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Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘House of the Dragon' director and cinematographer on the ‘spontaneous creativity' of the fan-fave ‘The Red Sowing'
One of the standout episodes of House of the Dragon's second season was "The Red Sowing," from director Loni Peristere and cinematographer Vanja Černjul. In a new Gold Derby interview, the artisans share their insights from the fan-favorite seventh episode, which centered on Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and her urgent quest to acquire more dragon riders. House of the Dragon, the prequel series to HBO's megahit Game of Thrones, was created by Ryan Condal and author George R. R. Martin, with D'Arcy leading the ensemble cast alongside Emmy nominee Matt Smith (The Crown) as Prince Daemon Targaryen and Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower. Season 2 is eligible at the 2025 Emmys, and filming for Season 3 is underway right now in England. More from GoldDerby Golden Reel Awards: MPSE bans generative A.I. sound from awards eligibility to 'keep artists at the forefront' Clancy Brown, Joel McHale, and more actors who self-submitted at this year's Emmys Netflix debuts 'In Your Dreams' trailer, Keke Palmer joins 'Spaceballs' sequel,' and more of today's top stories Gold Derby: Vanja, you've been quoted as saying that Season 2 was 'a testament to the marriage of meticulous planning and spontaneous creativity.' Talk us through what that means to you both. Vanja Černjul: What was wonderful about House of the Dragon is that we were given a proper amount of time to really prepare and get ready. Loni's background is in visual effects, so he really knew how to take advantage of all the tools that we had available. We storyboarded a lot of it, and it was just a wonderful process. But then, I had situations where it was raining on location, but we were completely adapted to what was happening. We planned for a sunny summer day in Wales and a couple of times we had mist and clouds, and we learned that it worked even better for the scene that we couldn't plan it better. Loni Peristere: There's a scene with Alicent, as she goes for her wander in the woods. We spent a lot of time growing flowers in this field, and we had this concept of Alicent going out into this ideal space as she tries to escape the Red Keep, maybe for the one last time, and we showed up on location, and it was pouring rain, and somehow it just made that scene a thousand times better to be pouring rain, and when she went into the water it was so much sadder as the water poured down on her. So that's that spontaneous creativity that we just embraced together. Similarly, you know the opening scene on the beach. We spent a meticulous amount of time in prep figuring out the right time to be there, so we could have this beautiful golden morning. And yet here we were again in the rain and the wind, and it just made it angry and it really lent to the scene to have Emma D'Arcy screaming through the wind. It just made it so much more powerful, and that is that spontaneous creativity that Vanja is referencing. HBO What was the most challenging part of the scene where Alicent wades into the Kingswood Lake? Peristere: The best part of our relationship is that we really appreciate the craft of cinema. We were given an episode that had a sequence like this with no dialogue, but we needed to convey Alicent's emotional state — her desire for freedom. I think Vanja and I probably rejected 15 different lakes, to find this space, because what we wanted to feel is that as she comes out of the Kingswood and into this lake, we wanted to 'break out of jail,' with the physical cinematic trees of the Kingswood, and then break out and be faced with this epic baptismal visual. We literally had to do it with a tenth of the crew that House of the Dragon normally has, because it was such a difficult location. Černjul: It was a good lesson in how sometimes the most impressive shot you can get just by being at the right place with just the camera. We decided to shoot the last couple of shots of the scene in the studio, so that beautiful shot of Olivia's hair going through the water; that was in-studio, and the two overhead shots also were in the studio. Peristere: And again, spontaneous creativity, the beautiful shot of the hair underwater that we ran backwards, so it looked like her hair was growing towards the camera. HBO The sequence that everyone wants to talk about is of course Hugh Hammer claiming Vermithor. What was the most difficult part of getting that whole sequence right? Černjul: There were many scenes in this episode where the script offered opportunities for a really cinematic approach, and Loni knew how to take advantage of that, because it's maybe one quarter of the episode that has no dialogue. When there's no dialogue, cinematography and sound really become the main language, the cinematic language that the narrative is communicated through. And that's a dream for a cinematographer. That's why this episode was so special for me, because of that particular sequence. Loni knew from the very beginning that he wanted to do a large section of the action in a oner. The most difficult challenge was orienting ourselves in this large blue screen space. We had a large stage, but the actual imagined space was supposed to be five times larger than the stage that we had, and the only physical things that were built were the plinth that you see in the background, and everything else was blue screen. So, we needed to orient ourselves, like once you determine the light source, for example. Where is that light source now, because you're supposed to be much deeper into the cave. And how large is the dragon in this large space. Orientation in the imagined space was challenging. I remember another challenge was that we really wanted a really raw handheld feel, and we wanted to film the whole sequence handheld. We fortunately had a rehearsal the day before, and Kieran was running so fast that it was really hard to keep up with him with a handheld camera, and the image became too shaky. We had amazing grip support, and our key grip came up with a solution real quick. He built the cable cam that supported the handheld camera. So, the shot ended up being a hybrid between handheld and cable cam, and we came up with that the day before. Peristere: There was a lot of stunt folks that we lit on fire! HBO A highlight sequence is where Ulf is flying over King's Landing, and then Aemond retreats when he sees Rhaenyra at Dragonstone surrounded by dragons. Talk us through shooting the sequence. Peristere: Vanja actually drew that frame himself. He hand drew it himself! Černjul: The composition of all these characters in that frame was so important because it was going to be the last frame of the episode. We were trying for a while, and then I finally drew the characters and played with the composition in Photoshop. Peristere: The idea that Rhaenyra was going to confront Aemond with a wall of dragons, a wall of nuclear weapons, changes the entire power dynamic of this entire series. What made it such a powerful thing was the writing, which gave us the opportunity to develop the visuals to support that. And that's what we really wanted to do when we read it. We knew that this is part of the narrative that is going to carry on for many seasons. HBO Loni, when you're witnessing a really committed performance from an actor, how do you collaborate and provide guidance or guardrails without compromising the intensity and the raw emotion that they're giving you? Peristere: That's a really good question to relate to this particular sequence, because Kieran's communion with the dragon was written as a quiet moment in the script, where Vermithor and Hugh were going to come together slowly, and Rhaenyra was going to watch it. And then Kieran decided to scream at the dragon on his own, and I remember when he did that, I couldn't believe it. I was like, "Wow!" It's giving me shivers just thinking about it, like how that happens with actors that are really good at their craft. That's how you commune with Vermithor, the second biggest dragon in the Westeros universe. That's how you do it. You show that dragon that this little man is bigger than it, and it was mind-blowing. Those moments happen quite a lot. We have an incredible cast that offers these types of moments because they are that good, and no matter how much prep, no matter how much experience Vanja has in photography, or I have in visual effects, nothing can compare with how a great actor can transform the word. HBO You have both just come off a really long day on set, so you're in the thick of Season 3. Obviously, you can't spoil anything, but what can we generally expect? Peristere: It's definitely everything that the fans want. Everything they've read in the book, everything that they know is coming. This season goes to 11. Černjul: The thing that I noticed when I came back, and I was very happy to be back, was that all other key collaborators came back as well, which says a lot about how much we enjoyed this opportunity to be part of building this universe. It's really a family now. But the fact that everybody was happy to come back says a lot about the experience that we have on set. The first two seasons of House of the Dragon are now streaming on HBO Max. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. SIGN UP for Gold Derby's free newsletter with latest predictions Best of GoldDerby Tina Fey on 'The Four Seasons': 'It was a challenge to be restrained about where we put jokes' 'The best job I ever had': 'From 'Supernatural' to 'The Boys,' Eric Kripke talks his biggest hits — and miss (ahem, 'Tarzan') 'Cross' star Aldis Hodge on building an aspirational hero — who's not a superhero Click here to read the full article.
Economic Times
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Economic Times
Stellar Blade PC Version: How to pre-order game? Here's release date, platform, specifications, PC requirements and more
Shift Up has confirmed that Stellar Blade will launch on PC on June 11. The announcement came shortly after a trailer was posted early on PlayStation's YouTube channel. The game was originally released on PS5 and is now making its way to PC with new features and Up has announced that the PC version of Stellar Blade will include new content. It will offer an unlocked framerate for smoother gameplay. The PC version will also support Nvidia DLSS 4 and AMD FSR 3. These technologies will help improve performance and visual quality. PC players will be able to play the game in ultra-wide and super ultra-wide resolutions. High-resolution background textures will be available. Players must enable the 4K texture option in the settings to use them. Also Read: House of the Dragon Season 3: Is there a release date yet? Here's all details about Rhaenyra and Alicent's relationship All new content available in the PC version will also be released on PS5. Shift Up confirmed this in a blog post. The update will be free for all PS5 players. The studio said it aims to offer the best experience to all players. DonKi Lee, the game's technical director, stated that this update will benefit players who could not access the game due to platform restrictions. It will also give new content to those who already played the game will include a new boss fight. Players can battle Mann, the leader of the Sentinels, in the Boss Challenge mode. Eve, the main character, will receive 25 new costumes. These will also be available for PS5 players after the users will get support for haptic feedback and adaptive triggers when using the DualSense controller. Full key customization will also be available for gamepads, keyboards and mice. Players can remap buttons based on their Up will add support for Simplified Chinese and Japanese voiceovers. Facial animations matching these languages will also be included in the update. Also Read: MindsEye: Release date, storyline, gameplay, main character, bonus content and platforms The studio shared system requirements for the game. It will need at least 16GB RAM and 75GB SSD space. The minimum GPU requirement is a GTX 1060 or RX 580. The game targets 1080p at 60fps on low settings and 4K at 60fps on very high Blade will launch on June 11 globally. Players can pre-order the game on Steam and the Epic Games Store. Will PS5 players receive the new content for free? Yes, all new content in the PC version will be available on PS5 through a free update, as confirmed by the developer. What are the basic system requirements for Stellar Blade on PC? The game requires a 64-bit OS, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 or RX 580, and 75GB SSD space to run at 1080p on low settings.
Time of India
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Stellar Blade PC Version: How to pre-order game? Here's release date, platform, specifications, PC requirements and more
Shift Up has confirmed that Stellar Blade will launch on PC on June 11. The announcement came shortly after a trailer was posted early on PlayStation's YouTube channel. The game was originally released on PS5 and is now making its way to PC with new features and content. PC Version Launch Shift Up has announced that the PC version of Stellar Blade will include new content. It will offer an unlocked framerate for smoother gameplay. The PC version will also support Nvidia DLSS 4 and AMD FSR 3. These technologies will help improve performance and visual quality. PC players will be able to play the game in ultra-wide and super ultra-wide resolutions. High-resolution background textures will be available. Players must enable the 4K texture option in the settings to use them. Also Read: House of the Dragon Season 3: Is there a release date yet? Here's all details about Rhaenyra and Alicent's relationship Free Update for PS5 Players All new content available in the PC version will also be released on PS5. Shift Up confirmed this in a blog post. The update will be free for all PS5 players. The studio said it aims to offer the best experience to all players. Live Events DonKi Lee, the game's technical director, stated that this update will benefit players who could not access the game due to platform restrictions. It will also give new content to those who already played the game. New Boss and Costumes The game will include a new boss fight. Players can battle Mann, the leader of the Sentinels, in the Boss Challenge mode. Eve, the main character, will receive 25 new costumes. These will also be available for PS5 players after the update. Improved Controls and Accessibility PC users will get support for haptic feedback and adaptive triggers when using the DualSense controller. Full key customization will also be available for gamepads, keyboards and mice. Players can remap buttons based on their preferences. Shift Up will add support for Simplified Chinese and Japanese voiceovers. Facial animations matching these languages will also be included in the update. Also Read: MindsEye: Release date, storyline, gameplay, main character, bonus content and platforms PC Requirements and Global Release The studio shared system requirements for the game. It will need at least 16GB RAM and 75GB SSD space. The minimum GPU requirement is a GTX 1060 or RX 580. The game targets 1080p at 60fps on low settings and 4K at 60fps on very high settings. Stellar Blade will launch on June 11 globally. Players can pre-order the game on Steam and the Epic Games Store. FAQs Will PS5 players receive the new content for free? Yes, all new content in the PC version will be available on PS5 through a free update, as confirmed by the developer. What are the basic system requirements for Stellar Blade on PC? The game requires a 64-bit OS, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 or RX 580, and 75GB SSD space to run at 1080p on low settings.
Time of India
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
House of the Dragon Season 3: Is there a release date yet? Here's all details about Rhaenyra and Alicent's relationship
The friendship between Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower once gave fans hope for a closer connection. But as House of the Dragon continues, that idea is fading. The growing conflict between the Greens and the Blacks leaves little room for reunion or emotional ties between the two characters. Conflict Divides Former Friends Rhaenyra and Alicent were close when they were younger. Their bond seemed strong before political shifts changed everything. When King Viserys married Alicent, the friendship began to fall apart. Now, the two women lead opposite sides in a growing war. Rhaenyra supports the Blacks, while Alicent stands with the Greens. Each is deeply tied to their cause. The chance of reconciliation seems to shrink with every battle. Also Read: Wicked: For Good: Here's what trailer reveals about upcoming movie Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Crossout 2.0: Supercharged Crossout Play Now Undo War and Separation Take Over Their Lives The civil war has created distance not only between Rhaenyra and Alicent but also between others close to them. Rhaenyra's husband, Daemon, travels to Harrenhal and remains away for much of Season 2. Aegon II, Alicent's son, recovers from battle injuries and shares little time with his wife. These separations affect each character's emotional and political choices. Love and passion give way to survival and strategy. Cast Denies a Romantic Theory Some fans believe that Alicent and Rhaenyra once had deeper feelings for each other. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Olivia Cooke and Emma D'Arcy addressed this idea. They laughed at the suggestion. Cooke called it strange and dismissed the theory. D'Arcy did not support it either. Live Events Also Read: Harry Potter TV Series: Will original cast return in leading roles or cameos? See release window, filming, cast, plot and how to watch New Romantic Hints in Series Rhaenyra may not be close to Alicent, but she shares a connection with Mysaria, also known as the White Worm. D'Arcy sees this match as more believable. It may become a larger part of the story as the war continues. No Season 3 Date Yet HBO has not announced the release date for Season 3 of House of the Dragon. Fans continue to wait for updates. FAQs Will Alicent and Rhaenyra reunite as friends? The growing war and political conflict make a reunion unlikely. Their connection weakens further with each event in Season 2. Did the actors confirm a romance between Rhaenyra and Alicent? No, both Olivia Cooke and Emma D'Arcy laughed off the theory and said their characters do not share romantic feelings.
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘House of the Dragon' Season 3 Starts Filming, Adds New Cast
Production has begun on Season 3 of 'House of the Dragon.' Additionally, the HBO juggernaut has added two new cast members to the upcoming season. Tommy Flanagan will play Ser Roderick Dustin, and Dan Fogler will play Ser Torrhen Manderly. Previously, it was announced that James Norton will play Ormund Hightower, a new addition this season. They will join returning cast members Matt Smith, Emma D'Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall, Matthew Needham, Tom Bennett, Kieran Bew, Kurt Egyiawan, Freddie Fox, Clinton Liberty, Gayle Rankin and Abubakar Salim. Season 3, which will consist of eight episodes, picks up in the lead-up to the Battle of the Gullet, which was not included in the sophomore installment to the dismay of some fans. The Season 2 finale sees Alicent (Cooke) make a plea for peace with Rhaenyra (D'Arcy), with the pair agreeing Rhaenyra will arrive to King's Landing in three days to peacefully take the throne — with the understanding that she will have to execute Alicent's son, Aegon, in order to claim her power. Meanwhile, Aegon has fled King's Landing with Larys on Larys' advice to avoid bloodshed and return to restore peace after the war is over. Season 3 will mark the penultimate installment for 'House of the Dragon,' after showrunner Ryan Condal announced in August that 'Game of Thrones' prequel series would run for four seasons at HBO. He added the third season will see the war between Team Black and Team Green come to a 'big head,' and promised both 'giant moments of spectacle' as well as 'real moments of surprise and character nuance.' 'If Season 2 was the arming of the sides and the Cold War with moments of actual conflict and explosion, I think [in] Season 3, you do start to see things boil over from here to the kind of the end of the war,' Condal said. Condal returns as co-creator, showrunner and executive producer for Season 3 alongside executive producers George R.R. Martin, who also serves as a co-creator, as well as Sara Hess, Melissa Bernstein, Kevin de la Noy, Vince Gerardis, David Hancock and Philippa Goslett. Clare Kilner, Nina Lopez-Corrado, Andrij Parekh and Loni Peristere will direct episodes for the third season. The post 'House of the Dragon' Season 3 Starts Filming, Adds New Cast appeared first on TheWrap.
