No Spoilers… Just Blood, Sweat and a Flaming Torch
No spoilers, I promise.
Past evening but not quite morning, 2:00 a.m. to be exact. Around 80 support actors stood fully costumed, ready for two nights of hard slogging up and down a forest hillside filming House of the Dragon.
My last stint on HOTD was a breeze. Stand there in my armour, look brooding and menacing, and spend the day as part of a four-man ballista crew firing at dragons. Unfortunately, our giant crossbow never made it past the cutting room floor.
This shoot was different.
It was hard. Gruelling. Relentless.
A few people didn’t return for the second night’s filming, but the rest of us soldiered on.
As for me… well, I had a couple of “Cut! Let’s do that again!” moments.
Entirely my fault.
Twice I managed to trip over while carrying my flaming torch or flambeau, to give it its proper acting-world name. In my defence, it was the middle of the night, in a forest, on uneven ground, wearing armour.
The director wasn’t particularly sympathetic.
After my second near-disaster, my real torch was confiscated and replaced with an LED version, presumably to stop me accidentally setting fire to half the forest!
Ironically, the location held a special memory for me. Forty years earlier, I had trained there as a soldier in the Parachute Regiment. The same forest. The same steep hills. It was every bit as gruelling back then as it was now.
Only this time, instead of being shouted at by a sergeant, I was being shouted at by a director.
Life has a funny way of coming full circle.
It was a huge scene and an important reveal that helps set up the final episode of Season 4. As a Support Actor, it’s rare to get a decent shot on screen. More often than not, we’re a blur in the background or a fleeting glimpse during the action.
So I was genuinely pleased to spot myself in this frame. It’s definitely one for the scrapbook.
Hopefully, I’ll be back again for Season 5—possibly the final season.
Over the years I’ve made lasting friendships and collected memories I’ll never forget.
Being a support actor isn’t glamorous. The days are long, the pay isn’t amazing, your feet ache, every muscle complains, and the drive home can feel endless. But after a hot bath and a good night’s sleep, all of that fades away…
…and you find yourself looking forward to the next availability request.
After all, how many people get to dress in medieval armour, fire giant crossbows at dragons, fight battles in the Scottish Highlands, or spend hours trapped in a lift with Benedict Cumberbatch?
I genuinely love being a support actor, especially when the action is thick, dirty and physically demanding.
On to the next shoot.
