Game of Thrones‘ premiere episode on April 17, 2011, was visually stunning and wildly intriguing—and it wasn’t the original $10 million pilot that was shot to suck you into the world of Westeros.
Actor-filmmaker Tom McCarthyHe was the former director of Dinklage The Station Agenthe went on to win the 2016 Best Picture Oscar SpotlightThe key to the success of the GOT casting process and helmed that First first episode.
Ironically, it felt a little. Too contained. “There were concerns about whether we were getting enough wide shots,”Hibberd was informed by Lombardo. Note the lack of epic scope “I remember the quote was, ‘We could have shot this in Burbank.'”
On Craig MazinAnd John August‘s podcast ScriptnotesWeiss used to call watching the reactions of his friends who gathered together to screen the pilot in 2016 “watching the reactions”. “one of the most painful experiences of my life.”
Benioff noted that no one seemed to have caught on that amorous twins Jaime and Cersei Lannister were brother and sister—”a major, major plot point that we had somehow failed to establish.”
They credited the then-HBO co–president Richard PleplerHe was able to see beyond the limitations of what was and look for what can be. He ordered 10 episodes and a pilot. They began filming in July 2010.
After watching the version that made it to HBO—directed by Tim Van Patten, with McCarthy credited as a consulting producer—at the series’ big premiere, Mazin remembered telling Weiss and Benioff afterward, “‘That’s the biggest rescue in Hollywood history.'”
The Chernobyl writer continued, “Because it wasn’t just that they had saved something bad and turned it really good. You had saved a complete piece of shit and turned it into something brilliant. That never happens!”
McCarthy didn’t go into detail, but ABC News – NotedIn 2016, they returned to “re-shoot and re-work the pilot,”He was already hard at work on his 2011 film WinThey wouldn’t let go. “And,”He stated, “[GOT] was hugely successful without me.”
