One of HBO’s biggest shows of last year managed to redeem a franchise that had a disastrous ending.
But, thenHouse of the Dragonpremiered, and it felt like Westeros had new life breathed into it.
The series iscurrently filming Season 2 despite the writers strike.
Image by Annamaria Ward
We spoke with directorClare Kilnerabout the show.
COLLIDER: I will just jump right in, Clare.
I especially loved your episodes, actually, so are you currently working on Season 2?
Image via HBO
Is that whats keeping you busy?
CLARE KILNER: I am.
How’s that going?
Image via HBO
KILNER: It’s going great.
Yeah, I’m doing Episodes 2 and 5, really interesting episodes.
I’m always nervous before new jobs even if I know everybody, but I love it.
Image via HBO
Are you just doing the two episodes or is there more that you’re doing?
KILNER: I’m doing two episodes.
There’s eight episodes this season, and I’m doing two.
Image via HBO
There are five different directors working.
Well, you directed, like I said, some of my favorite episodes.
So, for starters, everything we had to shoot, we had to do a lot of CGI.
Image via HBO
I was actually going to ask about that and how that planning went.
How many extras were you working with when it came to that pop in of scene?
How many people are you operating with?
Like, what is the scope of that?
KILNER: I think we had about something between 350 and 400 extras, but then we did defining.
You want different reactions within the group, so it looks real.
So we do, you know, Okay, 400 people run towards the door.
Okay, and now run again.
400 people run, we mix them up, and they run towards the door again.
Well, they did a great job!
KILNER: They did brilliantly!
So when you watch some of these incredible military extravagances, it’s a cast of thousands.
Yeah, that’s very impressive.
KILNER: Do you mean at the wedding?
Yes, at the wedding, pre-wedding dance, I guess.
I’m a woman, but I don’t know what the female gaze is.
So, I sort of had to come back to, What do I want?
How do I want to express what is happening in this brothel?
He said, You’ve got to come and see this.
I mean, there’s no shame in those places, everybody can do what they want.
No one’s judging you.
So we just wanted to create this atmosphere of abandon and fun, but also intensity.
I’m not gonna tell you what’s happening.
And we created little stories for every single person.
They were moving from person to person, we sort of wanted it to be like a dance.
And then, those two, they work really well together.
They were just a dream.
They’re just really wonderful actors.
They want to be honest and truthful and find a connection.
I mean, you could definitely get that on the screen.
KILNER: Well, yeah, I was terrified when I read that scene.
I think it was nine days or something, we took to shoot that scene.
I just think there’s something about eating on camera that grounds it, that makes it real.
And then, we had to do all these entrances.
So, we did those lots of those shots on the crane.
How do they move?
Right, it needed to look good.
So, then I decided that everything on the dance floor should be shot with steady cam.
So, all our principal performers had to be there, so they were very patient with us.
A lot of moving parts for that one.
KILNER: Yeah, there’s nine days of that.
You guys did a great job.
Was it him seeing Rhaenyra on the dance floor?
Was it something that Joffrey said that probably was the last straw?
Do you have an idea?
It doesn’t matter because he killed his king.
So I just want to talk a little bit about Season 2.
What has it been like without so much leaping around?
Yeah, for sure.
Well, I just have one more question just to wrap it up.
Is there a lesson or a takeaway you have from working on such a big project?
Is there something that you take away from it that you’ll move on to future projects?
It’s like a family dysfunction.
It’s like, how do these people connect?
What is their story?
How does it relate to us?
But it’s been such an epic journey, I don’t want it to stop.
