The Best Casting and Worst Casting (in your opinion).

[Deadwood]

I've always thought Carice has an accent.

English is not my native language, so I could be wrong.

Yes, she has an exotic accent.

I tend to assume that to people outside the North of England all the flat vowels sound exotic. :D

[Annara Snow]

Anara Snow: You seem really fond of that word. What does it mean to you? No "exotic" accent? What does that mean?

Gosh, sorry I wrote my response without a thesaurus! Here to help you out:

exotic: : strikingly, excitingly, or mysteriously different or unusual (Merriam Webster)

An exotic accent would be one that is 'strikingly' different. I am a native English speaker and yet I do not really discern Mel's accent. She sounds pretty much like she fits into the stew of all the accents on the show, not noteworthy and not unintelligible, not harsh and not melodic. In reference to the second 'exotic' I thought I explained that. She is a very pretty woman yet pretty in a typical way. Her face is not angular or equine, her eyes are neither large, hooded, or of unusual color, and her skin is fair but not extraordinary. Thus, she is very pretty yet not exotic looking to me. Hope this helps.

Strikingly different from WHAT, exactly?

I didn't ask for a dictionary definition, I asked what it means to you.

If someone on the show, say, spoke in American Southern accent, would that be "exotic"? It would sure be "unusual" and "strikingly different" from most of the accents on the show!!!

Exotic is like Spanish/south american one don't know how to explain it better

So, Spanish or South American is exotic, but Dutch is not?

How exactly does that work?

[igrewupinKL]

mmm i think Carice's accent is really different to everyone else's on the show and thought her wig was perfect in season 2 but has gotten darker more recently so it looks auburn. I really like Carice in the role of Mel though

just my 2 cents

[Ingelheim]

I think my TOP 5 best casting is:

-Sean Bean as Ned Stark

-Charles Dance a Tywin Lannister

-Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth

-Rory McCann as Sandor/The Hound

-Maisie Williams as Arya Stark

In no specific order.

Overall, the casting of GOT is excellent. I can only think of a few actors who do not fit their roles, and mostly is because of their looks, not their acting (like Lena Headey as Cersei. She is pretty, and one hell of an actress, but she isn't the goddess she is supposed to be. Charlize Theron would be my perfect choice for her).

[lakin1013]

Strikingly different from WHAT, exactly?

I didn't ask for a dictionary definition, I asked what it means to you.

If someone on the show, say, spoke in American Southern accent, would that be "exotic"? It would sure be "unusual" and "strikingly different" from most of the accents on the show!!!

So, Spanish or South American is exotic, but Dutch is not?

How exactly does that work?

According to the Westeros wiki, Melisandre has an EXOTIC accent and a sonorous (deep) voice Perhaps you should ask the folks who created the entry for Mel? As a North-American native English speaker, I find all the accents in Game of Thrones to be delightful and I love hearing how they speak. At times, I have wondered how Robb, Jon, and Sansa came from the same family and the same geography due to the burrs (Rob), rounded vowels (Jon), and clipped endings (Sansa). But that does not hinder my enjoyment. Since many of the actors speak languages that are considered romance languages, there is a certain familiarity to the sounds. If however Martin (or the GoT wiki) wrote that Mel had an exotic accent, then we would have to abandon the romance languages, and suggest something else - perhaps Farsi or Russian.

[Annara Snow]

According to the Westeros wiki, Melisandre has an EXOTIC accent and a sonorous (deep) voice Perhaps you should ask the folks who created the entry for Mel? As a North-American native English speaker, I find all the accents in Game of Thrones to be delightful and I love hearing how they speak. At times, I have wondered how Robb, Jon, and Sansa came from the same family and the same geography due to the burrs (Rob), rounded vowels (Jon), and clipped endings (Sansa). But that does not hinder my enjoyment. Since many of the actors speak languages that are considered romance languages, there is a certain familiarity to the sounds. If however Martin (or the GoT wiki) wrote that Mel had an exotic accent, then we would have to abandon the romance languages, and suggest something else - perhaps Farsi or Russian.

:huh: Romance languages? What? The cast speaks English on the show. IRL some of them have Danish, German or Dutch as their mother tongue. What do Romance languages have to do with it?

And Russian is more "exotic" than French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, or Romanian? Exotic to whom? It all depends on the perspective, obviously. From the English-speaking POV, aren't they all "exotic"... or none of them are?

"Exotic" is generally an annoying word.

[123456750]

My favourite:
Catelyn Stark

Least favourite:
Grey Worm

[lakin1013]

:huh: Romance languages? What? The cast speaks English on the show. IRL some of them have Danish, German or Dutch as their mother tongue. What do Romance languages have to do with it?

And Russian is more "exotic" than French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, or Romanian? Exotic to whom? It all depends on the perspective, obviously. From the English-speaking POV, aren't they all "exotic"... or none of them are?

"Exotic" is generally an annoying word.

If you do not like the term 'exotic' then you might want to complain to the authors of the Westeros wiki.

[Annara Snow]

If you do not like the term 'exotic' then you might want to complain to the authors of the Westeros wiki.

Are they here? No?

Anyway, there's something more annoying than the word itself, and that's when people use it in really, really stupid ways. ... Then again... Come to think of it, there's really no smart way to use that word, is it?

Anyway, you haven't explained: what does GoT have to do with Romance languages? Please remind me when someone spoke French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese or Romanian on GoT? Oddly enough, I only remember English and some made-up languages like High Valyrian and Dothraki...

[lakin1013]

I really have very little interest in being insulted by you so I will not respond. This forum was about who we thought was the either the best cast or the worst. I shared my opinion. The fact that you do not like my vocabulary is of no interest to me, nor do I feel obliged to provide additional information about my opinions to you.

[LordBloodraven]

Gotta love those "actors" who are arrogant enough to think they can do everything...Totally cringeballs...

Are you the real Lena Headey by any chance? :devil:

[Deadwood]

Gotta love those "actors" who are arrogant enough to think they can do everything...Totally cringeballs...

Those Robson & Jerome characters weren't so bad, I kinda liked their Saturday Night at the Movies one.

[storm.131]

I really have very little interest in being insulted by you so I will not respond. This forum was about who we thought was the either the best cast or the worst. I shared my opinion. The fact that you do not like my vocabulary is of no interest to me, nor do I feel obliged to provide additional information about my opinions to you.

Great response!

I think I get what you mean by the word "exotic" in describing Mel's accent and appearance: they don't differ enough from the other actors as Carice is a western European woman, and as such too similar to the actors cast as Westerosi. Therefore, in the context of the general cast, exotic would be someone from farther afield.

That said, I love Carice in the role.

I also like your comments about the Stark children all having different accents. It's always been something I've noticed as being odd but it doesn't bother me too much.

[Annara Snow]

Great response!

I think get what you mean by the word "exotic" in describing Mel's accent and appearance: it doesn't differ enough from the other actors as Carice is a western European woman, and as such too similar to actors cast as Westerosi. Therefore, in the context of the general cast, exotic would be someone from farther afield.

Like...from where? American? (Well, there's Peter Dinklage...) Australian?

Or do you mean Asian, African... as per the classic "non-white people are exotic" concept? But that doesn't have anything to do with the accent.

Or do you mean, from Eastern Europe, that, you know, wild and crazy and "exotic" place that's oh so different from Western Europe? (I feel so exotic...)

What exactly does "further afield" mean?

Oh and BTW, Indira Varma, who was called "exotic" above, is not from "further afield", she's from UK, so Carice should be far more "exotic" than she is.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

As someone who is often called "exotic", it plainly means "not-white". (it's also an euphemism for "not pretty but not ugly either...")

Which is odd because we're not supposed to be white here. It's the "white ones" the ones who are supposed to be exotic, but whatever...

[breakfastfestival]

Yeah it's a form of 'othering' that only adds to the classic post-colonial self-centredness. It's the idea that the white person is the normal one with the point of view and anybody with a different skin tone or accent or culture is different and 'exotic'. I can see why people get arsey over the connotations of it and it's a term that I would love to just disappear altogether, but people don't mean anything bad by it really.

[The Dragon King]

Yeah it's a form of 'othering' that only adds to the classic post-colonial self-centredness. It's the idea that the white person is the normal one with the point of view and anybody with a different skin tone or accent or culture is different and 'exotic'. I can see why people get arsey over the connotations of it and it's a term that I would love to just disappear altogether, but people don't mean anything bad by it really.

Have you ever lived among non-white peoples? I've lived with Asians and they use the term "white guy", so do Blacks, I used to live in a Black neighborhood. Everyone is self-centered, colonialism has nothing to do with it.

[The Dragon King]

Like...from where? American? (Well, there's Peter Dinklage...) Australian?

Or do you mean Asian, African... as per the classic "non-white people are exotic" concept? But that doesn't have anything to do with the accent.

Or do you mean, from Eastern Europe, that, you know, wild and crazy and "exotic" place that's oh so different from Western Europe? (I feel so exotic...)

What exactly does "further afield" mean?

Oh and BTW, Indira Varma, who was called "exotic" above, is not from "further afield", she's from UK, so Carice should be far more "exotic" than she is.

Indra Varma does not resemble a British poster child, she looks more Mediterranean/Middle Eastern (IMO), so she does look less native than Clarice.

I'm thinking "further afield" means farther away from England, which Westeros is kinda based on.

[Ingelheim]

Indra Varma does not resemble a British poster child, she looks more Mediterranean/Middle Eastern (IMO), so she does look less native than Clarice.

I'm thinking "further afield" means farther away from England, which Westeros is kinda based on.

So, Scotland.

[The Dragon King]

So, Scotland.

I was thinking Wales but ok.