Dragon HouseThe most memorable moments are often flashy, (literally) fiery, and filled with harrowing violence. There was a lot of this in last week’s episode, but last night’s episode five, “The Regent,” gave us one of the strongest reactions we’ve ever seen on the show, and also one of the quietest one. In a new interview, The Regent director Claire Kilner discussed how it all came together.
We’ve seen admirable choices before that contain surprising restraint Dragon House. Another great example from season two is in the premiere, when Helena witnesses the brutal beheading of her young son and then runs across the Red Keep to deliver the news with a deadpan expression. But this is different from the reaction we saw from Alicent in The Regent, when the Small Council chose her son Aemond to rule in place of the seriously injured King Aegon.
It’s a two-fisted blow because not only did they push the experienced Allison aside (mostly because she happened to be female), but they also appointed someone who she thought was. Know Will be a cruel leader. She also correctly suspected that Aemond was the reason Aegon returned from battle in such a horrific state.
In this scene, instead of focusing on the smug, newly promoted Aemond as he begins issuing orders, Kilner focuses the camera on Alicent’s face as the voices in the room around her become Quieter, her body’s reactions (rapid breathing, rapid heartbeat) what had just happened became apparent. In Olivia Cooke’s finely tuned expressions, you see a woman feeling a mixture of emotions: anger, disrespect and insult, but also panic. She worries about what this means for the future.
In an interview with the Wrap, Kilner explained why she held this lens on Cooke’s mesmerizing performance. “For each scene, I do a lot of preparation beforehand, including breaking down the scene and observing the characters, but I also go on set with the DP and we discuss how we’re going to shoot it if we only have one long take,” Director said. “I was like, ‘This is all going to happen on Alicent. I can shoot the whole scene on Alicent. And also because Olivia Cooke just quietly brought it all. Behind those eyes, there’s a lot going on.
Kilner explained that she and her team knew it was the right choice. “Sometimes you don’t know if the studio or people are going to let you do it. Everyone agrees on that. It became so obvious that there was this huge betrayal going on,” she said.
new episodes Dragon House Arrives Sunday on HBO and Max.
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