Riding a dragon or pretending to ride a dragon is not an easy task.
In the “House of the Dragon”, riding a dragon is not an easy task. They are unmanageable but loyal creatures that can destroy everything in front of them when the rider says “drakaris”. Although they are dangerous but elegant creatures in the fictional world of Westeros, there are no dragons in real life, the actors have to drive a car. Now the HOTD actors have talked about the process of filming scenes with dragons, and it sounds pretty unglamorous.
The series is not easy to shoot. In the first episode of HOTD, we saw a violent birth scene, as well as a demon and royal guards torturing people in King’s Landing. Later in the same season, there was a scene in a brothel where the extras, according to Millie Alcock, “stuck in the 69 position for 12 hours.” None of these scenes can be easy to shoot, and the stars talked about how difficult some of them can be. However, another difficult aspect of playing for these characters should be the need to play on a machine that will eventually look like a dragon. Matt Smith, who played Damon Targaryen, amusingly explained his dissatisfaction with dragons in an interview with the BBC, saying:
“Splashing mustangs… they shoot at you like wind and rain. And you have a blond wig. And you’re in armor. And you were there for nine hours. And you’re like, “Let me go, I want a sandwich.”
Eva Best, who plays Rainis Targaryen, confirmed that they will be working all day. She was sitting during this interview with her on-screen husband Steve Toussaint, who plays Corliss Velarion, who cheerfully encouraged Best to portray the sound that the dragon machine makes. Then she did it and noticed how she was somewhat disappointed by the sounds that the dragons were making on the set.
“[makes a squeal] Because he makes sounds! It makes a kind of noise. I thought I was a little disappointed because it doesn’t really look like a dragon. It’s kind of dumb. But it makes such amazing sounds, so you get a dragon.”
So, according to the records of most actors, shooting these scenes with dragons is not as cool as it looks on the screen. Between the mechanical noises, being there all day and, as Millie Alcock said in an interview, when blowers blow in your face, it doesn’t sound too fun. However, it looks fantastic.
We have some pretty epic dragon scenes on HOTD. From young Rainira saying “drakaris” to her dragon setting fire to her mother’s grave for the first time, to Damon and Laena Velarion flying together on their dragons, there were some extremely exciting moments on the screen. Personally, I think knowing how much work they have to put in to make it happen makes it even cooler.
To see more dragons and family dramas in “House of the Dragon,” you can watch the newest episodes on Sundays at 21:00. ET on HBO or with an HBO Max subscription.
