We're coming closer to the season 4 premiere of "Game of Thrones," and episode 9's director, Neil Marshall, recently teased some production and plot details that give clues as to what we can expect from the penultimate episode.
"A Song of Ice and Fire" readers will understand the events that Neil Marshall is referring to, yet non-book readers may want to steer clear to avoid possible spoilers.
Marshall, who also directed the big-budget "Blackwater" episode of season 2, told the Irish Film & Television Network in a new interview that episode 9 of season 4 will be "huge," featuring battles and action sequences on an event bigger scale than "Blackwater." Around 200 extras were needed for filming of the yet unnamed episode.
"We have huge sets that they build - in the case of 'Blackwater' it was a section of King's Landing. For this episode we didn't have to build Castle Black, we already had it. But it's an amazing set," Marshall said. "They built another inside the Paint Hall for the top of the Wall, and that was so big it took up the entire studio. We got a special backdrop made for it and one of the things about Paint Hall that makes it quite unique is that it's much taller than most film studios. The backdrop went around almost 360 degrees and it turned out that it's the biggest backdrop in Europe."
Episode 9 was tricky to film, as it was filled with sword fights, physical fights, "stunts, effects gags and visual effects," and filmed in a non-linear fashion with three different battles going on at once. Marshall added that we can expect to see "a few beheadings" and a few people blowing up, catching on fire and falling from great heights.
Season 4 premieres Spring 2014 on HBO.
Click here to read the full interview with Neil Marshall on episode 9 of season 4.
