'Game Of Thrones' Season 5 Spoilers: Episode 9 Director David Nutter Talks 'Huge And Quite Powerful' 'The Dance Of Dragons'
David Nutter is exactly the person you'd want to direct the most important episodes of your television series. From pilots to season finales, Nutter has done it all across every genre on television. With four episodes of "Game of Thrones" under his belt, Nutter had the fun task of directing the final two episodes of "Game of Thrones" Season 5. Given the enormity of "Hardhome," what can we expect from episode 9, "The Dance of Dragons"?
Nutter is no stranger to handling monumental tasks for "Game of Thrones." He previously directed the final two episodes of "Game of Thrones" Season 3, including the shocking "Red Wedding." While "Rains of Castamere" was the big episode of that season, Nutter is following up "Game of Thrones" Season 5, episode 8, "Hardhome." With this season winding down, it seems unlikely anything could top the final scene of "Hardhome" when the Night's King raised an undead army. But in a recent interview with International Business Times Nutter told fans not to be so sure.
"All I can say is that, with the scope and size of 'Hardhome,' expect episodes 9 and 10 to be as compelling and rich and flavored. They're quite wonderful, quite huge and quite powerful episodes," he said. "They're quite something, David and Dan gave me gold to work with. We all did it together and made something quite special."
While Nutter wouldn't comment more about specific scenes or what could happen on "The Dance of Dragons" and "Mother's Mercy," he did say he's anything but excited about what's coming up. Based on the speculation -- and set photos -- there are going to be big moments for Daenerys and Cersei in the upcoming episodes. "My situation is always the opposite of excitement. I'm dreading it," Nutter said. "I fear my inability to do them well. To me, looking forward to something, I wish psychologically I could enjoy more, but I don't because I have this fear of failing.
"With the amazing reaction the 'Hardhome' episode got, I think that similar size of reaction will be very, very evident -- and maybe even more -- and quite powerful," Nutter said of the next episodes.
Much like loyal "Game of Thrones" viewers, Nutter will be tuning in on Sunday to catch "The Dance of Dragons." He said he will be watching with crew members he worked with on "Game of Thrones."
With six episodes now under his belt, Nutter has a unique perspective on making "Game of Thrones." Let's take a look at his experience working on the "Red Wedding" episode and the amazing cast of the show.
Nutter is something of a pilot guru, having directed many first episodes, most recently "The Flash." He has also directed episodes of "The X-Files," "Superboy," "Entourage," "Arrow," "Supernatural," "The West Wing," "Homeland," "ER," "Band of Brothers" and "Smallville."
"It's quite a commitment to be involved with the show. Every year I have a pilot that I'm involved with doing and then I have to basically figure out what I'm going to do with my life," Nutter said about his experience leading up to working on the HBO series. "After watching the first season of 'Game of Thrones,' I said I wanted to be involved with that."
Much like fellow director Alex Graves, Nutter has nothing but praise for the show's producers and executives. "Getting a chance to work with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Bernadette Caulfied, Christopher Newman and Frank Doelger has been a wonderful experience because they are all about the quality and caliber of the work," he said. "You never have enough time or money to do anything that you're trying to do well, but you can get a little extra to help tell the story to make it compelling and tell the story the way it should be told."
With all the support, dedication and admiration, Nutter described working on "Game of Thrones" as the "best job in town."
Nutter has not read George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series because he does not want to be influenced in a way that could detract from "Game of Thrones," noting the many changes from the book to the series. "The script is the bible and that's what I really follow," Nutter said. Without knowing what was to come, he was tasked by Benioff and Weiss to direct the "Red Wedding" episode.
"It's the kind of thing in which David and Dan are brilliant with respect to the emotional involvement with the characters and the show," Nutter said about the "Red Wedding." "To me, they spent three seasons emotionally grabbing you and involving you in the series and building up these characters that were so strongly influenced, so strongly directed and so strongly valuable to the series. As they did with Ned Stark in the first season. But, Season 1 goes by, Season 2 goes by, Season 3 goes by and now you have three other characters you're madly in love with: Robb Stark, Catelyn Stark and Talisa Stark. It's a situation in which you're such fans of theirs and you can relate to them and so connected to them that to kill them, it's like killing a member of your own family.
"Because you're so invested in it and, to me, that's something that was an opportunity I couldn't pass up," Nutter said. The "Red Wedding" was, perhaps, the defining moment of the first three seasons "Game of Thrones." Ned's death in the first season surprised viewers and made everyone aware that no character was safe on the show. The deaths of Robb and Catelyn cemented that with a cruel dagger to the heart, shocking viewers much like it did readers who spent hundreds of pages with these characters.
"Of course, whenever I direct anything, I beat myself up all the time. I worry that I didn't get it good enough, make it as strong as it should or can be and for this it was a situation which, when I was directing in Season 2, David and Dan liked my work and went up to me and said, 'We'd like you to direct the Season 3 'Red Wedding' episode," Nutter recalled. "And I had no idea what that actually was yet and they hadn't told anybody, but they started grooming me to do that."
Shooting such a pivotal scene was no easy task and something Nutter didn't take lightly. "When I found out the importance of that and what it was going to be about, I basically had this 500 pound weight on my shoulders for the next 7 months," Nutter said. "I tend to not know how to phone it in. I'm not a 9-5 guy, so for the next 7 months, 24/7, I thought about that and didn't do a whole lot more. I felt I had a responsibility to portray it in a way that was worthy of such a fantastic show and the audience that was so in love with the characters."
The incredible reaction to the "Red Wedding" -- from howls of disbelief to YouTube videos -- thrilled Nutter, calling it "wonderful" and praising the staff, producers and everyone who works on "Game of Thrones."
Nutter also holds the cast in high regard, praising their work ethic and understanding of their characters, but don't ask him to choose a favorite. "I'm always a big believer in making sure the actors are comfortable in knowing what's going on and everyone knows the direction of the day," Nutter said. "As for who do I like the best, that's like choosing what child I like best. These actors are the best I've ever worked with, they're all tremendous and so wonderfully talented. Most of the time it's just me pointing my camera at them."
In addition to working with great actors, Nutter gets to travel just about everywhere when directing. "Game of Thrones" is shot in several locations and scenes may be filmed at the same time across different continents. "As in awe as the audience is in watching their performances, with respect to Lena Headey to Emilia Clarke to Peter Dinklage, to name just three of all the amazing actors, I'm in awe working with them," Nutter said.
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