ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So how did it go?
DAVID BENIOFF: It’s weird to say, “Oh, it went great.” Because we’re not just killing characters. We’re losing these actors who have been with us since the beginning. It’s hard, because you love the actors. But it goes back to that first season, that some of the people we loved the most, whether Jason Momoa or Sean Bean [played characters that were killed off].
DAN WEISS: The show is a real family atmosphere. On set, everybody hangs out together. It’s like a member of your family moving across the ocean. You’ll still see them on a holiday. We’ll still see them at conventions for the next 25 years.
Benioff: I remember turning to the script supervisor after one take where Richard was dying and I was like, “That was a good take.” And she was just bawling. It’s a bittersweet thing. You’re making all these people sad. But on the other hand, that’s kind of the idea. If we shot The Red Wedding and nobody got emotional, it would be a failure.
Weiss: It’s the kind of thing that hammers home that everybody’s life is precious and precarious. When you can’t take for granted that a character you love on the show is going to be around forever, it makes you pay more attention to them.
Killing two characters at once has been done before. In fact, The Walking Dead recently did it. Why do you think this scene in particular has had such a strong resonance with fans of the books?
Benioff: Good question. In the book, when the band starts playing “Rains of Castamere,” you know something bad is going to happen. It’s the strongest physical reaction I’ve ever had to reading anything. I didn’t want to turn the page because you know something horrible is going to happen and your can’t quite believe it and you don’t want it to happen. You spend so much time with these characters before then. In the show, we’ve [spent more time focused on] Robb than in the books, mainly because we love Richard Madden as an actor. You look back to the death of Adriana on The Sopranos, that was powerful because you had spent years with her.
Weiss: That’s a good analogy. One of the things that make these deaths so powerful is they’re the machinations of other characters we know. In the case of Charles Dance [Twyin Lannister], it’s a character we like in spite of ourselves. A monster doesn’t come out of the woodwork and chop these people up. The monsters are our other characters, who aren’t monsters, but are people with their own motivations and goals. The fact this thing is happening because of somebody else we know lends to its epic tragic dimension.
Benioff: One of the things I love about the books is that we’re used to, in books and movies when a major character dies, we’re used to a bittersweet final moment. The death speech. You don’t get that here at all. There’s no redemptive moment. There’s just horror and slaughter. You want revenge so quickly for it and you’re not getting it, so you’re deprived of even that satisfaction. It’s just like a kidney punch. That’s the feeling we got in the books and that’s what we’re trying to emulate here on screen.
Read full interview at EW
DAVID BENIOFF: It’s weird to say, “Oh, it went great.” Because we’re not just killing characters. We’re losing these actors who have been with us since the beginning. It’s hard, because you love the actors. But it goes back to that first season, that some of the people we loved the most, whether Jason Momoa or Sean Bean [played characters that were killed off].
DAN WEISS: The show is a real family atmosphere. On set, everybody hangs out together. It’s like a member of your family moving across the ocean. You’ll still see them on a holiday. We’ll still see them at conventions for the next 25 years.
Benioff: I remember turning to the script supervisor after one take where Richard was dying and I was like, “That was a good take.” And she was just bawling. It’s a bittersweet thing. You’re making all these people sad. But on the other hand, that’s kind of the idea. If we shot The Red Wedding and nobody got emotional, it would be a failure.
Weiss: It’s the kind of thing that hammers home that everybody’s life is precious and precarious. When you can’t take for granted that a character you love on the show is going to be around forever, it makes you pay more attention to them.
Killing two characters at once has been done before. In fact, The Walking Dead recently did it. Why do you think this scene in particular has had such a strong resonance with fans of the books?
Benioff: Good question. In the book, when the band starts playing “Rains of Castamere,” you know something bad is going to happen. It’s the strongest physical reaction I’ve ever had to reading anything. I didn’t want to turn the page because you know something horrible is going to happen and your can’t quite believe it and you don’t want it to happen. You spend so much time with these characters before then. In the show, we’ve [spent more time focused on] Robb than in the books, mainly because we love Richard Madden as an actor. You look back to the death of Adriana on The Sopranos, that was powerful because you had spent years with her.
Weiss: That’s a good analogy. One of the things that make these deaths so powerful is they’re the machinations of other characters we know. In the case of Charles Dance [Twyin Lannister], it’s a character we like in spite of ourselves. A monster doesn’t come out of the woodwork and chop these people up. The monsters are our other characters, who aren’t monsters, but are people with their own motivations and goals. The fact this thing is happening because of somebody else we know lends to its epic tragic dimension.
Benioff: One of the things I love about the books is that we’re used to, in books and movies when a major character dies, we’re used to a bittersweet final moment. The death speech. You don’t get that here at all. There’s no redemptive moment. There’s just horror and slaughter. You want revenge so quickly for it and you’re not getting it, so you’re deprived of even that satisfaction. It’s just like a kidney punch. That’s the feeling we got in the books and that’s what we’re trying to emulate here on screen.
Read full interview at EW
"If we shot The Red Wedding and nobody got emotional, it would be a failure." ..... they definitely got emotional down. Not being a reader of the books, I was so shocked (like a kidney punch). I am still thinking about it and the ramifications of their deaths this morning.
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read the books I literally closed the book after that chapter and felt angry, sick, annoyed, disappointed and many more emotions. Here was the heir to the great Ned Stark being the successful battlefield general to avenge his father and then.... WHAM!
It ends.
Gut-wrenching.
I think while I always enjoyed the nuance and non-traditional aspects of the books, the Red Wedding was the exact moment I realized how much the books are different than most other series I had read.
Even though it probably is worse for the book reader, then I think it might be as a viewer, (because it appears in this case a book reader has so much more information than the TV viewer does, making the build and investment stronger) I can kind of deal with stuff like this, as long as the ending doesn't end like this. I rarely find nihilistic or bad conquering all endings good for anything, so I hope what ever comes at the book's and TV series end has some kind of silver lining.
ReplyDeleteI think there will be a silver lining, but not for every character.
ReplyDeleteThe series really is about Westeros as its central character with individual roles telling part of Westeros's story. So some roles will play larger parts and get their silver linings, but others will be far less satisfactory.
People who watch only for certain characters could easily be left in the cold when it turns out their favorite character's role is not a large part of the overall narrative.... or at least does not play into the endgame of the series.
I totally understand what you mean and I'm alright with that. Not that I can help having favorite characters, but I know better than to hold only one character as a cure all in something so politically driven like this, but I think something like this where there seems to be a natural supernatural cycle or 'fate-orientated', it's easier to accept deaths. I would just be mad if they killed every single beginning character off, introduced somebody new like the last season/last couple of chapters and make him/her the savior, while everyone else parishes, or the white walkers consume everyone, leaving only characters we have never met alive, or something like that. But I don't expect them all to live, or new characters to rise up more, just that hopefully there will be some that make it through 'the night'.
ReplyDeleteThat is part of the reason many people did not like books 3 and book 4.
ReplyDeleteThey introduce new characters from regions barely touched on or mentioned that seem to be shaping up as somewhat major players.
I look at it as this was the end (or the beginning of the end) of Act I, now we have a new act that begins and introduces new elements to the story that when combined with existing elements build towards the final act.
The new characters and regions are needed because they add the missing pieces to the overall story. I enjoyed the 2 most recent books a lot because of that. As much or more than some of the first 3 books. Admittedly, I am in the minority in that regard! XD
I like the idea of expanding and getting a bigger picture and it's natural that deaths and stuff help pave the way for that, adding more layers. I just wouldn't like it if the final layers completely cut away from the earlier one's by wiping things associated with them completely out. It's one thing to bridge stuff that way in the middle of a story, it's another thing to end it that way, because then it's like making statement that life is one big tornado and it doesn't matter at all what we do, or what we want, or what we believe in and that's just depressing IMO.
ReplyDeletei`ve never read the books and when i saw it i was really really shocked i could not move it was sad and i was angry like "why he betrayed them like that why" i though maybe lady stark will be safe as hostage but no, she died too, they never got their revenge
ReplyDeleteThe events were definitely shocking. But reading classical literature prepares you very well for tragic outcomes. Tragedy is much more prevalent in novels, dramas, or stories, than happy endings. We actually got spoiled by fairy tales whose dynamics was transferred to the big screen. Knowing since the season one (haven't read the books before the series) that anything goes, I tend to look at the mechanics of the events, not the events themselves. I mean, I do not get particularly sad or happy by the events. As in any good story, you tend to think of it as reality, so what happens just 'is what it is'. The heart of it is 'why did it happen', 'what are the consequences', 'how it will affect other characters', etc. In good stories, it is much more rewarding to think about these questions than about 'what happened', and that is why I believe that any story that can't bear spoilers is not a good, or literary accomplished story. If the only thing that matters is what happens, or what happens next, that it is shallow. This story is not shallow, and that is the best thing I can draw from previous episode. I was not shaking, or screaming, or crying, or yelling, or dreaming, I just sat there as I watched s**t happen and considered whether there is a chance Rob lives, but mom and wife die. Or if all die and that is why Tywin was so sure Sansa will be the air to the Westeros. I immediately understood why Frey did this. I kept thinking 'I knew there was something fishy about Bolton (this probably was the price for keeping Jaime)', When Kat got knife to the throat of Walder's wife, I knew what he would say next, and wanted to see how it would all play out. Also, what is Arya to do now? She has all the more motivation for the revenge. Maybe she goes to find Jacquen (or however it was spelled). Maybe Bravos?
ReplyDeleteIn short, manipulative stories stir your brain. Good stories stir your emotions, but put your brain into overdrive. I am glad this story is one of the latter kind
Very true!
ReplyDeleteIn a lot of ways something this brutal was needed to move the story forward. Something that affected everyone (within the story). It was a transformation event for individuals who lived through it, witnessed it, and for the North in general since it was anathema to their culture and religion.
So, I am now wondering. North is very overdue for some revenge, something good. I know its Martin's story, but bad guys can't always win, right? Do I have anything too look forward to, even through to the book five, or its bleak bleak all the way down?
ReplyDeleteThere are a few moments that should make fans rejoice, especially fans of House Stark! I will not say when to leave surprise a factor, but....
ReplyDeleteThere will be revenge in one form or another against House Frey for sure, The act of betraying Guest Right will not go unnoticed by man or the gods...
Bolton's may come later as well.... (Not yet in the books though)
The man who orchestrated it all, Tywin, will get what's coming to him later on as most people would expect... Not necessarily just for the Red Wedding though. He has done a lot of things to anger a lot of people over the years of course!