In music, there’s a fine line between homage and stealing. If a song uses a sample from another song, even for a brief moment, then the artist must pay the writer of that original song. But in film, there really isn’t that sort of defined line, per se. If there was, then Netflix and filmmaker David Michôd probably owe HBO and “Game of Thrones” a bit of money because of “The King.”
Now that Michôd’s latest film, “The King,” is now available to stream via Netflix, there are millions of eyeballs watching the historical epic in the comfort of their own home. And because of this, social media has spread a meme showing that one scene from “The King” seems ripped off from “Game of Thrones” and the series’ famous “Battle of the Bastards” episode.
The scene in question shows Joel Edgerton’s character emerging from a pile of bodies to catch his breath during battle. The angle and style is eerily similar to Jon Snow emerging from a pile of bodies during ‘Bastards.’ But according to Michôd, that’s just an accident. Honest.
“No, that was an accident,” Michôd said (via Radio Times). “Weirdly, the only ‘Game of Thrones’ I’ve seen is the final episode. For some reason, I put myself through the abstract exercise of sitting and watching that. It didn’t make me want to go back and watch the rest.”
He continued, “But I did watch the Battle of the Bastards, try and work out, just with regard to visual effects, how to put the thing together. So I can’t claim to have not seen that scene, but it was so completely unintentional.”
The comments don’t necessarily exonerate the filmmaker in any way, though he is sure to add a nice jab at the series finale of ‘Thrones,’ probably as a way to distract people from his next comment, which is a bit damning.
To bring back the music analogy from earlier, imagine a musician trying to defend himself from folks saying he ripped off the melody of another artist. He defends himself by saying he knows the original song, studied it for reference and wrote his song in response to that research. However, he promises that any similarities are an accident. That’s a tough argument to defend.
Is it possible that Michôd didn’t realize he was referencing ‘Thrones’ with his shot? Sure. But you have to admit that there are two or three shots from ‘Battle of the Bastards’ that are iconic and the scene in question is most definitely one of them.
Well, you can judge for yourself, as “The King” is now available on Netflix. And if you’d rather relive your disappointment with “Game of Thrones,” you can stream the series on HBO.
Miguel Sapochnick’s influence! Game of Thrones still really is THAT show. #TheKing pic.twitter.com/WWCYC7ZwQa
— Girl. (@thatssoravee) November 3, 2019