And I was lucky on so many levels, because there was this incredible fight team, and this very gentle giant. I’ve done typical combat classes, and there have been roles that were very physical on stage or on screen - I played a boxer once, and I fought Maggie Q on an episode of Nikita - but nothing like this. I’ve never done anything like that before, as far as my work is concerned. It’s official.” And so we really had to jump into rehearsal immediately. Our stunt coordinator told me, “Just so you know, he’s the third strongest man in the world. Hafþór was competing in a strongman competition in China, and he came back with the title of third strongest man in the world! That’s pretty impressive. Related Storiesĭid you get a lot of time to rehearse it with the Mountain? So I practiced that in the empty apartment and whacked myself in the face quite a bit. ![]() So I had all this space to learn this one particular move of helicoptering the spear and getting it to make this whooshing noise. I’ve lived in New York for most of my adult life, but I was doing the L.A. I bought a curtain rod from Home Depot, and I had this empty apartment, because I just got this lease on a new apartment in Los Angeles. ![]() We used these really long bamboo sticks, and he started teaching me the basics, the possibilities of moves in a fight, stuff like that, and it’s a lot of twisting of the body while propelling a spear around. He’s a master of Wushu, which is an acrobatic martial art. They put me in training with this guy Master Hu in L.A., actually, a few weeks before I flew out to set. And when I got to my final episode, I was really impressed by how similar it was to the scene in the books.ĭid you have to do any special fight training to prep for it? I’m a fan of the show, and I was reading them like a regular fan at first, you know? And I read all the episodes back to back, really, really quickly. I got all ten episodes of the season before I flew out to Europe, and I read them voraciously. People love the brutal honesty of the show that is uncompromising. I think the show puts a spotlight on those contradictions, and refuses to give you the typical sense of justice in the genre of fantasy or in storytelling in general, you know? And it’s frustrating and fascinating and horrifying. If you don’t survive it, if you died, uh oh! I guess you’re not a witch. If you survive this horrific, physical torture, that means you’re a witch, so we kill you. Pascal chatted with Vulture about whacking himself in the face to prep for the fight scene, going up against one of the strongest men in the world, and who would be his own champion.Ī trial by combat for the charge of murder is a very odd concept - if you or your champion are able to kill someone else, that means you didn’t kill who you’re accused of killing. ![]() But on his way out, Oberyn was there to save Tyrion as his champion in the much-anticipated trial by combat, where he got to have his Inigo Montoya –style revenge. The interesting thing about playing Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones, Pedro Pascal says, is that it was a “big in, big out.” The first time we meet the Red Viper, he’s in a brothel, choosing both genders for an orgy before stabbing a Lannister guard in the wrist and threatening Tyrion. If you haven’t seen tonight’s episode of Game of Thrones - “The Mountain and the Viper” - read no further.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |