Director Sarah Adina Smith has shared one of her most cherished memories from filming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms; the moment Peter Claffey delivered his powerful horseback speech as Ser Duncan the Tall (Dunk).During an HBO FYC panel, Smith described the scene as one of her favourite directing memories ever. She was particularly impressed by how naturally Claffey took to riding horses, which gave the crew freedom to film dynamically.
Quick read:
- Director Sarah Adina Smith highly praised Peter Claffey’s performance
- She mentioned he was a natural at horse-riding
- The ‘braveheart’ speech is her favourite moment from the entire series
In Sarah’s words,
“First of all, thank God Peter can ride a horse. Otherwise it would have been a lot more difficult to film. But he actually took to horses so naturally that we were able to film with a lot of freedom.”
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The “birth of a movie star” moment
Smith recalled being so captivated while directing the scene that she momentarily forgot she was working:
“Every once in a while when you’re directing, you forget that you’re directing and you’re just watching like an audience member.”
She then turned to showrunner Ira Parker and said something she’ll never forget:
“I think we just watched the birth of a movie star. Like this guy, he’s got it.”
Smith described the moment as “really special,” emphasizing how powerful Claffey’s performance was on the day they filmed the now-iconic horseback speech; often referred to by the cast and crew as the “braveheart speech”.
A standout performance
Her praise highlights the quality Claffey brought to the role of Dunk; the honourable hedge knight at the heart of the series. The combination of his natural physicality on horseback and his commanding delivery helped make the scene one of the standout moments of season 1. Peter Claffey himself later shared that after successfully filming the speech, he was so thrilled he galloped around the set on horseback with his sword drawn in celebration.
