All language subtitles for The.House.That.Dragons.Built.S02E04.1080p.WEB.H264-DragonHallZ

It's the movie magic
behind the curtain.

Explosions. There is
a lot of explosions.

The level of preparation.

Those guys are puttin'
their lives at risk

on a constant basis.

Three dragons, not two.

That's gonna be a huge
thing for the audience.

They're so clever, those guys.

Once dragons get introduced that
way, there's no turning back.

We've talked about this since
creating Daemon as a character

is George always
said about Daemon,

"He's heroic and
villainous in equal parts,"

and that's what makes him
fascinating as a character.

Well, that was the first
shot of the whole season.

- Set.
- Here we go. Cameras set and action!

And we were the first actors there
because Mills was goin' off to do a play.

So, we were just right into the sort
of nuts and bolts of it, really.

There was a lot of
conversation ahead of time

and also during the shooting
as to whether these were

dreams we were
experiencing or visions

or something magical.

Should we shoot it
on different lenses?

Should we light it in
a very distinctive way?

Should we give it its
own visual signature

that would signal to the
audience immediately,

"Oh, okay, this is a dream"?

And the decision led, of
course, by Ryan and by Alan

was that, no, we
shouldn't do that.

That we should shoot it as
we would shoot a normal scene

and let the content of the narrative
make it apparent that it was a dream.

I can't understand.

This felt like a real way
to dramatize something

very core to Daemon's character
that was going on with him.

It's a throwback to a
scene from season one.

In season one, Daemon
was sitting on the throne

and Rhaenyra comes
in to meet him.

This time, we reverse that, so
that Rhaenyra's on the throne

and Daemon comes in to meet her.

It's Rhaenyra, but it's
the wrong Rhaenyra.

The fact that it meant that we got
to bring back Milly delighted me

because I adore her and all
that she brought to the show.

And I really did know that the
fan base would really delight

in, hopefully, the surprise
of seeing her come back.

Feels like I never left,
which is what's kind of weird.

It's nice to be back.

And it was one of those very
"House of the Dragon" moments

where we're doing the scene and,
finally, she comes down into a close-up

which is sort of the crescendo
of what's goin' on between them.

And she's radiant and
there's tears in her eyes

and she's speaking full
Valyrian the entire time

without stumbling
in perfect accent.

And we cut. Brilliant.

So my brief encounter
with her was great.

And then I chopped her head off.

Well, I loved that
when I read it.

I always wanted the
dream sequences,

or whatever you call them,
I was always pushing that

they felt mad and
horror-like as possible.

If we're gonna go for it, let's go
for it. Great having Milly back.

We really miss her.

So much fun, I love Matt.

Matt's such a sweetheart.
And he's incredibly talented.

It was actually
really nostalgic.

I sat on the throne

which is actually
kind of lopsided.

It's a throne made out of swords,
so it doesn't look very comfortable.

- Don't listen to her, honestly.
- Go on.

It was great seeing the warmth between
them because they know each other so well

so, there was that.

And I think they were both very happy
to get back together, even if violently.

Very nice. And we
cut. Very nice.

It's a touch late to be
stalkin' about a strange castle

putting its people to the sword.

- You.
- I'm called Alys.

Alys Rivers was definitely
one of the iconic costumes

in that she's
residing at Harrenhal

but shouldn't really look
like she belongs there.

Take one, and marker.

We didn't want to lean too
much into the witch thing.

She just needed to look like
a sort of strange member

of the household.

We wanted it to have this
kind of aged grandeur to it.

And that the palette there
is purples and lavenders.

When I saw that
they'd cast Gayle,

it was a dream come true.

I always had a vision
of that porcelain skin.

We embraced her paleness.

When I read the book,
I saw long hair,

and we managed to pick
quite an inky raven color

which, you know, is
so beautiful against

the complexion of her skin
tone and her eye color.

And I don't think there's
anything witchy about it.

Thirteen delta, take two.

Gayle was very happy
and she looks fantastic.

It's been a complete,
complete pleasure.

To feel embraced by the cast and
the crew was just really special.

Matt and I got to have the experience of
meeting each other for the first time.

And he's such a generous actor,
and just so fun to work with.

She's a fabulous,
fabulous actor,

and I think she's created
a really great character.

Here, drink this.

You'll need your sleep if you're
to win this place to your side.

Rook's Rest is the
biggest thing that

"House of the Dragon"
has mounted, to date,

in terms of the size and
expense of a set piece

and we needed to get it right.

Rook's Rest, for
us, is a big setup.

You never quite can understand
how big something is

until you really
turn up on the day,

and you see the size
of the operation.

Stand by, guys,
stand by to shoot.

And this is a big operation.

Rook's Rest was our biggest
obstacle of this season for sure.

We were shooting down
in the home counties.

We had 500 crowd in total,
four different houses.

So, we had Rosby, Stokeworth,
Darklyn, and Hightower,

all in different looks, in
different stages of the battle.

Oh, it was brilliant.

- It's alright?
- Yes, that was great.

Good, good, good.

That was a complicated
scene. Big battle.

Dragons, dragon fire,
horses, dead people.

Complex, logistical
thing to put together.

What should be a small
campaign to take a small keep

turns into a kind
of watershed moment

that tilts the war.

We experienced what it really is like
to unleash dragons for the first time.

Dragon!

Advance!

Thankfully, we had Alan Taylor, the
veteran filmmaker on "Game of Thrones"

and countless other
shows to do it.

Alan came to it and really brought just
kind of another level of scale to it.

Working with Alan's fantastic
'cause he's one of those directors

who knows what he wants
before he gets there.

The thing with Rook's Rest
is that Alan storyboarded

Rook's Rest really, really
carefully in advance.

Shout out to Jane Wu, our
main storyboard artist,

because I was collaborating with
her, that designed the action,

both in the air
and on the ground

and sort of shaped
it into the story

that we wound up
shooting and telling.

And then I was
shown Bourne Wood.

Bourne Wood is a bit
of a popular location

because it goes back to
"Gladiator" days and Ridley Scott.

So you think, "If
Ridley Scott chose it,

then it's gotta be pretty good."

And it is.

I had been out there
before 'cause we had,

I think we had scouted
it in season one.

It was pointed out to me, and I just
said, "Oh, we have to come back here."

We needed a tree line and
we also needed an open space

and a ridge where the
castle could be based.

So we did look at a number
of different places.

And Bourne was the winner.

King Aegon!

You really felt like
you were at a battle.

You know, what was so
amazing is that it felt like

we were talking about
it for such a long time,

Alan and I, and
Freddie and Ryan.

It felt like we were in
endless conversations about it

and watching previs, and
talking through each beat

of every single scene, and
then you finally get there

and it's just this
incredibly iconic set.

It's like one of those moments, me
and Freddie were talking about it,

where you go like, "Ah,
this is pretty amazing."

I mean, the battles in
episode four, I think,

are probably gonna be
water cooler conversation

for quite some time.

I never really thought it was
a battle until I got there

and saw the scale that
we were bringing with us.

So, you know, four battering
rams moving across the field

and more horses than I can
count, all in full armor.

Not just the riders,
but the horses.

Three or four houses
with different livery

and different banners
and different insignia

all marshaling together.

Sadly for them, most of them
are there as dragon fodder

and they don't know it.

It was a much bigger dress time

for set dec when we had
various army encampments.

We did all the tents
and the bivouacs

and our fabulous drapes department
made all of those for us

and then, props department
put them together.

Rook's Rest was a logistical issue for
us to make sure we had enough bodies,

we had enough dead horses,
we had enough war machines

and that we could
move 'em around.

It's a big location,

multiple cameras shootin'
in multiple areas.

It was about havin' the right
crew there that could cope with

rushing things from
one area to the next.

We had our main
unit working for us

and a sizable splinter
unit working for us.

Any of the larger kind of
stunts or tricks and flicks

were led by Rowley Irlam,
the stunt coordinator.

Battering ram dropping down,
yeah? That's where it goes from.

I worked with Rowley
many times before.

His field of operations
was close to mine

so he could send me images
and I could watch takes

and ask for adjustments
if necessary

but he also embellishes
things and raises things.

And then guys doin' the arrow hits,
you can come a little bit closer

to the battering ram, please.

The huge setup there with
the big burns of dragons.

So Meleys would
be flying through

and setting fire to people.

We can do things in CGI,
but actually shooting

real people doing these things,

it just gives it another
level of authenticity.

That was kind of our big number.

There was a lot of stuff
done in the tree line.

We did a lot of fire work there.

We burned eight people on a
battering ram with a strafe.

Every time there's a dragon
strafe, it's just so much fun.

Dragon roaring flame is different,
but when you're in the field and it...

it's quite exciting.

I've never seen another human
so happy to burn people alive,

let me tell you.

So we should do another one

- at 45 degree, then, yeah?
- Yeah.

We set down 20 (indistinct),
which we bury in the ground

and special effects
basically ignites the flames.

So you end up with a sort
of 12-, 15-foot fireball.

Please clear behind
the barriers!

We had eight of
my guys in there.

They're all covered
in, like, really

flammable accelerant gel.

I, personally,
would turn and run

but they just stand there and
it just comes towards them

and they're engulfed in it.

We ended up doing these garments

which had burns built into them,
so you've got a shirt like this

with the burn makeup on it

so you could,
literally, pull it on

without having to
do an application.

We are, and we should be, quite good
at settin' people on fire by now.

The big dragon fight that's
happening in the sky,

a lot of it was shot on
something that's a cross

between a Volume and
a blue screen stage.

This was buck 2.0 this year.

I mean, they did learn from the
first season and improve it.

It can be programmed in ways
that the other one was not.

So, to simulate the flaps of wing
movement and sudden changes in direction.

It's very animal-like.

You know, almost feel
the breath of the beast.

The camera's adjustin' to
your movements as well.

We did it slightly
differently this year.

We have a robot camera.

We worked out a plan
to attach the camera

to the buck rig

and having the movement
match to the buck.

And the two working together
can provide almost any angle.

The way World War II dogfights
were shot, plane to plane,

most of our stuff is
shot dragon to dragon.

You want the camera to feel like
it's, essentially, on another dragon.

And three, two, one, action.

The buck work, all of my...
only memory of the buck work

is a large amount
of wind on the face.

The Rook's Rest work,

this saddle's throwing itself
around all over the place.

- Action.
- Angos Meleys!

The most critical character
work has to happen,

you know, while
bein' slammed around.

The quality of performance you're
used to with her was all there

even though she's being flung
around on a bucking dragon

and chased by a robotic camera.

Fuck me sideways.

Fire in three, two, one!

We have a set on the backlot pickin'
up lots of different elements

so we don't have to
go for a CG approach

because, of course,
real fire looks real.

It is mental, yeah. I
wanted to go bigger.

Because we've got Vhagar,

I really wanted
to go dirty burn,

you know, like, an
intense burn and big burn.

And it is horrific.

And it goes 50 foot maybe.

It's a weapon of mass
destruction really.

I think the most
showstopping moment

is when the two bigger
dragons engage in the air

and it comes to a death spiral.

What Alan did was
went back and actually

did a bunch of research
around birds of prey

and how they fight
with each other.

Alan was really keen
on this kind of ritual

where they lock talons
and they spin around.

A lot of the work was dumped on previs
'cause you can have two dragons spiraling

in a kind of triple-axis turn
to the ground blowing fire

but it takes a lotta work to
work out what that really means.

I kept trying to protect that as
the "nuclear event" in the story.

Storywise, is the kind of
the turning of the tides

in terms of what kind of
war people have experienced.

The idea was that Cole has
been broken by this experience

and he's basically been
completely knocked out.

And when he wakes up, it's
to a new world sort of.

And the world had to feel almost
surreal in its level of devastation.

You've got people
crawling along.

We had amputees with their legs
burnt off, with arms burnt off.

People walkin' around on fire.

Waldo and his team created

the Dust Man, as we called him.

When I, you know,
went to touch it,

it was just a really intricate affair
where you had to time it just right,

touch it with just the
right amount of pressure,

so they could pull it.

Yeah, it was pretty amazing.

Every time they had to
reset that, I was like,

I don't envy them.

Just sort of crumbles into
ash, that was a way of saying,

whatever you thought
you knew about soldiery

has been burned to a crisp
and you're on your own.

And we cut. Checking.

I mean, I think it's a Pyrrhic
victory for both sides.

The Blacks lose Rhaenys's
dragon and a dragonrider

and one of Rhaenyra's
most trusted councilors.

And the Greens, we don't
really know the condition

of Sunfyre or Aegon,
but certainly,

Sunfyre is not going to fly again tomorrow
and the king is not in good shape.

Well, I mean, all of Aegon's
worst fears come true when

he's plummetin' to the Earth
after being hit by a ball of fire.

Because they cross
the nuclear line,

it's been devastating
for everybody.

Both sides have lost
something major.

Oh, my God, massive loss. What
a disaster. Total disaster.

Best fighter down
and best dragon down.

I mean, the whole
thing's total chaos.

But, yes, if you've gotta go,
going on the back of a dragon

in the middle of the
best, kickass fight

that there's ever been,
is quite a good way.

It's never nice. As particularly,
someone who is such a wonderful person

and such a brilliantly
talented performer

and we've become very
close and very good friends

over this short period of time.

But it's an absolute, absolute
dream to work with her.

So, it was a bit,
like, "Oh, wow.

Oh, that's really, you know,"

but we're not gonna stop
being friends so, you know.

To deliver these really
dynamic dragon flying shots

and have those intercut with
this sort of drama and action

happenin' on the ground,
it's comin' together to be

a really incredible scene.

I think Alan pretty
much got, an incredible

battle sequence that
he's put together.

Really proud to
be a part of that.

You're in the middle of something so huge
that the kind of thing that, as actors,

you don't get to do very often.

Alright, mate. Thanks, Alan.

You just have to pinch yourself every
so often that you're on this thing.

I sincerely doubt I'll ever
be a part of this grand

scene again for the rest of my
career, so I felt very, very lucky.

It's the hardest thing that I've ever
done as a producer and a showrunner

and frankly, as a writer.

But I'm very, very
proud of the result.