Suffering For His Craft

INSIDE THE SERIES
by Steve Marzolf

Actor Luke McEwan – as the less-than-admirable Rast of the Night's Watch – has found plenty of opportunity to defend himself on the training grounds of Castle Black.  Lucky for him, fight coordinator Buster Reeves knows his greaves from his gorget (not that he'd equip poor Rast with either...).  "He's an absolute monster," McEwan says of the sword-fighting guru.  "We first got there and he's sitting there, eating like, packets of chicken.  Buster is sublime at his job.  When I was in drama school, I failed stage fighting.  I was terrible at it.  And, after spending a day with these guys, I can do it.  But on my back, I've got a massive cut.  There's occasionally the odd sharp rock on the floor, and there's a scene where I get kicked in the face, and I fell backwards and cut my back right open.  But it's alright.  All in the name of art, you know?"