The night is dark and full of terrors, while this post is less dark but full of plot points from the most recent episode of Game Of Thrones.
Tormund Giantsbane (a.k.a Norwegian actor Kristofer Hivju) took a break from his busy bear-fucking schedule to chat with The Hollywood Reporter about what it was like to film the epic battle scene at the end of “The Battle Of The Bastards.” The Game Of Thrones actor explains that one of the most overwhelming parts of production was reading the script for the first time to see if Tormund would survive (he does). Meanwhile, shooting the battle itself—which took over a month—was both grueling and rewarding:
We had to shoot moment-to-moment, chronologically. We would shoot one sequence 80 times per day. It was cold and it was muddy and it was raining and it was tough, but everybody felt like they were part of something big. It felt like we were doing something much larger than ourselves. So we had a great spirit, and the extras were fantastic. We have a tent with a river going through it, and there’s a warmer that doesn’t work—but still, we have a tent! All of these extras, the spirit they had—my people, my army—they were never giving up. They did a hard job, and they did an amazing job.
The interview also offers a glimpse of Hivju’s Tormund-esque personality. At one point he expresses concern that his character only got the third most kills in the episode (tied with the dragons) while Wun Wun and Jon Snow topped him. As he puts it, “I killed very many people off screen in that fight. (Laughs.) So many of [Kit Harington’s] were included in the cut, so I’m a bit jealous about that! I’m trying to keep my honor up.”
Hivju also talks about the pressure for the show to keep topping itself with these battle sequences, drops some great Wun Wun jokes, and casually reminds everyone that he’ll be in Fast And Furious 8. The full interview is available over on The Hollywood Reporter.