'Game of Thrones' epic battle sets viewership record - CNN

The numbers for "The Long Night" include 12 million television viewers who watched on HBO at 9 p.m. Sunday night. The rest were viewers who watched an encore presentation, combined with those who streamed the show with the HBO Go or HBO Now apps.

"The Long Night" — which pitted the living against the dead in a great battle in Winterfell — was one of the most anticipated episodes of the series.

The episode was 82 minutes long and required 11 weeks of night shoots in Northern Ireland, where much of the series is filmed.

Social media lit up after the episode. Fans created memes, discussed plot points and even complained about the episode's cinematography online.

Some viewers noted that the episode's battle sequences, which were set at night in a blizzard, made it too difficult to make out what was happening on screen.

HBO also said on Tuesday that the season premiere has now been seen by more than 38 million viewers across HBO's linear and digital platforms when accounting for delayed viewing.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/30/media/game-of-thrones-season-8-record/index.html

2019-04-30 17:40:00Z
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Game of Thrones’ writers don’t know what to do with prophets and geniuses - The Verge

Spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones, season 8, episode 3, “The Long Night”

As Game of Thrones moves into the second half of its final season, we’re in the endgame — not just for the remaining contenders for the Iron Throne, but also for the behind-the-scenes string-pullers with their own grandiose plans for the fate of Westeros. Littlefinger’s cunning, Varys’ spy networks, Tyrion’s battle strategies, and Melisandre’s prophecies and fire magic have all been involved in manipulating and shaping the kingdom’s current chaos. But the show has not been friendly to any of its masterminds.

In the season 8 premiere, Varys, Tyrion, and Davos Seaworth watch Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen from a distance, musing over their suitability as a marriage alliance. “You overestimate our influence,” Varys says. “Jon and Daenerys don’t want to listen to lonely old men.” Tyrion protests, “Our queen respects the wisdom of age.” Varys quips back, “Of course she does. Respect is how the young keep us at a distance so that we don’t remind them of an unpleasant truth… that nothing lasts.”

Varys isn’t wrong about his own diminished social influence. In the past three seasons of Game of Thrones, as the show has diverged from George R.R. Martin’s sourcebooks, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have relegated all of the advisers, sages, and prophets to the side, treating them as dusty old relics. The former schemers and pundits have laid out epic plans, but then they’ve consistently been sidelined and outsmarted by characters who are supposed to be less witty and observant, less influential and careful, or less crafty.

First, there’s Varys, whose purported goal was to improve the lives of common people and do what’s best for the realm. He served the Mad King, crossed over to help Robert Baratheon and spy on Dany when she was a young girl, and finally declared his true allegiance to her as a just queen. He’s an extremely resilient man, with a network of child spies. But by season 8, Varys has ceased to have any hand in driving the plot. He’s barely even present. He’s taken a back seat to Daenerys, who does what she wants regardless of his counsel. He also loses the major kills he commits in the books, murdering Pycelle and Kevan Lannister to protect Tyrion. In the show, Qyburn kills Pycelle, and Cersei Lannister kills Kevan as part of her Sept of Baelor wildfire attack. It’s a cleaner version of the story, but it undermines Varys’ ruthlessness and commitment to his cause.

Part of this can be explained by the showrunners’ emphasis and focus on more physically active, traditional heroes like Jon Snow and Arya Stark. We’re running out of episodes, so if Varys has any elaborate plots left, they could only be addressed in a spinoff, a sequel, or, better yet, George R.R. Martin’s unfinished books. Varys gets no lines during Jaime’s trial, although court manipulation is one of his specialties, and he just barely survives by the skin of his teeth in the crypts. (Somehow neither he nor Tyrion anticipates that the crypts aren’t safe against an opponent who raises the dead!)

Over and over throughout the last few seasons, we’ve seen this pattern repeat: the showrunners keep their prophets and geniuses dull and unaware to make it easier to spring surprises on the audience. That’s why the Night King can survive fire, defying the story’s established rules for the undead. It’s not because of some secret history; it’s because surprises make for startling entertainment. This isn’t a huge grievance, but it’s worth mourning, for a moment, the metaphorical death of George R.R. Martin’s smarter characters.

Martin has said in interviews and on his LiveJournal that Tyrion is his favorite character and that he takes great pleasure in crafting dialogue for him, but it takes time. After season 5, the showrunners had to improvise their own glib lines for Tyrion, which leads straight into him making familiar gibes at Varys for not having balls. What’s worse, Tyrion consistently underestimates his sister Cersei and falls for her lies. He gives Daenerys awful advice that betrays her allies and the story that she rightly ignores. He spends all of season 7 consistently failing and moping, perpetually helpless and on the sidelines as terrible things happen.

His failing wits and charm aside, the utter failure of his former military acumen is the narrative blunder that feels most out of character. Fans have taken issue with Tyrion’s advice to Daenerys not to march on King’s Landing or at least lure out Cersei’s forces in season 7 in a battle that would have avoided civilian casualties. His decisions might not make strategic sense, but they’ve helped the showrunners delay the epic battles until Game of Thrones’ final season, keeping Cersei alive to increase tension. They just came at the cost of Tyrion’s logic and common sense.

Then there’s Melisandre who was totally underwhelming in fulfilling her final prophecy. She told Varys in season 7 that they’ll both die in Westeros, and in season 8’s massive battle in “The Long Night,” she tells Davos not to bother killing her because she’ll be dead by dawn. Both lines imply she’ll have some sort of epic death, and that the prophecy of the Prince that Was Promised, aka Azor Ahai, will be complete. That isn’t exactly what goes down.

In season 8, the Azor Ahai prophecy basically falls apart. According to prophecy, there should be a hero “born again amidst smoke and salt” who wakes “dragons out of stone.” The description sounds like it could apply to Jon or Daenerys, but Melisandre and Beric, who are both servants of the Lord of Light, give up their lives in order to keep Arya alive to slay the Night King. Her parting words to Arya are more or less, “Hey, you killed some blue eyes, just like I said you would.” So maybe Azor Ahai doesn’t matter so much? In the season 6 finale, Melisandre tells Jon Snow, “I’ve been ready to die for many years. If the Lord was done with me, so be it, but he’s not.” Yet, without looking for a clear sign that the lord was done with her, without resolving Westeros’ ongoing battles, without explicitly fulfilling the terms of her prophecies or explaining what’s going on, without even mentioning where she went for two seasons, Melisandre voluntarily ends her life by walking off into the distance and disintegrating into dust.

The highly unsatisfying conclusion to her storyline indicates that either Melisandre and other Red Priestesses of the Lord of Light were all wrong, or that the showrunners are just chucking out this piece of Game of Thrones lore in favor of focusing on more popular characters.

Melisandre’s seemingly random, anticlimactic death isn’t the first time the show has disposed of someone with the long game in mind. Petyr Baelish, better known as Littlefinger, was also poorly served by the writers over the course of seasons 5 through 7 before he met his untimely demise, which hasn’t happened in the books yet. A lot of it has to do with plot choices. Sansa didn’t have much to do in the later books, besides hanging around the Vale, so the showrunners gave her Jeyne Poole’s storyline, with Littlefinger arranging for her to marry sadistic murderer Ramsay Bolton.

This adaptation choice unfortunately made Littlefinger look stupid. Apparently, he didn’t have any idea what sort of a person Ramsay was or that he was putting Sansa in the hands of a bloodthirsty rapist. He eventually admits to Sansa that he made a mistake, but it’s hard to swallow, given Ramsay’s outsized behavior and how clever and aware Littlefinger is supposed to be.

In the books, Littlefinger instead offers to marry Sansa off to his heir, Ser Harrold Hardyng, who’s a mild jerk. But he’s no human-hunting, victim-flaying Ramsay Bolton, and he’s under Littlefinger’s control. We also know less about Littlefinger’s end goals in the books, and the added sense of mystery means he might have a pivotal role in the endgame. The show’s version of Littlefinger is a slimy weasel who ultimately tries to clumsily pit Sansa and Arya against each other. He deserves his execution for his sloppiness alone. But he’s also written as a straightforward schemer who is out to grab as much power as possible and seat himself on the Iron Throne. In some senses, he’d become too boring and basic to keep around.

It’s ridiculous to expect the showrunners to devote any sort of time to developing their geniuses and prophets when they only have three episodes left, especially since they seem to want to devote them all to straightforward action and romance. Unfortunately, for the sake of building up battles and putting Arya, Sansa, Daenerys, and Jon Snow in the spotlight, the puppetmasters pulling the strings have been cut off. The resulting simplicity is a blow to a longform story that likely wouldn’t have commanded this much attention if it had always been this uninterested in its undercard players. Stories as varied as Westworld, Avengers: Endgame, and Naruto bring in audiences with the sense of grandmasters playing 4D chess with the world. Exchanging that for easy thrills and sleight-of-hand tricks feels like a quick, boring victory after a long, worthy buildup.

We still have one prophet left on the center stage: Bran Stark. He didn’t do much during the Battle of Winterfell, except sightseeing as some crows and failing to pass along any useful intel to his allies. But he supposedly sees fragments of the future and is guiding everyone else along the journey. Given how poorly every other fortune-teller and chessmaster on this show has been treated, expectations for Bran shouldn’t be set too high. But he does have some major advantages. He’s a Stark, and his proximity to the other main characters might give him plot armor so he isn’t killed off. His powers could keep him safely on the sidelines. The story has said his death would be disastrous to humanity — it was the Night King’s stated goal — and with so much effort made to preserve him, he probably won’t die anytime soon. Best of all, he’s one of the key people vouching for Jon Snow’s identity as the true heir to the Iron Throne. All of this might just be placing a target on his back, but it could also suggest he’ll actually be relevant in the upcoming chain of events.

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https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/30/18522060/game-of-thrones-got-season-8-hbo-final-melisandre-tyrion-lannister-long-night-prophecies-tactics

2019-04-30 17:21:07Z
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Tony Awards Nominations 2019: 'Hadestown' And 'Ain't Too Proud' Lead The Count - NPR

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Hadestown was nominated for 14 Tony Awards, including one for best musical and another for best leading actress in a musical (Eva Noblezada, center). The awards ceremony is scheduled for June 9. Matthew Murphy/Courtesy of Hadestown, The Musical hide caption

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Matthew Murphy/Courtesy of Hadestown, The Musical

The 2018-2019 Broadway season hurtled to a close, with 14 plays and musicals opening in March and April, before the Tony Award nominations were announced on Tuesday morning. And some of the late entries into the race were handsomely rewarded.

Hadestown, a retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth by singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, opened just two weeks ago and took 14 nominations, including one for best musical. Another recent entry, a reworking of the 1980s film comedy Tootsie, took 11 nominations, also including best musical.

Rounding out the best musical category were a jukebox musical, Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations, with 12 nominations; an adaptation of the film Beetlejuice, with eight; and an original musical, The Prom, with seven.

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Santino Fontana (center) stars in Tootsie, one of the productions up for the Tony Award for best musical. Fontana is also nominated for best leading actor in a musical. Matthew Murphy/Courtesy of Tootsie hide caption

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Matthew Murphy/Courtesy of Tootsie

One of the biggest surprises of the season was the sheer number of new plays produced on Broadway: 14. Best play may be the hardest Tony category to predict.

The Ferryman, Jez Butterworth's family drama set in Northern Ireland during the "troubles," led the pack with nine nominations, followed closely by Taylor Mac's idiosyncratic Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, with seven, and Ink, a British import about young Rupert Murdoch, with six.

Rounding out the category were two Broadway debuts: Choir Boy, by Tarell Alvin McCraney — winner of an Academy Award for Moonlight — and What the Constitution Means to Me, a personal memoir written and performed by Heidi Schreck.

Two popular plays also captured several nominations, but not for the top prize. Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, starring Jeff Daniels, received nine nominations, and an adaptation of Paddy Chayefsky's Network, starring Bryan Cranston, got five. Both of those lead actors were nominated in the best actor in a play category.

The best play revival field is particularly strong, with The Boys in the Band, The Waverly Gallery, All My Sons, Burn This and Torch Song all up for top honors. And only two musical revivals were eligible for best musical revival: an avant-garde staging of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!, which received eight nominations in total, and a revised version of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, which took four.

In addition to Daniels and Cranston, several big stars were nominated for top awards, including Adam Driver in Lanford Wilson's Burn This, Annette Bening in Arthur Miller's All My Sons, Elaine May in The Waverly Gallery and Kelli O'Hara in Kiss Me, Kate.

Some other stars were left out of their categories, including Glenda Jackson, who won a best actress Tony last year and starred in King Lear this season, and Nathan Lane, who leads Gary.

A complete list of nominations is available at the Tony Awards website.

The Tony Awards will be presented on Sunday, June 9 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. The ceremony will be hosted by James Corden at Radio City Music Hall and broadcast on CBS.

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https://www.npr.org/2019/04/30/718637862/tony-awards-nominations-2019-hadestown-and-ain-t-too-proud-lead-the-count

2019-04-30 16:35:00Z
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A post-action analysis of GoT's Battle of Winterfell—through a glass, darkly - Ars Technica

• It's Team Human, led by Jon "Oh, geez, this isn't going well" Snow...

  HBO

• Versus Team Undead, led by a formidable tactician who perhaps got a bit too cocky trying to relish the moment as he went for the final prize. Don't get cute on the one-yard line, Night King.

  HBO

Warning: This story contains plot points and spoilers for the latest episode of Game of Thrones, S8E3's Battle of Winterfell.

Halfway through the last season of Game of Thrones, we put together an after-action analysis of the major military engagements driving the plot of the series in the season's two central episodes—"The Queen's Justice," in which the forces allied against Queen Cersei got seriously pasted, and "The Spoils of War," in which Daenerys Targaryen, her dragons, and her Dothraki rapid response force swept down on the Lannister army's wagon train and turned it into a macabre cookout.

Now we're halfway through the final season of the series, and we're at a similar pivot point. The second episode of the season—"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms"—laid out the somewhat awful strategic position of the combined allied forces under the command of Daenerys Targaryen and her Warden of the North, lover and likely nephew Jon Snow. And in the most recent episode—"The Long Night"—that situation reached its climax and conclusion in what could set the record for the least number of photons registered in a film or video production of its length ever.

As we were writing this, we were beaten to the punch by one of our favorite military Twitterati and bloggers, Angry Staff Officer, a master of fictional tactical interpretation, in his excellent but perhaps slightly misguided analysis for our sister publication, Wired. It's definitely worth reading, and you should do so right after you read this—unless you have not seen the episode and are averse to spoilers. In that case, come back and read both once you're ready.

Situational awareness

Enlarge / At first (like the first two minutes), it seems we have a steady human set of hands at the wheel...

HBO

Dany's Dothraki and Unsullied forces, Jon's army of the North, the remaining Night's Watch, the remnants of the Brotherhood Without Banners, and a sundry assortment of other good guys face a dire strategic situation to start. The Night King and his mega-army of risen dead people have them outnumbered; he can challenge their air superiority with his own undead dragon and proven anti-aircraft spear; and instead of getting reinforcements from the double-dealing Queen Cersei, they get a one-handed man famous for pushing a kid out a window and siring kids with his sister.

At their command post in Winterfell, the collected leaders looked at the bleak situation and laid out their battle strategy: hold out as best as possible while luring the Night King into a single combat situation using warg raven/drone operator and cryptic intelligence provider Bran Stark (that kid who got pushed out the window) as the bait. Then they mostly get drunk and wait for the onslaught, until forward scouts signal that the enemy is near. But other than toots on a horn, Dany's leadership has absolutely no battlefield situational awareness. It's like they don't have any sort of flying thing that could do reconnaissance or something.

While scouts have given a rough estimate of force composition and the order of battle is pretty well-known, there's pretty much no operational picture—and pretty much no television picture, either, as the director of photography chooses to present the first half of the episode mostly in various shades of black. As the battle approaches, flame priestess and general portent of doom Melisandre wanders up and provides some much needed lighting—giving the Dothraki cavalry some flaming swords to swing. Meanwhile, non-combatants are withdrawn to the super-safe crypt, surrounded by dead people who could be raised by the Night King. Nobody seems to think twice about this, not even Dany's supposedly savvy advisors Tyrion and spymaster Varys—but we've seen them fall flat on their faces before in the foresight department, so that's not a shocker.

Dany and Jon watch from a mountaintop vantage point, awaiting their cue to deliver air support. They can't see much of anything. But somebody eventually does, as the Dothraki charge the unseen White Walker line.

Leeroy Jenkins time

Enlarge / This will totally work.

There has been a lot of criticism of the Dothraki cavalry charge. But we are here to say that the criticism should be focused on the lack of close air support. In "The Spoils of War," the Dothraki served as a "fixing force" to line the Lannisters up for mass destruction from the air. Here, the Dothraki are literally lighting the way to the enemy, and all they have is some artillery support in the form of catapulted flaming tarballs.

Had this illumination been used for, say, some timely dragon strafing by Dany while Jon flew combat air patrol above, the Dothraki sacrifice may have been considerably smaller. Instead, we just get to see their flaming swords extinguished by the advancing line of we don’t know what.

The primary failure of the Dothrakis' use as a shock force was that they ran into an enemy (literally) that could not be shocked. Hopefully there are enough of them left to play a role in the next engagement.

The Dothraki charge was just another example of how utterly unimaginative Dany's supporting staff have been in the face of new challenges. As the returning Dothraki retreat back to Winterfell, we get a good look at another major failure of imagination—the defensive works around the castle, which are, to be honest, embarrassing even from a medieval tactical perspective. While the defenses may have been rushed a bit, it's hard to believe nobody remembered that the enemy's main body was a relentless, berserker undead infantry. Winterfell's outer defensive works were:

• A line of chevaux-de-frise—spiked anti-cavalry fortifications akin to tank traps
• A trench filled with stuff that burns

That's it. There were no other engineering efforts made. There was no effort to use the moving mass of the Walkers against them, using stake walls or other defensive structures. There could have been concentric trenches. Nope. And the Unsullied and Dothraki and everyone else on the field before Winterfell had to retreat through the defenses, causing higher losses.

Sure, all of this would have taken time and resources. But even a little more effort could have bought more time. Unfortunately, this bit of tactical and strategic fail is often reflected in reality, where commanders go into battles thinking the enemy will just fight them by the rules they already know.

Combined arms… and legs

Enlarge / When in doubt, have a witch light a bunch of trenches on fire.

HBO

Command, control, and communication is essential on the battlefield. But the Night King essentially jammed Winterfell's C3 efforts by bringing on a literal fog of war—masking the battlefield with Winter itself. Davos Seaworth waves those flaming sticks to signal to Dany to dragon-flame the trenches alight, but she can't see anything through the low deck. Fortunately (?), Melisandre goes out and does her thing one more time, setting the trench alight.

And then everybody just stands there and watches each other. All the catapults are outside the walls and the trenches. All the archers sit on their hands as the Walkers pause at the wall of flame. Another opportunity to thin the (easily replenished) ranks of the dead.

Meanwhile, Dany and Jon get tangled up in an air-to-air engagement with the Night King, astride his zombie, blue-fire spitting dragon. The Night King has failed to master the use of air power: he could have ignored Jon and Dany and just leveled Winterfell's walls with airstrikes like he did to that Other Wall, but nah. He obviously has no understanding of air-to-air tactics and attempts an attack from below—only to end up entangled with one of his targets. Both the Night King and Jon end up un-dragoned, their reptilian aircraft left to their own devices.

But this is not an apparent problem for the Night King, who has psychic C3 over his minions—and is able to raise all the dead around him as reinforcements. Dany tries to toast the Night King with dragon fire, but it's super-ineffective.

The Night King directs his dead troops to breach the burning barrier in a style reminiscent of World War I trench warfare (or, as Angry Staff Officer put it, "Soviet style")—by throwing their bodies down as a bridge over the obstacle. Suddenly, the lines are not so static. The walls are breached World War Z style by the masses of White Walkers. As the battle rages inside the walls, the Night King strolls into Winterfell with his squad of frozen bros.

The plan… works?

• Castle Winterfell has seen better days

  HBO

• Who thought letting Theon guard the humans' one true honeytrap was a good idea?

  HBO

Then, there is a lot of dying. Jon finds himself tied down by zombie dragon fire. Dany is defended to the death by Jorah Mormont after her dragon gets weighed down by White Walkers. Theon Greyjoy and a band of archers defend Bran at the bait-point to the end, before Theon is dispatched with his own spear by the Night King. It looks like this is the end… until Game of Thrones' ultimate special warfare operator, Arya Stark, arrives and dispatches the Night King with some really slick Valyrian steel dagger work. The King crumbles, and his minions all collapse. It's like a proton torpedo down the exhaust port. The end.

It's a win, at huge costs—one that considerably weakens Dany's fighting force for the coming battle with Cersei's mercenary reinforcements and fleet. But the win shows that the basic underlying strategy mapped out by the leadership was correct—even if the execution left much to be desired.

In the end, we believe that the Battle of Winterfell played out much as most military conflict does. Success in combat often hinges upon the determination, imagination and ability to adapt and overcome in the face of situations that soldiers haven't trained for. The enemy will not always conform to your tactical paradigm. And fortune favors the bold.

If you want the show's writers to justify the action of team human, HBO's latest behind the episode video does just that.

Listing image by HBO

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https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/04/a-post-action-analysis-of-gots-battle-of-winterfell-through-a-glass-darkly/

2019-04-30 16:05:00Z
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Game Of Thrones: What Happened To Rhaegal, Jon's Dragon? (Season 8 Episode 3) - GameSpot

Game of Thrones' longest episode to date--Season 8, Episode 3--aired on Sunday, marking the biggest battle scene to date. A key component of that was the role that the dragons did (or did not) play, and you can read all about what went down with Rhaegal below. If you've already watched, be sure to check out our Episode 3 Easter eggs and references--there were quite a few, and given the issues some people had with the level of darkness and visibility, you might have missed something.

The third episode of Game of Thrones' final season, The Long Night, finally brought the climactic clash we've been waiting for since the opening moments of the show's very first episode. The Night King's army of the dead breached the Wall, and the forces of the living, led by Daenerys, Jon Snow, and Dany's two dragons, laid down everything to try to stop them once and for all during the Battle of Winterfell.

It was a pitched battle that had lots of casualties--check out our full rundown of everyone who didn't make it through, and our review for our take on whether The Long Night succeeded in its aims of resolving the conflict with the Night King. But after the dust had settled, there were still a few lingering questions. Ghost, Jon Snow's direwolf, disappeared in the first charge, leaving everyone online asking what happened to him (here's the answer). And then there was Rhaegal, the dragon ridden by Jon, who fell halfway through the battle and was never seen again. So what happened to him?

Despite it looking pretty harrowing for Rhaegal in the middle of the battle, we know for sure he survived the Battle of Winterfell. That's because he appears, albeit very briefly, in HBO's teaser for Episode 4.

Rhaegal and Drogon, the dragon Daenerys rides, were a powerful force in the battle until a snowstorm wrecked all visibility, and the dragons struggled to help out the fighters on the ground. When the Night King showed up riding the undead Viserion, things got even more hectic.

Viserion and Rhaegal literally slammed into each other in the snowstorm, with the wight dragon trying to cook Rhaegal's rider as they slashed away at each other. The Night King took the opportunity to try to spear Rhaegal and take him down for good, just as he did with Viserion during the Season 7 episode Beyond the Wall. But Rhaegal eventually won the fight, tearing off a piece of Viserion's face, and both the Night King and the wight dragon fell to Earth. But Rhaegal's injuries were pretty severe, and he went plummeting to the ground, too--he crashed, throwing Jon from his back, and that was the last we saw of the dragon.

So the question that remains now is what condition Rhaegal will be in going forward. Like Daenerys's other forces, Rhaegal took a beating during the battle with the Night King, with Viserion raking a huge gash in his chest. It's also looks like he has tears in his wings in the teaser (although it's tough to tell the dragons apart at any distance). It's very likely he won't be back to 100% for some time, and that could call into question his role in the coming battle for the Iron Throne at King's Landing.

Daenerys has already lost a lot of her military might leading up to her final push to take down Cersei Lannister, and the dragons have always been her ace in the hole. We've seen her get a lot done with just one dragon, but a weakened Rhaegal (and possibly Drogon) will definitely be a setback.

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https://www.gamespot.com/articles/game-of-thrones-season-8-episode-3-what-happened-t/1100-6466527/

2019-04-30 15:32:00Z
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What You Didn't See When Arya Stark Saved the Day on GoT - E! NEWS

"F—king hell! Sorry guys!" That's what Maisie Williams said, more than once, while filming her big Game of Thrones battle.

"I think I probably hold the record for the most apologies on set," Williams said when discussing her long battle with White Walkers inside the Winterfell castle.

In the behind-the-scenes video below, Williams and the Game of Thrones crew detailed all the work that went into Arya's heroic day at Winterfell. Williams said she was told to start training a year before it happened.

"Maisie does almost all of this stuff on her own," co-creator David Benioff said about Williams' fight scenes. "She has an excellent stuntwoman for the dangerous stuff, but most of it is actually Maisie."

William's stunt double Kristina Baskett praised the actress. "Her coordination, and she's really quick, can make changes on the spot and it actually—she's really easy to work with," Baskett said over images of Williams training.

Arya's big episode culminated with the young woman taking down the big bad, the Night King.

"Just when you think that it's all over, and just when you think that Jon Snow is going to be the hero—again—we realize that Arya appears through the mist," Williams said.

In the video above Emilia Clarke, Daenerys Targaryen, gave her honest reaction to Arya's big kill and it must be watched, it's pointless to describe.

"In the read-through when Maisie was doing it, we are all just whooping and cheering," Clarke said.

Kit Harington joked he was pissed it wasn't Jon Snow who took out the big bad. "I would've given you, like—I'd have bet you thousands, before we read the finals, I was like, ‘Yeah, it's definitely me,'" Harington said.

Benioff said they've known for three years it was going to be Arya. "It just didn't seem right to us for this moment," he said about using Jon Snow as the hero.

For the show, director Miguel Sapochnik said, "Dan and David let me break all the Game of Thrones rules."

"The majority of it is shot 96 frames a second, it's all super-slow motion, it's all heightened reality, which is not what they usually do. It was a surreal nightmare," Sapochnik said.

To make the moment even more intense, Sapochnik said they kept cutting to "it's f—ked" shots of characters not going to make it to Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) and the Night King.

In the video above, the cast and crew break down the wire right set up for Arya's big jump out of nowhere.

"Shooting that was tedious, but so great to be able to perform all these different beats within, maybe like, two seconds of footage," William said.

"It's exactly what you need…Out of the air she takes him down, it's so good. It's so good. It's perfect," Clarke said.

"Reading what I get to achieve and Arya's whole purpose in this world and everything she's trained for comes down to this one episode, it's just amazing. And it's beautiful, it's poetry," William said. "And I'm grateful it was me and not Kit."

Game of Thrones airs Sundays 9 p.m. on HBO.

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2019-04-30 13:56:00Z
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Robert Downey Jr.'s Massive Payday Tops 'Avengers: Endgame' Star Deals - Hollywood Reporter

The Iron Man actor had negotiated a unique financial arrangement with studio chief Kevin Feige to receive backend profit on the series, resulting in what sources say was at least a $75 million haul for 'Infinity War.'

After 22 movies and more than a decade, the gargantuan Avengers: Endgame was the last roll of the dice — or Infinity Stones, as it were — for several key characters. But figuring out which stars are staying in the fold at Marvel Studios or saying their final farewells isn't as easy as a Thanos snap of the fingers. (Warning: Spoilers below.)

Take the fate of Scarlett Johansson, aka Black Widow. Her story arc is definitive in Endgame, but the actress who plays the spy heroine will be returning for a 2020 stand-alone film, earning a figure in the $20 million range for both starring and producing. Or Chris Hemsworth, i.e. Thor, who signed with Marvel for five movies in 2010, then renegotiated in 2017 for Infinity War and Endgame, putting himself in the $15 million to $20 million range and ready for the next phase of films. Captain America Chris Evans, who also had a five-picture deal, not including cameos, renegotiated in the same $15 million to $20 million range before meeting his fate in Endgame.

Meanwhile, the face of the franchise, Robert Downey Jr. — Iron Man himself since 2008 — had negotiated a unique financial arrangement with studio chief Kevin Feige that over the years resulted in massive paydays for the actor. Downey receives backend from the Avengers movies: Multiple knowledgeable sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the actor likely walked away from 2018's Infinity War, which grossed more than $2 billion, with at least $75 million. Even in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming, he received $5 million a day for three days' work.

For other star deals, the math is changing. As the Marvel films have hit new heights at the global box office since Iron Man grossed $585 million worldwide, the studio is said to have raised the threshold for star bonuses. Several years ago, a bonus would kick in after the $500 million global mark, says an agent with insight into the dealmaking process. That threshold later became $700 million. Now, especially for Avengers movies, bonuses don't kick in until the film hits at least $1.5 billion, this source says. (Marvel and the actors' reps declined comment.)

Part of Marvel's next phase includes the segueing of many characters to their own series on Disney's new streaming service, Disney+. Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier) and Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) negotiated deals that are separate from the movie contracts for what sources say will be six to eight episodes. 

Those contracts don't negate appearances in future Marvel movies, which could result in a separate round of dealmaking. The next few big-screen adventures build on the plot threads of Endgame. Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange) have one more option apiece, which will result in sequels to their solo movies, say sources.

Then there are new additions to the cinematic universe such as Eternals, which will be led by Angelina Jolie and start shooting this year, and Shang-Chi, centered on an Asian hero yet to be cast that will shoot after Eternals. And Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is planned for a 2020 shoot — the current five stars are expected to reunite — with James Gunn back in the saddle as director. Adds one source: "With Marvel and with Kevin, there's always a long game in play."

A version of this story first appeared in the April 30 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.

Avengers: Endgame

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2019-04-30 13:55:00Z
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2019 Tony Award Nominations: Hadestown and Ain't Too Proud Lead the Pack - Playbill.com

The nominations for the 2019 Tony Awards were announced April 30. Entering awards season with the most nominations is Hadestown, which earned a total of 14 nominations. Trailing closely behind was Ain't Too Proud—The Life of the Temptations with 12. Joining the two titles in the coveted Best Musical category were Beetlejuice, The Prom, and Tootsie.

Among Hadestown's 14 nominations were two for composer and librettist Anaïs Mitchell, a nod for director Rachel Chavkin, and four for its performers: Eva Noblezada, Amber Gray, Andre De Shields, and Patrick Page.

Meanwhile, in Plays, The Ferryman and To Kill a Mockingbird racked up the most nominations with nine each, though only the former is up for Best Play. Rounding out that category are Choir Boy, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus, Ink, and What the Constitution Means to Me.

Tony winner Bebe Neuwirth and Tony nominee Brandon Victor Dixon announced the artists and productions recognized from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. The 73rd annual ceremony will be broadcast by CBS from Radio City Music Hall June 9. James Corden will host.

See below for the list of nominees, updating live.

Best Musical
Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of The Temptations
Beetlejuice
Hadestown
The Prom
Tootsie

Best Play
Choir Boy by Tarell Alvin McCraney
The Ferryman by Jez Butterworth
Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus by Taylor Mac
Ink by James Graham
What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck

Best Revival of a Musical
Kiss Me, Kate
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!

Best Revival of a Play
Arthur Miller’s All My Sons
The Boys in the Band by Mart Crowley
Burn This
Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein
The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Brooks Ashmanskas, The Prom
Derrick Baskin, Ain’t Too Proud
Alex Brightman, Beetlejuice
Damon Daunno, Oklahoma!
Santino Fontana, Tootsie

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Stephanie J. Block, The Cher Show
Caitlin Kinnunen, The Prom
Beth Leavel, The Prom
Eva Noblezada, Hadestown
Kelli O’Hara, Kiss Me, Kate

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Paddy Considine, The Ferryman
Bryan Cranston, Network
Jeff Daniels, To Kill a Mockingbird
Adam Driver, Burn This
Jeremy Pope, Choir Boy

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Annette Bening, All My Sons
Laura Donnelly, The Ferryman
Elaine May, The Waverly Gallery
Janet McTeer, Bernhardt/Hamlet
Laurie Metcalf, Hillary and Clinton
Heidi Schreck, What the Constitution Means to Me

Best Book of a Musical
Ain’t Too Proud, Dominique Morisseau
Beetlejuice, Scott Brown and Anthony King
Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell
The Prom, Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin
Tootsie, Robert Horn

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre
Be More Chill, Joe Iconis
Beetlejuice, Eddie Perfect
Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell
The Prom, Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin
To Kill a Mockingbird, Adam Guettel
Tootsie, David Yazbek

Best Direction of a Musical
Rachel Chavkin, Hadestown
Scott Ellis, Tootsie
Daniel Fish, Oklahoma!
Des McAnuff, Ain’t Too Proud
Casey Nicholaw, The Prom

Best Direction of a Play
Rupert Goold, Ink
Sam Mendes, The Ferryman
Bartlett Sher, To Kill a Mockingbird
Ivo van Hove, Network
George C. Wolfe, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Andre De Shields, Hadestown
Andy Grotelueschen, Tootsie
Patrick Page, Hadestown
Jeremy Pope, Ain’t Too Proud
Ephraim Sykes, Ain’t Too Proud

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Lilli Cooper, Tootsie
Amber Gray, Hadestown
Sarah Stiles, Tootsie
Ali Stroker, Oklahoma!
Mary Testa, Oklahoma!

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Bertie Carvel, Ink
Robin De Jesús, The Boys in the Band
Gideon Glick, To Kill a Mockingbird
Brandon Uranowitz, Burn This
Benjamin Walker, All My Sons

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Fionnula Flanagan, The Ferryman
Celia Keenan-Bolger, To Kill a Mockingbird
Kristine Nielsen, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Julie White, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Ruth Wilson, King Lear

Best Choreography
Camille A. Brown, Choir Boy
Warren Carlyle, Kiss Me, Kate
Denis Jones, Tootsie
David Neumann, Hadestown
Sergio Trujillo, Ain't Too Proud

Best Orchestrations
Michael Chorney and Todd Sickafoose, Hadestown
Larry Hochman, Kiss Me, Kate
Daniel Kluger, Oklahoma!
Simon Hale, Tootsie
Harold Wheeler, Ain’t Too Proud

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Robert Brill and Peter Nigrini, Ain’t Too Proud
Peter England, King Kong
Rachel Hauck, Hadestown
Laura Jellinek, Oklahoma!
David Korins, Beetlejuice

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Miriam Buether, To Kill a Mockingbird
Bunny Christie, Ink
Rob Howell, The Ferryman
Santo Loquasto, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Jan Versweyveld, Network

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Michael Krass, Hadestown
William Ivey Long, Beetlejuice
William Ivey Long, Tootsie
Bob Mackie, The Cher Show
Paul Tazewell, Ain’t Too Proud

Best Costume Design of a Play
Rob Howell, The Ferryman
Toni-Leslie James, Bernhardt/Hamlet
Clint Ramos, Torch Song
Ann Roth, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Ann Roth, To Kill a Mockingbird

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Peter Hylenski, Beetlejuice
Peter Hylenski, King Kong
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Ain’t Too Proud
Drew Levy, Oklahoma!
Nevin Steinberg and Jessica Paz, Hadestown

Best Sound Design of a Play
Adam Cork, Ink
Scott Lehrer, To Kill a Mockingbird
Fitz Patton, Choir Boy
Nick Powell, The Ferryman
Eric Sleichim, Network

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams, The Cher Show
Howell Binkley, Ain’t Too Proud
Bradley King, Hadestown
Peter Mumford, King Kong
Kenneth Posner and Peter Nigrini, Beetlejuice

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Neil Austin, Ink
Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer, Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus
Peter Mumford, The Ferryman
Jennifer Tipton, To Kill a Mockingbird
Jan Versweyveld and Tal Yarden, Network

The final tally follows:
Hadestown - 14
Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of the Temptations - 12
Tootsie - 11
The Ferryman - 9
To Kill a Mockingbird - 9
Beetlejuice - 8
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! - 8
Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus - 7
The Prom - 7
Ink - 6
Network - 5
Choir Boy - 4
Kiss Me, Kate - 4
Arthur Miller's All My Sons - 3
Burn This - 3
The Cher Show - 3
King Kong - 3
Bernhardt/Hamlet - 2
The Boys in the Band - 2
Torch Song - 2
The Waverly Gallery - 2
What the Constitution Means to Me - 2
Be More Chill - 1
Hillary and Clinton - 1
King Lear - 1

A number of honorary 2019 Tony Award recipients have already been announced. Terrence McNally, Rosemary Harris, and Harold Wheeler will each receive a Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre distinction; Judith Light has been named this year’s Isabelle Stevenson Award honoree; the Regional Theatre Tony Award will go to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley; Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre will go to Broadway Inspirational Voices, Peter Entin, Joseph Blakely Forbes, and FDNY Engine 54; and Special Tony Awards will be given to Jason Michael Webb, Sonny Tilders, and the late Marin Mazzie.

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2019-04-30 12:58:03Z
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