HBO are making A Song of Ice and Fire series

Mark

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117957532.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

HBO has acquired the rights to turn George R.R. Martin's bestselling fantasy series "A Song of Fire and Ice" into a dramatic series to be written and exec produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss."Fire" is the first TV project for Benioff ("Troy") and Weiss ("Halo") and will shoot in Europe or New Zealand. Benioff and Weiss will write every episode of each season together save one, which the author (a former TV writer) will script.
The series will begin with the 1996 first book, "A Game of Thrones," and the intention is for each novel (they average 1,000 pages each) to fuel a season's worth of episodes. Martin has nearly finished the fifth installment, but won't complete the seven-book cycle until 2011.
The author will co-exec produce the series along with Management 360's Guymon Casady and Created By's Vince Gerardis.
Martin's series has drawn comparisons to J.R.R. Tolkien, because both are period epics set in imagined lands. But Martin has eschewed Tolkien's good-vs.-evil theme in favor of flawed characters from seven noble families.
The book has a decidedly adult bent, with sex and violence comparable to series like "Rome" and "Deadwood."
"They tried for 50 years to make 'Lord of the Rings' as one movie before Peter Jackson found success making three," Martin said. "My books are bigger and more complicated, and would require 18 movies. Otherwise, you'd have to choose one or two characters."
Aside from writing the most recent draft of "Halo," Weiss recently adapted the William Gibson novel "Pattern Recognition" for WB and director Peter Weir.
Benioff and Weiss were repped by CAA and Management 360.


I'm torn. The Mountain deserves to be an all-time villianous badass, and that necessitates cursing and rape and all the rest. Is it HBO policy that there's no cursing in Prison Break/Rome and so forth or will these lads have license to incoporate all the skullduggery in the books?

http://www.bookhelpweb.com/authors/marting/interview.htm
BHW: You've written a lot of screenplays and were heavily involved in the productions of The Twilight Zone and Beauty and the Beast. You said once that it could take 18 movies to tell the story, but what about adapting The Song of Ice and Fire into a multi-year television series? If a television series, would you still be as ruthless in killing off beloved characters?

Martin : My agents are taking offers, but so far we haven't had anything. It's very big and very complex. It's not a simple kind of popcorn story. The characters are very complex. Actors and directors will like it, but I don't know that studios will like it. There is a lot of sex, incest, violence, massacres, and betrayals. Some of us like that kind of thing, but it couldn't be a network television show. It would have to be Showtime, HBO, BBC-someone doing more adult material.

Further thoughts.

March of the Montagues and Capulets needs to be Tywin Lannisters entrance scene. Seriously. Put it on and imagine him striding into King's Landing with his golden cape, sideburns and richly earned air of superiority.That's another thing I worry about actually - films seem to be more willing to develop excellent soundtracks.

John Goodman to play Ned in a 'comic twist'. Possibly Dany. Actually, considering his performance in The Big Lebowski, through some more weight and a beard on him and with some tricky photography he wouldn't be a bad Mountain.

I can't think of an actor for Varys, my favourite character. I expect to be underwhelmed by the performance of whoever gets it since they've have to be pretty shít hot to pull off an eggish, scented, giggling eunuch without it denigrating into a joke.

Iompair

Before the new Battlestar Galactica series this news would have me very very worried. Now I'm only very worried about it.

Smurfpiss

Mark wrote:

I'm torn. The Mountain deserves to be an all-time villianous badass, and that necessitates cursing and rape and all the rest. Is it HBO policy that there's no cursing in Prison Break/Rome and so forth or will these lads have license to incoporate all the skullduggery in the books? .

Prison break is a FOX show, not HBO. From what ive seen on HBO (sopranos, carnivale..) there's cursing and nudity etc.
not as much as showtime which wishes it were a porn channel. But never fear its adult themes should be retained. sounds like it might turn out ****e tho...