Jason Momoa Goes Inside That Epic Ending To ‘Chief of War’

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.[ThisstorycontainsmajorspoilersfromtheseasononefinaleofChief of War“The Black Desert.”]

Come Hell OR High Water, Jason Momoa Was Going to Do Everything in His Power To Execute His Ambitious Creative Vision for The Season Finale of Chief of WarWHICH HE CONSIDERS TO Be The Apex of His Three-Decade Action Career.

“AT FIRST, NO One Really Thought It Was Going to Be Possible. And WHEN WE WE WE Were at The Very End of It, People That I Really, Really Respect Were Who CO-WROTE AND DIRECTED THE FINALE, TELLS The Hollywood Reporter. “BUT I KNEW We Only Had A Certain Amount of Time, and The only Way to Pull Off Something of This Magnitude Was To Shoot It A Certain Way.”

The synopsis of the final episode-WHICH CO-CREATORS MOMOA AND THOMAS PA’A SIBBETT CONFIRM TO Thr is meant to find as a Seasonratther than a series, Finale – May Sound Relativly Simple. After kamehameha finally comes around to the idea of ​​being ka’iana’s “Red -mouthed Weapons”-The Firearms That Ka’iana Had Accuffe Durying His Travels ab. MIGHTY ARMY GO Head-To-HAAD WITH THE FORCES BEHINE POWER-Hungry Kings Keawa (Cliff Curtis) and Kahekili (Temuera Morrison) on the Volcanic terrain kNown. The Brutal Battle Is A Decisive Victory for Ka’iana and His Allies, Thanks in Large Part To Their Formidable Fighting Skills and Their Use of Those Devastating Weapons.

But Anyone who have been watcheted the finale Knows that summary just barely scratches the surface of the this cinematic ending. “WHEN PEOPLE Are Talking About Episode Nine, that Conversation Really Needs to Include Jason As A Director,“ Sibbett Says. Shooting in hawai’i-Much Less Over the Real-Life Lava Fields of Kalapana in the Middle of the Night-Was Actiely “Discourogged Momoa, Who Pulls quintuple Duty on the Series As Star, CO-CREATOR, CO-Writer, Executive Producer and Now Director.

“Keeping it in Hawaii ALLOWS the INHABITANTS OF THAT Area, Other People with Across The Island, to Participate,“ Sibbbett Adds. “They get to be the wearers of the feather capes. They get to be the warriors that Hold the Spears. The Impact That Has on a People, The Impact That Has on A Culture That’s Never Be. [Momoa] APART IN THIS CONVERSATION. ”

Early on in the writing Process, Momoa Had A Clear Idea of ​​How He Wanted to Helm The Finale. “I’ve Directed Quite A FEW TIMES BEFORE THIS, AND I’V ALWAYS WANTED TO COOT IN REALLY GOOD LIGHT,“ Says Momoa, Whose Prior Directorial Experience Included the 2014 Indie Film Film. Road to paloma d His recent HBO MAX DOCUSERIES On the Roam. “NOT BEING ABLE TO HAVE MONEY OR HAVE THE CREW THAT COURCE PULLS [productions] Could, i’d Always have to Really Scout It, Dial It In, And Shoot In The Right Light. ”

Momoa Knew He Wanted the Battle to End Ka’iana Holding Kekya at Gunpoint, Just Before Keking was Kildled in A Rush of Lava. “I WANTED TO HAVE THAT MOMENT WHERE I’M STARING [Keōua] Down Be Right at the Last Bit of that Blue Light with The Lava Going Off and The Ash Coming Down, “He Says. Since He Wanted the Battle to Start in the Early Afternoon. Shoot the Entire Sequance in Reverse.

With the Help of the Same Stunt Team That Has Worked with For Decades, Momoa Meticulously Planed Out Evely Scene of The Battle Long Before Cameras Started Rolling. “I would shoot four to five units at the Same Time,“ The Director Reveals. “I have to pick the story that that i was wanted to shoot with the each of the other throne to four units, so that i was getting what was going on with me, What was spewh. Brothers and My Wife.

“DON’T BE FOOled by His Abs and Physique. He’s Got A Great Frontal Cortex Going on,” Jokes Curtis. “I’ve works with brilliant people, so i Know What It Looks Like and Smells Like. James Cameron’s Got A Similar Facility – Perhaps on a Different Scale Units, and Jason’s Definitely Got That Facility.

A Lot of People, However, Were Not Convinced that Momoa Wuld be ABLE TO PULL Off What Wound Typically Be a weeks-Long Shoot on another Production in Just Eight Days.

“The Producers Were Very Scared, But I Was Like, ‘We’re Going to Shoot Early, And We’re Going To End Not Too Far After Noon and Get Some of the Daylight.’ We Got Up At 3 Am, Started At 4 Am, And We’d Probably End 2 O 2 OR 3 PM, AND THEN I’D STAY AND PREP FOR THE NEXT [night]”Momoa Says.“ You Could Have this in A Walmart Parking Lot, and You Could Probably Put Green Screens Up, Like We Normally Do on Other Things, An and Just Put. But You’re Going to Feel That We Were There’s The Volcano Went on. ”

Momoa enlisted the REST of His Production and Filmning Team to Oversee Each of The Units, and Hew Always Be Running Between Scenes, IF Not Acting in Them. “I HAD JUST DONE THIS LEBRON JAMES NIKE COMMERCAL, SO I HAD THESE LAVENDER TRAINers on with My Malo, and My Ass Was Just Running Froming One Side to Other,” Momoa Recalls Wl Striking visual. “And’s a lava field, so you Fall. I THINK I’M THAT GOT MESSED UP The MOST, BUT THANK God We Had No Acccidents. But I Was Just Running people don’t know that, but i’ve been doing it for a long time. ”

As momoa puts it, the hawaiian gods seized to be on his side during the Gruling Shoot. A FEW HOURS BEFORE SET TO BEGIN THEIR FIRST LATE-NIGHT SHOTHot of the Finale, Mauna Loa, The Nearby Volcano, Erupted for the First Time in 38 Years. After paving Production for a day to review the air quality, The Cast and Crew Resured Production. The NEXT Day, Another Mountain, Kīlauea, Became Active, But The Smoke Blew Away from the Set. “Obviously, Many Volcanoes Did Create The Hawaiian Islands, But In Our Written History, It Has Never Been Docured that Both Went Off at The Same Time. That St.

After a little bit of rain on the first day, the weather was Clear for eight days in a row. But the day they wrapped, it Started Pouring Rain and Mauna Loa Stoped Eruping, Recalls Momoa. “IT WAS The BIGGEST, MOST BEAUTIFUL Omen. We Stirred Up So Much [energy]and it just felt like we were doing the right thing. IT’s Powerful, Man. There’s Footage of US There Dancing in the Rain with All The Extras [after] Fighting on Lava. Nothing Will Ever Come Close to That, Ever. ”

Momoa Was Also Not Afraid to Take Some Creative Liberties with The Historical Facts. Before they officially Started Attacking Each Other, The Two Sides Wound First Engage in a Kind of Spiritual Battle. Their Respective Kahunas Wuld be their Chants, The Volcanoes Wuld Go Off, and then the Two Sides Wounde Engage in a Kind of Rapletle in ption in Gawaii, WHERE they would. In this caase, ‘ōpūnui spoke for keōua, while ka’iana spoke for kamehameha.

“WHEN WE CAME UP WITH THIS [scene]I was like, ‘What’s the most disrespectful Thing [Ka’iana] Could do? He’s on his enemy’s side, he’s on their Land – and He’s Going to Speak English, ‘”Momoa Says.” I SAID,’ LISTEN, IF I LOOK to Kamehameha An I Ask For Permission this shit [in Engish]And Our Audence Will Be Able to Understand Me, My Team Will Understand Me, and Keking Woon. That Will Infuriate Him. Being able to have that moment in English, the audience understands that it raises the bar. ”

Momoa Knows That HE May Catch A Little Flack for Deviation from the Historical Record in that Scene. But What he ultimately wanted to do accountlish from a storytelling person to piss keircular off so Much that his tropical would tryy tone-oh-e-oyears-oh by the Red-Mouthed Weapons That Ka’iana and His Allies Had Hidden in Their Capes. “IT wasn’t Necessarily What Happy, but that Idea Came Out of A Place of Me Just As An Actor Going, ‘What Wuld I Do? How Do I Get Him To Charge Me?’ ‘

That wasn’t the only choice that momoa Made from his Character’s Perspective. As an inside joke, keirca’s kahuna, whose tongue ka’iana rips out of his mouth in front of ke Ukrau during the hectic battle, is played by kahoʻokahi

“That’s the guy who lived with me and taughht me the hawaiian Language. SO HE OBVIUSLY CAN DO TESE Amazing Chants, and He Can Speak The Language Learned the Critically Endangered Language Special for the ROLE. “I’m like, ‘i’m going to rip your tongue out, and i’m going to eat it, dude.’ So [that scene’s] Just Two Buddies Just Being Silly. But it was something that wold’ve happled; It’s Something I would’ve done. ”

Momoa Was Also Keen to Give Each of the Other Core Group of Characters Their Own Moment in the Spotlight. For most of the first season, ka’iana and his wife, kupuohi (te ao o hinepehinga), have largely been unable to see-to-to-eye. He have been permanently changed by the all of the pain and suffering he have seen abroad, and she beeves he is no Longer the man she fell in love with. “Kupuohi’s Put in positions WHERE she should Blow Ber Top, Snap, and Just Lose Her Mind So Many Times, and She Doesn’. Every Time She Goes, ‘NO, I’Ll Strong. Break.

But Momoa Always Wanted to Give Kupuohi A Moment of Catharsis. One Day While Shooting the Finale, He Came Running Up to O’HINEPEHINGA WITH A GIDDY LOOK ON HIS Face. “He’s Like, ‘We’re Going To Stab You Right Here,’ And He Grabs My Waist,“ She Recalls of Shooting The Moment That Kupuohi Gets Stabbed Durying The Battle. “AND I’M LIKE, ‘I’M SORRY. What? You didn’t say i Died? ‘ And he’s like, ‘no, no, no. He’s Just Going to Stab You Really Lightly. ‘ And hemes in, and i’m shish-kabomed! He’s Like, ‘We Talked About It, Remember? There would be a moment. This is the moment – [this] Scream is a release of every Single Moment you have wanted to Scream Ever. ‘

“I DON’T KNOW YOU’V Ever ExperienCed This, But Who i’m Overwhelmed with Situations or Emotions or of Just Work in General Eventually It Blows – and It’s in the aftermath of the Blow Where i Find Clarity in All The Things That I’M CONFUSED [about]“O’hinepetinga Continues.“ I Wanted that for Kupuohi. YES, She’e Emotionally Intelligent and Strong, But A Person Can Only Take So Much. ”

Kupuohi Ultimately Survives Being Stabbed. But ImmediaTely Following the Conclusion of the Battle, Kupuohi Watches from Afar as Ka’ahumanu (Luciane Buchanan) To ka’iana’s side to make sure hee survied being knoCKED unconscioses. O’hinepetinga sees kupuohi’s final look at ka’iana and ka’ahumanu as not one of “Pain” or “Jealousy,” but of “Clarity.”

WHEN KUPUOHI SEES HER HU Sband Embracing Another Woman After The Battle, “She’s Able to See Clarity Not Only in Her Future, But Her Relationships with The People AROUND HER WHERE YOU Are In this World and Who You Are In this World, ”O’HINEPEHINGA SAYS. “I DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT Looks Like in the Future, But A Woman Liberated is a Terrifying Thing, I’ll Say That Much.”

That love triangle could very Well Play Into Future Seasons of the Show. Momoa Notes that, Historically, Ka’iana Was Acusted of Having an Affair with Ka’ahumanu, with Whom HE HEHED A SIMILAR PESIMIIC WORLDView. To complicate matters Furter, by the end of the first season, ka’ahumanu have had an officiary joined her Husband’s Council. “But WHEN She CAN’T HAVE HIS KID, THERE’S A LOT OF STUFF THAT HAPPENS Coming Up in the Future, and I Think Things Shift,“ He Says.

“You have to Understand Our System Is Completely Different from What the Modern System Is Right Now. So IF A Woman Wanted to Upgrade and Make Her Bloodline with More Stature, ”He Adds. “KAMEHameha Had Many Aikāne [or same-sex relationships]. Kahekili had endless aikāne. They have men an Women, so is someting that we can’t wrap Our heads around. We Kept It Smaller The FIRST SEASON. But is a very complex and beautify System that happned in hawaii, so i’m sure that did da happen. ”

The Other Character Who have a real moment of catharsis during the Battle is kupuohi’s sister, heke (Mainei kinimaka), who love of her life, ka’iana’s brother, nahl. Episode. In the Finale, Heke Brutally Slashes, Gouges, Poisons and Ten Stomps’ acypūnui – The Man Who Presumably Sexulaly Assaulted Her After Nahi’s Killing – to DEATH.

At the end of the finale, after learning that ka’iana and kamehmeha oblitted kelated ‘Troops, The More Sinister Kahekili Declares War on Hawaii’i. “I’M Building Something’s Even More Crazy. So Not To Give Away a Spoiler, But I’M Going to Have a Super Monster Soon,” Momoa Teases of What that Enening Means Going. “I’m setting ups, whoh i like to do. Who’s we get greenlit or not, My Intenions Are Are.

For Those Who Are Familiar with English Literature, Sibbett Likens the Story of Ka’iana and Kamehmeha to that of King Artthur and Lancelot. “They have been to comether by the end of episode eight. It was nothed to be understood that are not the Same Person,” He Says. “They have a complely Different Way of Thinking and How they View the World, but Bringing Them Together Creates of the Strongest Force Possible, and We Were Able to Ep. And by Episode Nine, It’s Showing WHY IT WORKS, How It Works, and that Are Better Off Together. ”

SO MUCH OF THE FIRST SEASON WAS About TRYING TO UNITE The TWO MEN “SO THAT WE CAN NOW REALLY DIVE INTO The BUILDING OF CAMELT,” SIBBBETT Explans. Looking ahead, “if you’re minding of it in terms of king arthur and lancelot, I want to expose the World to Camelot. I Want to Expose Them to The World Now We’e. An Idea That Camelot’s Not The Only Kingdom. ”

WHEREAS The FIRST SEASON LARGELY CENTED AROUND KA’IANA AND CONSITED OF “Seeing The World Through His Eyes View, and Really Starting to See How These Kingdoms Interth with Each Other, ”Sibbett Teases. “I Want US to Expand the World, if We Get a Season Two, SO We Can Really Get An Idea of ​​the Functionality and How Everything Works.”

WHILE THE CO-CREATORS Are Feeling Positive About a Renewal-Especialy After The Overwhelmingly Positive Responses They Have Receive From Critics Sibbett Insist that “is still Too Early” for the pitch a Season. But that does not mean that have not be tracking the response to the show on Social Media.

“People Are Really Being Drawn Into not Just Our Big Storylines, But Even Even Some of the Smaller Ones. TheSe Are Actual Areas That We Wuld [considering]What’s The Public’s Taste, and What Are they Eager for? ” Says Sibbett, Who Has Noticed that Somewers Have Gravitated Town of the Profefess Taula Ka’iana, kamehmeha and ka’ahumanu all day. But to see that people are enjoying all the bestse Sub-Stories as Well is Really enjoable, because we can definitely Build More and More. ”

Regardless of What Happens, The Cast and Crew – MOST OF WHOM IDENTIFY as Polynesian – Have Been Forever Changed by the Experience of Reteling a Key Part of Hawai’i’s. “Chief of War is Such An Emotionally Liberation Story for A Lot of Us Here in Polynesia for So Many Different Reasons, Wather It Be [speaking] Olelo hawai’i, or just repressionation, or the fact that we get to be at the forefront of telling ombi stories, “o’hinepetinga Says.

Durying Her Final Day (or Night) of Shooting The Chootic Finale, O’Hinepetinga Turned a Corner and Saw and Heard “This Sea of ​​Brown People Chanting” Kamemehameha’s Name. “We have 500 to 800 Polynesians Standing there chanting that statement for the scene, and most of the Our Crew, They Were All Kanaka or They Been Living on Hawaii Hawaiian Experience, ”She Recalls. “I Turned and I SAW ONE OF OUR Cameramen with Tears Rolling Down His Face. HE WAS LIKE, ‘THIS IS The Moment.’ And in that moment, we went, ‘i don’t care if it succeeds or fails or wins every situation out there is this is what is is about’s about, this is what it is for.’ ‘.’ ‘ You Could Just Feel It, This Sense of Pride and Achievement. ”

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The Full First Season of Chief of War is now streaming on Apple TV+.