Producer and director Michele MacLaren recently spoke with AssignmentX.com about several of her projects, including HBO’s Game of Thrones. In addition to her work on the network’s flagship series, MacLaren has produced and/or directed The X-Files, Breaking Bad, Westworld, and HBO’s current Sunday night offering, The Deuce.
As Game of Thrones‘ only female director, MacLaren helmed “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” and”Second Sons” in Season 3, as well as “Oathkeeper” and “First of His Name” in Season 4.
Jaime and Brienne after escaping from the bear pit in “The Bear and the Maiden Fair.”
Despite her singular status and involvement in several of HBO’s acclaimed series, she laughed when asked if she is HBO’s go-to director. “Gosh, you’d have to ask HBO that. HBO makes fantastic shows, and I feel very fortunate to work on them, so I love it when they ask me.”
MacLaren described the unique challenges she faced shooting episodes of Game of Thrones compared to those of a reality-based show like The Deuce, which is centered around the porn industry in 1970’s New York.
Well, 1971 New York, the way we portrayed it was as accurate as possible, so it is our world, it was our world in 1971, and we tried to make it as authentic and real as possible. Every sign is real, every poster is real, every costume and car – we try to make it as authentic as possible. When you’re doing Game of Thrones, there’s a fantastical element to it, so we can create weapons that never existed, we can create wardrobe that never existed. In The Deuce, all this wardrobe, it existed.
You probably won’t see Beric Dondarrion’s flaming sword on the streets of New York City.
Although filming Game of Thrones did not require MacLaren to adhere to the authenticity of a specific time and place, it presented other difficulties. She explained the logistics involved in shooting the epic series, in which an entire season is “cross-boarded,” meaning shot all at once across several locations. “[T]here are two crews, and a director and their d.p. [director of photography] and their first a.d. [assistant director] and their second a.d. [who all] move from crew to crew and location to location, depending on where and what they’re shooting.”
What they do is, there’s always a crew in Northern Ireland, and then at some point in the season, one of the crews go to the different location, and the actors and the director and their team fly in and out as the schedule needs them for their particular episodes. So I would be shooting in Northern Ireland, then I would fly to Iceland, or Morocco, wherever the crew is at that time, to shoot the scenes for my episode.
Filming Game of Thrones on location in Iceland.
MacLaren does not worry whether her other projects will be embraced as wholeheartedly (obsessively?) as Game of Thrones has been.
You can’t be thinking about who’s going to watch this, and how many people are going to watch this. You’ve got to be thinking about, “How do I make this the best scene possible, the best shot possible, in this moment, to tell the story I want to tell?”
MacLaren continues to tell stories, although she is not slated to direct any Season 8 episodes of Game of Thrones. In addition to directing The Deuce, MacLaren, along with her The X-Files and Breaking Bad collaborator Vince Gilligan, is developing an HBO miniseries about the Jonestown massacre entitled Raven.
To stay up to date on everything Game of Thrones, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Watch Game of Thrones for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channel
