Dame Diana Rigg literally ‘stormed’ off the Game of Thrones set and cut a scene short for no other reason than she’s Dame Diana Rigg and that’s good enough for us.
Rigg starred as the formidable Olenna Tyrell until she bowed out in by far the most dignified death across the entire eight seasons, dropping the bombshell she killed King Joffrey on her way out.
An upcoming book, Fire Cannot Kill A Dragon, takes a deep-dive behind-the-scenes of the fantasy epic, which ran for eight seasons and became the biggest show in the world.
Among the many anecdotes in the book, one which has taken a new poignance following Rigg’s death last week, comes from Jessica Henwick, who played Nymeria Sands – one of Oberyn Martell’s eight daughters known as sand snakes in season five.
Henwick remembered filming with Rigg on the scene when Olenna talks strategy with Ellaria Sand and snaps at Obara, Nymeria, and Tyene, hissing: ‘Oh do shut up … Let the grown women speak.’
‘She walked onto the set, and she went, “I’m ready now!”’ recalled Henwick.
(Picture: HBO)
‘A cameraman came over and went, “Well, okay, but we haven’t finished setting up.” She interrupted him and said, “Roll the cameras!” And she just started doing her lines.
‘She did two takes, and then the guy came over and was like, “Great, now we’re going to do a close-up.” And she just stood up and she went, “I’m done!”’
It gets better.
‘Now, she can’t walk fast,’ Henwick continued. ‘She has to be helped. So basically we just sat there and watched as Diana Rigg effectively did her own version of storming off the set, but it was at 0.1 miles per hour.
‘She cracked me up. I loved her.’
Rigg was nominated for four Emmys for her role in Game of Thrones. Showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff eventually expanded the part of Olenna simply because of Rigg’s talents.
The Game of Thrones cast paid tribute to the star in their droves after news of her death broke earlier this month.
Game of Thrones is available to stream on NOW TV.
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