Game of Thrones returned this season arrived with a bang, a facial stabbing, a character reveal and a resurrection. Having now watched the first two episodes of the season, which were helmed by Jeremy Podeswa, the director is opening up about the process of creating those scenes, most importantly the ones up at the Wall.
Speaking at length to The Hollywood Reporter, Podeswa calls the experience of keeping Jon Snow’s resurrection under wraps “unprecedented.”
“Everybody was very concerned about retaining the mystery for the audience and giving people the opportunity to discover it for themselves, rather than having it leaked. I think that’s ultimately what people want. As much as people were asking me and everybody else on the show constantly if Jon Snow is alive or dead, I think really in their heart of hearts they didn’t actually want to know.”
As for why they held it to the end of the second episode instead of bringing him back right away, Podeswa says that wasn’t his call, but part of the parameters chosen by Benioff and Weiss. that being said, he agreed with it. The first episode already had enough. In his opinion, though, every episode is pretty stuffed. “Every episode is very dense. They’re very full. You’re servicing so many characters and stories. There’s so much anticipation coming back into all of these stories because people are so invested in them. You just want to make sure that everything lands and that the wait people had between seasons, you’ve honored that.”
Speaking of bringing back characters, Podeswa didn’t just have to bring back Jon Snow–he had to resurrect Winterfell from the past along with shooting the present day scenes. He said that the distinction between the two was even more stark than it is on screen because, due to the schedule, they basically shot “historic” Winterfell and “present day” Winterfell back to back. “(T)here was a big changeover on the set, and you really did see how much the world and the show has changed by going back into that period of time, back-to-back. It was very interesting to experience for everybody.”
On the subject of “present day” Winterfell, the interviewer asks about the death scene for Fat Walda, and those of us who thought that was not a scene that needed to be shown. Podeswa reminds us that it’s not really up to him on those matters. He has to shoot what’s in the script. And he tried very hard to make it so that we held sympathy for the plight of Walda and the baby. “You’re not making it more palatable, or making it pure entertainment. The things that are horrific are horrific.”
To him that scene wasn’t nearly as difficult as another death scene–that of Balon Greyjoy at the hands of his mad younger brother. In this case, he didn’t consult the books himself, but went with what the script called for. (He says there are times when he consults the books–last season’s scene with the Stonemen for instance and the mythology of Old Valyria.) But just the physical experience of filming this scene was hard on everyone.
We were shooting exteriors in Northern Ireland. It was very cold. The rain was very hard on the actors. The bridge was always moving. There was so much wind … the elements you see in the show that seem so extreme on the show were actual elements that we were dealing with in reality. The actors really had to deal with all that wind, that creaking bridge, all that rain. It was a challenging thing to shoot and a challenging thing for the actors to play, but they were really heroic and did a fantastic job.
Even though working in the elements is hard, Podeswa reserves his largest praise for a scene where what the audience saw wasn’t there at all: Peter Dinklage and Tyrion’s freeing of the Dragons.
I loved shooting this scene, and I loved it entirely because of Peter. And it’s interesting. That scene on the page was emotional, and lovely, but really it was completely elevated by Peter’s performance. Seeing what he did with that was so great. I hadn’t really anticipated that it was going to be quite as moving as it was, and quite as unique and special. We knew it was a big moment for him to actually meet the dragons, and obviously it was going to be something — that it was going to be a moment. But he really made it a major moment. He’s such a fine, amazing actor. Just as soon as we started shooting it, we felt this scene was taking on a life that we hadn’t even expected. It doesn’t matter that the dragons aren’t real.
And with the mention of animals, that brings us back to a moment at the very end, just before Jon Snow wakes up, as Ghost, his faithful direwolf pops awake and snuffles at his master. So many fans–including us here at WiCnet have debated over the idea that Jon Snow’s consciousness had warged into Ghost, and if that was part of how Melisandre was able to bring him back. Podeswa doesn’t confirm that theory….but he doesn’t deny it either.
“I cannot answer this question. (Laughs.) I would say if you keep watching, all will be revealed. Better to leave it to the fans to discover.”
Maybe we’ll find out int he next episode? Speculators, start you engines!
Via http://winteriscoming.net/2016/05/05/jeremy-podeswa-tells-ghost-warging-theorists-to-wait-and-see/
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