Not if you are the Sopranos.
This news was local in Belfast yesterday morning. A friend of mine who lives there e-mailed me to tell me the news. It’s being shot a few blocks away from his office.
The linked article is clearly poorly written; but the thing to take away from it is that principal photogrpahy of the pilot is being lined up and the engine is revving.
I am quite surprised that the series is not being shot in Eastern Europe. I suppose that it still could be. This is just the first episode “pilot”, not the series itself. If the series itself is greenlit, shooting may well relocate to Bulgaria.
If the spin on marketing the show s that this is the same crew that brought the Sopranos to HBO - that’s not bad marketing for people who don’t have a clue what SoIaF is. Let’s face it, if you already know of SoIaF, odds are extremely high that you will be watching this show. No need to preach to the converted - it’s the ones who don’t know that will make this series succesful (or not).
Stop reading these threads, cause you don’t want to be spoiled.
And, yes, go pick up Book 1. Now.
Why not? Showtime has been making The Tudors in Ireland for the last couple of years, and it’s been a great shooting location for that series, which gives me good warm fuzzies for the look of Game of Thrones.
It’s official: Peter Dinklage is Tyrion Lannister.
Plus, the director is Tom McCarthy, of The Visitor and The Station Agent.
This has to be the role of a lifetime for those of…shorter stature. A significant character from a popular book series on HBO? $$$$
Yeah, after all, he gets to nail hot women, utter great dialogue, and be a centerpiece of a show.
I think America is ready for Dinklage nude scenes.
Incorrect sir!
(that said, it is a good casting job and I look forward to seeing the series come alive on TV)
I imdb’d the director. I know there’s a lot of love here for The Visitor and The Station Agent. Not much work with complex, action-heavy or effects-heavy stuff, but at heart ASOIAF is a character piece, and he’s done a great job with character-driven stories.
Yep. Hopefully, it will retain much of that and not be Michael Bay’d.
I thought this was going to suck when I read that they hired an unknown director.
Then I remembered that I had seen The Station Agent years ago at a festival and it was one wonderful movie.
Some of the best stuff I watched.
Yeah. It’s one of the most tender, heartfelt films I’ve ever seen, without being mawkish or maudlin. Real sentiment, not schmaltz.
Well, those are the expensive scenes. And, well, two books in, I haven’t seen many battle scenes where a lot of drama happened. Important things come out of the battles, but I don’t see a huge reason to show the battle scenes except for spectacle.
They could do it like they did Rome. Show battles only when absolutely necessary, and do so close up and tight on the main characters. But for most battles, focus on the preparation and aftermath. That’s where everything happened in the books, for the most part.
The attack on King’s Landing is in book 3. Hopefully, they’ll get popular and save enough of a budget to do that scene well.
They could do it like they did Rome. Show battles only when absolutely necessary, and do so close up and tight on the main characters. But for most battles, focus on the preparation and aftermath. That’s where everything happened in the books, for the most part.
I always thought that was the second weakest part of Rome. The first being that the city of Rome looked like a squalid, cramped settlement instead of the majestic capital it was supposed to be. Hopefully, they won’t have to resort to this and we can at least see a full on battle.
Thankfully, ASoFI does not rely on epic battles.
Book 2, Clash of Kings.
Cripes. It’s been so long I’m forgetting what’s happened in the books.
Aren’t a lot of battles of camera anyway? The only ones I can recall are the mentioned attack on King’s Landing and the Wildling attacks against the Wall.
All the battles on the eastern continent are off camera as well.
I’m sure they’ll show one or two (maybe one a season?) The importance of working around it is that is saves a TON of money. And since HBO doesn’t run on ratings, they pay more attention to cost per episode when deciding to cancel or renew. I’d rather see this get a full run, then mourne yet another HBO “period” piece cut down in its prime (assuming it’s a quality production, of course).
Some of the battle sequences mold Tyrion, quite literally. It’s also where the story reveals the mettle that compliments his sharp wit. They’ll probably ignore them, because I’m not sure they could film him in battle without making it look ridiculous rather than as bad ass as it’s supposed to be.