Game Of Thrones (Old Thread)

matrim

http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/11/hbo-orders-fant.html

HBO has given a pilot order to fantasy project "Game of Thrones."

The program is based on George R.R. Martin’s bestselling series of novels "A Song of Fire & Ice" and executive produced by David Benioff ("Troy"), D.B. Weiss ("Halo") and Guymon Casady ("Hope & Faith"). The title “Game of Thrones” is from the first novel in the series.

If greenlit, “Thrones” would represent the rarest of TV genres: a full-fledged fantasy series.

I'm really excited about this and hope it actually happens and becomes more than a pilot.

The fact that it's HBO also means it can be done properly with no pandering to a PG-13 audience.

ixoy

Ohhhh could be very interesting. It's an very complex series in many ways, with the huge cast of characters and it's very dark. The fact that's it fantast light (i.e. all humans, no real magic) probably helped its pitch - HBO seems the right choice. Looking far more forward to this than the "Sword of Truth" series (which I don't even like...).

Cina

Here's hoping, the books are brilliant, very dark. It would always have to be a station like HBO doing them, some of the stuff in the books is very twisted.

Thing is, where are they going to get the budget, surely they'd need a budget like they had with Rome, which ended up being canceled cause they just couldn't fund the thing anymore.

MayoForSam

ixoy wrote: »

Ohhhh could be very interesting. It's an very complex series in many ways, with the huge cast of characters and it's very dark. The fact that's it fantast light (i.e. all humans, no real magic) probably helped its pitch - HBO seems the right choice. Looking far more forward to this than the "Sword of Truth" series (which I don't even like...).

Ahem - dragons = magic I think?

This is great news, one of my favorite fantasy series, even my wife loves these books and she normally never reads fantasy.

Had to be a TV series, the plot is so entwined and convoluted a movie could never do it justice. Any word on casting (I wonder who will draw the 'short' straw for Tyrion Lannister, my favourite character?)

As for budget, lot's of CGI beckons, hope they don't overdo it.

Cool 'mock-up' trailer to get you in the mood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szQ-ZhVxZSU

c - 13

MayoForSam wrote: »

Ahem - dragons = magic I think?

This is great news, one of my favorite fantasy series, even my wife loves these books and she normally never reads fantasy.

Had to be a TV series, the plot is so entwined and convoluted a movie could never do it justice. Any word on casting (I wonder who will draw the 'short' straw for Tyrion Lannister, my favourite character?)

As for budget, lot's of CGI beckons, hope they don't overdo it.

Cool 'mock-up' trailer to get you in the mood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szQ-ZhVxZSU

There's a certain amount of magic in the books but not magic in a conventional fantasy novel sense.

In a way i'm both looking forward to this and dreading it at the same time. Theres just so much can go wrong with it.

I'd be very interested to see the casting choices for it.

ixoy

MayoForSam wrote: »

Ahem - dragons = magic I think?

Not necessarily in context - they can be no more magic than horses More pointedly they're not central to the plot and don't appear much. There's no typical mage that you generally have in fantasy series and that will help broaden its appeal.

The casting choices will indeed be interesting - Willow to play Tyrion

c - 13

ixoy wrote: »

Not necessarily in context - they can be no more magic than horses More pointedly they're not central to the plot and don't appear much. There's no typical mage that you generally have in fantasy series and that will help broaden its appeal.

The casting choices will indeed be interesting - Willow to play Tyrion

Yeah Warwick Davis would have been my choice for Tyrion as well. He's a good actor with a fair few fantasy films under his belt.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

isn't he like.. 90 now?

c - 13

40-ish I thought, IMDB says he was born in 1970 so that would make him 38/39 so I wasn't far off.

He's still acting. He's been in some if not all of the Harry Potter films.

Then again the main thing to remember about all these characters is that they're all quite young. Rob Stark - 16, Arya Stark - 10, Bran - 8 ?, Stannis - 20's etc.

The Don

An update on this.

It looks like A Game of Thrones is set to be filmed this October in Northern Ireland:

THE AMERICAN company behind television hits such as The Sopranos and Sex and the City is to make a pilot programme in Northern Ireland which has the potential to create hundreds of jobs and generate millions of pounds for the North’s economy.

HBO, the US’s leading pay cable network, plans to begin work on A Game of Thrones in October at locations around Northern Ireland and at the Paint Hall studio in the Titanic Quarter of east Belfast.

A Game of Thrones, described as a medieval fantasy, is the first novel in a series of seven books entitled A Song of Ice and Fire , by George RR Martin. Americans David Benioff and Dan Weiss, who met while studying at Trinity College Dublin, are writing and producing the television adaptation.

The pilot project was confirmed after a meeting between First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness with HBO during their recent US visit around St Patrick’s Day.

If the pilot is successful it is expected that each novel will require 10 episodes of filming. According to political and business sources the full series could create up to 600 jobs and be worth up to £20 million annually to the economy

Source. Also confirmed on imdb.

This is great for the North and also means that we might be able to see some of it being filmed

They announced Norther Ireland as the filming locationg. I'm trying to see if I can do my work experience there rather than in TG4. Would love nothing more than to spend some time on the set though after what they did to Legend of the Seeker show I'm going to be cautiously optimistic over this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18Wb2yAUddg

The Don

It would be great for you if you do get it as your work experience. I'm just wondering now if they are planning on shooting the rest of the series in the north if it gets picked up after the pilot?

The Don

The Don wrote: »

It would be great for you if you do get it as your work experience. I'm just wondering now if they are planning on shooting the rest of the series in the north if it gets picked up after the pilot?

From what I've read so far they plan on filming here. There was a quote from on eof the producers ahile back saying that they fairly confident that it will be picked up and that the pilot is a formality.

Richard Dower

Never read the books but applaud the location choice, soo many wonderful locations to film. Wonder if RTE news will pick up on this?

Syferus

This also has the chance to be a hammy unmitigated disaster.

For the sake of film making in Ireland I hope it suceeds, but high fantasy doesn't set the mind burning with excitement for most people - whatever about its novelty as a television series.

ixoy

Syferus wrote: »

For the sake of film making in Ireland I hope it suceeds, but high fantasy doesn't set the mind burning with excitement for most people - whatever about its novelty as a television series.

Which is why this is a good choice to film - there's no elves or much stuff like that (okay, there's a little bit of magic going on but it's minimal). Mostly it's quite political and "The Tudors" show there is an appetite for that (although this is a very different approach).

Tusky

The books are absolutely fantastic. If this is done well, it could be brilliant!

MayoForSam

The books are excellent, no way can they be described as 'high fantasy' - my wife (most certainly not a sci-fi/fantasy fan) has read all of them and she was enthralled. Storytelling, political intrigue and betrayal of the highest order.

Anyone hazard a guess at some locations they could use? Plenty of mountains, islands, marshes, sea ports, etc. in the books, I should think CGI will have to be used somewhere along the line (dragons anyone?).

Any word on casting yet? Very interested to see who plays Tyrion Lannister (mis-shapen dwarf, my favourite character ).

matrim

MayoForSam wrote: »

The books are excellent, no way can they be described as 'high fantasy' - my wife (most certainly not a sci-fi/fantasy fan) has read all of them and she was enthralled. Storytelling, political intrigue and betrayal of the highest order.

Anyone hazard a guess at some locations they could use? Plenty of mountains, islands, marshes, sea ports, etc. in the books, I should think CGI will have to be used somewhere along the line (dragons anyone?).

Any word on casting yet? Very interested to see who plays Tyrion Lannister (mis-shapen dwarf, my favourite character ).

IMDB has no info on casting and it will be interesting to see how they cast it, given that alot of the main characters are quite young.

I've a feeling they might make them slightly older for the series. Mainly for 2 reasons
1. Length of time it takes to film. It would be hard to keep the actors looking the same age
2.

I don't think some of the stuff would go down too well on TV, if they base the characters too young. E.g. a 13 yo Sansa in Kings landing being striped, forced to marry etc

Shryke

I'm excited for this! It's HBO so I have some faith in it. I wonder how much of a hand George will end up having in it? The cast is a big decider too. A have a strange nagging that Ron Pearlman will end up playing someone like Great Jon. This would be awesome.
Things might not turn out well but I'm hopeful.

Oh ya, grumble grumble dance of dragons grumble grumble. Don't die on us George!

User45701

It will be filiming in the north of ireland?
http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/sopranos-tv-giant-to-film-new-show-in-north-1728863.html

MayoForSam

According to IMDB, the actor to play Tyrion and the director for the pilot have been hired:

Peter Dinklage has officially been cast as Tyrion Lannister. Tom McCarthy, who directed Dinklage in THE STATION AGENT and Richard Jenkins to a Best Actor nomination for last year's THE VISITOR, has been hired to direct the pilot.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i30b29365238b3652295a5a9e328518de

MayoForSam

According to IMDB, the actor to play Tyrion and the director for the pilot have been hired:

Peter Dinklage has officially been cast as Tyrion Lannister. Tom McCarthy, who directed Dinklage in THE STATION AGENT and Richard Jenkins to a Best Actor nomination for last year's THE VISITOR, has been hired to direct the pilot.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/news/e3i30b29365238b3652295a5a9e328518de

I remember Dinklage from 'Threshold' a while back, they got Tyrion's stature right anyway .

ixoy

Dinklage was the only real choice for me - he's been in a few things (for example as a male nanny in 'Nip/Tuck') and has a good range. He's particularly adept at dry deprecating wit, which would suit the role of Tyrion.

Wreck

Man I hope this comes good, delighted it's HBO with their track record for superb TV shows. Pretty excited about it already!

5starpool

I'm looking forward to this alright. I'm not sure that the North has the climate for filming all of this tbh. Ironic really that it is filmed in the North, considering the Starks live in the North, but just south of a big wall to keep all the horrible creatures out

Tusky

Verry happy to see Tom McCarthy directing. I thought The Station Agent and The Visitor were excellent. Both a far cry from fantasy, but were good dramas...and theres a lot of drama in Game of Thrones.

If anyone is going to do a good job of this, its HBO.

GenghisCon

What I'm most interested in knowing is how you might apply to be an extra?

c - 13

matrim wrote: »

2.

I don't think some of the stuff would go down too well on TV, if they base the characters too young. E.g. a 13 yo Sansa in Kings landing being striped, forced to marry etc

If HBO are handling it we may be on the right track becasue i've been watching rome this week and it invloves both

public stripping/humiliation and incest

both of which feature in ASOIAF.

I think we can expect the younger chars to look a bit older than they are supposed to for obvious reasons (sansa in particular)

The Don

GenghisCon wrote: »

What I'm most interested in knowing is how you might apply to be an extra?

Same here.

c - 13 wrote: »

If HBO are handling it we may be on the right track becasue i've been watching rome this week and it invloves both

public stripping/humiliation and incest

both of which feature in ASOIAF.

I think we can expect the younger chars to look a bit older than they are supposed to for obvious reasons (sansa in particular)

Rome is excellent. I think that its a good gage to go off as ASOIAF will be somewhat similar. If it was ok to show it in Rome then I think that ASOIAF should be safe. I can't wait to see some of the action in it as Rome did it very well. It should be vicious

ixoy

Given the massive cast (makes 'The Wire' look like 'The X-Files') I wonder how they'll afford the acting bills. Or will they ignore some of them to reduce complexity?

Curious to see who plays 'The Mountain that Rides' given he's one of the nastiest, brutish, and most evil characters I've ever come across.

MayoForSam

ixoy wrote: »

Curious to see who plays 'The Mountain that Rides' given he's one of the nastiest, brutish, and most evil characters I've ever come across.

Brian Cowen must be a shoe-in so (he might be available for buttons too by the time filming starts).

The Don

Its looks like the pilot is nearly ready and the series has a good chance of being picked up. If it is we will see it in March or April of 2011 (still too long to wait).

If all goes well, Lombardo said, "Game of Thrones" will be on HBO in spring 2011 -- "March or April."

Source

JP Liz

Sean Bean and Mark Addy added to the cast

Lemondrop kid

Syferus wrote: »

This also has the chance to be a hammy unmitigated disaster.

For the sake of film making in Ireland I hope it suceeds, but high fantasy doesn't set the mind burning with excitement for most people - whatever about its novelty as a television series.

Yeah but Martin is very much the exception to the rule.
Fantastic news, on both fronts (location/HBO)

Richard Dower

Series pickup, looks positive for a good show:

http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/03/02/hbo-picks-up-game-of-thrones-to-series/43654

J-blk

Awesome, seems like a great time for fantasy shows lately, more and more are getting picked up. Now if only sci-fi bounced back from the downwards spiral it seems to be in, I'd be really happy...

Sherifu

Most excellent news.

Jumpy

Everyone cast is pretty much exactly as I pictured them. Except for Cersei and Daenrys.
http://www.theironthrone.it/it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=491&Itemid=240

The Don

I think that Daenerys and Cersei are cast well. They all look pretty good. Now we just have to wait and see how it turns out.

Jumpy

The Cersei they have cast looks too heroic, they need someone far more pinched, bitchy and hot.
Daenrys seems a bit frail for who I expected as well, I know she is only supposed to be 14, but I expected someone tougher looking.

JP Liz V1

Trailer

http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/06/13/trailer-hbo-game-of-thrones/

Klingon Hamlet

Big screen version of trailer:

Winter is Coming

Kiith

Trailer wrote:

2011

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Richard Dower

Casting news: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/news/a243069/aidan-gillen-joins-hbos-game-of-thrones.html

Paddy Samurai

WAYYYYHAY! and away we go!.

Lights, Camera, Action

• Jul. 26th, 2010 at 1:03 PM

It's evening in Belfast, and the first day of shooting is now in the can.

Feels strange. Exciting, but also... I don't know, maybe I'm feeling a bit of empty nest syndrome. My kids have left home, and are making their own way in the world.

I'd wish good luck to everyone involved in the HBO production, but I recall that you never say that in the theatre. Maybe everyone concerned break several legs.

And me... well, a blank computer screen awaits. Still a lot of story to tell.

Paddy Samurai

Looks like it will be Sky only.Hope it won't be SKY premium channel only,like pacific.
I might consider getting sky for "THRONES".

My readers in the UK have been emailing me for months, wanting to know whether GAME OF THRONES would be shown over there. The answer (I hoped) was "yes," but I could not give details, because (1) I didn't know, actually, and (2) some major negotiations were going on behind the scenes.

But now the GUARDIAN has broken the story, so all can be told:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/jul/29/bskyb-buys-hbo-tv-catalogue

The short version: SKY has bought the UK rights to the entire HBO catalog of original shows, past and present.

So, yes, GAME OF THRONES will be seen in the UK... on SKY

Sl!mCharles

Oho it's going to be big... Aiden Gillen from the Wire as Littlefinger, perfect!

me-skywalker

Sky istn too bad at least its going to be shown. Only thing is how many days behind will it be and how many ad breaks per episode will there be

hidinginthebush

...and when will it be on! I am dying to see these (partially since I reckon once these are wrapped GRRM will get back to finishing the books)

stesaurus

hidinginthebush wrote: »

...and when will it be on! I am dying to see these (partially since I reckon once these are wrapped GRRM will get back to finishing the books)

It will start around April-June Stateside, so expect in the UK/Ireland about 1 or 2 weeks behind.

I would imagine he's trying to get the next book finito before next summer. Great tie-in to the tv series if he can although I'm sure he's not going to rush it for commercial reasons. Last I heard he only had a few more viewpoints to finish for a Dance with Dragons.

Also I don't think the series starting is going to get GRRM to focus any more than he is. He's only planning on writing one episode per season so I don't think this should really impact him. The plan is to show all of the books. So he has 4 years to finish ADWD and 5 for TWOW to to keep the series continuing.