It’s no secret that many of the cast members on Game of Thrones haven’t read George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire novels. Gwendoline Christie is a self-professed superfan who’s read the books, and it’s been implied that Ian McElhinney (Barristan Selmy, gods rest his soul) read them as well. By and large, though, the actors have steered clear. According to a recent interview with Iain Glen, that may be by design.
[T]he writers themselves, David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss], they didn’t particularly want actors coming to the scripts from the book, always suggesting what the book did and how it was different – I could see the glazed look in their eyes when that happened…They were quite happy for us to move forward and treat them as screenplays with no history, so that’s the reason why I only ever read the first novel.
Your lordship lost a son at the Red Wedding. I lost four upon the Blackwater. And why? Because the Lannisters stole the throne. Go to King’s Landing and look on Tommen with your own eyes, if you doubt me. A blind man could see it. What does Stannis offer you? Vengeance. Vengeance for my sons and yours, for your husbands and your fathers and your brothers. Vengeance for your murdered lord, your murdered king, your butchered princes. Vengeance!
This actually explains a lot. Clearly D&D have been swept away with the IT and Casterly Rock. You can tell it's hard for them to film scenes and not toss a few Lannisters in the front of the camera.
We have lions in Dorne, lions in Meereen... I heard Lancel will be the one giving Bran the weirwood paste when he weds the trees, and Tommen is already on his way to Braavos to become a Faceless Man with Arya.
No wonder show-Jorah looks and acts so much differently than book-Jorah, it turns out he's Tywin's bastard! He was raised by Jeor, but relinquished Longclaw. Now he's in Essos trying to recover Brightroar and prove he's his father's heir. It all makes sense now.
"I can see it. You have more of the north in you than your brothers."
So, essentially, GRRM, who publicly denounces fan fiction, has sold his rights to a company....to write his novels into fan fiction...
“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.” ― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones
Post by whitewolfstark on Aug 2, 2015 19:32:46 GMT
Speaking from a theatrical/director's POV, you want your cast to all be on the same page. If you're taking a different interpretation than the source material, if someone comes in with the source material as their foundation, it's going to be hard to deal with.
Some actors can get particularly difficult to deal with if you have conflicting interpretations of character. It all comes down to having unity in a production team, which makes it easier to film and perform if everyone is on the same page.
Aka, the model of the director or even the show runners in this case having an "artistic vision" and forcing everyone to that vision's will, by being a bit of a dictator is inherent in the design.
But lately I've been noticing this model has become more and more prominent lately, while in earlier times I believe there was more collaborative effort.
i believe it was the actor who played Mance who sent them a vehement letter regarding how they were killing him off, and how that it was the wrong move to make as he was featured prominently in the books after the "execution". D&D seemed to hate the fact that he criticized their decisions, particularly that he justified his mutiny with the source material... (i hate the fact that D&D as an acronym has been reduced to this level... 'twas a badge of honor for me back in high school).
i believe it was the actor who played Mance who sent them a vehement letter regarding how they were killing him off, and how that it was the wrong move to make as he was featured prominently in the books after the "execution". D&D seemed to hate the fact that he criticized their decisions, particularly that he justified his mutiny with the source material... (i hate the fact that D&D as an acronym has been reduced to this level... 'twas a badge of honor for me back in high school).
That's cool, I didn't know he did that.
Lol at that badge of honor! I remember them days.
"I can see it. You have more of the north in you than your brothers."
i believe it was the actor who played Mance who sent them a vehement letter regarding how they were killing him off, and how that it was the wrong move to make as he was featured prominently in the books after the "execution". D&D seemed to hate the fact that he criticized their decisions, particularly that he justified his mutiny with the source material... (i hate the fact that D&D as an acronym has been reduced to this level... 'twas a badge of honor for me back in high school).
Drunk & Disorderly?
The blade was Valyrian steel, spell-forged and dark as smoke. Nothing held an edge like Valyrian steel.
Aka, the model of the director or even the show runners in this case having an "artistic vision" and forcing everyone to that vision's will, by being a bit of a dictator is inherent in the design.
But lately I've been noticing this model has become more and more prominent lately, while in earlier times I believe there was more collaborative effort.
i think this was a highly astute, and very important point.
Think how good "The Empire Strikes Back" would have been if Ford doesn't tell Lucas to shove his hokey dialog where the sun don't shine, and give the patented, "I know" response to Leia in Bespin. That was a case of people coming together to make something great that would become timeless. What you see so much now is less focus on the collaborative effort and more importance given to the opinion of one person behind a camera/computer and the actors forced to match their vision instead of building something together (i think the Hobbit trilogy is another example of this, where because the original trilogy was so good the cast of the sequel just followed the dictator, err, i mean director, instead of creating magic on screen with the ensemble).