The 72nd Taormina Film Festival opens today under the banner of House of the Dragon with the absolute preview presentation in the Teatro Antico of the first episode of the third season of the HBO Original drama series which will debut in Italy on HBO Max on Monday 22 June. Not just any episode: it is in fact ‘Battle of the Gullet’, a gigantic naval battle involving the Velaryon fleet, the forces of the Triarchy and numerous dragons. Ryan Condal, showrunner of the series, called it one of the most ambitious sequences ever made for television. And Condal always relaunches: «The season starts at sixty miles an hour», with an inaugural episode it should represent for ‘House of the Dragon’ what the Battle of the Bastards was for ‘Game of Thrones’.
On the stage of the Ancient Theater of Taormina there are four protagonists: Steve Toussaint (Lord Corlys Velaryon), Harry Collett (Jacaerys Velaryon), Bethany Antonia (Baela Targaryen) and Phoebe Campbell (RhaenaTargaryen). Set two hundred years before the events of ‘Game of Thrones’, the series chronicles the bloody civil war that divides House Targaryenin in a no-holds-barred fight for the Iron Throne. Alessandro Araimo, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery Southern Europe, says today in Taormina: “The atmosphere of the Greek Theater is truly something unique. The truth is that it doesn’t happen very often, in fact practically never, to organize a premiere in front of 5,000 people, 5,000 fans I hope and believe present this evening. Usually events of this type take place in a cinema with one thousand or two thousand spectators. Instead, have 5,000 fans under a starry sky, with Etna ahead and with a couple of surprises that we are preparing, we think it is truly something unrepeatable.”
What is the secret of the worldwide success of this series? “As much as I think about the TV series that I have loved over the years – Steve Toussaint, the Corlys Velaryon of House of the Dragon, replies to ANSA – and the films that I consider truly great works, for me The Wire, The Sopranos, Succession all fundamentally talk about one thing: family. They talk about human bonds. So I always think that both in this series and in the Game of Thrones, apart from the dragons and other creatures, in the end they are always about people trying to move forward in life. Everyone we have a family of some kind: the biological one we were born into or the one we chose for ourselves. We all know what it means to be in a certain position. We all know what it feels like when someone else is treated more favorably than us. And seeing these characters face similar situations on screen, sometimes, helps us process our feelings and frustrations. in everyday life we’re not really allowed to experiment. Humans are pretty basic by nature, so the bigger and more extreme everything is, the better. And then I also think people love House of the Dragon because they’re all sooooo beautiful.”