The Role of Behind the Scenes Talent

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Y racing thoughts and restless nights won't stand a chance Find Ollie sleep solutions for the whole family at Oie. com That's O L L Y dot com This summer serve up the cookout cllassics, Heinz Ketchup and Kraft singles. Every good burger needs a layer of perfectly melty cheese and thick rich ketchup. We all know it's not a cookout without Heinz and Kraft Hello and welcome to this episode of the Rest' Entertainment Questions and Answers Edition. I'm Marina Hde. And I'm Richard Osman, and for once, we're not talking to Steven Sppeiberg or Tom Hanks, right?' aaor celebrity. We are talking to each other. I'm a little older.? What've missed it? I've missed it as well. It's quite nice to be back, isn't it? Yes, it is very nice to be back. Are you gonna hit me with a question? Yeah, I certainly am. And it is from Jane Barrows, thank you, Jane. She says, I've seen a few social media videos in recent past showing table reads from Shrinking to Game of Thrones. Can you tell me what's their purpose? Who are they for? When do they happen in the timeline of a production And would actors deliver their lines in character. Jane's question goes on for some while longer. There lots of smaller questions inside it, but where I think we can talk about the world of table reads. She end saying that they do look super awkward. Well, they look awkward because obviously that is not the finished product. And in many cases that's first I'll get on to this, the first time those actors are seeing the script I think with particularly with stuff like Game of Thrones, I know which one you're talking about, you'll talk about like the final episodes where the actors are discovering effectively in real time what happens to their characters and who wins the Game of Thrones. And it can be very emotional. You can see people suddenly thin, Oh my gosh, hang on I'm dead. Okay. It's been a decade of their life or something. But they are such a key part of the process. They do happen at different times, by the way. So it's not all the same. normally they would happen the sort of very end of preroion of something So and it isn't ever the final script. That's part of the point of the table, read. But if you're doing a series it will be the end of pre production of that episode, but you're probably filming one of the others Alth theyough funn enough Last week, I've got a thing in development And o my God, I went to a meeting. and they told me that they were going to do it something internally And then they said, actually it was really interesting when with the script, the last draft that I gave them, and they said, yeah, it was interesting what people li like that in sort of when we did this sort of table reading and I was thinking Oh my god, I'm so glad I didn't know that this was going to be read up anyway. but almost people who were done a table read. N N not with actors, not with actors, but among and I thought I don't even want to ask about this because just that feels excruciating to me at the moment, so I don't w want to think about it. So they had in the office done a table read just am themselves. Oh my God. Anyway, anyway, but that's not in general, what you're doing without you there? But I knew that they were going to be doing that because they were going to feed other people who are not like the direct executives involved in this were going to sort of they ask the general group. and it's very, very helpful because people who've never seen haven't had eyes on it at all. because you do get in the weeds quite quickly. even if you're the executive, I suppose in charity of things. It was really interesting, but I did do think I'm so glad I didn't know that was happening. Can we explain what a table reed is to people Table read is you get the script of an episode or I suppose of a film. Everyone is sitting down, it's like a conference table or you know an oblong of tables You've got all the actors there You've got all the heads of departments. I'm my heads of department, that means that you know, the head of the sets, the head of makeup, the head of costume,ighting, anyone who's going to have to do SFX, anyone who's going to do anything for this You've got the writer, in my experience of doing it, you've got the showrunner sitting there and if it's your episode, you're sitting next to them at the head of the table. It's a big thing with America money that's being filmed over here, then the very big executives from America will fly over and be sitting in the room as well on chairs behind the big table. So everyone, it's a big and important thing Somebody reads the state, actors all do their own roles. In the answer to your question, do they do it in character I would say they do it it's varying. They do it I would say fifty percent. They put fifty percent. They're seeing it often they're seeing it for the first time or they've had chats with a director or chats with a showrunner about where they're going, you know, but they haven't actually seen the thing that's not the shooting script because you'll make a lot of adaptations from how the table regoes I've done them always for comedy. so that can be, you know something that you thought was your great joke doesn't get a line the laugh in the room. and something you didn't realize was a joke gets a really big laugh and you're like, o, okay that's interesting. I saw someone from friends, I can't remember when I read this, someone who works on friendriends saying By the end of that, if the actress didn't like your joke They would just absolutely ruin it by mis delivering it in the table read so that it would then get killed. Some actors just literally just read the lines out almost in a monotone and they don't put everything into it. Others go quite big. but no one goes as big as you possibly go on set. It's not like that at all. You hold back. Someone reads the stage directions. There's a person at the table read whose job it is to read every stage direction For me, it's really tempting to kind of You want to mark up your script if you're the writer, like this you know three six, that one got a big laugh, that one didn't. But it's actually much better if can you can avoid looking down the whole time sort essentially reading the subtitles because you want to hear it, you want to hear the rhythms, what works and then you'll suddenly think, hang on, we really lost them. We don't see that character for quite a bit in the middle and you can see by their face that they have also noticed that they didn't appear Yeah for quite a few pages in the middle. A lot can change after the table read. I mean if it's bad, you can have to go quite significantly back to the drawing board under quite a lot of time pressure. Yeah, so the main thing about a table read really, I mean, from our perspective, we would say this is for a writer. So the writer gets to hear pace of the thing and the speed of the thing and as you say, the feel of the thing. and the job is then to go, o, now we're going to go and make that better. As you say, there are there's also heads of departments sitting around and sometimes you're thinking, whyy is no one laughing And you think, well, because the person from wardrobe Literally, all they're doing is trying to hear every time in the state directions. they say he is now wearing a fez. Yeah. And they are literally just writing down Feds or so and so you know, walks out of the swimming pool and they're like, o, okay, waterproof, okay. So everyone's just doing their job and the lightning director is literally just going Okay, so that's outdoor, but then we transition to indoor Okay, and that's all they're doing. So everyone is doing their job for a writer, it's the most important thing. We'd did a table read for the Thursday Murder Club. play And that was for this. But that wasn't a full production table re. That was literally Tom Bastian and I had a draft that sort of we had a finished draft that we knew was not going to be the final thing. And we have a lot of friends who are comedy actors. sat around in the West End in a really nice rehearsal room and just read the whole script out with very, very, very f. it's so helpful. Yeah. I've done that at an earlier stage of things before and it's really immensely helpful. And in that situation, the actors get paid to do it if actors are free and they know it's going to be a fun room for the people, they'll always come and do it because and it was such a la. You had a great day. We had a really great crew of people doing it, really, really funny people. And you know ye, you work out what's funny, but you also work out, Oh, there's too much of that. There's not enough of that. So we maybe did that weeks ago, and I've literally only just finished the next draft. the draft that was in response to that, ye. That's in response to it because you finally go, okay, I hear exactly what's going on here. I know how to fix that. I know how to fix that. And just stuff that got huge laughs in the room. you think, well, that's great, but it has to go because it's not doesn't fit in, you know, by the end of it, I was thinking, yeah, come on, I need let's speed this up, let's speed this up. So you know, table reads are incredibly useful in that regard at the very early stage of the. production, but it's never going to be the night before. Yes. But but the Game of Thrones tight ones that is far more's a everyone just sitting down, taking care of business as quickly as they And then by that stage there was so much secrecy around that show because it had gone ahead of the books, so no one really knew who would win the Game of Thrones. And so you wanted to have those reaction shots of people finding out what happened to their characters. and it can be I do agree that it is exposing for actors to have those sort of things filmed because as I say, they're not giving one hundred percent on purpose. And you know you're sitting in a sort of tracksuit r a table and it's not the same as being like in Westeros. So I feel sorry for them that they've got you And it's quite hard to explain that to someone who's just coming to the whole thing. That's maybe why they look awkward Yeah. And Oftten it's the first time you meet your fellow cast members and stuff like that as well, which is interesting. And you know you've usually sat next to the person you're doing most of your scenes with. But I remember when we talked to Ben Elton, he was talking about what nightmare the Back A of Table reads were. and because there were a lot of very strong voices in there all of whom had an opinion on what they were reading And you're like, oh, that's not what a table read is for. You could see Ben out and just want to go, shut up You know honestly just do it and then I mean to fix it afterwards. you know The next question is almost thematically related to that because I think it's interesting. And it's about traitors in the West End. and from Araminta. Araminta says it's recently been announced that the traitors will now be a stage production in the West End next year, twenty twenty seven. How does a production company go about making a popular TV show into a stage production? Yeah No I mean, there's so many different answers to that. F firstirst, you have to want to do it. And you know, the one that you can't accuse Studio Lambert of not trying to maximize income from everything they've got. Maybe he got a show that's as huge as the traitors and they do a live traitors' experience, whichich everyone says is brilliant and I still haven't done. I'm ashamed of myself. I'm going. So I imagine they started exploring the idea of doing it on stage. How would that work Now we all know a simple way that would work we do a cheap caching version of it, which they don't seem to have done. O studio Lam tend to everything right So you have to get a script, you have to get a producer and you have to get a director and you have to get a theatre. Those are the four main things you need to do. something needs to be written, someone needs to direct it, someone needs to put the money behind it, and a theatre has to agree to do it. And a concept because you're just not doing. Well hopefully you leave that with the writer Re. But're not but're not it should be clear that you're not sort of just resurrecting this some kind of'' not going to Claudia wandering around the stage. If you have a Fanos' biggest as traders, then obviously, a lot of people want it to work and a lot of people will take a meeting with you In this instance that this play is I think it's called a traitor's As of betrayal The writer they've got is John Finnamore, and John Finner, I think as a genius. I mean, weirdly still best known for doing cabin pressure on radio four, but you know, did his own sketch show on channel four and he's a great, great, great. writer Johns so, they immediately rather than go for someone sort of big mainstream. They go for someone who is very, very smart, loves puzzles. I was about to say's U puzzle genius, genuinely Who ever came up with this concept? I don't know, but the idea of it is the play always starts the same, but there are five different endings I think someone was saying, o it's the, you know, you'll never see the same show twice. And I think somebody else pointed out, well will because it's only different shows, but anyway, is the idea is you know you could go more than once and you could possibly see a different ending. So John Finnamore is writing it. I know someone funnily enough who did a table read for this. I said it was terrific So which it would be if it's John. Robert Hasty is directing it and again' standing at Sky's ge. He's just like a proper there director. And theatre directing is I've discovered from them from this Thursday Murder club process there's only about eight people who can do it. But it's like immensely complicated and difficult. And it's sort of very, very different to being a movie director in some ways. There's something much more up close and personal about it. So they they've got a great director. Studio Lamb, I see are producing it. I saw it said that they're producing it themselves. and I thought, Ha I mean, that's very brave because again producing a theatre show is very, very different to producing everything else. but then I saw that Neil Street are producing with them and Neil Street have done lots of theatre that Sam Mndies and Pipper Harris's company. and then Of course they have a theatre because Joh Finnemore is writing it and Robert Hasty is directing it and Neil Street and the studio Ebert are producing it so it's And the West end is in incredible health. We have to keep saying this. you know this is why so many things are it's extraordinary. you know I've said it before, but that sort of thing that you used to do and if you wrote anything, the contract, like what if it becomes a musical? It always used to be a joke with writers. I'm pretty sure that originally when Irvin Welsh wrote train spotting, he didn't and someone said to him what if it becomes a musical? He a musical of this. Okay. you know what if it does, we'll come to that but it is a musical. The offers we got to turn Thursday Medical into a musical. I mean like a lot. I mean know, we're doing as we' doing as a play. So this is going to be the Julian Lnn theatre. It's called Triters' A of trail that I think it opens in twenty twenty seven. But to answer the question, you I mean a number of things, if you had a smaller piece of IP and you developed an amazing script then maybe a director or maybe a theatater would be interested. With this, I think even if they'd done a substandard script, they would have found a director and they would have found a theater because you know that lots of people are going to come and see this. It'll be you know an event play. but it seems like and it sounds like done the opposite and they've actually done something great with it as well. So you know I'm dying for it. I think they have high hopes. I imagine it' be very good. I hear it's very good And yeah, it'd be in the West End in twenty twenty seven. but yeah, you have to want to do it, then you have to do it really, really well And then someone has to give you several million pounds. But lookook at the amazing things that have you know, if you look at something like my neighbor Toro, which was extraordinary to have come from, I mean, it was absolutely brilliant Stanger Things, the first Shadow, all of these things and they will start here because it's too expensive on Broadway and lots of them then go all the way around the world, but it's really interesting to see how it's a part of our creative industries that is in mega health. And the reason they do it and the studio Lambert is a good example here. The reason you do it is almost all players lose money, but if you make money, Really, really, really mant money forever and ever and ever and I mean, you know, there's there's there's a reason Android Webber's got such a nice house. You know, you can print money forever and ever. The reason you wouldn't do it is because it costs you a lot of money to put it on, But if you're studio Lambert and you've got a piece of IP that is so powerful and so successful in this country, you know that other people are going to finance this thing for you and you're still going to get a very good deal. I imagine they've invested their money in it as well because you know they would believe in it. But it's a low risk way to sort of be involved on a poker table where the winnings could be absolutely enormous Let's go to a break now, after which I'm going to be considering some truly terrible film titles This episode is brought to you by the Lloyd's five K house deeposit. Lloyds are offering a five K house deposit, which was last seen in nineteen ninety six. What are your entertainment memories of the nineteen nineties? I feel guilty talking about the nineteen nineties because you look back and it was such a golden era. We' never had it so good. We didn't even realize because we were young and we just thought we were entitled to it. We absolutely took it for granted pop was absolutely in its pump, Oasis plane to a quarter of a million people you had bloodiceirl. I'm so sorry.ice girls, amazing movies at the cinema, train spotting. I mean it felt a time of absolute optimism. but at the time, you just assumed that was the way that very w type of optimism. Yeah. And part of the optimism, of course, is that mortgages were more affordable. and that is what Lloyds is dealing with right now Last seen in nineteen ninety six, Lloyds are now offering five K deposit mortgages to first time buyers. Search five K first time buuyer. nineteen ninety six average first time buyer deposits based on ONS data, sububject to status, your home may be repossessed if you don't keep up repayments. Conditions apply Hi, this is Garal Linka from Goldhangers. The restest is Football. This episode is brought to you by Wise. It's only when you start moving money between currencies that you really think about the exchange rate, the fee and what might be hidden away in the small print Whether you're living abroad, paying someone overseas, or just trying to manage your money across borders, you want a fair exchange rate an easy transfer and no surprises along the way. Yise keeps things simple. Wise is a smart way to move the currencies you need around the globe. It works in more than one hundred sixty countries and with over forty currencies. Most transfers arrive instantly Wise uses the mid market exchange rate, like the one you see on Google with no markups or hidden fees. So when money needs to move, you can see the rate, know the fee, and get on with it. Join millions saving billions on hidden fees by downloading the Wise app today. Be smart, get Wise, Ts and Ts applly. Welcome back everybody. Chris Rand asks, I'm interested in how film titles are determined. Two decent films this year, I Lve Boosters and Crime one hundred one have had poor box office numbers, and I'm convinced it's because of their terrible titles. Could you explain how films with significant branding investment can end up with titles that fail to resonate with audiences? Chris, I so agree with you on bad titles. It is extraordinary sometimes. I have to say I haven't seen either of those. I know what they're about But that's why you haven't seen them. Maybe I also thought the trailer for Chrim Mo one looked like Gibberish so I didn't feel the need to Gibberish is a good name for me maybe. Yes. I mean, it could apply to many. I totally agree with you There's some sort sense that the title doesn't matter. The title really my matters for anything any single thing. It's such a crucial element. It's the first kind of thing that a potential audience will have will effectively hear about a film or anything or any creative property. It needs to have a certain stickiness because there's a lot out there. Well any creative project you're constantly trying to nudgege your audience in one direction or another. And the title is where you start Russion. And you're so right, how on earth can it happen? Be we are talking films that cost Tens of millions and sometimes even hundreds of millions I sometimes think that I don't want to be too unfair here because I do think there's a sort of confirmation bias. and when films flop, then sometimes you can say Oh well, you know, you can retrofit the idea that the title was terrible. but there were certain things that people thought would be a flop. I mean, I know that Tim Robins was like, the Shore shhank reemption. It's like T tongue twwister. You can't even say it. see that is a bad title. Yeah, and yet it doesn't matter because something you know, and now everyone can say it very easily and name it as their favorite film, etcetera. He thought it was just like almost like a tongue twister. There are others that you just think, I can't. there was do you remember that there was that amazing Gabary Sadeei who made her Db in that film, and she was brilliant in it. And it was called Precious Con based on the novel Push by Safar Because there'd been some other film that nobody cared about or something called Precious. I mean, you've got to explain to me how this is ridiculous, okay I thought like Joker fooy if I hadn't already thought that sorry you'reing Joker you're turning the intel film into a musical. If I hadn't already thought that was in a bit of problems, I would have definitely thought it once I saw that title. I actually I mentioned this on Tuesday's episode. I don't think Nope is a good title. That film is really, really good and it's like sorry, what am I watching here? So I've tried to break down the different types of bad title. Oh great. I would say when it's sort of genericism to a ludicrous degree, so that film John Carter, sorry, it's just a name. Tell me what it's about. Yeah. I've no idea that this is some kind of that's a friend of my dad. Yeah, Eactly. I mean, it's just ridiculous. I do not know what this film is There's a couple of those Pet of the apes ones that annoy me just because it's like Rise of the planlanet of the Apes, Dawn of the Plet Apes. It's like, what does this come in? and aren't they the same thing? I can't have two authors as well. It' just no. ludicrous grandeur I cannot bear. So if I didn't already know that Quantum Solos work, if I hadn't watched it, it was not going to be my favourite Bom movie. This is the one where he's in so much grief, Daniel Craig over Vespper's death that he doesn't even have sex with a bomgirl Okay No wonder Sam Mendees came back with a one word cracking title Skyfful. I'm not sure what it is, but it sounds very boondy. I'm interested I'm assuming Bond is going have sex with somebody. It's uncle Skyfulall. Could yeah. I mean, it's not that hard in life, is it? You can go around seven star hotels and have sex with beautiful women, but anyhow, I don't like I've talked about under explanation where it's like this is so generic. I don't even know what it's. Franchise over explanation, Doctor Strange in the multiverse of Madness that if you didn't know that Marvel was really going off the rails by that point, alsoso Aman and the wasp C on quantumania. No. thoseose ones were you just saying, okay or like something a Star Wars story, like, o, I don't know, is it Canon? Is it off worldorld? Is it this or that? No, thank you. I don't need any of that I think the I think the one I think is the most egregious are titles that suggest the wrong genre. So Greenland and I'm like, what's this? Look, let's be honest, it's a Jerry Butler disaster movie. Let's just call it what it is. Then I would have like call it extinction I's not even heard of it Yeah. Greenland. It should be called extxtinction event or something. Greenand has fallen. Yeah, was it all Greenland or Jerry Butler does Greenland, it's fine. You know what you're I know what I'm getting. Maybe the absolute classic of this for me is the constant gardener. I was like, sorry, this is a spy movie. I mean, I understand if you love Lecarry or whatever, I get it, but you know you're trying to get everyone in here. Yeah.'t This is a spy movie. It literally sounds like it's a Jane Campion movie about the prrisoner of warar or something. With that one though, I mean if we're going to talk about why f to end up with bad titles, Le Carry's not going to let you make that movie and change the title and it's a great title for the book because in the book, you can title. Yes because you've got John L Cari on the comp. You haven't got that on the cinemay. It just refines doing something about gardening. Yes.be's a pron. mayaybe he's an alcatra. I don't know what's happen.'s a ty garden on window. I don't know what's happening. is this Ad Titchmars the movie. In terms of the next part of the question, which is how does it happen? honestly The people with the power agree and sometimes that might be the writer, as you say. sometimes it might be the author who's allowed you to adapt his brilliant spy novel. Citteeism in my experience and many of people's experience can lead to madness, I actually think you should just know what you're getting. movies that I mentioned in the Tuesday episode, Barbie, or I think I know what's happening here. Oppenheimer.. I know what's happening. Dude Minec. Dude we'ars my car. I mean people, that one was so bad it was good. There is There is a genre of so bad it's good. Dude we'ars my car. And you know the follow up to dudes Yeah, seriously, dude wearss my car. Yeah. brillant you know what I told you I was looking forward to a horror that's coming in August, by the way. I have now seen it Absolutely brilliant I'm desperate for you all to see it. It's so good It's quuite genre bending, but it's also very, very much an homage to the genre and very funny. That's called teeenage seex and Death at Camp Myiasma.. Okay, I guess call it what you like. O. So I think you can sort of get away with those sort of titles in maybe just everyone just call it teeenenage sex and Death. but that is brilliant. That's written and directed by Jane Shan Braman comes out in August. But again, we'll see it it is a brilliant film. I absolutely loved it. I'm still thinking about it. That's cool. It's a lot. We have Yeahah, we spend a lot of time on the titles, I mean, for my books and N's bs and sometimes books will come out with titles where you' like How are you supposed to know what that is? But yeah, we've always been a a long time on titles. and it's you know I'm very, very happy to involve as many people as possible in that. It's funny because sometimes we have to come up with the titles before I finish them sometimes just because you know the process of covers and things like that. and I will never let my publishers read anything beyond the first twenty thousand words because they're sort of hodunity type books, so I want them to read it all in one. They'll come up with titles and they go, yeah, that's I mean that's going to give away the killer just so you know. or yeah, that has literally nothing to do with what's about to happen. And I mean God bless my publisher, they do keep at and they can you give us any hints. I go, Yeah maybe something around this sort of area, but it always you have to have a title that at least uh, you know at the mist, the man who died twice, even the Thursday Medal Cup, the first. Oh yeah point. Just just things where you go, o, okay, there's a little something to get your I can understand it from the title. Sorry. I mean these things do seem basic, but with some of these film titles, I agree. Yeah. you know, I loveve Boosters is a terrible title and I think it was quite funny and good. Eddington is a film I've read so much about I have no idea what it is because I just think I'm not it just it's called Eddington. I agree with you. You're not giving me anything and unfortunately in a very crowded marketplace you have to. So I agree with you and thank you for raising that Chris round This segment is brought to you by Lloyd's Arena. Lloyds are offering a five K house deposit, which was last seen in nineteen ninety six. What made nineteen ninety six such a huge year for British podcasts? I it was massive. Yeah, it was massive. I mean, by the way, that's an amazing idea because you I just remember like when we were in our twenties Yeah You didn't have to put down a huge amount of money for a house, which was handy if you didn't have any money., whichich I definitely didn't. So in nineteen ninety six, it feels like the year that everyone harks back to. when we're kind of going and it was just before Blair got in. but there was a sea change in the air. Yeah, it was, you know, and we felt this optimism would last forever. So thank you to Loyis for bringing some of it back. There was a thing that people always used to say about the sixties, which was that the swinging sixties was actually seventeen people in London and Mc Jagger. But it didn't feel like that in the nineties and in nineties ninety sixies. It was very the whole sort of Bit pop. all of these things were a much more democratised movement and they all joined up. the football obviously, it was the Euros. I might be able to talk. I'm still quite upset about it So Brit pop started sort of early nineties and it was sort of very cool, and it was very kind of left field and it was swayede and blur and pulp. But then oasis sort when you get to ninety six, Oasis suddly a playe to a quarter of a million people at Nbworth. So this thing that was very, very British Very, very cool, very, very optimistic that cross different classes suddenly became absolutely the heart of mainstream culture. and difficult to think of an example of that happening in the years since. No, and it was internationalized in American magazines, know there's a famous fantasy fair cover of like Patsy Kendit and Liam Gallagh lying on the front of it under some sort of union jack sheet And things like the movies were Trainpoting came out and the soundtrack for that was amazing. obbviously underworld but was Pul Blow, Alaska, they were all on it. That became the sort of second highest grossing British film of all time. It is hard to explain to people how that was the sort of It Cultural an incredibly cool idea, but Dany Ball sort of exploded into everything with that Yeah. And it felt much more a time of possibility. It really did. I wish I'd known at the time that I was living in a golden age. Yeah because it seemed like whatet. seemed like what you've got though actually, I mean, you know one of my favorite TV programes of all time came out in nineteen ninety six, ourur friends in the North, which was very reflective really. It was kind of nineteen sixty four or five to nineteen ninety five And it had don't look back in anger playing over the final credits of the final episode. But that was looking back over you know the previous decades. So you didn't necessarily you know was it was a time of promotion, but it was a forward looking time for defin it. And to give the people who were As then now hope. it's cycl cical because the seventies were pretty awful. I mean, I loved them because I was a child. But you know, it wasn't a hopeful and optimistic decade And then you know, fifteen years later, suddenly you've got this incredible Russia, I mean, one of the great decades, it all comes round again. It does all come round again and you have to thank Lloyds for. for perhaps kicksting this with their five K house deposits. Yes, Lloyds are offering five K deposit mortgages to first time buyers. To find out more, search five K first time buuyer. nineteen ninety six average first time buuyer deposits based on ONS data, subject to status. Your home may be repossessed if you don't keep up repayments. conditions apply. question from Danny Mchant. She says in films with enormous VFX monsters, how do they film the actors interacting with things that don't exist in the real world? Thank you, Danny. Well, I think a very, very good example of this is interacting with the Dragons on House of the Dragon. So we put your question to the VFX supervisor on House of the Dragon. It's Darby Ainersen, and here's your answer. So the design of the Dragons really begins from the script, which is ultimately did derived from the book. so there will be a description of the Dragons and it's not just the visual description, it's also like the character. We then work very closely with Ryan Condle, who is our showrunner. Well talk us through what kind of characteristics add or subtract something from the traditional kind of description of it. And then that becomes a three D model, it becomes textured You put a skeleton in it and add musculature and then the movement is a big part of it as well. So it's a very multil layered multi step process. we'll have on set we'll have Dragon performers. so they're I mean, they're fantastic. you know, they are really kind of behind the scenes and never end up on screen, but they are people with some kind of a performance or acting background. And you know we basically show them the previews. we talk about the character of the dragon and then they'll get in a blue suit and they'll hold a pole with a fiberglassra blue dragon head on it, light enough for them to be able to kind of move around and manipulate They basically perform the dragon movements and you know sometimes it's for an eyeline for the actor. sometometimes the actor would go and kind of put the hand on the dragon head or kind of run up and interact with them We try not to subject them to making the noises U you know, sometometimes we'll have the director on the mic, we call it the God mic. so it's like when you're looking through the monitors, you can kind of have a microphone on speakers that people on set can hear. The director might shout or I might shout, you know, some kind of version of the dragon sounds or kind of ceue the performance speats. It's hard enough to keep everyone focused on someone in a blue Lotard, let alone if they're kind of making dragon noises It's a big exercise in suspension of disbelief. You know, any small thing, anything that bumps can just kind of trigger you to kind of step out from that and then you kind of dismiss the scene you know, and a lot of these scenes are you you'll have like one of our key casts interacting with a dragon And it might have to be a very emotional scene, you know, and you're kind of creating a dragon that has character and you have to have kind of blow some life into them, not just how realistically rendered they are and how realistically comp they are, but also like the mannerisms and characteristics and you know, it needs to feel like I mean, I often talk about giving the dragon a brain when we're kind of reviewing things, you know, you need to make it make believe that there's a thought process inside there. Thank you so much, Darvey. That was fascinating. It is fascinating. It's really weird when you see it. It's undeniably quite comic that there are people in these green or blue suits. They sometimes just have to have a head on a pole really high up because obviously the dragons are enormous. and you can't look in the right place, but it does look kind of absurd. And it was the same for like Thanos in the Marvel movies where you actually see Josh Rowin and then this kind of huge thing going much further up. It is It's kindind of a weird thing to have to do. And some actors absolutely hate it and I just I'm not moving into this kind of CGI world where almost nothing is real and very little the whole frame is effectively not practical. Sometimes people will try and insist on doing much more sort of practical stuff. I know they've done building incredible practical sets for Elden Ring Alex Garland is directing that's out at Elstree, I think, and it's extraordinary. Often it can all be completely green and then you've got someone in a green catsuit or a blue catsuit. a not particularly advanced head on the top that the actor is having to interact with. I love hearing from people like Darby it does ear we talk about it a lot, but you realize that you know, the public facing people and movies are, you know, the directors and the actors and stuff. But behind the scenes the extraordinary talent of people and what they do and how much they care about and how much thought they've had to put into things and how They do their job brilliantly, it makes the film better. So I absolutely love when people like Darvey tell us what it is that they do because you just go Everybody has to be rowing in the same direction to make a brilliant TV program or make a brilliant movie. That about wraps us up for today. If you haven't listened to it yet, the final episode of The Vibehift, my series with James Kanag Gatorian, came out yesterday and it's about the sort of end of Pe woke and where the zeitgeist is going now. Other than that We will see you next Tuesday. Yeah you next Tuesday. Bpring to slit into your DMs. Grab that booho look for that rooftop dinner. Th sandals that can keep up with you and hang some string lights to give your patio a glow up Springs Calling Ross, work your magic Your call has been forwarded to voicemail This is Zoe Deutsch and Nick Robinson. O brand new movie voicemails for Isabel is all about those little moments that feel like the universe is looking out. Feeling homesick Th Then your sister calls. Hearing that perfect song, exactly when you need it Sometimes life rigs things in our favor, like learning about your new favorite ROM com voicemails for Isabel. Now playing only on Netflix. This episode brought to you by Google Chrome