Natalie Dormer Interviewed

[Westeros]

There’s a lengthy profile of Natalie Dormer, one of the first Season 2 castings we learned about when it was revealed that she was Margaery Tyrell, is profiled by Gerard Gilbet in a lengthy piece at the Independent. A lot of details about her early life and career, including how she wanted to get away from the Anne Boleyn image of The Tudors for awhile… and then some tidbits about Game of Thrones, of course.

The quotes below are spoilerish for those who’ve not read the second book, A Clash of Kings, on which this season is based:

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[ZombieWife]

Taking her clothes off! Makes me wonder if there will be a marriage consummation attempt. :)

[Daughter of Dragons]

I am very excited to see Natalie Dormer is going to portray Margaery Tyrell on the show. I thought that she was a great actress in The Tudors. I loved her take on Anne Boleyn. I can't wait to see what she brings to the character of Margaery! I think we will be in for a surprising and fantastic season #2 on GOT!!!!

[The King of Ashes]

Taking her clothes off! Makes me wonder if there will be a marriage consummation attempt. :)

Oh I do hope so!

[The Anti-Targ]

Taking her clothes off! Makes me wonder if there will be a marriage consummation attempt. :)

Perhaps a pre-marriage consummation attempt.

Actually I'd be a little disappointed if Margaery showed any more than alluring cleavage. Not everyone needs to show T&A in this series, and in the books Margaery doesn't. No need to contrive more nudity than is already there.

[julandro]

I have to admit that the actress is very beautiful :smoking:

[littlespider]

Perhaps a pre-marriage consummation attempt.

Maybe the bedding ceremony? That would make sense to me.

[Été]

Maybe the bedding ceremony? That would make sense to me.

My thoughts exactly. Some sexposition about who the Tyrells are, plus it would introduce the concept of the bedding ahead of Sansa and Tyrion's wedding (nooo idea how they're gonna make that work for TV) and of course Edmure and Roslin's.

[violet storm]

Maybe the bedding ceremony? That would make sense to me.

I guess... Although she says "scenes", not "a scene", so I am a bit confused. The HBO show made it pretty clear that Renly is gay, even more clear than in the book. I wonder where Loras is going to be when it happens... Also, Loras and Margaery are very close in the book. If Margaery actually sleeps with Renly in the show, I wonder how he would feel. It would make further developments way more copmplicated...

[Saturn Girl]

I guess... Although she says "scenes", not "a scene", so I am a bit confused. The HBO show made it pretty clear that Renly is gay, even more clear than in the book. I wonder where Loras is going to be when it happens... Also, Loras and Margaery are very close in the book. If Margaery actually sleeps with Renly in the show, I wonder how he would feel. It would make further developments way more copmplicated...

Well, it is possible that Margaery is totally fine with Loras/Renly as long as they agree to let her have her own fun on the side. For all we know, Renly is also a beard for Margaery. Or perhaps Margaery and Loras agree to share Renly...who says the Lannisters and Targs are the only ones who keep it in the family?

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

Or maybe she shot the same scene many many times? Or perhaps they had several different scenes of the bedding shpt to see which worked best? Or maybe she misspoke?

[Monday]

I'm sure there will be sexposition.Talking to Teana or something as she gets dressed or bathes. That plus the bedding (not a consumation, just plunking her in next to Renly and leaving the two of them alone) makes for plural nude scenes.

[Abaddon]

Renly could be bi. It's implied by Lady Taena in the books, for what it's worth.

[Monday]

He could be. I just hope they leave the consumation ambiguous. It's one of those things it's fun to speculate on and debate about.

[The Anti-Targ]

He could be. I just hope they leave the consumation ambiguous. It's one of those things it's fun to speculate on and debate about.

Which is why they don't need to film the Renly / Marg wedding at all. Scenes that aren't in the book should only be there if they serve a story telling purpose. What's the story telling purpose of filming the Renly/Marg wedding? The whole thing about Renly and Marg is uncertainty regarding consummation of the marriage. All we need to see is Marg sitting next to Renly with a crown on her head and being called queen (or your Grace) for the audience to wonder if Renly did the deed or not.

I don't really see any narrative benefit of sexposition with Marg and Renly, which leaves the only reason for sexposition being for the purposes of flashing Natalie Dormer's assets and throwing in some dialogue as a pretence for narrative.

I just feel like having Marg do sexposition would be like having Sansa do sexposition. It just seems like the wrong tack for the character.

[The Lost Lord]

Which is why they don't need to film the Renly / Marg wedding at all. Scenes that aren't in the book should only be there if they serve a story telling purpose. What's the story telling purpose of filming the Renly/Marg wedding?

To continue the Renly thread set up in season 1 and show what he's up to in the first third of season 2. Plus Renly needs some added scenes to build him up as a character before Catelyn arrives at his camp, to remind the TV audience who he is, contrast him with Stannis, etc. in the early episodes. I actually think they pretty much have to show the wedding. I expect the scene being discussed involves the two of them stripping off on the wedding night and then Renly saying "ah, too much wine, another night dear."

[Skore]

My thoughts exactly. Some sexposition about who the Tyrells are, plus it would introduce the concept of the bedding ahead of Sansa and Tyrion's wedding (nooo idea how they're gonna make that work for TV) and of course Edmure and Roslin's.

Sansa is 13 in thr show and may be 14 by the time she weds Tyrion, and many countries (UK included) have laws against showing images of minors having sex even if the actors are over the age of consent.

[Joe Reed]

Which is why they don't need to film the Renly / Marg wedding at all. Scenes that aren't in the book should only be there if they serve a story telling purpose. What's the story telling purpose of filming the Renly/Marg wedding? The whole thing about Renly and Marg is uncertainty regarding consummation of the marriage. All we need to see is Marg sitting next to Renly with a crown on her head and being called queen (or your Grace) for the audience to wonder if Renly did the deed or not.

I don't really see any narrative benefit of sexposition with Marg and Renly, which leaves the only reason for sexposition being for the purposes of flashing Natalie Dormer's assets and throwing in some dialogue as a pretence for narrative.

I just feel like having Marg do sexposition would be like having Sansa do sexposition. It just seems like the wrong tack for the character.

You kind of answered your own question here. The point of showing their marriage is to have a scene where they can explain the "rules" that the marriage is only officially legit if they consummate it. That way the whole Sansa and Tyrion marriage makes a little more sense.

Sansa is 13 in thr show and may be 14 by the time she weds Tyrion, and many countries (UK included) have laws against showing images of minors having sex even if the actors are over the age of consent.

Though they're certainly still pretty young, I think they aged them up as they did for all the characters in the series. They got away with it with Dany's sex scene with Drogo in the first episode, btw.

OT: I'm kind of bummed out by a Marg nude scene but I'm not surprised. I also like the idea that Marg, Loras and Renly totally have an understanding because they all know how lucrative and smart a marriage between Renly and Marg is. Yeah, Marg is totally cool with Renly and Loras' praying sessions.

[The Anti-Targ]

You kind of answered your own question here. The point of showing their marriage is to have a scene where they can explain the "rules" that the marriage is only officially legit if they consummate it. That way the whole Sansa and Tyrion marriage makes a little more sense.

No they don't, because it's pretty well universally understood (from our own cultural histories (and not just Judaeo-Christian)) that a marriage isn't a marriage until the cherry's been popped. Renly-Marg wedding scenes are pretty much superfluous IMO. You can introduce all the main long term Tyrell characters when Cat arrives to parlay with Renly.

Mostly I don't want them wasting precious screen time on extra scenes. aCoK is shorter than aGoT but there was still a lot of aGoT that we never saw, and fitting aCoK into 10 hrs is still going to be a big challenge.

[Padraig]

Renly-Marg wedding scenes are pretty much superfluous IMO. You can introduce all the main long term Tyrell characters when Cat arrives to parlay with Renly.

So instead of introducing Margarey and her dynamics with Renly earlier, we introduce her when Catelyn arrives? I'm not sure how that makes the former superfluous. One has to convey the same information either way.

Now, there might be aspects of the former that are arguably superfluous but I don't think we get anywhere when we end up arguing whether some scenes of violence/of a sexual nature are superfluous or not. Its HBO. Both happen. And its not foreign to the source material either.

aCoK is longer than aGoT btw. (My hope is that they don't feel tempted to squeeze in a lot of aSoS material just because it is exciting, on top of all the aCoK material that they have to cover).