Westeros Blog: Catelyn Recast: Ehle Out, Fairley In

[Jonias Snow]

Digging for info on Fairley is like when we were playing guess that cast member game, lol. I mean she is like the premiere supporting stage actress over in the UK, if you want your play to be noticed cast Michelle Fairley in it. She receives rave reviews for her supporting roles from Othello, Garbo, Dancing at the Lughnasa to name just a few.

I did find a photo of her from Othello event party slideshow http://www.whatsonstage.com/photos/theatre/london/E8821196854350/1st+Night+Photos%3A+All-star+Othello+Opens+at+Donmar.html if you go to image 19 you will see her, you might have to jump to the end and hit previous cause the slideshow can lock up, you can tell from this image she is quite the looker, very attractive, I wish we could find a large glamour pic of her now. Furthermore to the right you will see a link to the Olivier awards nominees clip, I am not sure but she might be the one that appears at 1:15, the actress has Catleyn's hair color and she seems to have Fairley's mouth, neck, eyes and nose, so it might be her, especially since they don't give her name, Fairley being very private.

Maybe someone over in the UK can get us a good pic of her.

Also can someone copy that image or link over on WiC, since I can't post there atm till I solve the tech problem I am having.

[The Anti-Targ]

What are your thoughts.

Ditching an actor with an established reputation (and commanding a pretty high price) in favour of a cheaper option (no slight intended on Fairley's talent because I don't recall seeing her in anything that allowed her to show her stuff) for a roll that doesn't really need star power for the series to succeed looks to me like it's about trimming the budget.

Sean Bean's price is justifiable for this because he's basically only in one season. Catelyn will be in every season that gets made.

Dinklage, or a person of equal star power, is important because of Tyrion's centrality to the success of the series. They need to go with someone they KNOW can put in a compelling performance, so they need to pay the price.

It can also be Fairley's international break out performance, so it's a good opportunity for her. (I don't think her turn in the HP movies will be a big enough profile to get her international notice, and besides it's a kids movie, no matter how big it is.)

What do you think?

Or maybe Ehle didn't fancy playing what Catelyn will eventually become.

[Padraig]

You know, the mutterings of a couple hundred people are not that important in the grand scheme of things. I don't think HBO needs to have gone out of its way with a press release and publicity blitz about her.

Very true.

Honestly, its way too easy to wave off the vitriol and blame it on HBO for not releasing some pics. Some people just behave very ignorantly. We've seen it before when other people were cast (and there was plenty stuff online about them). And we'll probably see it again. Its all a little pathetic.

I too think Fairley looks a little too old.

She doesn't need to be early 30s in the TV series. In fact, she was always going to be older in the TV series. And she is still 5 years younger than Bean. This is a non-issue.

Decreasing Cat's role is an interesting question though. We've always known Cersei and Jaime were going to play a bigger role in the TV series. So I suppose this can't be ruled out. OTOH, Cat in book 1 does strike me as dramatically a very interesting arc, so i'd be surprised if they decided to downplay the Cat role, just because of that.

[Mme Erzulie]

I wish people would get the fuck over themselves and realise that the world does not, in fact, revolve around them. Neither HBO nor any other party involved has any obligation to "post glamour shots" or "put together a bio" of Fairley. What they should do, if they're savvy (which history indicates that they are), is cast the right actors for the show and make a really good final product.

One of the worst things about the internet is all the little back alley kings with artificially inflated egos and entitlement issues.

[Ran]

Lets try to keep it polite.

[Jonias Snow]

I wish people would get the fuck over themselves and realise that the world does not, in fact, revolve around them. Neither HBO nor any other party involved has any obligation to "post glamour shots" or "put together a bio" of Fairley. What they should do, if they're savvy (which history indicates that they are), is cast the right actors for the show and make a really good final product.

One of the worst things about the internet is all the little back alley kings with artificially inflated egos and entitlement issues.

I just want them to post a good pic, to shut up all the naysayers, I am just tired of them. If they would just pay attention to the posts and also do some digging themselves, they would be able to analyze the info out there and hopefully come to the same conclusion I have, which is that she will actually be a better Catleyn than Jen. I mean her stage acting credentials are thru the roof, and she is just as attractive as Ms. Ehle, but is slender, taller and has more aquiline (noble) features.

They see those deglamour makeup pics online and think that his her (I thought that at first), I mean what if that pic of Ms. Theron from Monster was the only one out there of her, yet Ms. Theron is a stunning actress. We have had to dig alot, but thinks to Ran and others we have more than enough info to see Ms. Fairley is perfect for the role.

I want to say to Ms. Fairley, "that I believe you are perfect for this role, you will breath life into Catleyn's role and make it your own. You will bring your outstanding acting credentials and talent to this show along with the experience and poise of a premiere stage actress. Your grace, elegance and beauty will be there on the screen for everyone to enjoy, but hopefully they will enjoy the Inner Cat you will bring out. The young actors and actresses that will play your children in the series can only benefit from your two decades of experience and hopefully they will embrace many of your qualities and look to you for guidance and understanding as you play their mother.

[Padraig]

I just want them to post a good pic, to shut up all the naysayers, I am just tired of them. If they would just pay attention to the posts and also do some digging themselves, they would be able to analyze the info out there and hopefully come to the same conclusion I have, which is that she will actually be a better Catleyn than Jen.

See. That's the problem right there. "If they pay attention to the posts". Some people don't pay attention. And those that do pay attention will often still hate the decision that is made.

Trying to rationalise with those people is just wasting your time.

HBO will want this project to succeed more than even we do. They'll be putting a lot more money into it than we are. They are clearly going to make the best decision they can.

[Mierin]

HBO will want this project to succeed more than even we do.  They'll be putting a lot more money into it than we are.  They are clearly going to make the best decision they can.

I'm sure the same applied to the creators of that awful Dungeons & Dragons movie.

I think I just died a little when I read your post. :(

[Werthead]

I'm sure the same applied to the creators of that awful Dungeons & Dragons movie.

I think I just died a little when I read your post. :(

Er, no. If they'd made that decison they'd have hired proper, experienced writers, a proper, experienced director and some big stars. With the D&D movie, the company wanted to trade on the name to make a low-budget film that could draw in the crowds on name recognition to make a quick buck, and messed up. The comparison to HBO (whose quality control methods are legendary) doesn't really fit.

[Ran]

Heard back from the Airlock Alpha writer. He was extrapolating from the Live Feed's statement that it was behind-the-scenes rather than performance issues when he wrote that the production wanted to go "in a different direction" as far as how Catelyn was depicted. So, no need to read too much into that, he was just trying to read between the lines.

Agreed with Werthead, by the way. Some movies, like D&D, are genuinely made to be, basically, junk -- popcorn movies (at the very best) which hope to keep down costs so they squeeze out a quick profit. This isn't how HBO operates.

[Padraig]

Agreed with Werthead, by the way. Some movies, like D&D, are genuinely made to be, basically, junk -- popcorn movies (at the very best) which hope to keep down costs so they squeeze out a quick profit. This isn't how HBO operates.

True that. If people think that HBO is creating a series with the quality of Dungeons and Dragons, then *shrug*. I can't respond to that.

Mistakes are made in HBO shows but they aren't going to do something completely ridiculous.

[Brude]

I'm sure the same applied to the creators of that awful Dungeons & Dragons movie.

I think I just died a little when I read your post. :(

Um, no. It's not in any way even remotely similar. The D&D movie was co-written, produced and directed by a guy who had no filmmaking experience before he did that movie. He was the heir to the creator of the "Buck Rodgers" franchise, and was able to buy the movie rights to D&D into perpetuity from TSR for a song, because the woman who was running TSR at the time was kind of insane, stupid and ran the company into the ground. He wrote the movie with two friends of his, who also had no real film experience, and got it made because, well, it's D&D, so it had enough name recognition to be worthwhile for Joel Silver to put some money into it.

HBO doesn't operate that way. Everyone involved in this project, and every HBO project, are top professionals. D&D was, quite literally, amateur hour, Game of Thrones is the product of seasoned professionals.

[Andhaira]

Well this is certainly bad news. The new actress does not look like Catelyn Tully at all.

[Jonias Snow]

I have created a 1 minute clip in high rez of Ms. Fairley in "The Others" this gives us a really good idea of what she might look like as Catleyn minus the auburn hair.

Uh Oh, I can't seem to find the upload file button, can someone help, please.

[Ran]

We can't upload files here. You'll need to put it up at a third party site. Easiest might well be YouTube or something -- a minute long clip certainly strikes me as fair use -- and then link it here (only admin can embed video files).

[Jonias Snow]

We can't upload files here. You'll need to put it up at a third party site. Easiest might well be YouTube or something -- a minute long clip certainly strikes me as fair use -- and then link it here (only admin can embed video files).

I figured that might be the case so I just uploaded it to Youtube. I will check back in an hour or so and see if it's posted.

Thanks Ran

[Brude]

I have created a 1 minute clip in high rez of Ms. Fairley in "The Others"

Oh, I didn't realize she was in "The Others." Certainly appropriate considering her new role...

[Ran]

Here's the clip, I imagine:

This was from 9 years ago, of course, but still, another example of Fairley's abilities and carriage.

[Jonias Snow]

I noticed that too Ran, Ms. Fairley's demeanor as she was talking and especially the way she walked as she was leaving the room. She can really bring elegance to the role of Catleyn.

[DizoakiusMaximus]

My only concern with the recasting is that people will watch the pilot and then become very confused when the actress changes in the next episode. It might be enough to turn off a casual viewer for the rest of the series. I assume they won't be reshooting Catelyn's scenes from the pilot since it's already "in the can" so to speak.