A violent and exciting new update to Making Game of Thrones today, as Cat Taylor blogs about the filming of episode nine.
There are no words.
I mean there are actually no words today. We are scheduled to have a night full of action – there is no dialogue, other than the occasional scream. We have nearly 200 extras on set this evening – charging all over the place and then coming to a sudden halt when the stunt coordinators blow on whistles.
I can’t give you details of exactly what we are filming at the moment, but I will say that the shots look incredible and that it will be worth the wait – what’s filming now will appear late in the season – Neil Marshall is directing episode 9.
If it helps, we have to wait too! I always forget just how long stunts can take to reset. Fires have to be put out and then relit. Extras repositioned. Blood cleared. Weapons reloaded or cleaned. Sometimes it takes 30 minutes or more to set up for a short, sharp flurry of the most amazing action you could imagine.You find yourself holding your breath while you watch, listening to the clash of metal and the screams of men as they throw themselves against their enemies. Each time you focus on a different area, trying to catch as much as possible. The detail that the costume armorers have put into the design and functionality of the warriors’ gear, the sigils on shields as they are used to bash someone’s head in, the shadows on the wall as the fires light up the fight.
A few feet away from the monitor tent, where we sit sheltered from the rain, is a stack of bodies. Earlier, one of the costume girls walked past me with a bloody leg, still in its boot.
It’s a weird sort of evening.
Winter Is Coming: Sounds awesome! Can’t wait to see it on screen. Excited we will be getting some proper, full-scale battles this season. Is that Aidan Gillen hiding behind the clapperboard in that pic?
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40 Comments
Exiting! So the BotB, then.
I hope they are gonna add some additional CGI soldiers behind the extras to make some rather impressive long distance shots of the armies clashing. Most shots could be more up close, but just a few short grander battlescenes seems doable and almost a neccessity.
Edit: Yay! My first “First!”
sjweningsQuote Reply
Looks Good :)
Ser Harry ‘The Heir’Quote Reply
niggaaaaa
Jordan HealeyQuote Reply
Looks like Gillen, yup. Also, this means the reports from Cat are delayed by about a month.
Hear Me RoarQuote Reply
Sounds like a nice battle. It’s going to be epic whoohooo can’t wait :)
LiesieQuote Reply
Neil Marshall directing is pretty exciting, I thought the Centurion battle scenes were pretty impressive considering the budget that film had; can’t wait.
TJ FlynnQuote Reply
Blackwater?
Elena AmiciQuote Reply
“I can’t give you details of exactly what we are filming at the moment”
Seriously? The board says “Episode 2×09″, it’s a battle and Neil Marshall is directing. What battle might that be?
Definitely not Blackwater!
G_LeeQuote Reply
oh man, this is gonna be good!
John-Michael LelievreQuote Reply
Hear Me Roar,
And it also seems that there is another change from the original material.
As far as I remember LF is not in KL during the battle.
The RabbitQuote Reply
I am a late convert to the series, having just finished season One about a month ago, and currently about 100 pages from the end of “Storm of Swords.” But of all the season Two news, the stuff I’m most excited about is Neil Marshall once again reuniting with his frequent collaborator Liam Cunningham for some Davos Seaworth badassery.
Davos is my single favorite character so far in the books, and while I pictured someone like John Hawkes while reading it, I think Cunningham is a fantastic choice. And Marshall is 4-for-4 as a feature film director, in my eyes. “Dog Soldiers” is an awesome micro-budget gore fest, “The Descent” is one of the top-5 best horror films of the aughts, “Doomsday” is a very cool send-up to Mad Max, and “Centurion” is a crystal-clear example of why he is a great fit to work on GoT. Cannot wait.
KammichQuote Reply
i thought ‘the descent’ was kinda so-so tbh. i like them everybody-dies movies but this one wasn’t particularly scary or anything.
jkbQuote Reply
Kammich,
I’m a new convert too! Been meaning to watch GoT but didn’t get to it until post-Emmy (I watch a LOT of script TV so the Emmys is like my new year). Finished the entire series in one weekend and started reading the next day. Done with book 1-3 and am currently 70% through with AFFC. Thank you, library, for having ebooks for my kindle!!!
Love the various sites around this amazing series. Seriously! You guys at WiC and Wiki of ASOIAF totally feed my addiction and I love it! :D
Regarding this post… I’m sure everyone who’s read book 2 knows what ep 9 and “the incredible scene” is! I can’t wait!
JessQuote Reply
The Rabbit,
Same episode, but different scene. The photo doesn’t have to be related to the post :)
Hear Me RoarQuote Reply
jkb,
It might require the viewer to have a sense of claustrophobia, I’m not sure. Personally, I get very claustrophobic so a movie about deep-cave spelunkers being attacked by weird evolution bat/human creatures freaked me the hell out. Marshall delivers with the gore and a few awesome money shots(excellent, excellent use of handheld night vision cameras).
KammichQuote Reply
Hear Me Roar,
Uh, I guess you are right :)
Did not think about that possibility.
The RabbitQuote Reply
Jess,
Welcome, convert! (You too, Kammich!)
Yup. Also, the green light gives it away most tantalizingly. Minds will be blown. I am so ready for a little less conversation, a little more action, baby.
HirondelleQuote Reply
Hear Me Roar,
The picture belongs to a night shot, as you can see in the clapperboard. I don’t think there would be any night shots required for episode 9 asides the ones Blackwater related, so either Rabbit is right or that guy isn’t Littlefinger.
DennaiQuote Reply
Dennai,
Or maybe they’ll inculde a shot of Littlefinger’s wherabouts DURING blackwater…?
LiesieQuote Reply
Green screen background? Or the glow from burning alchemist piss?
Two FeathersQuote Reply
Two Feathers,
My thoughts exactly. The latter I mean, this is clearly a glow, not some static background.
IdaanQuote Reply
As i recall, Littlefinger is just returning with Tywins and Highgardens force at the end of the battle, and having him as the puppet master behind this twist it would not suprise me if they show him with his creepy smile as “Renly” appears
MichaelmannQuote Reply
Not sure it’s LF in the pic, and as it is unrelated, the scenes described may be the sacking of Winterfell. If the pic is related, could that be “Reek”?
Susan CQuote Reply
I have only one thing to say about this.
SQUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
QueensmmotQuote Reply
Michaelmann,
MTE. LF wasn’t in KL during the BotB, but he was definitely present at the end of the battle across the river. I would imagine he didn’t do much fighting though.
the goatQuote Reply
No idea how you guys are telling that is LF. Doesn’t look like his usual costume, and others than that all I see is it’s a guy with short brown hair? Maybe you all have superpowers I lack. O_o
userjQuote Reply
“Earlier one of the costume girls walked past me with a bloody leg, still in it’s boot.”
Some people have the best jobs!
“So what did you do at work today hun?”
“Well…..”
PhilQuote Reply
I think it looks more like Renly
NTQuote Reply
The Hound is filming his last scene today. Said it was “big” and “exciting”.
Gavin WilliamsonQuote Reply
NT,
I think so, too, but disagreeing with the groupthink is dangerous around here :)
KGQuote Reply
Ok, judging from the descriptions (and, yes, the green glow) it’s more or less obvious that the scene in question is the BotB, but – seriously – how in seven hells are you guys getting Littlefinger/Aidan Gillen (or anyone for that matter) from a hairline and a sliver of neck? I’ve never been any good at “complete the image”-type puzzles and, sure, it obiously isn’t Cersei, but aren’t we just grasping at straws here because we’re all on Season 1-style promotion witrhdrawal?
HirondelleQuote Reply
Gavin Williamson,
I bet it was. I wonder, will it feature Sansa?
HirondelleQuote Reply
I wouldn’t call that exciting more disturbing actually . I never got the fascination that people have for Sandor and Sansa but for me it is creepy .
JohnQuote Reply
The one word that really excites me is “night.”
Season 1 had several dramatic scenes drained of much of their impact by what Lord Byron called “gaudy day.”
Arya’s dungeon encounter with Varys and Illyrio, Mirri Maz Duur’s necromancy, the (first) oath of the Nights Watch recruits, Ned’s Battle with Jaime, Old Nan’s creepy storytelling, all suffered from a tragic surplus of LIGHT.
I’ll be happy if the entire second season takes place at night.
C’mon… we already know the tagline: “The night is dark and full of terrors.”
I certainly hope so.
Terrorize me, please!
ChrisQuote Reply
I would SERIOUSLY doubt it’s a wildfire scene considering you would need to fill the water with boric acid in order to create green fire – although it could be a green spotlight to create the flare effect. However, the wildfire will almost certainly be created and edited in CGI. I also agree that it looks a bit like Renly.
TJ FlynnQuote Reply
TJ Flynn,
It cannot be Renly, since the picture is from the filming of episode 9.
plop_Quote Reply
John,
Oh, I didn’t mean the Sansa part was exciting, I was just curious whether The Hound’s last scene in the show will be the same as his last scene in the books.
HirondelleQuote Reply
The picture is a new character named Fonzworth McGillicuddy and he is a whorehouse overseer with a golden heart. He is leading Ros out of KL to a waiting turnip cart that will take her to the fingers where she will gather rocks and lamb chops to barter across the narrow sea after she arrives on the trade galley that chatered her there from Littlefinger’s home turf.
Ros will promptly catch a horse milk cart to Mereen and meet up with Dany and give her a rundown of all the events and major players in KL while playing with Dany’s ass.
That’s what you see in that photo. Weird huh?
The Lord’s KissQuote Reply
I’ll admit I’m not up-to-date on season 2′s schedules, but is their a reason it can’t be Renly? I know Renly dies fairly early, but a change in the script is always a possibility. Now that I look at it though, it looks more like a crew member rather than someone in the actual scene.
TJ FlynnQuote Reply
TJ Flynn,
It’ll be someone in-shot. That’s why the clapperboard is right behind his head – the shot will be just like we are seeing there, minus the board itself and the crew member holding it.
OhDanyBoyQuote Reply