Brude

For me this was the best episode yet (and I thought last weeks was better than the first). I gave it an 9/10.

I was very impressed with all of the new scenes, mainly Cersei with Joff and best of all Robert with his two knights. Those worked really well, as did Syrio's scene with Arya.

For the final episode, personally I like "The Music of Dragons." (It's the final phrase of the book.)

I found this article/open letter about Dothraki in Scientific American from a Harvard grad student in psychology, who is also a fan of the books. He was hoping that you guys could do some experiments with the language to help them test some theories about the ability of humans to learn languages.

If they are still having the Raven flying over Westeros in for the opening credits, then Maybe George should be a Maester finishing a letter that is attached to the bird. Then his Cameo will be in every episode that gets aired.

Since it's a raven flying from the Wall, I assume the Maester will be Maester Aemon.

Seriously, the number of successful epic fantasy writers with impressive beards is too many to make me think that there isn't some kind of correlation there.

Well, Tolkien didn't have a beard but I think he made up for that by smoking a pipe.

As for GRRM's cameo, I think I have a great idea...or at least I think it is great: he should play the Man in Black who looses his head in the beginning. Would be so fitting!

That's Gared and the role was already cast, the actor is Richard Ridings.

And now to figure out George's Stan Lee moment...

I like the suggestion there was for having him a head on a pike, and having Joffrey (or Tywin) explaining different people he put on the pikes, with it ending on GRRM and saying "And this one wrote lies about me!"

This was my favorite suggestion when we discussed this in some thread somewhere, it would be very funny. It seemed to be a popular idea with others, too.

I think he should be some dead person in every season. Season Two he can be bloated, hanging in a crows cage somewhere in the Riverlands, getting his eyes picked out by a crow or maybe a corpse floating by in a river. Season Three he should be one of the wights attacking the Fist of the First Men and Season Four he could be one of the dozens (hundreds?) of people the Brotherhood Without Banners hanged as traitors.

I suppose if he's a Stark retainer (a court scribe, perhaps, as Ran suggested? or maybe he's Eddard's court scribe?), it could easily make sense to see him on a pike later in the Red Keep as suggested above. That way he could have his cameo in the pilot AND later as a corpse. :thumbsup:

I do have to wonder why do so many of Martin's fans seem to want to see him as a corpse on screen? I guess he's infected us with his cruel sense of humor.

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I suppose Stevenson suggests through his portrayal of Pullo that he can convey wanton brutality as well as some sort of .... soulfulness? Goodness? But I don't think that's what you want for the Hound. He needs to convey something much more cramped and damaged amidst his brutality. Maybe Stevenson circa The Punisher is closer to the mark? I don't know.

I think you are forgetting some of Pullo's darker moments - like when he murdered Eirene's fiance in cold blood or just how bestial he could be in a fight, monstrous really.

Re: Director of Photography,

I think I posted elsewhere that Oliver Bokelberg seems to be selected as the Director of Photography for the pilot. He's collaborated with McCarthy before on The Station Agent and The Visitor. This is of July 20, there was a news item about it.

I responded about that in another thread some days back, and I agree with HalfHand. The first article that mentions him only says that he worked with McCarthy on his two movies, but doesn't say he was selected. Another article/blog entry seems to have picked up on that and assumed it meant he was the DP.

He may yet be the DP because of his connection to McCarthy, but I don't think the two articles that mention him are proper confirmation - they are both not serious sources for such information.

Edit: here's the post were I responded about that.

No, Snoop-Dogg's joined the cast.

Good question Brude, very important for the show! It would be awesome if they could get a kick ass DP,

Ellen Kuras anyone? http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0475578/ She used to be my neighbor, very nice and soooo talented.

You know her? Very cool. She's one of the best in the biz! "Summer of Sam" and "Eternal Sunshine" are probably my two favorites of her work (I just rewatched "Eternal Sunshine" last night for like the 20th time). Not to many female DP's out there, but she's great.

Dave & Dan,

Have you guys selected a Director of Photography yet? Also, any word on what house(s) will be doing effects, building props and models and such?

I have to imagine that there would have been more than just 3 total Kingsguard going north with them if the whole family is there. Five sounds more likely, with two to hold down the fort (literally) back home.

I'm going to guess Jorah, as it's by far the most major role of the knights mentioned in the pilot (besides Jaime, whom we know was already cast).

Well, yes. If she did a brief spot as Lyanna, it would be a cameo. I guess she could pass for Lyanna, though Lyanna would probably be no more than 20ish at the time of the war (depending on how the time-lines in the show shake out). She still looks young, but having seen her for over a decade now in so many roles, it's hard for me to think of her as 20 (I'm the same age as her). I was saying if she took a bigger role, like if she was Catelyn, but I think I somehow forgot to make that clear in my post.

I see Lyanna Stark actually. She may not be the right age, but she would certainly have the right "look" and attitude. Besides, Amanda Peet might be a little too big to commit to a larger part.

She actually is, in many ways, very right for Lyanna - attitude and look. As for committing to a longer term series, she was willing to commit for "Studio 60," though it got canceled after the first season. But doing a TV show is obviously not something she's adverse to. Paying her fee is another question. Studio 60 was a huge endeavor with multiple major stars, but it was coming from the people who made West Wing, so they were willing to pay that kind of money in hopes lightning would strike twice.

Apologies if this has already been mentioned but what are the chances of Dominic West turning up, as say Baratheon, now that we know they are going for an English cast and the director starred alongside him in the wire?

Which Baratheon? Certainly not Robert since Robert is pushing maybe 300 lbs by the time of the books and Dominic West looks like this. I could see him as Renly, though it would make Renly older than in the books - but it looks like a lot of characters will be somewhat older...I don't think it's a problem at all. Equally, I could see him as Stannis - it would be a bit different than I'm used to from him after McNulty but he's certainly capable of the role.

Does West want to do more series TV? I heard after his run on "The Wire" he didn't want to work so far from home for so long (he's got a daughter with his ex-fiance) but working in N. Ireland is a LOT closer to home than working Baltimore for the better part of six years. More like New York to Boston, not a hard trip at all.

Tricia Helfer already has another pilot, a comedy. It's unlikely she'll be available, whether they want her or not.

What I really want to know is if they have optioned the 2 for a full series should the pilot be picked up for at least one season. I guess that "little" news won't be forthcoming from anyone any time soon.

Dinklage's contract will commit him to the full series, no doubt. I told a friend of mine to get his agent to get him an audition for this show (he's Irish, has done a lot of theater and such in both Dublin and I think Belfast, and was a soap opera star there too), but he can't do anything right now because he got a pilot with Walter Hill and has to wait until the option on that runs out before committing to anything else. I am assuming Dinklage will be locked in to some degree in a similar way.

TV directors do not generally do whole series but usually a few episodes. I'm guessing he will do two to four episodes of the first season and maybe come back for later seasons if it works out and he wants to. Shows like this like to get guest directors too, sometimes. You could see some pretty big names doing other episodes here and there. Sometimes a show will settle on one or two main directors who will do the bulk of the series but that isn't always the case. Joe Chapelle and Ernest Dickerson both did 6 episodes of "The Wire" (Dickerson was Spike Lee's long-time Cinematographer, BTW). Clark Johnson (also a fine actor) and Edward Bianchi each did 4. Bianchi also did 8 episodes of "Deadwood," 7 of Showtime's "Brotherhood," while Johnson did a bunch of episodes of "The Shield" and "Homicide" on top of a lot of acting at the same time. Check the lists of directors for other HBO shows and you'll some names reoccuring again and again between them.

I can't imagine McCarthy signing on for his televisual debut if he thought the screenplay was a dog.

Probably true. He's won many awards for his own screenwriting for both Station Agent and The Visitor.

We also got a little bad news here as it seems Treme has been picked up.

This won't affect AGoT at all. Completely different kinds of shows, completely different levels of budget. They are playing in different leagues and to a degree for a different audience. Also, this show is set to start airing at the end of this year. AGoT won't start airing until, at best, the end of next year probably. They won't be in contention for the same kind of production slot.

I'm very happy about this because David Simon's last show, "The Wire" was the best TV show ever. I'm looking forward to "Treme" almost as much as I am to AGoT.

Tom McCarthy's IMDb bio.

Tom McCarthy - interesting choice...not an action director but then there isn't much action in the pilot - just a little practice field stuff between children. He's a very strong dramatic director (and a pretty damn good actor - he's great in Season 5 of The Wire). Choosing a director with strong drama cred. is a good move, I think, and shows where the emphasis maybe will be here. The first second I read this I was like, 'huh?' The more and more I think about it, the more it makes a lot of sense to me.

Future episodes that are more action oriented might warrant a different type of director, but for heavy dramatic stuff - this is good.

A friend of mine, Maggie Moore, had a major supporting role in McCarthy's "The Visitor," but she got cut out. It wasn't her performance, it's just her sub-plot apparently didn't work in the overall story. Oh well. She's a very good actor, though. Played Paul Giamatti's ex-wife in "American Splendor."

Of course I'm happy about Dinklage - maybe the obvious choice but also probably the best choice. Been a fan of his since I first saw "Living in Oblivion" way back when that first came out.

No fair!!! *hops from foot to foot*

Sort of like having to pee badly but being stuck on broken-down subway train.

Edit:

Like having to pee on a long road trip with friends, but you don't want to be the one to make everyone stop again just for you.

*does the waiting shimmy*

Heh, you had the same reaction I did.

It would be very hard to be a head writer and an actor on a show of this scale. It's not like a sit-com built around a comedian where that kind of thing does happen, I'd be stunned if Benioff had any plans to be in his own show, but who knows, anything is possible. There are writers out there who also act and some of them are very good (Gore Vidal comes to mind). Many come out of a more complete theater and/or film background (writing, directing, producing, acting), so they have long been both actors and writers, as well as maybe directors and producers - or started doing one thing and segued into the others.

[quote name='Myrddin' post='1610294' date='Dec 5 2008, 11.12']Hmmm... Now that I think of it, I don't think I've ever seen her in a non-comedic role (or at least a light hearted one). Also, has she done period pieces? In my head, she's too modern and too American. I'm not opposed to seeing her cast, as I'm sure they wouldn't do it unless she fit the part, but It'd take me a bit to see her as Catelyn, not Peet.[/quote]
The Neil LaBute play I saw was most definitely a dramatic piece - he only writes drama, though at times he will hit a darkly funny note...at times. She's very capable of a dramatic role.