Why'd they recast The Mountain again?

Pepe LeFrits · 13-05-2014 7:46pm #1

I guess he's hardly the most noticeable recasting we've had but I still find it odd that they recast The Mountain again - the new chap does look suitably huge but at the same time, he's 20 years younger than his on-screen younger brother Rory McCann, and he's also the shortest of the 3 actors they've had play the role; Conan Stevens was 7'0, Ian Whyte was 7'1 and he's 6'8.

Ian Whyte looked a bit skinny to be the Mountain I suppose, but you'd think he could have bulked up; he did play the engineer in Prometheus.

Anyway...

Sulla Felix · 13-05-2014 8:32pm

Probably the same reason they recast Daario, other obligations.

Poochie05 · 13-05-2014 8:52pm

I'd say his height doesn't matter, it would appear that he's built like a mountain!!

14-05-2014 1:45am

The size of him:eek:

I'd say he would literally cut you open with a thump!

bur · 14-05-2014 2:03am

Spoilery thread surely?

Conan Stevens was perfect, had the mean face for it along with the build. I read that it was a scheduling conflict, he was filming the Hobbit. Pity they couldn't make it work, he only had, i think, one scene in season two and didn't even swing a sword.

Pity, the character hasn't really been built up the way he might of otherwise.

This new fella, very young looking, and I've seen one or two still of him as The Mountain and he doesn't look near as frightening or menacing as Stevens did in season one.

bopper · 14-05-2014 2:12am

bur wrote: »

Conan Stevens was perfect, had the mean face for it along with the build. I read that it was a scheduling conflict, he was filming the Hobbit. Pity they couldn't make it work, he only had, i think, one scene in season two and didn't even swing a sword.

I didn't think Conan was in season two at all?

Son0vagun · 14-05-2014 6:44am

Everyone knows The Mountain is a faceless man.

Tom.D.BJJ · 14-05-2014 6:47am

Son0vagun wrote: »

Everyone knows The Mountain is a faceless man.

It is known

bur · 14-05-2014 11:30am

bopper wrote: »

I didn't think Conan was in season two at all?

He wasn't, what i meant by that was, the mountain only had a few minutes screen time, so surely it wouldn't have been that monumental a task to get Conan back for season two?

Thinking about it some more though, surely they could have got him back for this season if they wanted him? So there's probably something more to their decision to not continue with Conan Stevens than a scheduling conflict.

celica00 · 14-05-2014 12:11pm

holy mother of god, he never seemed so big in the show :O

K_user · 14-05-2014 2:09pm

I think that you could imagine that Conan Stevens as the mountain and the hound were related. It was a good pairing.

The new guy is huge and that might be enough to fit the bill. Its not like the character needs to be an intellectual match for Tywin. He's a hammer in armour.

evil_seed · 14-05-2014 5:29pm

His name is Thor Bjornnson. He's an Icelandic strongman competitor. #3 in the World iirc. Vice did a doc on him/Icelandic strongmen

Tazzimus · 15-05-2014 6:27am

stankratz wrote: »

The size of him:eek:

I'd say he would literally cut you open with a thump!

He fits the character build a bit better muscle wise.

Just some info about him from the book (Nothing spoilery)

He's near 8 feet tall and weighs 30 stone, all of it muscle.
Uses a two handed great sword with one hand and his armour is so thick and heavy, no one else could move in it but him.

I always thought Ian Whyte was a bad choice for the mountain, for too skinny, he should have been wearing a muscle suit or something like in Prometheus.

Witcher · 15-05-2014 8:05am

duploelabs wrote: »

He's 6'8" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haf%C3%BE%C3%B3r_J%C3%BAl%C3%ADus_Bj%C3%B6rnsson

He means Gregor Clegane from the book not the actor.

duploelabs · 15-05-2014 8:10am

Blay wrote: »

He means Gregor Clegane from the book not the actor.

Just saw that now

Dan_Solo · 15-05-2014 8:12am

evil_seed wrote: »

His name is Thor Bjornnson. He's an Icelandic strongman competitor. #3 in the World iirc. Vice did a doc on him/Icelandic strongmen

Even the actor's name sounds ass kicking.
Gotta says though, if The Mountain has any real role to play in GoT then they've made a hash of the build up. I forget he exists most of the time.

K_user · 15-05-2014 10:42am

Dan_Solo wrote: »

Even the actor's name sounds ass kicking.
Gotta says though, if The Mountain has any real role to play in GoT then they've made a hash of the build up. I forget he exists most of the time.

The Mountain is a tool, sent by the Lannisters to make life hellish for others.

He's the dark shadow that follows people into alleyways. You don't need to remember that he exists until he shows up and starts hurting people. Then all those times he was mentioned come crashing back...

Dan_Solo · 15-05-2014 10:47am

K_user wrote: »

The Mountain is a tool, sent by the Lannisters to make life hellish for others.

Which is why I don't really know why that guy accepts his sister was killed by "The Mountain" and not by "The Lannisters".

K_user · 15-05-2014 11:13am

Dan_Solo wrote: »

Which is why I don't really know why that guy accepts his sister was killed by "The Mountain" and not by "The Lannisters".

He said to Tyrion to remind Tywin that the Lannisters aren't the only ones that pay their debts. He knows full well where the orders came from, but the acts carried out might not have been fully the Lannisters.

Yes Tywin may have ordered the Mountain to kill his sister, in a time of war. But it was the Mountain that chose to rape and torture her.

Mission #1: kill the Mountain. Mission #2: never let the Lannisters forget.

krudler · 15-05-2014 1:56pm

Here's all three Mountains

Season 1

Season 2/3? (was he even in any other scenes aside from this?

Gregor+Clegane+2.jpg

Season 4, the size of the dude, he might be shorter than the other guys but sweet jesus, even the sword is the size of Cersei.

bopper · 15-05-2014 2:59pm

Even looking at that picture I still don't remember him in season two at all.

celica00 · 15-05-2014 3:04pm

bopper wrote: »

Even looking at that picture I still don't remember him in season two at all.

me neither, was that actually him so?

Pepe LeFrits · 15-05-2014 3:17pm

He didn't feature much in season 2; strolled around Harrenhal looking menacing mostly.

Dan_Solo · 15-05-2014 3:20pm

bopper wrote: »

Even looking at that picture I still don't remember him in season two at all.

Yeah, as I was saying. If he has any decent sized part to play there should have at least been one or two more scenes with the regulation Joff/Renegade/Wildling "oh look how evil he is" business before he parachutes in to King's Landing.

GhostInTheRuins · 17-05-2014 10:05am

bopper wrote: »

Even looking at that picture I still don't remember him in season two at all.

He was only in it for about ten seconds, and I don't think he even had any lines.

pickarooney · 20-05-2014 1:17pm

Ian Whyte has played three different roles in GoT so far.

Brendan Filone · 20-05-2014 1:40pm

I think the new Mountain is a bad casting job. The Hound is the Mountain's younger brother, so you got an actor in his 40s playing the Hound and his older brother being played by an actor in his 20s.

The original Mountain was perfect in my opinion and actually looked related to the Hound:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP6I-peP3e0

Dan_Solo · 20-05-2014 1:49pm

Sandor looks like he has Gregor's measure in that scene anyway. Would be awesome to see them fight again, presuming Gregor (or Sandor!) last much longer.

Mickeroo · 20-05-2014 1:53pm

I love the way the Hound just bows when Robert says stop even though there's a sword swinging at him. One of my favourite moments in Season 1.

Deco99 · 20-05-2014 2:35pm

Was there any explanation why

The mountain is dicing up prisoners at random when cersei meets him?

is this in the books or just thrown in for the gore? seemed odd to me that this would be allowed in kings landing

Duggy747 · 20-05-2014 3:06pm

The Mountain looks like you'd shatter your fist if you punched him.

Lemlin · 20-05-2014 4:36pm

Deco99 wrote: »

Was there any explanation why
The mountain is dicing up prisoners at random when cersei meets him?
is this in the books or just thrown in for the gore? seemed odd to me that this would be allowed in kings landing

I think The Mountain just does what he likes. I didn't find the scene out of place at all considering his reputation.

The "actor". Now, he was out of place. He even delivered the few words he had to poorly.

Deco99 · 20-05-2014 4:55pm

Lemlin wrote: »

I think The Mountain just does what he likes. I didn't find the scene out of place at all considering his reputation.

The "actor". Now, he was out of place. He even delivered the few words he had to poorly.

I agree that he does what he likes but id be curious if this was in the book and whether a more in depth explanation was given

GerB40 · 20-05-2014 6:14pm

Deco99 wrote: »

I agree that he does what he likes but id be curious if this was in the book and whether a more in depth explanation was given

In the books we get much more of the mountain than in the show. Therefore we get a firsthand account of how sadistic he actually is. The show couldn't afford the luxury of showing him during season 2 or 3 because a) he didn't have an actor to play him and b) he wasn't relevant to the story. Now that he's back in the story they have to remind people what a lunatic he is before the trial by combat.

DM addict · 20-05-2014 6:20pm

I miss the original Mountain, beheading the horse. That was awesome.

Galwayguy35 · 20-05-2014 11:50pm

This guy is ideal as The Mountain, I've seen him in Worlds Strongest Man and he really is that big.

EyeSight · 21-05-2014 4:46am

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

This guy is ideal as The Mountain, I've seen him in Worlds Strongest Man and he really is that big.

He didn't speak much but i don't think he is great at acting other than being huge and swinging a huge heavy sword.

Paddy Cow · 21-05-2014 8:25am

Deco99 wrote: »

Was there any explanation why
The mountain is dicing up prisoners at random when cersei meets him?
is this in the books or just thrown in for the gore? seemed odd to me that this would be allowed in kings landing

I got the impression that they were prisoners who were being given a "trial by combat" ie practice for the Mountain. It wasn't in the books as far as I remember.

Wabbit Ears · 21-05-2014 10:39am

It was nowt more then gore for gores sake to re-introduce the character as a bada$$.

Deco99 · 21-05-2014 10:47am

I'm goin to back track a bit here, i said it didnt seem to fit in with kings landing to be slaughtering people out in the open like that but i now remember that it was suggested Bron sorted out the thievery problem when he was kingsguard with a similar approach

Dan_Solo · 21-05-2014 10:49am

Was it even specified who all those lads Gregor was dicing up were? Slaves? Prisoners? Prisoners who had opted for trial by combat? Rounded up peasants?
The more I think of that scene the more random it seems.

Turtyturd · 21-05-2014 12:42pm

Nothing random about the scene....the scene isn't the problem.

Dan_Solo · 21-05-2014 1:02pm

Turtyturd wrote: »

Nothing random about the scene....the scene isn't the problem.

So who were those sword bait guys then?

Wabbit Ears · 21-05-2014 1:11pm

Turtyturd wrote: »

Nothing random about the scene....the scene isn't the problem.

so rather then focusing on the story we should obsess about the chosen actor?

Turtyturd · 21-05-2014 1:13pm

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

so rather then focusing on the story we should obsess about the chosen actor?

That's a bizarre interpretation of what I posted.

Deco99 · 21-05-2014 3:20pm

Turtyturd wrote: »

That's a bizarre interpretation of what I posted.

Whats the non bizarre interpretation? i got the bizarre one too i'm afraid.

Turtyturd · 21-05-2014 4:12pm

Deco99 wrote: »

Whats the non bizarre interpretation? i got the bizarre one too i'm afraid.

I never said we should focus on the actor though. I have absolutely no idea where that came from.

My point was that the scene did what it needed to do, it reintroduced The Mountain as a bad ass. The director/writers gave the viewers a bit of credit and didn't outline every aspect of the scene such as where it took place, who the people were, and why it was happening (which would have been complained about by the poster I quoted if it did happen)...if someone failed to piece it together I don't think it's the fault of the show.

Deco99 · 21-05-2014 4:15pm

I must be thick so, it irked me that he just had a bunch of fellas lined up in front of him to hack at like it was picking weeds

Dan_Solo · 21-05-2014 4:21pm

Turtyturd wrote: »

I never said we should focus on the actor though. I have absolutely no idea where that came from.

My point was that the scene did what it needed to do, it reintroduced The Mountain as a bad ass. The director/writers gave the viewers a bit of credit and didn't outline every aspect of the scene such as where it took place, who the people were, and why it was happening (which would have been complained about by the poster I quoted if it did happen)...if someone failed to piece it together I don't think it's the fault of the show.

OK, white flag. I failed to piece it together. So you can tell me who those guys Gregor was chopping up were now.

Turtyturd · 21-05-2014 4:25pm

I thought it was obvious they were prisoners, especially given the context of the show where people have fled to the city to escape the war, and it is now rampant with crime...throwing a few to The Mountain for 'practice' wouldn't be do any harm.

Soft Falling Rain · 21-05-2014 4:30pm

Jesus, I just assumed they were prisoners being fed to Gregor, as I'm sure most of the audience did. I really couldn't give a crap, it's irrelevant and the scene served its purpose: reintroduce us to this monster.

It also helped with later scenes such as giving context to why even Bronn stepped away from the situation.

Why'd they recast The Mountain again?

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