Ohmygodohmygod

[Rane Longfox]

Nah, HBO do very well with moderately well-known actors, like McShane in Deadwood, Tobias Menzies, Ray Stevenson and James Purefoy in Rome, etc... casting would be one thing unlikely to go wrong.

[Culhwch]

Originally Posted by kimb

If it's not too much, I would like to see four 15 min chapters or six 10 min chapters.

I don't know that you could do justice to a written chapter in ten to fifteen minutes screentime. I'd imagine that they'll dispense with the viewpoint angle and just tackle it as straight multi-strand narrative. Which is viewpoint, anyway, just without the titles...

I don't have it on me, but aGot is what, 900 pages paperback? Screenplays are roughly a minute a page, fiction is denser, so say twenty hours unabridged. Twenty hour-long episodes. I'd favour a feature length premiere, and in that try and encompass the prologue and everything up to Bran's fall as a cliffhanger. Go over the sea for the second ep (third hour), devote it entirely to Dany's set up, and then come back to and exit Winterfell.... It can definitely work.

[Trey Greyjoy]

This news must be huge for Red Temple and Trey to come in from the cold after being away from the forums for so long. Glad you're back.

Thanks TK!

Originally Posted by red_temple

I'd like to see them cast a bigger name actor as Ned to use as drawing power. They'll only need to pay him his big salary for 1 season.

Thats exactly what I was thinking as well. I also think some of the "come and go" characters lend themselves well to guest star appearances.

Im glad Im reading the series now. News releases such as "Frankie Muniz of Malcolm in the Middle fame has been tapped to play Benjen Stark" are going to ruin the suspense for some viewers (ha! )

I also wrote HBO and told them Im prepared to purchase any and all paraphernalia, tshirts, coffee mugs, post-it notes, action figures...ANYTHING associated with ASOIAF. Gotta get em all! Im prepared to support the project with my hard earned $$$

My only fear is that by the time we have the premier party Ill be more worried about my arthritis and prostate than the actor playing Ned..

Does Jagermeister have negative interactions with heart medication??

[red_temple]

Originally Posted by TK-421

This news must be huge for Red Temple and Trey to come in from the cold after being away from the forums for so long. Glad you're back.

The huge news may be part of it, but also I am back from a prolonged vacation and have more continuous access to my computer. I was pretty much out of circulation for most of November and all of December. The bad news is that you may have to put up with more frequent posts from me now.

By the way, here's a link to HBO to send them a little note telling them how completely, totally, and utterly AWSOME you think this is. It may also serve well to tell them you'd be most interested in purchasing thousands of dollars worth of the paraphernalia that Trey mentions above.

[Somebloke]

I wonder how they'll handle Dani's marriage and pregnancy at 13?

[KiwiBird]

they handled incest in Rome Octavianus with his sister, though it was the first i heard of it (of Ocatvianus and his sister comitting incest that it) and before that the making a man of him, getting him to a brothel at the age of 13 or so

[Boaz]

Originally Posted by Trey Greyjoy

Thats exactly what I was thinking as well. I also think some of the "come and go" characters lend themselves well to guest star appearances.

I agree, but I think certain factors come into play. First, money. If the star gets paid enough, he/she'll do it. Imo, almost every last one of them are Shaes.

Second, the actor might have a deep love for the subject, director, or another actor. From what I've heard (and I could be wrong), Samuel L. Jackson asked George Lucas to be in the fourth, fifth, and sixth movies because he loved Star Wars so much. Some actors bend over backwards to work with certain directors.

Third, a favor might be called in. The studio, producer or director might remind an actor of a debt.

Fourth, some big name actors are in periods in their lives when they'd just enjoy a nice steady paycheck and the normalcy of a regular job.

Finally, I don't really know what I'm talking about. If any of you are on the inside of Hollywood, you probably have better guesses than me.

Originally Posted by Trey Greyjoy

Does Jagermeister have negative interactions with heart medication??

I thought Jager was heart medication!

[Werthead]

Originally Posted by Somebloke

I wonder how they'll handle Dani's marriage and pregnancy at 13?

They won't. Dany will probably be at least 16 in the TV series, and probably played by an actress who's 18 or older. Not because of any sense of propriety, but simply that if it takes 6-7 seasons to tell the story and the story only spans 4 years+ over the course of it (2-2.5 years pass in Books 1-5, presumbly a similar amount in the books to come), then it will be much more obvious with younger actors than the older ones.

With some characters, like Bran, it's possible they'd consider filming all of his scenes for say the first three books at once, to avoid this problem of aging, but for someone with as much screen time as Dany, that's unlikely to happen.

[Dolorous Edd]

Originally Posted by Boaz

The fact is that I cannot foresee HBO getting Tom Cruise to play Ned, Tom Hanks to play Stannis, Heath Ledger to play Jaime (Loras maybe, but never Jaime), Sean Connery to play Aemon, Julia Roberts to play Catelyn, Nicole Kidman to play Cersei, Hugh Jackman to play Bronn, Steve Buscemi to play Tyrion, Tim Roth to play Littlefinger, Natalie Portman to play Shae, Liam Neeson to play Jorah, and Catharine Zeta-Jones to play Melissandre. Realistically, HBO will sign unknowns and character actors which makes our discussion nigh impossible and very fruitless.

Thank god for that! Surely there must be some kinda of international treaty in existance that prohibits the gathering of such a stellar cast of actors together. The sheer power of their combined egos clashing would surely cause some kind of cataclsymic rift in space and time!

[Weasel Soup]

Originally Posted by Dolorous Edd

Thank god for that! Surely there must be some kinda of international treaty in existance that prohibits the gathering of such a stellar cast of actors together. The sheer power of their combined egos clashing would surely cause some kind of cataclsymic rift in space and time!

So there will be no Cannonball Run in Westeros?

(But the speculation is fun though)

[Boaz]

Cannonball Run!

Good one, WS.

[KiwiBird]

Originally Posted by Werthead

They won't. Dany will probably be at least 16 in the TV series, and probably played by an actress who's 18 or older. Not because of any sense of propriety, but simply that if it takes 6-7 seasons to tell the story and the story only spans 4 years+ over the course of it (2-2.5 years pass in Books 1-5, presumbly a similar amount in the books to come), then it will be much more obvious with younger actors than the older ones.

With some characters, like Bran, it's possible they'd consider filming all of his scenes for say the first three books at once, to avoid this problem of aging, but for someone with as much screen time as Dany, that's unlikely to happen.

well actually the dude playing Ocatvianus, was youg when signed, and he's getting older was an important aspect of the story, that said Rome took several years in filming

[TK-421]

Well, it is on HBO after all, so I don't think they'll shy away from some of the grittier and more "questionable" issues in the series. Such as Dany and Drogo. I do agree they will make Dany older like mid-teens such as Nathalie Portman in Star Wars or Ana Paquin in X-Men.

I can't wait for the Red Wedding...I have had that scene burned in my head ever since I read ASOS. The high pitched music, slithing Catelyn's throat...will make for the best TV since...well since!

I wonder if other channels like Showcase here in Canada and A&E will eventually (a couple years after the debut) pick up the series like they did for The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. Anyways, GRRM said not to be surprised to see spots promoting the series next year. May be sooner than we all think.

[Werthead]

Originally Posted by KiwiBird

well actually the dude playing Ocatvianus, was youg when signed, and he's getting older was an important aspect of the story, that said Rome took several years in filming

True. However, they're also getting around this by having a big jump-forward in episode six of the second season of Rome, and they bring in a new actor to play Octavius as a fully-grown adult, which I know is not a popular move among some fans. Necessary, however.

[dyffeg]

Hi all,
sorry if some-one has mentioned this elsewhere....

I'm thrilled to hear of a forthcoming HBO production...

BUT (and that is a very big but), George's involvement in this production - to whatever extent - may potentially slow down the writing of future novels, don't you think?? As it is now, the suspense waiting for ADWD is killing me!!

Dyffeg