{"id":60971,"date":"2019-05-13T01:21:13","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T01:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=60971"},"modified":"2019-05-13T01:21:13","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T01:21:13","slug":"game-thrones-secret-turned-arya-stark-badass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=60971","title":{"rendered":"This \u2018Game of Thrones\u2019 secret turned Arya Stark into a badass"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cGame of Thrones\u201d Season 8\u2019s deadliest secret weapon isn\u2019t made of Valyrian steel.<\/p>\n<p>Meet Kristina Baskett, the stunt woman who whipped&nbsp;wide-eyed Arya Stark&nbsp;into a believable Night King killer. At 5-foot-2, she\u2019s a near-perfect match for 5-foot-1 Emmy nominee Maisie Williams \u2014 and she\u2019s got insider details to spill from the final days on set.<\/p>\n<p>But first, this brunette butt-kicker wants us to know she didn\u2019t set out to be a combat-ready, dagger-wielding leather mama.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI did gymnastics my entire life and I was able to receive a scholarship to compete at the University of Utah, where I had an amazing experience,\u201d Baskett, 31, tells The Post. \u201cI became an NCAA champion on the uneven bars and a 12-time All-American, and I think that definitely set me up for a career in stunt doubling.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"e3lan e3lan-in-post1\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"e3lan e3lan-in-post2\"><p style=\"text-align: left;\"><strong><em>Adv<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bagfactory.com.hk\/216\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Sun Winning Ind Co<\/strong><\/span><\/a>: Manufacture of Canvas Bag, Recycle Bad in China<\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theunitravel.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TheUniTravel.com<\/a><\/strong><\/span> : Find the latest\u00a0<em>travel<\/em>\u00a0and tourism\u00a0<em>news<\/em>\u00a0from around the world. Stay informed with\u00a0<em>travel news<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>updates<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>After graduating in 2009, Baskett traded in her red-white-and-blue leotard for the sparkly spectacle of Sin City. She performed with \u201cLa R\u00e9ve\u201d at the Wynn Las Vegas casino resort for two years. Her signature move for the acrobatic\/illusionist troupe was a show-stopping high-dive off a giant, multi-tiered fountain amid a high-tech light show.<\/p>\n<p>She followed that splashy gig with her first stunt stint: Disney\u2019s \u201cMake It or Break It,\u201d a gymnastics dramedy that ran from 2009 to 2012 on ABC Family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat really is what introduced me to the world of stunts,\u201d she says, flashing a dimpled grin. \u201cI had no idea what I was doing but I knew that I enjoyed it and I wanted to pursue it and see where it could go. It\u2019s taken me on the most amazing adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After her scripted TV debut, ample doubling work followed on shows ranging from \u201cAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.\u201d and \u201cModern Family\u201d to \u201cAmerican Horror Story,\u201d \u201cNCIS: Los Angeles\u201d and \u201cGlee,\u201d to name just a few.<\/p>\n<p>She took the&nbsp;\u201cWild\u201d risks&nbsp;Oscar nominee Reese Witherspoon couldn\u2019t and racked up more than&nbsp;75 screen credits&nbsp;before encountering the pop culture juggernaut that is HBO\u2019s \u201cGoT\u201d in 2016.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI remember waking up one morning to an email from the stunt coordinator on \u2018Game of Thrones,\u2019 asking if I\u2019d be interested in joining the stunt team,\u201d she says of the career milestone. \u201cOf course, at first I was very excited. I\u2019m definitely a big fan. I read all of the books before it was even a show.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But with cutthroat industry experience comes the reality check.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou try not to get your hopes up on the initial contact because there\u2019s a lot more that goes into it than just like, \u2018Hey! Do you wanna join the show?!\u2019 We went through a lot of steps in order to make it happen, but once it was official, and it was a sure thing and I was on my way to Northern Ireland, I was very excited to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She was on set for the entire filming of episode 3 (i.e. the&nbsp;infamously dark Battle of Winterfell), which consisted of three months of all-night shoots.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was very cold, wet and dirty \u2014 exactly what it looks like on screen, but we knew it was going to be really amazing, so we kept telling ourselves that to push through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, Baskett claims the episode\u2019s climactic moment \u2014 Arya\u2019s fatal knife-drop fake-out with the Night King \u2014 is indeed enacted by Maisie herself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhich is a great thing because it means we did a good job as a stunt department. We do a lot of work rehearsing [and] a lot of testing and working with the choreography to get it as perfect as we can before we bring the actors in. A lot of what we do is working with the actors to make them look as good as they can and do as much as they can because that looks best on film.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Alas, a less high-profile action segment is Baskett\u2019s own personal best from her three seasons on the series.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDefinitely my favorite sequence that I\u2019ve done on the show is the chase scene through Braavos in season 6. It was so cool to actually run through the streets of Spain with a lot of action involved. I think one of the biggest things I\u2019ve done for her character is the massive stair fall that happens during the chase scene. It was a never-ending fight of stone steps. It\u2019s one of those where you\u2019re like, \u2018OK, I\u2019m just gonna throw myself down these steps.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, executive producer\/writer\/co-creator David Benioff lauds her as \u201can excellent stuntwoman for the dangerous stuff\u201d in HBO\u2019s&nbsp;behind-the-scenes doc&nbsp;about the final season.<\/p>\n<p>The surreal nature of this line of work is not wasted on Baskett. One minute she has a grenade in her hand, the next she\u2019s swapped it for a cup of coffee with White Walkers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are so many times when I\u2019ll look around and say, \u2018This is so strange. Our lives are so weird,\u2019 \u201d she says, stifling a chuckle. \u201cWhen they say action you have these scary White Walker stunt men running and growling at you, trying to kill you. Then as soon as they say cut you say, \u2018Oh my gosh! I\u2019m so sorry, did I hit you? Are you OK? Please let me know if I\u2019m hurting you.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese random moments are some of the best memories of the show,\u201d she says, admitting that the \u201cvery emotional\u201d final days on set with a cast and crew that spent nearly a decade together had her \u201cfeeling the feels.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Next up: Baskett tackles the Marvel\/X-Men collab market with&nbsp;\u201cThe New Mutants,\u201dstarring her \u201cGoT\u201d muse. (She\u2019s not doubling for Maisie, though. Baskett will have newcomer Blu Hunt\u2019s back this time out.)<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and don\u2019t bother asking her who she wants to end up on the Iron Throne.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m excited about how it all ends,\u201d she says with a knowing smirk. \u201cSo, you\u2019ll just have to wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cGame of Thrones\u201d final season airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cGame of Thrones\u201d Season 8\u2019s deadliest secret weapon isn\u2019t made of Valyrian steel. Meet Kristina Baskett, the stunt woman who whipped&nbsp;wide-eyed Arya Stark&nbsp;into a believable Night King killer. At 5-foot-2, she\u2019s a near-perfect match for 5-foot-1 Emmy nominee Maisie Williams \u2014 and she\u2019s got insider details to spill from the final days on set. But &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[391],"tags":[262],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.7.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>This \u2018Game of Thrones\u2019 secret turned Arya Stark into a badass - TheFastFashion.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=60971\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This \u2018Game of Thrones\u2019 secret turned Arya Stark into a badass - TheFastFashion.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cGame of Thrones\u201d Season 8\u2019s deadliest secret weapon isn\u2019t made of Valyrian steel. 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