Director Alan Taylor Season 2 ‘Residence of the Dragon’ Fight Interview

Nothing burns love betrayal. The lengthy-awaited tangle of dragons and the strategic cunning of the Aristocracy ring thru in Residence of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 4. Titled “The Purple Dragon and the Gold,” director and executive producer Alan Taylor helms The Fight at Rook’s Leisure, which finds Rhaenys (Eve Handiest) on the warpath to defend her household’s kingdom and inform to the Iron Throne. After Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) makes an sick-fated decision to move Sunfyre into the throngs of wrestle, alongside his brother Aemond (Ewan Mitchell) and Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), Rhaenys and her dragon Meleys close up sparing with the young, wrong ruler. That is until Aemond swoops in to put the day with Vhagar killing Rhaenys whereas additionally sneak attacking Sunfyre, main Aegon to plummet from the sky to mountainous ruin. It used to be a brutal episode that position social media and followers on fire as the outcomes of the wrestle forever modified the scheming underbelly of King’s Touchdown.

Right here, Taylor speaks to Time restrict about waging wrestle between brothers, the rising loss of life toll, and the popularity of creating basically the most provocative dragon battle.

DEADLINE: How lengthy did this big battle episode rob to film?

ALAN TAYLOR: I form of admire a psychological block about how lengthy we employ on filming things. Each and each episode is various, and the schedule additionally reflects that. Considered one of the provocative things regarding the formulation we film Residence of the Dragon is that we block-shoot the total season. It’s no longer faded in that one individual shoots their episode after which the following individual comes in and shoots their episode. We are all taking pictures our episodes on a popular foundation. That’s why it’s grand to preserve notice of how many days we earn. Especially for the battle since you’re actually jumping internal and out of units, and various directors are coming in for the total season. The critical week all five directors labored on something.

DEADLINE: You’re no stranger to directing Sport of Thrones, nonetheless I would argue that this episode of Residence of the Dragon is one in every of your biggest challenges yet. What used to be your preliminary reaction to receiving the script for the episode, and how did you delineate what you had been going to invent?

TAYLOR: It’s continually a identical direction of. You earn the script and must resolve out the formulation you will invent it and be conscious of how it fits into the final picture. This one used to be barely discombobulated because we started off with 10 episodes. I was going to invent a definite battle sequence at the close, after which things received reshuffled. We had been successfully into prep earlier than I was assigned this one. Colorful that the battle used to be coming in Episode 4, in the midst of the season, and vivid that we had to originate storylines that could perhaps proceed to grow over the direction of the season fashioned how we approached that.

The largest thing used to be that I was tracking the indisputable truth that this is able to perhaps be the first time dragons had been deployed as a weapon, the first time they went to dragon wrestle. For the direction of the first season and the starting of the second season the neatest contributors in Westeros are asserting this is a irascible idea. So, we had to direct on what it formulation to deploy them. The metaphor I was carrying round used to be that this is the first time somebody decides to fall a tactical nuclear weapon, and how will that replace everyone eager? And everything grew out of that. That defined how we fashioned the battle itself. It defined how we followed the battle thru our characters, love Ser Criston Cole, who’s accountable for this nonetheless is additionally basically the most devastated by it. He’s a warrior who can by no formulation see wrestle the identical any other time after this. So, what you invent is resolve out what the mountainous suggestions are after which strive to shape everything round it.

DEADLINE: Talking of a tactical weapon, that shot of Vhagar touchdown on the discipline is wild. She’s genuinely stomping round whereas all this unlit smoke is at the support of her. It feels love D-Day.

TAYLOR: Correct, love the outlet to Saving Private Ryan. That sequence that (Steven) Spielberg did is inspirational for every filmmaker about easy programs to capture the fog of wrestle. I’m pleased you picked up on that. When Vhagar slams into the ground, that’s the watershed second, the nuclear blast for our episode. It knocks out our critical personality, our level of overview personality, Cole. From that level on, it’s a definite world.

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

TAYLOR: The article I for sure love about George R.R Martin’s writing is that it’s grounded in fact and grounded in historical past. So, it’s fantasy and the dragons, nonetheless it completely’s completely per the fact of things. So, when my associate and I had been designing the battle sequence and the dragon battling, we spent a bunch of time taking a examine a few things. One is the comely relationship between the characters and their dragons used to be something we wished to characterize. We additionally looked at the formulation horse homeowners work alongside with their horses. When Aegon is greeting Sunfyre, that used to be lifted from how I’ve seen horse homeowners work alongside with their horses.

Extra importantly, we looked at a bunch of documentary footage of birds of prey and how they interact and battle. And so, we invented this second that additionally makes Rhaenys seem very orderly the build … Because we seen that birds of prey will invent this thing the build in the event that they in point of fact feel they’re being encroached upon, they flip the opposite device up and they interact talon to talon. And so they’re battling in the air, nonetheless their talons are engaged, and they changed into this loss of life spiral right down to the ground. So, it’s a recreation of hen to examine who’s going to liberate. And so, we stole that and outdated school that for the mountainous climactic second in Rook’s Leisure.

DEADLINE: Now, let’s discuss a real loss of life spiral. I possess we’re mute spiraling from the lack of Rhaenys.

TAYLOR: It’s droll you bring that up because my occupation has weirdly modified into into this thing the build I in most cases atomize contributors’s accepted characters. In Sport of Thrones, I killed Ned Stark. In The Sopranos, I killed Christopher Moltisanti. It goes on and on. Then, in the waste, I received to abolish Rhaenys and the dragon in this one. It’s continually the identical target audience response, which I for sure love, that thing the build contributors earn offended at their TV or HBO or with me. Then, at the identical time, they prefer it and it’s incredibly thrilling for them. So, it’s an comely metaphor for the formulation we address our own mortality, I possess. Someone we for sure care about is dying, nonetheless they’re fictional, so it form of potential that you can off the hook—a trial lumber for coping with loss of life in a fun device.

DEADLINE: I’ll by no formulation let you off the hook for that one. But now, let’s discuss your aesthetics in the scene main as a lot as her loss of life. She’s flying up above the battling on the ground, and it’s composed and virtually nonetheless excluding for the sound of the wind and the dragon wings flapping. Then there’s the occasional swell of this glorious tune. Discuss this.

TAYLOR: I’m so pleased you’re highlighting the mute and the allotment. So, we’re up above the fray and gash loose it. There’s peace and sweetness, and we all need we would be flying on dragons – doubtlessly. There’s mute there, and later in her loss of life second when she’s falling, releasing and letting toddle. That’s an attractive thing that I’m pleased we received to capture. However the popularity it raised used to be, how invent you in fact mix what’s going on with the dragons and what’s going on on the ground? That used to be one in every of the biggest challenges. It’s going to’t like minded be an air cloak with visible effects. It has to for sure feel love something we’re for sure experiencing. Each and each form of idea went into how we ground the dragons and join them to the ground. That’s section of causes why they retain slamming into the ground.

Each and each camera attitude on the dragon is a real level-of-overview attitude. There’s no magic cameras flying round. It’s either we’re looking out at them actually from a personality’s level of overview, or we’re looking out at them from the build a camera is doubtless to be mounted. Shall we embrace, the cameras are mounted on the front of a dragon love a hood ornament. One more time, going support to the distinctive George R.R. Martin thing of attempting to rob this fantastical stuff and invent it grounded in our real expertise as distinguished as imaginable.

DEADLINE: What number of cameras are we talking about for a scale this big? And how many extras?

TAYLOR: We continually admire two cameras on position, in most cases three. And in a battle, you would also admire perchance four. Then there’s additionally a second unit led by the incandescent Rowley (Irlam), the stunt coordinator on the cloak. He has two cameras going all the device in which thru the corner doing what he’s doing like minded to gash into our footage. There’s a bunch of cameras. For extras, I possess we had 400 for sure days, after which there’s replication that we invent, so it feels love thousands. Even when I received to the battlefield, I was amazed by what the cloak used to be in a space to construct available in the market in the discipline. Not like minded the numbers of infantrymen nonetheless separate liberties from various houses. Supreme armor on the boys nonetheless additionally on the horses. So, it’s a gigantic real-world footprint, nonetheless it be a must to invent greater it with expertise.

DEADLINE: Assist to Eve Handiest. Are you able to discuss working alongside side her in these final days of taking pictures as Rhaenys?

TAYLOR: It used to be delightful. I was no longer section of season one. I had like minded came in for season two. And also you’re meeting this array of actors who had been so spectacular and who already know their characters, so it is also form of intimidating to realize support in and presume to disclose them because they’ve already been doing it for a whereas. She used to be magnificent. She used to be very collaborative in the course. And I possess she could converse we had been offering her a gorgeous appropriate invent. I possess she used to be cushty with what she knew used to be going on. I’d heard she used to be no longer having fun on the dragons in season one, being on the dragon buck ought to you’re being bounced round love that. But she used to be like minded a mountainous trooper for our thing. I possess we’d improved her armor a dinky bit bit, and he or she like minded knew it’d be a mountainous sendoff for her. She used to be delightful. She spent hours on this dragon buck with a computerized camera following her round. She used to be simplest on the battlefield itself as soon as lying in the mud looking out tiresome. But various than that, most of her stuff used to be on our stage. I attempted to move the dragon buck at one level, nonetheless they wouldn’t let me because they talked about insurance protection wouldn’t conceal it.

DEADLINE: How are you participating with showrunner Ryan Condal to earn the episode’s vision all the device in which thru?

TAYLOR: He and his crew write the episodes, after which you attain in to shape it—particularly something as mountainous and refined as the Episode 4 battle. There had been things I wished to discuss thru ensuring it had that sturdy constructing the build it constructed as a lot as obstruct our nuclear tournament. As soon as Rhaenys dies that’s the emotional form of conclusion of the object. We talked about ensuring there wasn’t too distinguished myth to play on after that because I possess our emotional thing crashes there.

Then there used to be the collaboration of physical things and straight forward programs to stage it. I chose Bourne Wood in England. Ridley Scott uses it in in relation to all of his films; I additionally shot Thor: The Darkish World there. It’s an comely location because it gave us this tree line, a discipline, after which the castle that fret up shaping how we did all the drama. Because I love the root that the infantrymen are additionally hiding in the tree line. If you step out of the tree line, your dragon fodder and it’s a killing discipline. That used to be stuff that used to be no longer so distinguished in the script as it received created as we chanced on the put and labored on it. He’s an right collaborator. There’s a dialogue between the myth and in fact staging the object. They talk to every various.

DEADLINE: Considered one of the varied beautiful things used to be Aemond atmosphere Aegon and his dragon on fire. You see that for a fracture up second, Aegon used to be cushty to examine his brother doubtlessly support him in battle, then it flashes to terror so snappy when he realizes his brother is ready to abolish him. Aemond makes this sly smile. Discuss working with the actors on this.

TAYLOR: Since the characters are rich and layered, there’s some complexity and ambiguity. I wished to no longer be entirely definite about how distinguished Aemond supposed to assassinate his brother. Section of what’s going on right here is if his brother goes away, he ascends to the throne. That’s partly utilizing him. It’s additionally a tactical pass; he’s blasting Meleys, Rhaenys, and his brother, who’s an fool for being there and could no longer be there. So, he’s form of that collateral ruin. After I read the scripts, I didn’t know the device magnificent his personality used to be going to be until I started working with Tom Glynn-Carney, who plays Aegon. I possess he’s doubtlessly my accepted actor in the cloak because he brings so distinguished innocence and humor to this dastardly guy and mixes the two facets of his persona so successfully. It’s so understandable that he would must toddle to this battle because his mother talked about—in the worst parenting second of all— “Appropriate invent nothing. I query nothing of you.” And so, it’s an attractive second when he decides to pass off and cloak his heroism.

And then, pointless to claim, by turning up, he like minded screws everything up like minded by being there. So, on his side, he’s nervous, in over his head, and attempting to be a hero. He sees his brother coming and, for a second, thinks oh, thank God. And then he starts to realize what’s for sure occurring. So, all of that stuff is playing on Tom’s face as he goes from relief, inhalation to terror. Then, the paradox tracks all the formulation thru. We see him wreck into the woods, nonetheless simplest from a distance. When we find his physique at the close—in extra ambiguity—we admire Aemond standing over him with the illustrious knife, perchance meaning to invent him off. We’ll by no formulation know. We don’t disclose the disclose of his physique distinguished, we like minded know he’s smoldering there. For the target audience and for the residents of King’s Touchdown, we don’t know if he’s tiresome or no longer for a whereas used to be the scheme there.

DEADLINE: Even in that second after we see Aemond with the knife, love you talked about, it’s so ambiguous. He’s twiddling with the knife, we wonder if he goes to invent the job by killing his incapacitated brother, nonetheless then Ser Criston Cole comes in and doubtlessly stops Aemond from killing him. Even the level that Ewan Mitchell makes with the sluggish flick of the wrist is provocative.

TAYLOR: We had been attempting to preserve ambiguity there. When Cole finds him he … I wished him to be brandishing his sword in a device that is doubtless to be threatening or is doubtless to be him striking his sword away because we didn’t moderately know easy programs to read what used to be like minded occurring. Cole enters the scene no longer vivid what used to be about to happen. Did I like minded stop regicide or am I being paranoid about this? How distinguished can I belief this guy? So that he locations his sword away after which finds the dagger that tracks thru all of Sport of Thrones and is the dagger that kills a in point of fact illustrious personality later. He’s like minded fiddling with it. I love the indisputable truth that he outdated school that to level his brother. But it’s all like minded intended to be like minded to Aemond’s conflicted personality. He does doubtlessly like his brother, nonetheless he additionally would earnings by his loss of life. And he additionally has contempt for him for no longer being the chief that he is conscious of he’s doubtless to be.

(This interview has been edited for dimension and clarity.)