IAIN GLEN INTERVIEW
Q: How does it feel to be part of something where you know what’ll be happening to your character?
Q: Have you done that?
Q: Did you know the books before hand?
Q: Have you kissed Daenerys this series?
Q: How did you find filming in Dubrovnik?
“It was great! It’s ridiculous that my filming is all in the really gorgeous, lovely warm place with the nomadic tribe. The vast majority of the actors have to work in really cold, horrible places—ice walls and wet and so on—and I always go to the really nice bit that the crew was looking forward to. Dubrovnik was particularly lovely, and I think very popular with the producers because it offers such a vast array of landscapes, very good production facilities and crews, with a very friendly working environment. A very beautiful city.”
Q: How long did it take to shoot the second series?
Q: When did you start filming this series, compared to the end of filming last series?
Q: How many days did you spend on the set?
Q: You seem to spend the series covered in grime.
Q: Was it fake dirt or real dirt?
Q: What was it like working with Emilia Clarke, and do you think that she makes a good dragon queen?
“I think she’s wonderful. You hold your breath when you go into a long series like this, because you’re hoping the central actors you’re working with will be good and you get along with them, and right from the word “Go”, Emilia has been completely lovely. I think she’s a very, very good actor. In the first series, she starts as this innocent in a very alien world and during the course of the series she becomes this warrior queen. I think she’s doing that very well and very plausibly. And we always have a laugh, which is important when you’re filming.”
Q: Any examples?
Q: Did you have any big scenes with the CGI dragons this series?
Q: Do you think Jorah’s feelings for Daenerys can be compared to modern views on men having feeling towards girls?
“I suppose there’s an element of truth to that. I think youthful beauty—youthful, feminine beauty—is very attractive to most men, and sexually attractive… without being disturbingly young, of course! There’s a truth about that. The reason I have a big beard is that I’m about to play Uncle Vanya, the Chekov play. One of the central things in that play is that it’s about this man who idolizes this beautiful, youthful woman who arrives on the scene, who’s married to a much older man. And so it’ a mixture of feelings—if I could just have some of that youth, I could rejuvenate myself—and I think that’s quite often an element of relationships between older men and younger women. But it’s also something tinged with a sort of sadness, because you’re in the second half of your life and you meet someone who’s in the first half of their life.
“So, it’s slightly different—it’s not different actually, because in Uncle Vanya I never get her, but there’s something true about that in Game of Thrones as well. You have to be very careful because you asked if I had kissed her or not, but the longer you deny it, the more exciting it is as storytelling. The moment you allow something too much to happen, something dies I think. So it’s something you want to keep in the air. You get very much the story that he would love to possess her and make her his wife, but so far that feeling hasn’t been reciprocated, which keeps it potent.”
Q: What does Jorah think about the strange powers that Daenerys has?
“Initially he was very suspicious as everyone else was, but he witnessed at the end of the first series her extraordinary powers when she survived the pyre and gave birth to the dragons, so he’s entirely persuaded of her powers.”
Q: Season one was more of an introduction to the characters and setting. Do you feel this series starts up in a higher gear?
Q: Can we expect more war scenes?
Q: How did you find the Dothraki lines?
“They’re a nightmare. It’s this gobledy-gook language that’s very, very hard to learn, but it’s very much worth the effort because when you try and just make up your own, it always sounds very foolish. This very bright linguist [David J. Peterson] developed this entire language, and so whenever a line is needed he’s referred to. He comes up with it, and it’s always very consistent. But it’s really hard. One line is okay. But if you have a speech… man, it’s hard, it’s really hard.”
Q: How do you practice the lines, so you can get the right emphasis for emotions?
Q: So is Peterson there?
Q: Does Jorah show regrets this series?
Q: You’ve managed in the middle of two of the biggest TV phenomenas in the last two year, with Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey. How do you have time for it, and what are the differences between them?
Q: Good time for English actors, isn’t it?
“Yeah, really good time. It’s that funny thing that when you go back in history a certain distance, people think English accents, which is good for us lot. Somehow a too strong American accent, rightly or wrongly, would jar and certainly in Game of Thrones. But that’s just a conceit that we’re used to in film. The fact is no one really knows how people sounded then. Having done Shakespeare, great debate exists about just how people sounded. It’s just a preconcieved notion, it doesn’t raise any eyebrows or questions if you stay to a neutral-ish English accent.
“But you know, in terms of the two series, they’re both lovely. One is terribly English, very single-location based, all about these all very well arranged costumes, and a sort of delicate, fine story with things being understated or unstated. And the other is incredibly visercal and outside and colorful and exotic. Everything is stated, hearts are worn on the sleeves.”
http://www.westeros.org/GoT/Features/Entry/Interview_with_Iain_Glen
JACK GLEESON INTERVIEW
“Blew my mind [but] made me really angry,” EW’s Sandra Gonzalez emailed yesterday morning after catching up on the first season of HBO’s Game of Thrones. “Joffrey must die!”
Yup, it’s hard to watch Thrones’ debut season without wanting to snuff its most despicable villain — the teenage King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), who executed a popular character in the show’s ninth episode. But just wait until season 2 debuts Sunday. The premiere includes a new execution scene that’s likely to elicit gasps from viewers (don’t worry, we won’t spoil it). And a few episodes later, we find out what the young king might be like in the bedroom.
“With his coronation, his malicious deeds amplify tenfold,” Gleeson promises. “He thinks everyone should say yes to him ’cause he has the right to be where he is, so he doesn’t take no for an answer. There are scenes where I just do malicious things for no reason.”
Gleeson was taking questions from EW between filming Thrones last fall in Croatia. In fact, the actor was shooting the scene that opens Sunday’s premiere, set during the young king’s “nameday” party (Thrones-speak for birthday), where he naturally takes every opportunity to torment his subjects.Joffrey’s upcoming reign of terror worries his mother, the Queen Regent Cersei, who begins to realize what a monster she’s created. “I kind of rebel against her,” Gleeson says. “I’m changing up the design of the Throne Room and kind of throw my toys all over the floor.”
The actor says his favorite Thrones scene to shoot so far was in the show’s second episode where he bullies the butcher’s boy with his sword. “I really liked that scene just because that’s the first time the audience sees Joffrey for who he is.”
“Jack’s the nicest person on earth probably and is so thoughtful; he’s funny, he’s decent to people,” says Thrones executive producer Dan Weiss. “And yet he has this unfailing sense of what the most horrible person in the world would be like and how he would say a line — because he always gets it right.”
Fans, Gleeson says, have been very polite when recognizing him in public, despite wanting to trounce his TV character. “They’ve always been nothing but lovely,” he says. “I haven’t gotten anybody coming up to slap or yell at me.”
http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/03/27/game-of-thrones-joffrey/
TV GUIDE
It's late October and rain is pelting the windows of a small Belfast bar. Peter Dinklage is sharing a drink with his Game of Thrones costars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Kit Harington. Dinklage could use the drink. He's just come from shooting an emotional scene for Episode 8 in which his character, clever imp Tyrion Lannister, bursts into his chamber calling out for the sequestered prostitute and love-of-his-life, Shae. He doesn't see her and the thought of her possible fate shakes him to the core. His eyes search the room. His voice quavers.
It's easy to see why Dinklage won an Emmy — one of many awards snagged by the HBO drama during its freshman year. And he's also at the center of Season 2, which draws largely from George R.R. Martin's second best seller, A Clash of Kings. In it, civil war rages as various factions vie for the throne, now occupied by teen tyrant Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), crowned after his father Robert's death last season. Word has begun to spread that Joff might be the result of incest between his mother, Cersei (Lena Headey), and her twin brother, Jaime Lannister (Coster-Waldau). Using that to their advantage, a slew of would-be rulers makes a play for his seat. Along the way, lives are lost, hearts are broken, and alliances are betrayed.
"It's a battle atmosphere where everyone's fighting for power," says executive producer David Benioff. "The stakes have gotten much higher." The same can be said for the series. With sprawling special effects (fire-breathing dragons!), epic war sequences (the legendary Battle of Blackwater) and a host of new characters (hello, Melisandre!), it's a good thing the show's budget is what executive producer Dan Weiss calls one of the most generous in television.
"There's a different kind of pressure this year," explains Weiss. "We know people are watching it and that's a huge relief, but we really want people to enjoy it. And we want new people to come and enjoy it." If the 9.3 million who tuned in per episode last season, coupled with the growing book sales (8.4 million copies sold in 2011 alone), is any indication, then it's safe to say this Game has officially permeated the zeitgeist.
Though that popularity has made the actors virtual rock stars to fanboys — and, in particular, to fangirls — the tight-knit cast is almost never in one place at the same time. Harington, who plays Ned Stark's illegitimate son, Jon Snow, will soon head to Iceland to film his scenes at the icy Wall. But before he goes, we joined the imp, the knight and the "bastard" for a rare get-together to talk about love, politics and who should win the war. (And lest you think they've become so famous they've forgotten where they came from, Harington had to whisper into his cell, "I'll call you back, Mum," before we got started.)
TV Guide Magazine: Why do you think Game of Thrones is such a big hit?
Kit: The books are page-turners, and Dan and David have adapted them really well. Plus, it's so huge in scale that I don't think there's anything to compete with it size-wise on television at the moment.
Peter: I love that they kill the heroes, and that the villains survive. The narrative is very unexpected.
TV Guide Magazine: What is at your characters' cores? What makes them tick?
Nikolaj: Jaime shows no fear. He knows that he's hated by many people, but he's not going to give them the satisfaction of not being that way. He's not going to apologize.
Peter: Tyrion's similar to Jaime: unapologetic. I am what I am. I'm going to make the joke before you get a chance to. I'm going to beat you at your own game.
Kit: Jon's very strong on standing up for people who he thinks are being mistreated. He's like his dad. He's noble.
TV Guide Magazine: What's the coolest thing about your character in Season 2?
Nikolaj: For me, it's [what he does in] Episode 7. Jaime has a very cool way he relates to a family member.
Peter: You can't say! That's an amazing bit. Everything's cool about Tyrion. His clothes are a lot less muddy. I'm sort of running the country because Joffrey's crazy. It's been fun doing that. How it turns out, how he does as Hand of the King, remains to be seen.
Kit: Jon goes through such a change. He finally gets to go on that noble journey he's always wanted.
TV Guide Magazine: The producers have said that "war and love go hand in hand," and that relationships factor greatly into this season. For instance, as a member of the Night's Watch, Jon Snow is sworn to celibacy, but he meets someone...
Kit: Finally! [Laughs] He's wound so tight!
Peter: Decaf. They don't have decaf at the Wall.
Kit: He meets a wildling girl. But Jon has told himself he's never going to sleep with a woman. He wants to stay pure until he dies. So he's in a conflict. This girl breaks through.
Peter: [For Tyrion] there's this prostitute, and what should be one thing becomes another. It starts to run deep.
Nikolaj: Jaime's a prisoner. He misses his sister, his love.
TV Guide Magazine: It's a very sexy show. Are those scenes tough to film?
Nikolaj: I think you should ask Lena [laughs]. To be honest, I don't really mind it. It's awkward, but it's not that bad. There's something ridiculous about it.
Peter: It's the farthest thing from sex in the world. Sex scenes on camera are about as sexual as watching TV with your grandma. It's absurd.
Nikolaj: I mean, if you're full-frontal, that's horrible.
TV Guide Magazine: So you won't be doing that, like Alfie Allen did last season?
Nikolaj: No. God, no.
Peter: You have a no-front-junk clause? [laughs] Not all the actors have that clause. They didn't read the fine print.
Kit: I'm a TV-sex virgin. I've never shot a sex scene.
Nikolaj: You'll find out when you go to Iceland.
TV Guide Magazine: Do you two have any advice for Kit?
Peter: You're going to get really cold.
Nikolaj: And you're going to be really surprised.
TV Guide Magazine: Do you feel pressure to look fit for these scenes? How do you stay in shape?
Nikolaj: I have a team of people [laughs]. My chef, my...
Peter: We drink Guinness. And smoke.
Kit: [Last year] I got a personal trainer, cut carbs, got a bit obsessed.
Nikolaj: Until you shot one shirtless scene, and be honest now, you said, "This is silly — let's have a pint!"
Kit: You're right. [Laughs]
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Game-Thrones-Set-Visit-1045318.aspx
COSTUME INFO
Michele Clapton is the Emmy-nominated costume designer for HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” which on April 1 returns for a second season. She talks about the challenges of outfitting a sprawling cast in garb that hints at a fantastical history while remaining fresh.
What is your research process for “Game of Thrones”?
We’ve all read the books and we look at it to a point, but sometimes a written description of a costume doesn’t necessarily translate well to the screen. Since it’s such a complicated story, the looks had to enable the viewer to know where they are, who these people are and who they represent.
We made all the costumes for [characters from] the North from skins. For research, we looked at the Inuits and at Tibetan tribes — we try and look at peoples in different times in history to see how they would have dressed in that environment. ...
I also looked at Lascaux cave paintings in France — they have these wonderful animal paintings. We decided that every time they killed an animal, the hunters would have to paint an animal onto their costume. The better the hunter, the more covered in these drawings he would be, which I think visually is really strong. We’re always looking for ways to show who the leader is.
It’s so exciting because we can almost go anywhere as long as it makes sense. If they live on a windy, rocky island, like the Greyjoys do, then they dress accordingly: They have costumes made of heavy, densely woven cloth that are waxed and painted with fish oil to help keep out the wind. Everything has a reason for being there.
“Game of Thrones” tells such an intricate story with so many characters. How do you use the costumes to help guide the viewer?
Where a character comes from is indicated through the color and cut of the costume. When we first see Sansa [Sophie Turner], she wears things in a Stark way — very well, but they are slightly clumsy and the cloth is rather homespun. As she comes to King’s Landing, her progression is influenced by Cersei [Lena Headey] and her costumes shift. After Cersei does the awful thing of sanctioning the death of Ned Stark [Sansa’s father], Sansa is stuck — you can see her frozen in time. She’s looking like someone who has just killed her father. And then we will see her progression as she slowly withdraws from the look.
It’s also interesting to look at Littlefinger’s [Aidan Gillen] journey — he started off very much as a courtier, he was always very organized with his little chain and his notebook, and then suddenly he actually stopped wearing the mantle. He had just little glimpses of turquoise beneath his costume and the slit was cut slightly higher. ... Slowly you realize he ran brothels. His costumes, just slowly, became a little richer.
What is the process of creating the costumes?
Ninety-nine percent of the costumes are made in-house, in Belfast. We have everything on site: our armorers, our weavers and our embroiderers. We weave our own fabric with our loom — many of the fabrics are literally made from scratch.
How do the clothes change in Season 2?
In the second season, as society is changing in King’s Landing and as the war is coming, everything just tends to get a little bit more extreme. People dress up more, people armor more — it’s that false security. I think we’ve all developed quite a lot and I think it looks a lot better — I’m much more pleased with it this season, in all ways.
I loved dressing the Greyjoys [in Season 2]. Those costumes were so organic and so crunchy. We wanted them to look like the rocks on the island — they have no ambition for anything, everything is completely practical.
I loved doing Stannis (Stephen Dillane) and Melisandre (Carice van Houten) as well; that was quite a magical combination, again looking at their characteristics, what they had and where they were.
What are some of the challenges you’ve faced?
One big thing is: the children keep growing! I mean, in all ways: outwards and upwards!
But that aside, sometimes you don’t get to see the actor until quite close to shooting and, at that point, we are already quite a long way with the armor. With Brienne (Gwendoline Christie), for instance, she is a woman but we want to mistake her for a man; however, no matter what you do, women have hips. We just started making the lines on the armor go away from her waist and slowly she began to look more masculine — at the same time, the armor also had to be functional.
Helmut Lang’s Fall 2012 line was inspired by the costumes seen on “Game of Thrones.” How do you feel knowing your pieces have had a major influence on the fashion world?
I didn’t know anything about it! I’m really flattered because Helmut Lang’s a great label and I admire their work. I come from a fashion background myself and I remember in the past saying, “You know, we could really make a great collection from these costumes.” In fact, some of the padded skirts we’ve made for men, I’ve made into dresses for myself!
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2012/03/creative-minds-game-of-thrones-costume-designer-michele-clapton.html