'Great actors can make you believe what you're seeing.'
Words by Meaghan Kirby
From the editors of HelloGiggles
Production on the final season of Game of Thrones is set to begin very soon, but before we look ahead in anticipation of the season that’ll arrive never in at least a year, we’re still gasping over some of the most dramatic moments of Season 7.
There were honestly so many brilliant moments that moved us to tears last season, but there was something about Jon’s very special encounter with Drogon — which preceded Jon’s very, very special encounter with Dany by a few episodes — that left us dumbfounded. But naturally, shooting the fateful, moving scene wasn’t at all as inspiring as it looked on screen.
Thanks to Game of Thrones‘ behind the scenes miniseries, The Game Revealed, we got a sneak peak at the shooting of the clifftop meeting and honestly, it’s a bit funny.
Obviously as (spoiler) dragons aren’t real — that we know of, of course — Kit Haringon isn’t actually petting a real dragon. But since you need a base prop to build your CGI on, GoT had to resort to ridiculous measures: A foam head on a stick.
While it definitely looks hilarious watching Kit quiver as he reaches out to touch a foam head on a stick, it’s clear that a *lot* of imagination has to go into filming this in order for any of it to actually work. According to Matt Shakman, who directed the fourth and fifth episodes of the season, with a little television magic, filming the scene was just as magical as it was for us to watch.
'In terms of the mythology of the show, that here you have this secret Targaryen meeting a dragon and you’re not sure what’s going to happen when they come face to face,' he explained. 'And Drogon is huge and immediately comes right at him aggressively and Jon stands his ground.'
'It’s a beautiful moment, and standing out there on this cliff in Northern Ireland with 40-50 mile-an-hour winds whipping through, shooting the scene with Kit Harington and his cloak blowing like a superhero in the wind, reaching out and touching this giant green dragon head, which sounds like it would be silly but in the hands of great actors, you know, like him, great actors can make you believe what you’re seeing.'
We promise we only laughed a *little* — okay, maybe a lot — watching Kit pet the foam head, BUT we were totally moved by the real thing during the episode.
Watching The Game Revealed is so eye-opening when it comes to the very talented Game of Thrones crew. We’re forever blown away by just how stunning GoT effects are.
Now that we know the budget for the final season is HUGE, we’re expecting them to go ALL OUT, which hopefully includes room for dragons and direwolves. The final season of Game of Thrones will arrive at the end of 2018…or early 2019.