WiC Exclusive: Jeanie Finlay walks us through directing The Last Watch

Game of Thrones: The Last Watch provided fans a look behind the curtain at how the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones came to life. What made the two-hour documentary unique was director Jeanie Finlay’s choice to focus on the show’s invaluable crew, as well as its large cast of extras.

Finlay spoke with us about her directorial decisions, how showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss came to her to make the doc, and just how much a fan of the show she is.

WiC: The Last Watch was completely different than the usual “making of” clips that aired after each episode of Game of Thrones. Why did you choose to make the documentary about the folks behind the camera and the myriad of extras who don’t usually get more than a brief moment on screen?

Finlay: “I was brought in as a documentary maker to make The Last Watch, and they found me, which was really lovely. The Last Watch is my eighth feature film so this is not my first time at the rodeo. I was interviewed by [Producer Bernadette] Caulfield, [Executive Producer] Carolyn Strauss, and David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss], and they just sort of asked me: ‘How would you approach making a documentary about such a mammoth show as Game of Thrones?’

“I just sort of approached [The Last Watch] as I would any other film — you go looking for the best stories, and I guess what I’m interested in is quieter voices. I feel like I’ve made a career out of shy people telling small stories quietly. And so I just proposed to them I’d find — you know you’ve got seven families fighting for the throne — seven good departments and seven human stories; I found more really.”

As an outsider coming onto the set of Game of Thrones for the first time, Finlay and her crew were given an unprecedented amount of freedom to find the stories she wanted to tell. That includes crew members like Head of Snow Del Reid, who went to Seville, Spain for the first time to spread fake snow in the Dragonpit. “He’s no-nonsense, hates getting tons of emails, he wants to save money; he was really good fun and quite grumpy in a really charming very British way.”

“I had quite a clear idea of who I wanted to feature in the film. And it was a big risk because I was worried people would watch it and just sort of feel like ‘ Where are the actors?’ but I sort of feel like the actors get so much attention anyway.”

WiC: One of our favorite parts of The Last Watch was your decision to follow extra Andrew McClay (Baratheon soldier in season 5, Stark soldier in season 6 and season 8). Was there something specific about him that caught your eye?

Finlay: “You see me meeting Andy in real time, and as I start to film him, I thought: ‘This guy’s great.’ He’s got a great face, he’s from Derry so he’s got a rhythm to the way he speaks, and he’s charismatic. So I decided to film him, and then my assistant asked if I’d seen him on Reddit, and we began to notice all of these times he’d been spotted, and that was wild. It’s just perfect: he’s a pure human being; he’s a genuinely good person.”

Before getting the call to film The Last Watch, Finlay says she “dipped in and out” of Game of Thrones, but life and career kept her busy and she wasn’t able to get far into it. Still, Thrones has such an extended reach into pop culture that she picked up the basics. “You know who Jon Snow is, you know when the Red Wedding aired, you know what winter is coming means, you know Ned Stark is dead,” she said. “But rest assured, I’ve watched everything three times.”

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WiC: Okay, so let’s talk rapid-fire questions — Who was your favorite director in season 8?

Finlay: “David Nutter. He really feels this, and he’s very unconventional. David knows what he’s doing; he knows it in his blood.”

WiC: Okay, here’s a hard question — Who was your favorite actor to follow for The Last Watch?

Finlay: “I loved following Vlad [Furdyk], but he would say he’s not an actor. But I’ve got to say Emilia [Clarke] was so generous and open. She allowed me to film her in some really tough times. She trusted me and was generous enough to give me moments where she didn’t have to be outgoing. She gave me the quiet moments that were quite beautiful.”

Other fun points from Jeanie Finlay:

• Toby Osmand, who played the new Prince of Dorne during Bran’s appointment to King of the Six Kingdoms, is apparently a cut-up and loved showing off his missing finger.
• David Nutter growled like a dragon during Jon and Dany’s make-out session in the season 8 premiere episode, where Rhaegal and Drogon watched them like two creepy cats.
• Andrew McClain does a spot-on impression of David Nutter.

Finlay and her team shot 950 hours of footage, and at one point had a four-hour cut of The Last Watch. Might we see any on the complete Game of Thrones boxset?

Finlay stayed mum. Here’s hoping we get to see more.

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