Kit Harington on filming the battle at Craster’s Keep, and Jon Snow’s struggle with honor
In Sunday’s new episode we saw Jon Snow lead his brothers of the Night’s Watch into battle at Craster’s Keep to take down the mutineers and protect the secrets of Castle Black. It was quite a task to take on for the character and actor Kit Harington alike. In a new interview with Hero Complex Kit talks about filming the battle, the difficulties of sword fighting, and what’s to come for Jon Snow in Season 4.
The set of Craster’s Keep has always been great to look at, and has been one of many stand-out authentic sets on Game of Thrones for years, but Kit says that for a battle scene, it’s not exactly hospitable.
“You’ve always got dead pig that’s burning. In ‘Thrones,’ they use everything that’s real, so you’ve got a very warm heated environment — somehow we’re always shooting in summer. I’ve always got blood on my face and it’s made out of sugar syrup… You come outside to get fresh air and the wasps attack your face. You go back inside and you’re choking on smoke and dead pig smell.”
Despite the less than ideal conditions, Kit admits that in the end it is all worth it, because it adds to the realness of the scenes.
“It’s tough, it’s grueling, but it makes it, because you’re in that world, especially my bits, you’re always hot and sweaty and muddy and dirty and it sort of infects the whole scene.”
Kit also discusses the difficulties of sword fighting in such a confined space. With not a lot of time to rehearse, much of the fight was done on the fly, with the actors given the duty of not only executing the moves, but acting all the way through it. One thing that did help, was the fact that even though it was for television, it was still a sword fight.
“There’s nothing quite like the adrenaline you get just before you’re about to do a fight because you know as safe as you can make it, there’s always something that can go wrong. It puts you on edge, which makes a sword fight what it is.”
Taking down the mutineers won’t be the last challenge Jon Snow faces this season. Kit teases that Jon will struggle with the idea of honor instilled in him by his farther Ned Stark.
“This is a very interesting season for him because it is about honor. When he was young in the first season, honor was a simple thing. Now — in fact, in this scene — he learns that honor isn’t a simple thing. To win you have to be dirty sometimes to get to an honorable place. To eventually get to the right ending, he has to do things he doesn’t want to do… This year, he’s on his own and he has to take all that advice he’s been given and utilize it in the right ways.”
For the full article visit Hero Complex.
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