Director Alan Taylor Season 2 ‘Dwelling of the Dragon’ Wrestle Interview

Nothing burns love betrayal. The lengthy-awaited tangle of dragons and the strategic crafty of nobility ring through in Dwelling of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 4. Titled “The Red Dragon and the Gold,” director and govt producer Alan Taylor helms The Wrestle at Rook’s Relaxation, which finds Rhaenys (Eve Perfect) on the warpath to defend her household’s kingdom and claim to the Iron Throne. After Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) makes an unwell-fated resolution to slump Sunfyre into the throngs of battle, alongside his brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), Rhaenys and her dragon Meleys cease up sparing with the younger, incorrect ruler. That is until Aemond swoops in to assign the day with Vhagar killing Rhaenys while additionally sneak attacking Sunfyre, main Aegon to plummet from the sky to gigantic injury. It turned into as soon as a brutal episode that set social media and followers on fire as the outcomes of the battle eternally changed the scheming underbelly of King’s Landing.

Here, Taylor speaks to Closing date about waging battle between brothers, the rising death toll, and the subject of growing the supreme dragon battle.

DEADLINE: How lengthy did this huge battle episode take to film?

ALAN TAYLOR: I form of bear a mental block about how lengthy we spend on filming things. Every episode is various, and the time table additionally reflects that. One in all the attention-grabbing things about the strategy we film Dwelling of the Dragon is that we block-shoot the full season. It’s now now not mature in that one particular person shoots their episode and then the following particular person comes in and shoots their episode. We’re all taking pictures our episodes the full time. That’s why it’s laborious to withhold note of what number of days we salvage. Especially for the battle since you’re actually leaping internal and outside of sets, and other directors are coming in for the full season. The important thing week all 5 directors worked on one thing.

DEADLINE: You’re no stranger to directing Recreation of Thrones, but I would argue that this episode of Dwelling of the Dragon is one in all your supreme challenges yet. What turned into as soon as your initial reaction to receiving the script for the episode, and how did you delineate what you had been going to carry out?

TAYLOR: It’s constantly a identical task. You salvage the script and want to figure out the strategy you will carry out it and be attentive to how it suits into the general portray. This one turned into as soon as somewhat discombobulated because we started off with 10 episodes. I turned into as soon as going to carry out a various battle sequence on the cease, and then things bought reshuffled. We had been successfully into prep sooner than I turned into as soon as assigned this one. Vivid that the battle turned into as soon as coming in Episode 4, within the center of the season, and shining that we had to salvage storylines that will likely perchance continue to develop over the route of the season fashioned how we approached that.

The supreme issue turned into as soon as that I turned into as soon as tracking the true fact that that is also the first time dragons had been deployed as a weapon, the first time they went to dragon battle. For the route of the first season and the initiating of the 2nd season the smartest folks in Westeros are saying here is a corrupt belief. So, we had to raise on what it formula to deploy them. The metaphor I turned into as soon as carrying spherical turned into as soon as that here is the first time somebody decides to tumble a tactical nuclear weapon, and how will that trade each person involved? And the full thing grew out of that. That outlined how we fashioned the battle itself. It outlined how we adopted the struggle through our characters, love Ser Criston Cole, who is in tag for this but is additionally the most devastated by it. He’s a warrior who can by no diagram query battle the same all as soon as more after this. So, what you carry out is figure out what the massive suggestions are and then are attempting and shape the full thing spherical it.

DEADLINE: Speaking of a tactical weapon, that shot of Vhagar landing on the field is wild. She’s indubitably stomping spherical while all this black smoke is unhurried her. It feels love D-Day.

TAYLOR: Dependable, love the outlet to Saving Non-public Ryan. That sequence that (Steven) Spielberg did is inspirational for every filmmaker about how to grab the fog of battle. I’m happy you picked up on that. When Vhagar slams into the bottom, that’s the watershed moment, the nuclear blast for our episode. It knocks out our necessary personality, our point of secure out about personality, Cole. From that point on, it’s a various world.

DEADLINE: What had been the replacement inspirations for this episode?

TAYLOR: The issue I love about George R.R Martin’s writing is that it’s grounded in actuality and grounded in history. So, it’s fantasy and the dragons, but it absolutely’s fully per the true fact of things. So, when my companion and I had been designing the battle sequence and the dragon battling, we spent a quantity of time having a question at a couple of things. One is the very best-making an are attempting relationship between the characters and their dragons turned into as soon as one thing we desired to painting. We additionally checked out the strategy horse owners work alongside with their horses. When Aegon is greeting Sunfyre, that turned into as soon as lifted from how I’ve considered horse owners work alongside with their horses.

More importantly, we checked out a quantity of documentary footage of birds of prey and how they interact and battle. And so, we invented this moment that additionally makes Rhaenys appear very fine where … On myth of we noticed that birds of prey will carry out this issue where within the occasion that they feel they’re being encroached upon, they turn the other diagram up and they interact talon to talon. And so they’re battling within the air, but their talons are engaged, and they change into this death spiral all of the formula down to the bottom. So, it’s a sport of chicken to query who’s going to originate. And so, we stole that and broken-down that for the massive climactic moment in Rook’s Relaxation.

DEADLINE: Now, let’s discuss a proper death spiral. I mediate we’re unexcited spiraling from the shortcoming of Rhaenys.

TAYLOR: It’s comic you elevate that up because my profession has weirdly became this issue where I typically extinguish folks’s popular characters. In Recreation of Thrones, I killed Ned Stark. In The Sopranos, I killed Christopher Moltisanti. It goes on and on. Then, finally, I bought to assassinate Rhaenys and the dragon in this one. It’s constantly the same viewers response, which I love, that issue where folks salvage mad at their TV or HBO or with me. Then, on the same time, they discover it irresistible and it’s incredibly bright for them. So, it’s a fine metaphor for the strategy we address our have mortality, I mediate. Any individual we in actuality care about is death, but they’re fictional, so it form of capacity that you just can off the hook—a trial lunge for coping with death in a relaxing method.

DEADLINE: I’ll by no diagram allow you to off the hook for that one. But now, let’s discuss your aesthetics within the scene main up to her death. She’s flying up above the battling on the bottom, and it’s peaceable and almost still rather than for the sound of the wind and the dragon wings flapping. Then there’s the occasional swell of this magnificent tune. Talk about this.

TAYLOR: I’m so happy you’re highlighting the mute and the share. So, we’re up above the fray and damage free it. There’s peace and grace, and we all wish we are in a position to be flying on dragons – doubtlessly. There’s mute there, and later in her death moment when she’s falling, releasing and letting scramble. That’s a racy issue that I’m happy we bought to grab. But the subject it raised turned into as soon as, how carry out you in actuality combine what’s going on with the dragons and what’s going on on the bottom? That turned into as soon as one in all the supreme challenges. It will’t true be an air show with visible outcomes. It has to feel love one thing we’re in actuality experiencing. All forms of belief went into how we floor the dragons and attach them to the bottom. That’s phase of explanation why they aid slamming into the bottom.

Every camera attitude on the dragon is a proper point-of-secure out about attitude. There’s no magic cameras flying spherical. It’s both we’re looking out at them actually from a personality’s point of secure out about, or we’re looking out at them from where a camera could likely perchance be mounted. As an instance, the cameras are mounted on the entrance of a dragon love a hood ornament. Again, going support to the distinctive George R.R. Martin issue of making an are attempting to take this fantastical stuff and plot it grounded in our proper expertise as remarkable as imaginable.

DEADLINE: How many cameras are we speaking about for a scale this huge? And what number of extras?

TAYLOR: We constantly bear two cameras on set, typically three. And in a battle, you’ve gotten per chance four. Then there’s additionally a 2nd unit led by the intense Rowley (Irlam), the stunt coordinator on the show. He has two cameras going spherical the nook doing what he’s doing true to prick into our footage. There’s a quantity of cameras. For extras, I mediate we had 400 for sure days, and then there’s replication that we feature out, so it feels love thousands. Even after I bought to the battlefield, I turned into as soon as amazed by what the show turned into as soon as in a feature to connect accessible within the field. Now now not true the numbers of squaddies but separate liberties from various homes. Ideal armor on the males but additionally on the horses. So, it’s an mountainous proper-world footprint, but you’ve gotten to amplify it with expertise.

DEADLINE: Attend to Eve Perfect. Are you able to discuss working alongside with her in those final days of taking pictures as Rhaenys?

TAYLOR: It turned into as soon as scrumptious. I turned into as soon as now now not phase of season one. I had true came in for season two. And you’re meeting this array of actors who had been so impressive and who already know their characters, so it could well per chance likely perchance be form of intimidating to method support in and presume to enlighten them because they’ve already been doing it for some time. She turned into as soon as supreme. She turned into as soon as very collaborative within the direction. And I mediate she could likely deliver we had been offering her an outstanding true originate. I mediate she turned into as soon as happy with what she knew turned into as soon as going on. I’d heard she turned into as soon as now now not having relaxing on the dragons in season one, being on the dragon buck whilst you happen to’re being bounced spherical love that. But she turned into as soon as true a gigantic trooper for our issue. I mediate we’d improved her armor a minute bit, and he or she true knew it’d be a gigantic sendoff for her. She turned into as soon as scrumptious. She spent hours on this dragon buck with a computerized camera following her spherical. She turned into as soon as easiest on the battlefield itself as soon as lying within the mud having a question ineffective. But rather than that, most of her stuff turned into as soon as on our stage. I attempted to slump the dragon buck at one point, but they wouldn’t let me because they mentioned insurance coverage wouldn’t quilt it.

DEADLINE: How are you taking part with showrunner Ryan Condal to salvage the episode’s vision all the diagram in which through?

TAYLOR: He and his workforce write the episodes, and then you method in to shape it—particularly one thing as huge and complex as the Episode 4 battle. There had been things I desired to chat about when it involves guaranteeing it had that robust structure where it constructed up to impede our nuclear match. Once Rhaenys dies that’s the emotional form of conclusion of the issue. We talked about guaranteeing there wasn’t too remarkable account to play on after that because I mediate our emotional issue crashes there.

Then there turned into as soon as the collaboration of bodily things and how to stage it. I chose Bourne Wooden in England. Ridley Scott makes enlighten of it in nearly about all of his movies; I additionally shot Thor: The Darkish World there. It’s a fine mutter because it gave us this tree line, a field, and then the fortress that hurt up shaping how we did the full drama. On myth of I love the root that the squaddies are additionally hiding within the tree line. Whenever you step out of the tree line, your dragon fodder and it’s a killing field. That turned into as soon as stuff that turned into as soon as now now not so remarkable within the script because it bought created as we chanced on the mutter and worked on it. He’s a true collaborator. There’s a dialogue between the account and indubitably staging the issue. They consult with every other.

DEADLINE: One in all the replacement shapely things turned into as soon as Aemond atmosphere Aegon and his dragon on fire. You query that for a damage up 2nd, Aegon turned into as soon as happy to query his brother potentially aid him in battle, then it flashes to terror so rapid when he realizes his brother is ready to assassinate him. Aemond makes this sly smile. Talk about working with the actors on this.

TAYLOR: For the rationale that characters are rich and layered, there’s some complexity and ambiguity. I desired to now now not be totally sure about how remarkable Aemond supposed to raze his brother. Piece of what’s going on here is that if his brother goes away, he ascends to the throne. That’s partly driving him. It’s additionally a tactical transfer; he’s blasting Meleys, Rhaenys, and his brother, who’s an idiot for being there and could likely unexcited now now not be there. So, he’s form of that collateral hurt. When I read the scripts, I didn’t know the diagram supreme his personality turned into as soon as going to be until I started working with Tom Glynn-Carney, who plays Aegon. I mediate he’s doubtlessly my popular actor within the show because he brings so remarkable innocence and humor to this dastardly guy and mixes the 2 aspects of his persona so successfully. It’s so understandable that he would want to scramble to this battle because his mother mentioned—within the worst parenting moment of all— “Lawful carry out nothing. I quiz nothing of you.” And so, it’s a racy moment when he decides to scramble off and show his heroism.

And then, finally, by turning up, he true screws the full thing up true by being there. So, on his aspect, he’s horrified, in over his head, and making an are attempting to be a hero. He sees his brother coming and, for a moment, thinks oh, thank God. And then he starts to attain what’s in actuality going on. So, all of that stuff is taking part in on Tom’s face as he goes from relief, inhalation to terror. Then, the anomaly tracks the full method through. We query him fracture into the woods, but easiest from a distance. After we discover his body on the cease—in extra ambiguity—now we bear Aemond standing over him with the neatly-known knife, per chance intending to originate him off. We’ll by no diagram know. We don’t show the mutter of his body remarkable, we true know he’s smoldering there. For the viewers and for the residents of King’s Landing, we don’t know if he’s ineffective or now now not for some time turned into as soon as the diagram there.

DEADLINE: Even in that moment when we query Aemond with the knife, love you mentioned, it’s so ambiguous. He’s taking part in with the knife, we wonder if he goes to originate the job by killing his incapacitated brother, but then Ser Criston Cole comes in and potentially stops Aemond from killing him. Even the point that Ewan Mitchell makes with the lazy flick of the wrist is attention-grabbing.

TAYLOR: We had been making an are attempting to aid ambiguity there. When Cole finds him he … I wanted him to be brandishing his sword in a technique that will likely be threatening or shall be him striking his sword away because we didn’t moderately know the diagram to read what turned into as soon as true going on. Cole enters the scene now now not shining what turned into as soon as about to happen. Did I true cease regicide or am I being paranoid about this? How remarkable can I belief this guy? In remark that he puts his sword away and then finds the dagger that tracks through all of Recreation of Thrones and is the dagger that kills a truly neatly-known personality later. He’s true playing with it. I love the true fact that he broken-down that to impress his brother. But it absolutely’s all true supposed to be lawful to Aemond’s conflicted personality. He does doubtlessly love his brother, but he additionally would aid by his death. And he additionally has contempt for him for now now not being the leader that he is aware of he shall be.

(This interview has been edited for length and readability.)