Director of Photography, camera operators, 1st Assistant Camera, 2nd Assistant Camera—check, check, and check. I thought as I went through the list that the crew was shaping up nicely for The Witch. With winter settling in up north and the cold making set building impossible for now, we couldn't move forward on construction just yet, but that didn't mean nothing was happening. Everything else was in motion.
Casting was finally done. Anya Taylor-Joy would play Thomasin, the protagonist. Ralph Ineson as William, her father—I'd met him, and his voice was something else. The man could play a good Galactus, in my opinion. Kate Dickie would play Catherine, the mother. Harvey Scrimshaw had been picked as Caleb, the brother. Ellie Grainger and Lucas Dawson would play Mercy and Jonas, the eerie twins. It was a hard process casting the children, but Serena did not disappoint.
Meanwhile, the rest of the machine moved forward. The set would take months; not until spring, when the thaw came, could the farmstead and woods be built. Haley and the costume team were deep at work, consulting constantly with Nathan, my stepdad who was a historian and an expert in the 16th and 17th centuries I'd hired to help keep the movie historically accurate. He had his hands full overseeing costuming and also prop design after helping me with the script.
The actors were preparing, too. Anya was working closely with a dialect coach, learning the archaic cadences of a 17th-century Puritan. Ralph and Kate needed no such hand-holding; both are experienced actors who've done period pieces before.
Elliot Kane, my cinematographer, was away on location doing the initial camera tests. Together, we'd been storyboarding, scene by scene, building the skeletal frame that would hold the film together. Elliot was great to work with—so much so that I was planning on making him a collaborator on more projects, maybe even ones for DC.
All the pieces were here, sliding into place, and if everything continued this way, it would come together beautifully. The only lingering issue in my mind was myself my inexperience. Directing adults, I could handle. I'd been on sets with Nolan and others; I'd shadowed them, basically working as an assistant director while filming The Dark Knight. But children? Every director I'd spoken with warned me they were the real challenge. So for a first-time director like me, it was going to be a real challenge.
The door to my office opened, and I looked up to see Graves walking in.
"Julie called," she said as she stepped inside. "She says they can begin some work on the homestead this month and then pick it up again in spring."
I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my chin. "If that's the best way, then okay. Let's do that."
Graves nodded. "Also Cal and Elias want you to sign off on the final castings."
"Ah." I pushed myself up, stretching my shoulders. "Let's do that now."
She followed as I crossed the room to the corner where two whiteboards leaned against the wall. I told her to roll them over, and she did, the casters squeaking faintly as she positioned them in front of my desk.
There they were the cast for Game of Thrones, Season 1.
Eddard Stark — Sean Bean
Catelyn Stark — Jennifer Ehle
Robb Stark — Richard Madden
Sansa Stark — Sophie Turner
Arya Stark — Maisie Williams
Bran Stark — Levi Miller
Rickon Stark — David Holmes
Jon Snow — Kit Harington
Tywin Lannister — Charles Dance
Cersei Lannister — Lena Headey
Jaime Lannister — Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Tyrion Lannister — Peter Dinklage
Joffrey Baratheon — Jack Gleeson
Robert Baratheon — Ray Stevenson
Stannis Baratheon — Stephen Dillane
Renly Baratheon — Gethin Anthony
Viserys Targaryen — Harry Lloyd
Daenerys Targaryen — Emilia Clarke
Khal Drogo — Jason Momoa
Jorah Mormont — Iain Glen
The list continued.
Most of the casting matched what I remembered from before, but there were key changes. Jennifer Ehle was now Catelyn Stark. Bran would be played by Levi Miller. Rickon would be played by a new child actor, David Holmes. The one I liked most was Robert Baratheon, now played by Ray Stevenson.
Actors like Kit, Emilia Nicolaj, and Lena needed to be in for the long haul. I planned nine seasons, maybe even ten. The show would be very different from the series I remembered from my old life. With bigger budgets, we could properly adapt the books: costumes, locations, everything. There would still be differences from the novels, mostly in language. In my rewrites, Westeros had many languages; Cal and Elias suggested that, for the show, we use one common tongue, which I agreed with. That, along with a few other minor changes, was as far as I planned to go.
With the casting done and Netflix going all-in on the project, Game of Thrones was set to begin filming in April, aiming for an April 2017 release. 2016 and 2017 were shaping up to be the busiest stretch of my life yet Game of Thrones, The Witch, Birdman, and the big one: Justice League.
I glanced over at Graves. "Anything for the afternoon?"
"Nope."
"Good," I said, standing and grabbing my jacket. "Then let's go see how the costumes are coming along."
We walked out of the office.
"Any chance I can take one of them for Halloween?" Graves asked.
"What are you going as?" I said.
"The witch," she replied without hesitation. "From your script."
I laughed. "Sure let's see if Haley has something to spare."
.
.
.
Time passed quickly. October became November, November slipped into December, and before I realized it, two full months had gone by. Most of my waking hours were spent on The Witch's pre-production.
The table read with the cast had been the turning point. I now had full confidence in directing the movie. My concerns about getting performances out of the child actors were gone. Thanks to Ralph's help, I was able to communicate what I wanted to Ellie and Lucas, the youngest of the cast. I was settling into the role, finding my voice.
Costume tests followed. Haley's work was meticulous and beautifully made. Elliot and I, meanwhile, continued storyboarding scene by scene. We were both perfectionists, both unwilling to compromise until each frame felt right. It could be exhausting, but we got along well.
With The Witch firmly on track, I could finally turn my attention to everything else: finishing the Justice League script, preparing for the release of John Wick 2, writing a song with Joanna, my wild attempt to snag a Grammy and put myself on the path to PEGOT status. And beyond that, the biggest mountain to climb: beginning the next A Song of Ice and Fire book.
I also needed to finish the script for the last two episodes of Game of Thrones season 1 which I had said I would write. They were very important episodes after all.
It was overwhelming yes but doable.
Margot was still in New York filming Birdman; she'd been making trips from L.A. to there for the last few months. The apartment felt emptier without her.
I walked into my office. A large whiteboard dominated the wall.
On one side: my plans for Phase Two of the DCU. On the right: TV series concepts.
And at the very top of the series list was Constantine.
Netflix and DC had been ironing out the details for months. All I needed to do was show them what we had and what we had was good. Two of DC Studios' sharpest writers, people I'd been working with since the studio's conception, were writing the series under my supervision. They were good writers, and this was going to be their big break. I wanted the series to feel raw and gritty it would be TV-MA if not then why were we doing this..
But the question that kept everyone divided was who would play Constantine.
Dan Stevens was a suggestion from some people at Netflix. He's a good actor I first saw him in Downton Abbey, a show Margot made me watch, and I found myself really enjoying it. He could play the part, maybe.
For some reason Dave wanted Robert Pattinson. He wouldn't shut up about it. And sure, Pattinson was on fire, reinventing himself after Twilight with daring indie roles. He could act, no question. The question was whether he'd do it.
Many other names were floating around David Tennant, Matt Smith, Sam Claflin… even Keanu Reeves. Reeves was tempting his Constantine movie existed in this world. Victor was lobbying hard to fold that film into DCU continuity, which I was firmly against.
And then there was the actor who played Constantine on the CW back in the world I came from. Perfect look. Perfect delivery. He was John Constantine in my head. The problem? I couldn't remember his name.
I had no idea who he was.
On the board I had written:
FIND CW CONSTANTINE ACTOR.
But I knew this: if I could track him down here, in this world, he would be my pick.
The other TV series I wanted was one focused on a Batman rogue, maybe the Penguin or Clayface.
A Teen Titans show was also discussed, but I wanted it to be a movie…
My phone buzzed, snapping me out of my thoughts. I glanced at the screen. Ari Calder. Head of DC Games.
"Hey, Ari," I said, answering.
"Daniel, is this a good time?" His voice was eager.
"Yeah, sure. What's up?"
Ari didn't waste time. "I've been thinking about our last conversation honestly, I think it's a great idea."
I grinned. "Of course it is."
He was talking about an idea for a game I'd given him: a hero shooter something similar to Overwatch but with DC heroes. A concept with endless potential.
"There's something else," Ari continued. "I was looking into this, and I heard Blizzard is working on a very similar game to what you described. So we can't afford to wait. I want to present this to the board, get things moving."
"You'll have my full support. And don't worry about what Blizzard is doing we can take as much time as we need," I told him without hesitation.
"Thank you," Ari said. Relief cut through the excitement in his voice. "I'll call with more details tomorrow."
"Looking forward to it."
The call ended as I walked over to my desk and sat down.
It would be fun to play that game. A hero shooter with DC heroes and villains if we get that right, it could be one of the biggest money-makers ever. The hard part wouldn't be convincing people to greenlight it. The hard part would be keeping them from rushing it and also making it consumer-friendly. Greed in gaming was about to take off with loot boxes and other sinister systems.
Taking my mind off that, I turned to my PC, where I opened the script for Justice League. Scott and I were still stuck on the ending. He was coming up with ideas, and it was time I did as well.
"Right," I muttered to myself. "Time to get to work."