'Hold the Door' Game of Thrones Director Made a Children's Book for Adults

Jack Bender makes fantastical tales come to life on TV and in his new book.

June 10, 2016, 12:47pm

Detail of a page from Jack Bender’s I am the Elephant in the Room. All photos by and courtesy of Jack Bender. Detail via the author.

A story about children who learn to float above abuse, a frank bear, and all sorts of other characters populate the world of The Elephant in the Room, a “children’s book for adults” by Jack Bender. An established television director with credits helming and producing shows like Lost, Alias, The Sopranos, and Under the Dome, Bender’s most recent smash is this season’s “hold the door” episode of Game of Thrones. When he’s not busy directing some of the most heart-wrenching television in recent history, Bender paints avidly. And The Elephant in the Room published by crowdfunding platform Inkshares is an accumulation of some of his best work. Bender talks about his inspirations, the mediums he works in, and how whether he’s painting and directing, it’s all about taking the viewer on a ride.

Painting of two characters from I am the Elephant in the Room.

Bender describes this book as being, “in the style of a children’s book. There are very few words to describe the stories and the dialogue between the characters in the stories. And mainly it’s my art, sculpture, mixed mediums, found art, paintings, iPad art, that tell the majority of the story.” So far the reception's been great, with the MoMA purchasing copies and plenty of pre-orders and regular sales made through Inkshares. And, overall, Bender says people “are amused, they are somewhat transported back to their childhood.”

Jack Bender, photographed by Jonathan Freeman.

Though Bender’s a well-known name in the world of TV directors, he says he’s always loved painting. “I’ve been a painter from the time I was fourteen,” he explains, “and I studied fine art along with cinema and drama at USC. So painting has always been a part of my life.” As for the inspirations that went into the book, Bender pulls from his own quest to be creative, “Most of the stories reflect a lot of the struggles I’ve had in my life in terms of trying to find a way to be in the world that is both artistic and productive.” But he’s always felt at home working with others, both behind the camera and in the studio, “The more you depend on the brilliant people around you, the better it is.”

The painting that would become the cover to I am the Elephant in the Room.

Bender’s goal with his book and his directing (he’s currently in the beginning stages of a TV adaptation of Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes), is to transport the audience. “Hopefully everything I do is gonna take people somewhere. As a kid, I always used to make rides out of my wagon and my bike, and make adventures.” Bender explains that he’d bring the neighborhood kids out on his bike and invent wild stories and fantastical, at times, scary destinations. That throughline of imagination never left Bender, and he harnesses that urge to tell a story in all his work. “Certainly a lot of the extraordinary television, most recently Game of Thrones, that I’ve been lucky enough to do [involves] taking people on some kind of ride, and something they can relate to. And hopefully that happens in my paintings, too.”