TITANCON: Interview with… Qthulhu?

Yes, Qthulhu. Not the ancient Lovecraftian God of Madness (though possibly they could be related), Cthulhu, but rather a noted Game of Thrones extra who appears in a number of scenes—most prominently at Winterfell as a Stark guard—and witnessed, firsthand, the working cogs that came together to make the first season such a rousing success.

Qthulhu wishes to reman unnamed (and unphotographed) for now. Just think of him as one in a thousand other lucky pairs of eyes and ears fortunate enough to have experienced what he experienced. I met him briefly the second day of TitanCon when we shared a number of bus rides together, touring such places as Tollymore, Inch Abbey, and more. We chatted, got on rather well, and he agreed to do an interview for Winter Is Coming.

Who is he? I can’t say exactly. What is he? Ah, now there…

He’s one of us. One of the more dedicated ones. And he has some tales to tell. So in the spirit of our (never-ending months-long) coverage of TitanCon, and before we launch into our DAY TWO coverage of the event (as we creep, creep along…) I thought this little interview might be interesting. Because he is one interesting dude, and we are all Bottom Supporters in our own ways. So without further ado:

My Interview with the Extra:

FaB: First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself. Where you’re from, where you first heard of the books, etc.

Qthulhu: I’m a Westeros native, born and raised. This may be heresy to some but I came to ASoIaF by the back door. After a few bad experiences with multi-volume works I ended up pretty much swearing off that market, up until it was pointed out to me that the author of Sandkings (and who had been involved in certain of my favourite TV shows) was the same author of a certain fantasy novel series. One bookstore trip later and….

FaB: Full disclosure: I first knew about you from your (admittedly rare) postings on the Westeros boards. When I met you in Ireland at Titan Con, I didn’t immediately recognize you as the same dude who played the Stark guard, but there was that “I’ve seen him before…” thing going through my head. How did you first get involved with the show?

Qth: The Westeros forums are a terrifying place for someone like myself who had never really been involved in discussing the contents of their library. Reading, to me, was a solitary act. When I did stumble across Westeros it was pretty intimidating (and somewhat remains so) because there are people out there who have devoured everything written or spoken by George ever. I could never figure how to “get involved” in discussion, up until something completely new came along like the show.

My first involvement was showing up at the open day for extras [here in Northern Ireland]. I had enjoyed the novels and to be honest I had always had a love of fantasy themed productions, medieval skills, re-enacting, and so forth. Northern Ireland doesn’t really have a strong history of good opportunity to do all these things at once on a part time basis, so I took it as a sign and wandered on down. The queue was nowhere near as insane as the one this year, and it’s worth noting that the people from last year didn’t have to show up again this year – that massive queue was nearly all new people.

I wasn’t called until a ways into filming (just after the tournament “week of hell”) and the call came when I was in a bar. So that night I got very jolly with many people, most of whom were strangers.

FaB: You have a great story about the “Stark bow.” I first noticed it in the very first episode as Lady Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) walked past. It struck me as something very specific, like something a director wouldn’t necessarily take the time to coordinate, and I immediately because suspicious that some of the extras had become infiltrated with LARPers (Live Action RolePlayers) or at the very least medieval reenactment experts—mostly because the bow seemed to purposefully veer from anything specific to one group or period in time. Tell me about the bow, and if you or any of your fellows have a history with the Society of Creative Anachronism.

Qth: I’m not sure I’d refer to it as a great story other than being the most easily seen example of improvisation by background. Your suspicions were definitely sound though – there were a few background folks involved in LARP, SCA, and historical re-enactment. The expectation for some was that it’d be good experience for more film/TV work, and in general those of us with some sort of combat/fencing experience thought that we might get a day or two swinging swords like lunatics. The bow itself was really just taking advantage of the leeway we’d been given:

“That’s Michelle Fairley.” “Right enough.” “Ned, Sean’s wife. Lady Stark.” “So is she just going to walk past us or what?” “Looks like it.” “And we just stand here on guard looking like it’s just another day?” “Seems so.” “I don’t think two guards are going to slack right in front of the boss’ wife.” “Yeah, Ned’s not going to take that well, but snapping to attention is a bit modern.” “Well what about we un-relax ourselves and give her the same nod Ned gets?” “Sounds good.” “Sure if they don’t like it someone will yell at us.”

No one yelled, worked out well.

FaB: Did the AD’s have a say in any of this?

Qth: Not with the nod, no, other than they let us do it. I have to say first of all that the ADs did an excellent job of wrangling us, especially with so many of us completely new to background work. A lot of what you see on screen can be attributed to them and I’d hate for people to think I’m trying to take that credit away. People moving props, being put into groups and told to “interact”, a variety of specific things. They were very good at what they did, but by that stage in filming some of us had done several days, we’d built up a level of trust with the ADs, so there was always the opportunity for background to improvise interesting things in the background – as long as it was good action and didn’t negatively affect the shot. A lot of what you see is from the ADs, and it’s only a few examples where we were permitted to take it and run with it.

FaB: Can you give me some examples?

Qth: There was a scene in camp where one of us was moving barrels, the other was to be seated, we would “interact” and the seated guy would leave to go to another group. The two of us ended up improvising a routine where there’d be a mimed argument over the fact he was sitting on one of the barrels, then he’d get up and walk off (with both of us giving stares to each other afterwards). Examples of wholly improvised actions (i.e. where we’ve been grouped and told to “improvise something”) would be an arm wrestling competition in a camp (with full continuity) over a wagered barrel, one guard telling his friends the story of “that crazy Greatjon” and what happened during the feast (with hand gestures and imitation), a spit-take during the Greatjon’s “King in the North” speech, and probably most obviously the standing nod/bow to ranking members of House Stark. Sometimes you would hear word from the behind the monitors that a particular action was nice, and should be repeated, which is a real boost as background and I imagine no less so for the creative ADs.

FaB: I asked you for some funny stories. Let ‘er rip!

Qth: Peter Dinklage is a riot between takes. He’s been quoted as saying his job was to entertain bored extras but it’s hard to be bored when you see him work. You’ve all heard the Saga of Hodor’s Knee (sounded like the deadfall in Tollymore park) but during the same scene Peter would be quoting Richard III between takes – “Now is the winter of our discontent”. One story relayed to me involving him occurred during the outdoor scenes. Peter was trying to hold it between scenes and had a fit of the giggles. He started a mantra of “Serious thoughts, serious thoughts,” indicated he was good to go… and promptly lost it again. Redoubling his efforts, he started up the mantra again, and began asking himself “What’s serious? What’s serious?” before almost literally jumping up and down chanting “Killing puppies! Killing puppies!” at which point everyone lost it. I’m sure the Lannister guys have a ton more. Another cast member with a healthy sense of humour would be Clive Mantle, the Greatjon. Clive has played Tommy Cooper and we were treated once to his Tommy Cooper act between takes. It was a long day filming the feast and for one of the “bloody tough” takes he went for full-on crazy laughter and licking of the wounded hand.

FaB: Emilia Clarke has said in interviews that they used different kinds of “blood,” depending on whether or not it will be going in one’s mouth. Hopefully they used the “syrup-tasting” stuff for his hand and not the inedible gunk.

Qth: There’s also different blood for putting on props, people, or costumes. But yeah, both Tyrion and the Greatjon are larger than life characters so you knew you were always in for a treat anytime they were mentioned in the notes. The Stark children were also great between takes and during. No emoting required for background when Maisie is running across the courtyard with a helmet on, you just smile, realise you’re grinning like an idiot, then put on your SERIOUS GUARD face.

FaB: That’s awesome.

Qth: Several of the Stark kids managed to kill a folding chair by all sitting on it at once, you could have heard a pin drop when it collapsed – I think people were expecting flying fingers.

FaB: I assume they blamed Issac. Kristian says Isaac is the clumsiest kid he’s ever seen, and Maisie claims she could wipe him in a footrace.

Qth: The kids weren’t the only ones to narrowly miss an injury – The scene with the guards searching for Arya was quite short onscreen but took up most of a day. Jamie Sives as Jory had to enter on horseback, dismount, there would be dialogue, and then the guards would go back into the forest. All under cover of darkness and eventually a thick theatrical fog/smoke. We had to use our torches “for real” in order to navigate. Unfortunately Jamie did not have a torch, so I didn’t see him returning to first positions until I’d basically shoved the torch in his face. We were able to reconcile at Moot 2 where we considered it even stevens since I was barely avoiding being mown down by his horse. Jamie’s a proper gentleman.

FaB: You wacky, uncontrollable background guys.

Qth: That’s us. In another scene someone managed to drop their trousers (unintentionally) right on the call of “action” (you couldn’t make it up if you tried) and during the Sansa/Hound conversation outside the Inn there was some heroic work by the crew. ADs were desperately trying to move enough people to make background look “busy” but not so much as to crowd the shot. There’s a lot of traffic direction and a lot of panic sweat… which is when a Baratheon guard chooses to trip over a tent peg and hurtle to the ground. Half the people on set had to choke back laughter (some people just doubled over silently) but credit where it’s due we managed to finish the take before dissolving into fits of laughter. Well done, crew.

FaB: So give us a dish. Who’s cool?

Qth: Everyone’s cool, haha, especially the ones that didn’t sue me for trying to burninate them. Natalia Tena is a joy to be around, utterly magnetic with no qualms about leaving the cast tent to engage with people, and you should all see Molotov Jukebox [Natalia Tena’s rollicking band] at your nearest convenience to see that energy live. Alfie Allen knows a lot about the history of telecommunication. Rory McCann had a lot of fun fighting his helmet, and everyone loves the extended Family Stark and Kristian Nairn. Obviously I’m biased for the Starks, haha. Joff and his pipe you’ve heard about, and yes it’s true – which caused shock for a lot of the background guys until word of his age came down from apparently no less a source than King Bob himself!

FaB: Jack Gleeson and his pipe are already legendary. Was there anything you didn’t like?

Qth: It was a blast to be on set, but the worst part was putting on normal clothes, going home, and reading the comments on various forums and blogs (EDITOR’S NOTE: most likely on Westeros, or possibly even at your friendly neighborhood WinterIsComing.net). You’re not able to share details of filming (but last year’s filming is over and the show’s aired so I should be ok there) so you basically end up reading people’s unfounded and unsupported criticism online and you’re torn between wanting to tell them and wanting to strangle them. You spend a day watching Mark Addy, Rory McCann, or Alfie Allen and seeing the professionalism they put into the role, and then you have people writing them off without seeing so much as a single line.

FaB: That’s kind of cool, you think highly enough of these lads that you’d stick your neck out for ’em.

Qth: I think those three got the roughest ride from the community. Don’t get me wrong, it was all very cordial between takes but once it was work time everyone on that cast and crew were solid professionals. Peter would go through different deliveries of his lines (snappy, relaxed, shifting word emphasis, no wonder he got the Emmy), Alfie and the Stark kids would always be querying or suggesting. Mark Addy, as I think we’ve all learned, is almost unrecognisable as King Robert (titles, titles). We’ve only had brief glimpses of Alfie (no pun intended) and Rory are capable of and I’m confident they’ll be vindicated in S2.

FaB: Any other complaints you found odd?

Qth: Some of the crew I was regularly chatting to naturally found out I was a book fan and a forum user, and were keen to know how things were being received (this was just after the Entertainment Weekly article – I bought every copy in city centre Belfast so if you could never find one.. it was mmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee) and you’re put in the position of dealing with comments like “Some people say the shields are the wrong shape” “The costumes are the wrong colours” when the costume and prop folks put such effort and enthusiasm into their work. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion but some people were getting really hung up over peripheral things like that, as if it was some sort of gauge for the qualiy of the show. It was very hard.and in the end you’re just thinking “Wait til they see it, wait til they see it.” I’m a Westeros lurker at heart due to the intimidating effect of being surrounded by people who have devoured every piece of GRRM’s works and words (I only really needed a “proper” account for the purpose of arranging mini-moots or attending “full” moots) so people are well within their rights to call me out on my forum perceptions. The harsh words stand out more than the supportive ones and don’t reflect the community as a whole. But I have to say I personally had a lot of satisfaction seeing the positive responses after the show was aired. Not to preach too much, but to me the core story and characterisation was more important to me than seeing a big battle. It’s only really an issue if you’ve read the novels, because you’ll note in the series it’s never a situation where someone says “So yeah this battle happening just off camera is so awesome”, it’s actually downplayed pretty well. Though I’d be a liar if i said I didn’t want to see the explanation of how the Kingslayer got captured (probably involving dishonorable archers, ha).

FaB: that’s sort of how it always happens; the hard-line “old guard”, while still thrilled the thing is being made, are more than just a little protective of the source material. And then the new fans come pouring in, and, quite frankly, can’t seem to be bothered by all the minutae. They just see a series they love and want to support it. If King Bob’s hair is gray-brown rather than black, these television show fans couldn’t give a rat’s hind patootie.

Qth: Somewhat. I think there’s a healthy middle ground though. People better than me can probably wheel out half a dozen quotes from George regarding the sacrifices you need to make in order to bring a story to the screen, and I for one just feel there are bigger things to take issue with than why people are using round shields instead of heaters, I don’t think that particular type of minutiae is a problem. But then some people are still adamant that the omission of Tom Bombadil from Peter Jackson’s films is unforgiveable.

FaB: As a self-described D&D nerd, I have to ask if you ran across any other roleplayers.

Qth: D&D…. well, one of the guys at the tournament built an entire backstory for himself and why his “noble” was at the tournament. We didn’t see him again. There’s creative and there’s “touched”, haha. Planetouched, even!

FaB: The fact that we both get that joke could get us killed, somewhere.

Qth: Haha! Yes, quite a few roleplayers as I’ve previously said, some general fantasy fans but oddly not too many of the guys had read the books, so I had to spoiler them a bit on “those blond guys”, and after that it was pretty easy to stare daggers at them. A lot of the improv was really “What are we, and what would they do” so there’s all sorts of madness like leching at serving girls, telling war stories, bringing prop mead kegs to our tents and everyone giving a fake cheer.

FaB: That literally sounds like the coolest job ever.

Qth: Man, good times, even in the rain and during the night shoots. I don’t know what it was like for the other locations, I hope it was as good. Hopefully someone else will share their interesting stories from this season next year!

Fire And Blood: Thank you, Qthulhu, for taking the time to spin your yarns and answering my questions. My only regret is that I yet again did not pose the traditional indigo viability question to you. I must be getting old.

There’s always next year! (That is unless HBO discovers your true identity, sends its storm-troopers into your house, and we never hear from you ever again. Good luck with that, my friend!)

• Published on 10/11/2011 at 4:18 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 6:03 PM CDT