I’ll admit that before signing on as an extra for HBO’s Game of Thrones I had never actually seen the show despite it’s popularity. I heard rumors they would return to film the 4th season in Croatia only this time at the historic fortress nearby my house in Klis so it seemed silly not to answer the open casting call for extras. I figured it would be a fun and exciting experience and since the film set was minutes from my house I could walk to work for the first time in my life. At the time I had no idea that I would actually have to drive 20 minutes to a warehouse at the crack of dawn each morning in order to get into costume and my hair and make-up done. I would arrive 3 hours before being put back on a bus to make the drive up to Klis. After sometimes 10 hours on set, I took the bus back to the warehouse to return my costume and then drove myself home to Klis and straight to bed. So much for my short walk to work!
After being chosen I actually refrained from watching the hit show as I figured it would make the process even more interesting if I knew nothing about the show and the characters. Of course I knew about Khaleesi and she was impossible to miss with her bright white wig, but I was pretty oblivious to the other actors I was working alongside. After filming wrapped, winter was coming, which gave me plenty of time to catch up on the previous 3 seasons in order to be premiere ready in spring. While I recognized the scenes we filmed, they still flew by way too fast to find myself in the crowds and so much time had passed that it was impossible to remember where I might have been positioned. Fortunately, a friend of mine and big fan of the show managed to take a screenshot of a split second scene she was fairly certain she saw me in. We examined it together and although my arm was covering my face we were both 99.9% sure that that pointy elbow belonged to me.
Not exactly the debut I imagined, but luckily my chance at 15 minutes of fame was not up as the series returned yet again to Croatia and Klis to film Season 5 and I was called back for my role as Khaleesi’s slave. Only this time I was prepared and made sure to strategically position myself so it’d be easier to spot myself amongst my fellow slaves. My preparation and positioning technique paid off when after episode 2 I received a message from a fellow slave saying that she thought she saw me, which was soon after confirmed by my brother and sister-in-law. They said they spotted me immediately and sent me the screenshots where indeed there I was begging and hissing away, but when I watched it later I barely recognized myself. If you blink you'll certainly still miss me and even with the still shot it's not blatantly obvious, but so far this is the best I can do for those asking me which episodes I’m in.
After my faint taste of fame and being recognized onscreen by family back home, I tuned into last nights 3rd episode hungry for more of me and also slightly worried I may be turning into a fame monster. Understandably I was not only disappointed, but terribly bored when the entire episode passed without any scenes of my beloved Khaleesi and my kingdom of Klis. However, any concerns of being a fame monster quickly faded away when I recognized another much more frightening certainty; I am now a Game of Thrones snob of the worst kind. If I’m not in the scenes, wasn’t there when they were filmed or didn’t see the actors that were in them they lack excitement and I lose interest in watching. Maybe this is what happens when you don’t get hooked on the show before getting hired on it and although I’m most likely ruined for the remainder of the season, I'm still starving to see what next week’s episode holds…Stay tuned!
