Vladimir Furdik
Born in Slovenia in 1970, this actor is a specialist in action scenes with roles in movies like Prometheus, Eragon, or the Spartacus series. As a curiosity, he is not the first actor to play the King of the Night. Previously, the actor Richard Brake had put on the prosthetics and winter makeup of this monarch of the White Walkers.
His first intervention as the King of the Night was during the sixth season, in the episode of The Door, we discovered the reason for the name Hodor and where he besieged Bran and Meera's hideout. He had previously worked as an action specialist in scenes from the fifth season, although as other characters.
And, for the record, Furdik has once appeared in an important role with his own face: in his first appearance as the King of the Night, he also played the First Man to be turned into a white walker by the Children of the Forest.
The Night King of "Game of Thrones" breaks the silence
The Night King was a terrifying figure. He could revive the dead, he had horns on his head. But much of the fear he inspired came from how much we didn't know about him.
He didn't speak, except through creepy art installations featuring corpses that were hard to decipher. It was only late into his story in the TV adaptation that we learned that his intentions were to cause an eternal night and wipe out the memory of humanity, the Three-Eyed Raven.
Even so, it took him a long time to get close to Bran Stark in the episode on Sunday, April 28, and several fans wondered why. Vladimir Furdik, the Slovakian actor and stuntman who played the Night King, called from Budapest to talk about filming the Battle of Winterfell. Here are some excerpts from the conversation.
What did you think when you finally got to see the final, edited version of your scenes? The confrontation with Daenerys, with Arya…
I was actually on set all day every day of that shoot. She did every part of the battle because she was also helping to choreograph it from start to finish, every kill. He didn't just play the King of the Night. Everything that happens in the episode, I was around, behind the camera or with the sound man, to help. And so when you see someone on the monitor you can tell the director "Tell them they have to lower their heads more!"
And when I saw it on TV, I did think, "Wow, this is amazing." Especially the end, already with music and slow-motion shots; my heart stopped, you know? It was like… I feel cold.
There was a moment when the King of the Night and Bran stare at each other. People wondered what was going on there.
oh! There that was something else because Isaac Hempstead Wright [the actor who plays Bran] and I are good friends. We were joking several times. I remember that sometimes when they yelled: "Action!", he would turn to see me and he was like smiling with his eyes! And he tried not to laugh at me, saying, "Don't smile, don't smile." I had to tell Isaac, "Please don't smile because then I'm going to smile!" which would ruin the take. So, he worried us laughing!
I remember it was raining so several times I put my umbrella on top of him and he told me he was going to take a picture.
He posted it on Instagram: "This is an alternate take from the end of the third episode where the Night King becomes Bran's caretaker and they live together forever."
How was the shooting of the death scene?
Every time they killed me... it will stay in my memory forever, you know? It was a very difficult day of shooting. It wasn't easy for me or for Arya [Maisie Williams] to be convincing. It was cold, it was raining. She had the cables in a harness and had to do the jump many times. She was tired. And when I turned I had to catch her just…it was difficult because it had to be when she was still halfway up.
And when he grabbed her under the jaw and we stared at each other, you felt that she was overflowing with emotions. I have to say that it was a strong moment between us. Not just because we did it so many times, but because there was a feeling on the set, as soon as they were yelling, "Action!" we grabbed her and we saw each other. It was very strong, I can't tell you how much.
Was there anything about the Night King that confused you that you wanted more information about?
I think what the executive producers and creators [David Benioff and Dan Weiss] did was very clear so I understood what they were looking for. Maybe at the beginning of the season, it would have been better to show him using that sword more, but everything they told me was clear.
I mean knowing more about history or mythology. Like, where did he leave the baby White Walkers during the battle? What was it like raising them? What did you imagine about his life?
The truth is that no, it was not something I was thinking about. But I think if someone wanted to tell more of the story, of what happened when he made the babies into White Walkers, we can record another episode!
