Jennifer Ehle cast as Catelyn Stark

[childdoll]

I'm not familar with her, but she looks good for the part and has great credintials, so yay ^.^

[Padraig]

Yup. Seems like another piece of great casting! :)

[Myrddin]

Love her!

In addition to P&P she was incredibly good in Possession opposite Jeremy Northam.

:agree:

Awesome choice. Like Wert, I'm not sure why I didn't think of her to begin with... Now I can't think of anyone else who could pay Cat, and I haven't even seen her portrayal yet. Now that is perfect casting.

Side note, Possession is a very good movie, if uneven at times. Go rent it. Or buy it. :) I found it for $5.

[The Wedge]

Ehle looks like a good fit from the photos popped up from Google search.

Does anyone else think she resembles a younger Meryl Streep? (that's not a bad thing in my book...)

[Silverstar]

Ehle looks like a good fit from the photos popped up from Google search.

Does anyone else think she resembles a younger Meryl Streep? (that's not a bad thing in my book...)

Yes, she does.

[Radhia]

Man oh man those are excellent news! She's a terrific actress and will make a terrific Cat :)

[fitheach]

Holy Shit! That is awesome casting!!! I wish I thought of her, she is such a great actress.

Loved her in P&P, Posession, Sunshine....

She'll actually bring alot of sympathy and warmth to the Catelyn character. Wow, very pleased.

Here's a youtube video someone put together with Jennifer Ehle in the film Sunshine with Ralph Finnes. She's in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the video and her hair is Auburn in this film, great Catelyn look:

[marwyn]

Not much to say except "Awesome". Never seen her on screen, but I can gather from the other comments that she has quite a lot of credentials.

And she certainly looks the part, as well.

And as a Catelyn fan I can only applaud it if Ehle brings some warmth to her character.

[Ser Greguh]

Oh HELL yes.

Not a name I'm familiar with, but those clips have convinced me beyond the shadow of a doubt that Ehle will be a flawless Catelyn Stark. One does not achieve what she has achieved on the theater, the small screen, and the big screen without being a phenomenal actress.

(And of course, it doesn't hurt that the look is just right. I have no idea what her natural hair color is, but am positive she will be positively stunning in auburn.)

[Werthead]

Okay, completely off the wall scouring YouTube: I just watched Jennifer Ehle win a BAFTA in 1996 for Pride and Prejudice, and she accepted with an English accent.

I then watched her win a Tony in 2007 for Coast of Utopia. Accepted with an American Accent.

That's either dedicated method acting, or a bizarre identity crisis. The only thing the two have in common is she thanks her wig in both speeches.

One of Ehle's parents is American and the other is British, she was born in America but was raised in both countries and got most of her big breaks and works mostly in Britain, but now lives in America. Like Gillian Anderson (ha) she has a bit of a mixed-heritage thing going on which leads to her swapping accents around.

[iheartseverus]

In Pride and Prejudice, I found her to be excellent at conveying a wide range of feelings and emotions just with a nuanced alteration of expression--you can see exactly what the character is thinking and feeling. When she overhears Darcy insulting her looks and her family, her eyes harden and flash anger even while her body maintains its demure, ladylike posture. When Lizzie's mother is making a fool of herself in front of Lady Catherine deBurgh, Lizzie's expression reveals that she is mentally cringing in embarrassment even while she's attempting to keep her face a proper blank. I think its what made this version of P&P my favorite. Whenever another character would say or do something significant, my eyes would automatically flash over to Lizzie, like 'ha, wonder what she thought of that!'

This is gonna be great! LOL, for the first time, I believe I may actually begin to like Catelyn Stark! :lol:

[Silverstar]

This is gonna be great! LOL, for the first time, I believe I may actually begin to like Catelyn Stark! :lol:

If Ehle can start to make die-hard Catelyn haters like the character, I'll love her forever more ;)

[Graegor]

I’m really impressed with this casting.

Just today, I was watching Laura Linney’s performance in John Adams with envy, thinking we couldn’t get someone with such presence and such sophistication on AGOT. Ehle in those clips (even out of context) is simply as captivating.

I must admit that at first I had my doubts about this production, but no more. This is shaping up to be a true, quality HBO (let’s hope) series.

[Grace Adieu]

This is probably going to get me flamed, but I hated Ehle in P&P which I'm sure had less to do with her acting ability than it did with her not being at all how I imagined Lizzie (which was probably the director's fault, now that I think of it). I'm really excited for her to play Catelyn, though, especially after seeing some of the scenes from Possession that have been posted. And she totally does look like a younger Meryl Streep! That alone, in my opinion, should shut up those critics I've heard saying she's not pretty enough to play Catelyn!

Also, her being a bit older than Catelyn is portrayed in the book is appropriate because it seems like they'll be aging the younger characters up slightly, as well.

[red snow]

This is why dreamcasting is a waste of time. I would never have thought of Jennifer Ehle for the role of Catelyn but looking at a couple of pictures of her I have to admit she's an even better choice than Gillian Anderson and has the advantage of not being scully. She appears to have excellent acting credentials too. With this and the other casting, I think we can trust in the casting crew. We may not know them yet but in a few years time they will be known for their roles. Pretty much like the Rome and Wire cast. Just save the "stars" for the show's "temporary" cast. Hopefully they have some good contracts in place for the regular cast though...

[Werthead]

One of the comments on the Rotten Tomatoes discussion really made me laugh:

Thank god they picked a relative unknown. I dont know what the masses of Gillian Anderson proponents are on. Gillian Anderson seems too old for that part. She's 40 years old, and Catelyn is in her late twenties at the beginning of A Game of Thrones.

Yup, so thank God they didn't go for the 40-year-old Gillian Anderson in favour of the 39-year-old Jennifer Ehle :lol:

[Ran]

Catelyn's like 33 or 34 at the start of AGoT, as I recall. Strange how people have the ages wrong. And of course they're taking about 5 years to the adult characters, so Ehle (and Anderson) would be about as perfect as you can get if you care about such things.

Yes, it's all very odd. But the casting certainly seems very promising. Right now the only role I'd have reservations on is Mark Addy as Robert, and yet obviously-skilled casting people have picked him, and GRRM and Parris have vouched for how well they liked his reading of Robert, so I'm optimistic there. He won't be the Robert we imagine in our heads, I suppose, but it seems he'll be a credible interpretation of him, which is all I need.

As to Ehle, I'm sure she'll knock Catelyn Stark out of the park.

[Thor85]

I will never accept Ehle as Catelyn :tantrum: but still quite happy that the producers didn't totally fuck this up and chose to go with talent instead of looks for this role :) .

[awesome possum]

Seems like excellent casting choice. You really got to think they are working hard to get this series picked up.

[HyperVolk]

Also agree with the Wedge on her looks.

I like the strong jaw, and i think of Cat when I see that.

This is another casting that seems to fit.

And I also agree with the posters on how her age is pretty good, at 38 or 39 shes could be made up to look slightly younger and older. Also yeah, towards book 4, makeup, sounds fun.