Through glorious dialogue, editing, costume and set design - the production team transports viewers to the Game of Thrones realm seamlessly, but what happens when the cameras aren't rolling? What moments did the famous actors most enjoy shooting? How does it all come together?
The beauty of Game of Thrones is that despite the extensive use for CGI used to create the dragons or zombie polar bears, the team tries as hard as they can to create "realistic" elements. The White Walkers are not computer creations and were designed by the shows prosthetic designer Barrie Gower. If you look at the behind-the-scenes photos what you see off-screen is the same as onscreen. Gower said the White Walkers were originally inspired by The Walking Dead, but evolved into their own unique wintery design for the HBO series.
There are some pretty massive actors among the Game of Thrones cast. For example Ian Whyte who played the wildling giant Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun is 7ft 1." However, he's not the only one, Hafthor Bjornsson who plays Gregor Clegane or the Mountain, was officially crowned the world's strongest man. He also won Europe's Strongest Man and the Strongman Classic (Arnold Scwarzenegger's competition), making him the first man to do so in the same year. Bjornsson stands at 6'9" and weighs 397 lbs - no editing magic needed here.
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Working with CGI and green screens can be more difficult for the Game of Thrones actors than when they have to work with real animals or elements. This was evident when they had to create the zombie bear polar bear. Actor Rory McCann, who plays the Hound, referred to his fake acting partner as the “ping-pong-ball thing” and said he found it difficult to pretend as though it was in fact a real bear. Well, he had us fooled!
To survive all the tough elements and action and endless filming in Game of Thrones the actors get some help from their body doubles. Any scene where you don't see their face it is probably the acting of their double. Remember Season 1 where Jaime pushed Bran out the window? The producers experimented with how clothed they wanted him in the scene - so that meant a naked body double for the popular character was waiting patiently nearby.
While the talented prosthetic's team were able to create 'realistic' creepy White Walkers, building a dragon was left to the computer animators. Emilia Clarke who plays Daenerys might portray a convincing bond with her giant dragon babies - but it's all acting. In real life Clarke is talking to, petting and riding what looks like a giant mechanical bull. Fans are used to give the illusion of her hair blowing in the wind but the rest of it is pure editing magic.
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