JAMES HIBBARD
Fire doesn’t kill the dragon
translation by Michalis Julenoglu – Vassilis Georgiotis
ed. MVPublications, page 472

A fantasy book full of exotic locations, armies surrounded by an iron fence, huge wolves and dragons. Two aspiring television producers with no other series on their resumes. A cast with many main characters who had just graduated from drama school and were in front of the camera for the first or second time. And all this in the run-up to the global financial crisis, which logically left the heads of Hollywood studios indecisive before the possibility of huge expenses with a dubious end result. You certainly don’t call it a recipe for success.

The show’s creators struggled to convince HBO executives to give the green light, along with tens of millions of dollars, even though the original (expensive) pilot was scrapped.

It was under these conditions that Game of Thrones began to take off in the two years 2009-2010, and is widely acknowledged to be the greatest example of the modern television renaissance that continues to this day. All this and much more is told by journalist James Hibberd, who lived from the inside for almost a decade of the series, in his book Fire Does Not Kill the Dragon, published in Greek by MVPublications. However, he limits his personal narrative a little, leaving the word to the main characters: actors, producers, directors, screenwriters, everyone who worked from Iceland and Ireland to Malta and Croatia to bring the fantasy world of George’s books to life. R.R. Martin.

Of course, among the interviewees there is also an American writer who saw his literary vision come to life on the screen, and then slip out of his hands – at least not without consent – and become a global pop phenomenon. Long before Game of Thrones got there, the show’s creators, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, had to fight to convince nervous HBO executives to give the green light – and tens of millions of dollars – to a project involving…dragons. Especially since the original (expensive) pilot was dumped because it didn’t work at all.

On the contrary, what audiences saw at the April 17, 2011 premiere was largely unprecedented on the small screen. Outside scenery and atmosphere that really takes you to another world. Captivating screenplay with bold writing. The fact is that next to the “smokeless” main characters there are others with extensive experience in theater and cinema, such as Peter Dinklage (Tyrion), Conleth Hill (Varys), Lena Hindi (Cersei) and Sean Bean (Ned Stark). The character of the latter is introduced as the central character of the series until he is briefly executed only in the ninth episode of the first cycle. Somewhere in there, the latter realized that Thrones is a series that is very different from the rest. And this was only the first of the coming shocks.

Hibberd follows the chronological order of events in his book as successive cycles of the series were filmed, released and its popularity skyrocketed. He prefers to stand and describe in detail certain iconic episodes: “Black River”, “Red Wedding”, “Hard House”, “Battle of the Bastards” and others. What stands out most about his narrative, however, is the enormous difficulties of the entire enterprise, some known and some still unknown to the general public: the brain hemorrhage of Emilia Clarke (Daenerys) between the first and second seasons; his broken leg. Kit Harington (Jon Snow) after a drunken night that the directors managed to “hide” for almost the entire third cycle; shooting in extreme weather conditions up to 30 degrees below zero; the strictest rules, often at the limit of paranoia, according to which the series was created, so that there would be no leaks. But even “happy” accidents, such as when the technician forgot to add music to the ending of the episode “Hardhome”, an element that director Miguel Sapochnik immediately adopted, thus creating one of the most memorable moments of the entire Thrones.

Another interesting observation from the book has to do with how the series has managed to reflect the big changes that have taken place in the film industry as well as social reality over the years. “Bringing Dorn naturally allowed us to add more people from different races to the cast. An ongoing criticism of the series has been about its main characters, as they were all white. “In recent years, this issue has come up more and more as Hollywood studios have steadily increased the pressure to give more importance to the presence of people of different races in front of and behind the camera,” says producer Brian Cogman.

When Jonathan Pryce broke filming protocol

However, aside from all the political correctness, Game of Thrones has taken advantage of its massive popularity and ever-increasing budget to bring real acting legends such as Max von Sidoff, Diana Rigg and Jonathan Pryce to the last rounds. For the latter, Hibberd’s recording has a delightful anecdote from producer Dave Hill: “In rehearsal, Jonathan asked me to change some of the lyrics. Usually on Thrones, our response to actors asking for this was a resounding no. This time we thought about it, but again “no changes, no improvisation, no additions” prevailed. However, Jonathan made changes. I turned to Brian (aka director) and said: “That’s not the right phrase …”. Brian looked at me. That’s when he came closest to killing me and said, “You’re crazy if you think I’m going to tell everyone Jonathan Pryce that he can’t cut lines on his first day on set!”

Of course, every fan of the series expects to read in such a behind-the-scenes book “explanations” of those responsible for the controversial eighth cycle and the even more controversial finale. Without disclosing what exactly is being said about this, let’s just say that almost everyone is talking about it, from the most … competent (Benioff, Weiss, J. R. Martin) to supporting actors.

James Hibberd aptly remarked: “Many felt that the scathing criticism was more of a result of the fact that Game of Thrones was now an element of pop culture that had reached such a high level that it was impossible to let them go.” Moreover, its finale marked the end of an entire era. With over 500 shows in 2019, and with viewers on the one hand choosing to binge watch and on the other not watching them on their first run, the end of Thrones was not just the end of a TV phenomenon, but of a global community at the time. a time when people felt more and more alone…”.