an8}This can be quite confusing,

{\an8}'cause obviously we've gone
through the different seasons

and they've changed rooms
for various different reigns.

And for Rhaenyra, we've tried
to enrich her world again,

back to the strength
of what once was.

For me,
the colors really help.

All that furniture
that refers to Green,

all the banners, curtains,
whatever's taken out of rooms

was initially piled up
in a courtyard set on T Stage.

We'd always see that happening
in the background of any scenes

when we're in the Red Keep
of banners coming down,

furniture being
carried through,
it'll be piled up there.

[Clare]
For example, when she has
her huge argument with Corlys,

we want to set it
in the tunnel

so we could see that all
the big pile of belongings

that was in
a inner courtyard

were being taken out
to the outer courtyard.

So later, when, uh,
she's in the outer courtyard,

we could set fire to it.

{\an8}[♪ ominous music playing]

{\an8}-[fire crackling]
-[crew chattering]

It was on the chair.

-It was on the chair.
-Right, right.

A fair bit of planning
on a good positioning for it.

We had to make sure
it was safe.

-About to light a fire.
-Faster. A bit more energy.

-That's it, that's it.
-[Nick] Lots of conversations

with Special Effects
about the safest,

but also the most effective way
visually to light it.

-[tools clanking]
-[camera operator] What is it?

Like, uh...?

Eh, it's just charcoal.

[camera operator]
Charcoal. Okay, interesting.

[tools clanking]

Just to add sparks
to the flame.

[camera operator]
Okay, yeah.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Emma] We shot the bonfire
at about 5:00 a.m.

There was an overwhelming
smell of petrol.

It was so visceral
and slightly dreamlike

because of the time,
meant that there was a--

an element of danger to it.

It felt sort of carnival
in some way.

[♪ intense music playing]

[fire crackling]

[♪ intense music continues]

[water hissing]

I love this idea
of the end sequence

being all the old burning,

and there was gonna be a shift
in things at the Red Keep.

Everything was gonna change.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[♪ theme music playing]