[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Chief of War Season 1 Episode 5 “The Race of the Gods.”]
That was no Versatile Flyer sled trip! The fifth episode of this epic drama about Hawaiian royalty combating for management of the islands featured a jaw-dropping sequence by which warrior chief Kaina (Jason Momoa) — who’d earlier made an emotional homecoming to the island and his household — took half in a conventional Hawaiian Holua sled race.
TV Insider talked to Momoa and Thomas Pa’a Sibbett, who co-created the saga with the actor, concerning the careening, fast-paced competitors and what it was wish to shoot it. Watch the total Chief of Struggle video interview above.
The sleds and the custom of warriors racing them was drawn from historic sources. “The Holua sled, that’s one thing that we’ve been fascinated with for a very long time,” says Pa’a Sibbett. “It’s 100% actual. The sleds [in Chief of War] had been handmade, so that they’re not props. And that observe itself happening and capturing off a 200-foot cliff, these exist.”
Momoa revealed extra of the behind-the-scenes particulars: “We truly shot it in actual time. It wasn’t simply us sitting there and shaking the factor. We had this big hill and we had security strains roped to them, however mainly happening this big — it was grass, clearly, however we’re sliding down this factor after which there’s the cameras following us down on tracks, after which we had zip cameras going previous us. And also you eat s**t a pair occasions, you fall off and also you get fairly tousled. It was enjoyable, but additionally scary.”
The scariest half for Momoa was the potential for injury to the … royal jewels. “You’re in a malo [loincloth]. Once you fall, you’re like, ‘Screw the face!’ There’s one flap that would get caught. You would get sucked into one thing!” he shared.
Chief of Struggle, Fridays, Apple TV+