Game of Thrones was renowned for its graphic, intricate, and bloody battle scenes, and the prequel House of The Dragon will use the same approach. Additionally, some of the fight scenes feature gory clashes not just between adults but also between kids. And when kids get involved, the difficulty to film such scenes increases tenfold.
The “kid night fight” was the most difficult scene to film in Season 1
Rowley Irlam, the stunt coordinator for House of the Dragon and a four-time Emmy winner, was recently interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter about the difficulties he encountered when choreographing the incredibly realistic combat and impending moments in Season 2. He also revealed the most difficult scene he filmed in Season 1:
“The kid night fight [when Lucerys fights with Aemond]. We had kids ranging from 9 to 13, and we couldn’t use doubles for them. The kids don’t know how to film a fight. How are we going to do this? We taught them how to throw a punch, how to change it if the camera angle was different, how to fall over.”
“We built a set and filled it with rubber clippings about four inches deep so they couldn’t hurt themselves. We went into a blackened tunnel for three days and weren’t coming out until we’d finished. It was good fun, but hard work.”
House of The Dragon used 300 lances for the jousting scene
Another scene that Irlam is particularly a fan of is the jousting sequence from early on in Season 1. He fondly remembers, “Everything was designed to be visually high-impact. You can’t soften those impacts, but you can make them safe. You make them so that you are not going to break your arm or land on your head. They’re all choreographed to look dynamic.”
“We had 300 breakaway lances that got broken. I’m really proud that we flew the cameras as well — we did a camera all down the [center dividing] rail with a tension line and remote control, so we get as close as possible to the action.”
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