‘Game of Thrones’ actor recalls epic battle shoot

PHOTO from HBO and Helen Sloan

LONDON—In a press junket weeks prior to the premiere of “Game of Thrones’” fifth season, Kit Harington, the British actor who plays Jon Snow, talked about a particular scene that took a month to shoot, involved a few hundred extras, and was spruced up with special effects “three times” the amount a standard episode has.

In terms of scale, that set piece, Harington said, may just be the biggest yet in the hit TV series.

He was right. The scene, of course, turned out to be the epic battle sequence that transpired in the eighth episode, “Hardhome,” which was lauded by critics as the season’s best. The set piece—gripping, chilling and filled with a sense of dread—had the fearsome hordes of White Walkers and Wights ambushing Jon and the Wildlings, just as they were   about to set sail for Castle Black.

“It accounted for 20 minutes of the episode and was definitely a step up production-wise. It was bigger in terms of size—and budget—than the whole of last season’s ninth episode (‘The Watchers on the Wall’),” the 28-year-old actor told journalists, including the Inquirer, in an interview.

Asked if doing a scene that utilizes CGI could be a tedious exercise, he said that the “Thrones” team does a good job minimizing the need for effects as much as possible.

“There are always things that you can’t quite see in the background, say small strips of green… or someone could be wearing something with a bit of green on it,” he said, referring to chroma keying, a type of postproduction technique. “That way, we don’t feel like mere props.”

Larger than life

But at the same time, he pointed out, the show does at times make one feel like he or she is part of something that’s so much larger than life, which can be daunting.

“It’s your job then to bring everything back down to the acting. But it can be tough at times because you have to wait for the effects to be right… Four cameras need to roll at the same time. You’re part of this massive thing, so you have to be always on point,” he said.

Harington believes that Jon is the closest the show can get to an archetypal hero. “He’s a good person and has the least ego of anyone,” he said of Jon, who’s the bastard child of the late Lord of Winterfell, Eddard Stark, and now the lord commander of the Night’s Watch. “He’s just doing his job, defending others who may not be capable of doing it for themselves.”

On speculations that Jon may end up sitting on the Iron Throne and ruling the Seven Kingdoms, Harington was a little doubtful, saying that his character lacks some much-needed political savvy. “He still has a lot to learn if he’s going to be [a ruler],” said the actor, who starred in the play “War Horse” prior to “Thrones.”

“I don’t think he’s a born politician. He’s like his father—too honest and nice. He probably should rule, [but] I don’t think he would,” Harington, said, adding that if he could have it his way, Daenerys Targaryen would be ruling Westeros, with Tyrion Lannister as her “hand”/second-in-command.

As for Jon’s fate, Harington insisted that he doesn’t know what happens after the filmed episodes. He’s also not bothered by the fact that the HBO series has now caught up with the book series it was based on, George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire.”

Brilliant ending

“I don’t really have knowledge on that. But all I know is that I’m comfortable in George’s and producers David Benioff’s and D.B. Weiss’ hands. I’m starting to see the show and the books as two separate things,” Harington said. “I think ‘D and D’ will handle the rest of the show—however long that goes on for—brilliantly. And George will write an epic ending to his saga.”

Meanwhile, Harington related that he has grown attached to his character, which he started portraying when he was only 22. “I feel like Jon and I share parallel lives; we’ve grown up together. I believe that he will be a part of me for quite some time,” said the actor, who described his journey thus far as a “roller-coaster ride.”

Thankfully, Harington said, the high points far outnumber the lows. “This show has opened a lot of doors for me, and has taken me to where I am now. I don’t think I’ll be able to fully realize just how special all this is until it’s over.”

But on the flip side, the jet-setting life he currently leads has constantly kept him away from family and friends. “You are bounced from one hotel room to the next. But I’m very lucky to be where I am now in my career.”

“Game of Thrones” Season 5 finale airs Monday at 9 a.m. and

9 p.m. on HBO and HBO HD.