Offers are out on quite a few parts, both major and minor, but I'm not aware of any deals closing besides the ones already announced. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. Who knows? These things can take time.
Meanwhile, readings and auditions continue for a lot of other roles, and I've been reviewing tapes when I can. Lots and lots of kids of late. Mycah. Rickon. Tommen. Myrcella. Casting kids is really tough, especially when they only have a very few lines. Sometimes you get lucky and find someone like Maisie or Sophie or Isaac, with acting chops far beyond their years, a real instinct for the art. Those are the rare exceptions. Most kids... well, they can look great, and they try hard, and maybe in a few years they will be terrific... but right now, they're just kids reciting lines. They never become the character. So the search goes on. But I've got every confidence that David and Dan and Nina will turn up someone great, even for the small parts (and maybe we already have, I haven't finished reviewing all the kids yet, not even close).
The auditions for the part of Ser Ilyn Payne are the strangest I've even been witness to. Ser Ilyn has no tongue and no lines, of course, so the actors just have to stand there and look mean & scary, reacting to the dialogue of other characters being read to them by the casting assistants. No words to work with, just their mouth, eyes, facial expressions. Talk about challenging.
I know there are aspiring actors and actresses reading this. You guys have all my empathy. It's a tough, tough profession you've chosen. Good luck to all of you.
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grrm- George R.R. Martin
- George R. R. Martin
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- 3appleshigh : (no subject) [+0]
- mentalpiracy : (no subject) [+0]
- barristans_sqir : David Bradley as Payne [+0]
- marshalmelee : (no subject) [+0]
- mortisnightmare : (no subject) [+0]
- oteckre : (no subject) [+0]
- nic_corelli : (no subject) [+0]
- evilnioj : I, an Actor. [+0]
- lossoth : (no subject) [+0]
- hominysnark : (no subject) [+0]
- lt111 : Others [+0]
- existentialist : Payne... [+0]
- celticblood05 : Feel bad for actors [+0]
- nimarii : (no subject) [+0]
- patholt : (no subject) [+0]
- guidomas : I'd say Vinnie Jones [+1]
- sgath219 : (no subject) [+0]
- pahgalpenn : (no subject) [+0]
- adrenalinitris : (no subject) [+2]
- oscarrob : Question [+2]
- rosemc2 : Thanks [+0]
- siamkor : (no subject) [+0]
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- icy_zombie : (no subject) [+0]
- stillking : (no subject) [+1]
- jazmoore : Casting for GOT [+0]
Comments
Anyone Agree?
How about you George? Filch for Payne?
I imagine that casting the kids is particularly difficult in some cases because, while they are minor parts in the first book (which from your comments I've gotten the sense is the general story line for the first season, with changes as there always are when turning books into t.v. or film), not all of those characters are so minor in the later books, and some of them become rather key in the third or fourth ones. So you have to find kids who can handle those parts. And also, I imagine the show is also looking for kids who aren't going to suddenly start looking twenty at fourteen, since you don't know if the series will go beyond the first book and if it does, how long that will take. Which has to be frustrating, especially when casting "minor" parts that have the potential to become semi-main characters if the show goes on long enough.
I'm sure that the people who have it will do a fantastic job. They have so far with the casting that has been announced, plus HBO has a history of well-cast television shows. It just has got to be a headache.
Also, I apologize if this is incoherent, it's after 3:30am here and I'm not all the way awake.
This is the funniest thing I`ve read in months. :-)
Now I am off to polish my imaginary Oscar.
One of the finest pieces of acting I've ever seen was by Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs. His mouth was pulled into an unnatural rictus for the part, thereby rendering the lower half of his face useless for expression. He could only act with his eyes, and he did an outstanding job of it.
I am super relieved to know that the actors you all are selecting will be very good and should capture at least some of the magic of your characters (a tall order, of course). But I am still nervous about the oft-overlooked sound effects! Thinking about the Others makes me hope that their voices truly do sound like cracking ice! I hope the Mountain's voice does indeed sound like breaking rocks! I know I know, nothing can live up to our imaginations....
Agree, that there would certainly be worse choices for Ser Ilyn though.
Oh, and George. My friend and I often joke of putting you on a diet and taking care of you, just so that you will finish this series. Exercise, gets lots of sleep, and eat a balanced diet! Or we'll chop of your balls and feed them to the goats!
I'll bet that one of the most fun parts to play must be Daario Naharis. He's like a more flamboyant Captain Jack Sparrow with 10 times the swagger. But he wouldn't be cast before the 3rd season, right?
You've really found the perfect balance of agony with this production.
They were mostly live animals in the pilot, but as the direwolves grow they will get larger than any real wolves and we'll have to go to CGI.
We're trying to use live animals for Dany's pets as well, but you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find properly trained dragons. And our insurance company keeps muttering about fire hazards.
PS - Very excited to hear you are inching ever closer to publication.
PPS - I don't think I am looking forward to my lowly Browns meeting your Jets in Week 10.
Different from Warriors the book will come out in Italian sooner or later, and I will be able to read it after one year or so. But, if the electronic version will not arrive, I'd expect many people will just download it from the Iron Islands' Pirates instead of waiting one year.
*I can't buy a paper version, George's writing is clear but somehow flourished for a nonnative and I sometime need a vocabulary: on a Kindle it's easy, on paper it's too boring. Since Tor's doesn't allow the selling of Warriors' e-book to Europe, I will miss it.
Any chance the climax of ASoFaI includes a tense confrontation between Hodor and Ilyn Payne?
version 1 - Scary one
Nikolai Valuev (IF you can get him)
deep set eyes (thoughtful and kind on occasion) - check
grim pockmarked face - check
looks like death - check
He is so menacing, he would not need to speak. ever
version 2 - Easier on the eyes
Oleg Taktarov
deep set pale eyes - yes
can make scary sounds (as predator) - yes
looks manacing off a horse -yes
The same goes for Stannis, Melisandre, Maester Cressen, Shireen, Patchface, Pyat Pree, Xaro Xhoan Daxos, Quaithe, Qhorin Halfhand, Ygritte, Rattleshirt, and many more.
In my mind's eye, Ilyn Payne has always been (a taller leaner) Andrew Divoff. Scars, pockmarks and all.
...and my wife has just suggested Ray Stevenson, though he would almost assuredly be too expensive for bit-part work.
~Jaz Moore