'Game of Thrones' director reveals inspiration behind epic war scenes of Battle of Bastards

For 'Battle of the Bastards', the 9th episode of Game of Thrones season 6, director Miguel Sapochnik took inspiration from Akira Kurosawa's Ran.

The episode saw an elaborate battle between Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton, one of the most hated villains in the series.

Sapochnik, who helmed last season's battle-heavy episode 'Hardhome' and is also directing the upcoming 69-minute finale, told the Entertainment Weekly about directing the major battle sequence.

"I watched every pitch field battle I could find (footage of real ones too), looking for patterns for what works, what doesn't, what takes you out of the moment, what keeps you locked in. The big reference was Akira Kurosawa's Ran. Interestingly one of the things I noticed is that staging of these battles through the years has changed dramatically," Sapochnik said.

The show makers David Benioff and Dan Weiss have maintained that the team looked to real-life historical battles for staging the episode.

When asked what in general excites him about next week's finale, the director said, "It feels equally as epic as episode 9... but for completely different reasons."

Game of Thrones airs on Star World Premiere HD every Tuesday at 10:00 PM in India.