In a quick interview roundup on the eve of “The Queen’s Justice:” Kit Harington chats about the Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen meeting we’ve all been waiting for; Gemma Whelan talks about exploring Euron’s psychopathy with Pilou Asbæk. Carice Van Houten discusses audience sensitivity to sexuality; cinematographer Robert McLachlan hints at how we’ll likely react to upcoming episodes and a sign in Canada is vandalized in the name of Northern Loyalty.
According to People, Kit Harington recently spoke to Elle about the highly anticipated meeting between Daenerys Targaryen and her nephew, Jon Snow which will take place next episode. It “will be a huge pleasure” for fans, Harington assured us.
Cinematographer, Robert McLachlan, spoke to RadioTimes.com –twice– about what the rest of season 7 holds in store for us. Though he remained tight-lipped on plot details, he called episode 4 “surprising and epic” and episode 5 “crowd-pleasing” and “very satisfying.” He went into a little bit more detail about episode 6 (though not as much as the title of the article suggests, quite frankly):
“I’m really looking forward to that one because it’s quite different to the rest,” he said. “It was filmed after my shoots – it was done mostly in the winter time. They filmed in dismal conditions in a quarry in Northern Ireland. I think they got some nice scenic stuff in Iceland as well.”
In an interview with IndieWire, Gemma Whelan discussed what it was like to film that epic sea battle in last week’s episode, from performing fight choreography amidst burning embers to having to un-learn her ballet training in order to look appropriately brutish on screen. She also mentioned that, though Euron cackles manically after Theon jumps overboard in the final cut, in one take Pilou Asbæk opted to lick Gemma’s face instead.
“Yeah, he did lick me,” she said. “He and I make a great team, and I’m very free and open to things on set. I never get very rigid. It’s just perfect. I thought what he chose to do in that moment is he’s [playing] a psychopath, and so, it only helps if you’re being licked by someone when you’re covered in blood and sweat and whatever, and they’re covered in filth as well. It’s horrible, but if you can stay in the moment and react as if its horrible, then that’s great.”
Carice van Houten spoke with The Telegraph about the various challenges of working on Game of Thrones, including the emotional toll of filming high-stress scenes so soon after giving birth to her first child. She also addressed the prevalence of sex and nudity on the show and pointed out that audiences tend to get more bent out shape over the depiction of sexuality than violence.
‘In Melisandre’s case, I think I can justify it because she uses sexuality as a weapon… she’s trying to manipulate,” Van Houten said. “I find it hypocritical that we can show people with their heads blown off, then there’s one nipple and viewers get upset. That’s the thing that I struggle with… you don’t have sex with a bra on. I just want to normalise it.”
On a lighter note, according to TheStar.com, a James Snow Parkway exit sign on a highway in Milton, Ontario was defaced recently to read “Jon Snow Parkway” by a few anonymous ne’er-do-wells seeking to publicly express Stark solidarity. The sign has, sadly, been returned to normal and police are monitoring the area to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Hot Pie…I mean Hodor!
Thoughts on Robert McLachlans comments?
We’re such rebels in Canada. 😂
A few stray thoughts :
Kit Harington is awesome.
It’s cool that Gemma and Pilou are so comfortable with each other and that they try crazy shit, but I’d like to take a moment to thank the Seven that the licking take wasn’t used. That would have been way too much.
I love Carice for what she said. We should indeed stop getting so bent out of shape over the human body and sex.
I’m aware of someone who sees the episodes about a week ahead of time and this person said episode 4 is among the top 3 best episodes they’ve ever done.
Episode 5 is the most mysterious episode of the season for me, it’s the one I’ve been the least spoiled on, so I don’t really know what the hugely satisfying aspects of it will be. I do know of one moment that will indeed be a huge crowd-pleaser though, and I am quite looking forward to it.
Why does the people interview mention Brienne and Jaime!?! The other things they mention are all anticipated for ep 3 but surely a J/B meeting can’t be next epi… can it?
Kit’s remark has me pumped. Less than 24 hours guys!
Pigeon,
No, you are northerners.
Imagine if Jon and Dany meet and just immediately do a dance off?
Or they have a special hand shake like the Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Jon Snow Parkway….. hahaha…. 😀 Love the humor of the miscreants!
Ewww….. to the take of Euron licking Yara’s face. Though…… if that take was serious, it may be suggestive of what happens to Yara.
Crowd-pleasing episode 5? What does he mean?
Markus Stark,
I’m so excited!!!
Sam,
You mean The Great White North-erners
What a miserable load of shites the RCMP are removing the “Jon Snow” Parkway sign! They could have at least left it there for the duration of S7 to give motorists (who are into GoT) some amusement and a talking point 😀
This is completely off topic, but in Sussex in the UK there is a town called Uckfield. When they built the Uckfield bypass back in the 1980’s, there was a rectangular road sign saying the [RIVER UCK] – Its quite common in the UK to put road signs beside a river crossing no matter how small.
You can imagine how many times an ‘F’ was added making it read [RIVER FUCK]. It would removed/painted over by the town council but within days, the ‘F’ was back on the sign again! It happened so often the town council decided to nip this prank in the bud once and for all? They remade the road sign in the form of a ‘T’ with RIVER on top and UCK below and with no space to add the ‘F’.
I haven’t lived in the UK for years and presume that sign is still there, but sure some smart asses have occasionally found a way to get around that… I’ll have to check it out on Google Street View 😀
I know this is totally off subject but I really like looking for hidden clues in the dialog… Jon Snow said “You are my sister Sansa but I am King of the North” and then Jon and Sansa talk about Sansa interrupting Jon in front of the Lords and then Jon says Father said “Everything spoken before the word ‘but’ is bs”… Jon revealing the truth without even knowing what he did.
I also heard Sansa say “Tyrion is not like the other Lannisters” and Ellaria Sands says to Tyrion “There are no innocent Lannisters”
The ruler of the Seven Kingdoms – Cercei Lannister with her twin brother Jamie by her side
The King of the North – Jon Snow with his sister/cousin Sansa by his side
The Queen of the Iron Islands – Yara Greyjoy with her brother Theon Greyjoy by her side
Queen Daenerys Targaryen with Tyrion
by her side
Hee-hee-hee! Oh, that’s hilarious. That exit is along the 401 between the Toronto airport and Waterloo/Kitchner, where I meet business contacts a few times per year. U of Waterloo miscreants are the best!
Top 3 best episode of the series? It will also be the shortest episode of the series.
Jack Bauer 24,
Bear in mind that “Watchers on the Wall” was also about 50 or 51 minutes, yet was awesome IMO.
Lol. THE KING IN THE NORTH! Eh?
Got a chuckle at the road sign
Tbh as good as the scene was I reckon the “lick” cut may have really been something!
Cinematography of the Naval battle was fantastic, loved the burning embers floating across the screen, and they chose the right shots, eg really gave the feel of a chaotic ambush and I really liked the shot where the top mast starts collapsing and the fire shoots right across the deck
Really looking forward to E4 and E6 then, if they are talking about Iceland I suspect this might be the Bran raven warging scale shot of the NK Army which will be good if the opening shot of S7 is anything to go by
Markus Stark,
Well it has the potential, since there are dragons.
One interesting bit from the interview with McLachlan:
“And, arguably more interesting, what will happen in the “very satisfying” and “crowd-pleasing” episode five? Well we may just have another clue to that. McLachlan revealed that David Nutter had originally been scheduled to direct episode four and five, but after undergoing back surgery he was replaced by Thrones newbie Matt Shakman. Nutter’s original hiring might offer a hint at what’s to come.”
That wasn’t known to us before, was it?
Markus Stark,
I did not know you followed the leaks!
I don’t know how seriously to take his rankings. He had also said that the sea battle in episode 2 would be awesome and that episode was easily in the top 10 for him. While I thought the last episode was really good, it wouldn’t be anywhere close to the top 10 for me. So let’s see.
Episode 4 leak spoilers:
I would totally park my car in Jon’s parkway. 😜
i wonder if the 3 eyed raven can warg into any raven they want to and read the messages attached to them from all over westoros…that would come in handy
TBH, I’m a little more excited to see the other scenes with Jon and Dany where they’re alone than I am the initial and more public one which I think is reasonably predictable.
jymion,
Wikileaks.
would be as big as breaking hitlers enigma machine
Violator,
I think we will get both in same episode, just like with Tyrion and Dany in S5.
ghost of winterfell,
I actually didn’t read the leaks, and I try to avoid them, but unfortunately I’ve seen a lot of them.
There are several youtubers who discuss the leaks and put spoilers in their titles, and their videos are frequently suggested to me. Similarly, YouTube and reddit comments are littered with spoilers, even on supposedly spoiler-free threads, so I’ve seen way more of the leaks than I wanted to.
A preview for episode 3
https://twitter.com/GameOfThrones/status/891675508357726208
firstone,
You just totally made my day with this.
Jaime why do you look so good on a horse.