We noticed that Time Warner (corporate parent of HBO) has a regular corporate newsletter. Digging into the latest edition, we see that Game of Thrones is mentioned as definitely airing on one of Sky’s channels, along with Boardwalk Empire (which will be the show that launches the new deal), Luck, and other current series such as Entourage once their current broadcast right agreements run out.
After having posted about HIlario Abad’s orchestral score inspired by A Game of Thrones, the composer contacted us to share the exciting news that his score will be adapted to be performed by a live concert band. Musician and conductor Diego Palma will carry out the adaption.
Although the score is intended for a full orchestra, for this adaption the strings and choir passages will be adapted to woodwinds and percussion.
George R.R. Martin’s has been updated with a brand new Wild Cards sample, from the upcoming book, Fort Freak. Written by Cherie Priest, the excerpt features the first few pages of her entry, “The Rat Race”.
We’ve reported in the past on various musical acts and songs inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire—including the heavy metal band Winterfell, and songs from fellow metal bands Hammerfall and (most recently) Blind Guardian—and just yesterday came across the very first Ice and Fire hip-hop that I’m aware of. Now, there’s something else: pieces of a proposed traditional score for the first novel A Game of Thrones which is currently being adapted to series by HBO.
Aspiring Spanish composer Hilario Abad brought his work to our attention, and we have to say, we’re quite impressed. There are three extended snippets, covering a main theme, plus music for two important sequences in the novel. It’d be interesting to hear what this would sound like with a full orchestra.
Conan Stevens (Twitter) has put up a new blog post regarding his experience as part of the Game of Thrones production. He starts by showing off Dark Sword Miniatures‘s Gregor Clegane figure, and the fact that George R.R. Martin congratulated him by e-mail and offered to send him one of the figures. He also notes he had to pass up a chance to take a drink with Sean Bean, and saw but was not introduced to Peter Dinklage.
In production news, Conan notes how much work he’s been putting into riding, having flown to the U.K. to receive his training. As we noticed yesterday on Twitter, he ran into actor Finn Jones (cast as Ser Loras Tyrell) while there. He’s had some riding experience in the past, and says he’s picking it up, with his goal being getting the horse up to a steady gallop by the end of the week. Of particular interest is his plan to slim down so he can get the full six-pack going, both for professional and personal reasons. But in the course of it he notes that he wants to do this “before I go home by the end of the month”. This lets us know that Conan’s first scenes will be filming in August.
At a guess, the rest of his scenes will be filmed in the Fall.
Having been busy with writing A Dance with Dragons, George has finally gotten around to writing a few words about several of the actors cast in roles. First, and most significantly, is Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister. As we exclusively revealed, Dance was always the #1 choice of the producers right from the time they got the greenlight, and George now confirms this. He also discusses Conan Stevens, cast as Gregor Clegane, noting that he first came to his attention when he auditioned first auditioned as Khal Drogo which Stevens revealed was a strategy for getting in front of the casting director in the hope that they’d keep him in mind for the Mountain that Rides.
Finally, GRRM discusses young actor Eugene Simon, cast in the role of Lancel Lannister. One of King Robert’s two squires in the novel, the other, his cousin Tyrek, will not be cast (at least not in this first season).
There is an interesting note for followers of progress on HBO’s Game of Thrones series in his post announcing his cancelling an appearance at New York Comic Con.
Besides noting he plans to visit Belfast (main location for shooting of the series) after attending Octocon in Dublin, he notes the possibility that he’ll also visit Malta (site of location shoots for many of the scenes set in Pentos and regions east). As Octocon takes place in mid-October, it seems like the Malta location shooting will cover the bulk of that month and a good part of September as well. As we’ve previously reported, the Malta shoot has been stated to take six weeks. Mid-September through the end of October seems likely now.
George R.R. Martin has posted that his tentative plan to attend New York Comic Con has been cancelled, explaining that the chief reason is that his schedule is already busy with two international trips he’s been committed to attending for years (AussieCon4 at the start of September and then Octocon in mid-October); squeezing the trip to New York in between the two would be difficult as he continues work towards completing A Dance with Dragons.
He leaves open the possibility of visiting New York in February, perhaps in connection to the Boskone convention.
George R.R. Martin has given another update to his progress on A Dance with Dragons, noting that he’s completed the final chapter in the book for the character he dubs “Yogi” (continuing a trend of giving pseudonyms to characters). It seems this character is connected to the Mereenese Knot, which he describes as “now hanging by a thread”. This is a total of eight character perpspectives completed, not counting the prologue and epilogue, but there are a few characters remaining never the less (including Jon Snow, and the character named “Fred” that he’s mentioned previously).
It’s been the date bandied about since the pilot shoot, but the reshoots have made it seem possible—and HBO has certainly indicated—that the premiere would slip to late Spring or even early Summer. Now, HBO has vanquished that possibility at the TCA Summer Press Tour, stating that the show is definitely set for Spring 2011. Via Matt Roush of TV Guide.com, one of the executives stated that early March was a possibility (March 3rd is stated elsehere), but the official line is that all they’ll commit to right now is Spring 2011. Roush and James Hibbard of the Live Feed provide more details, noting that there’s enormous pressure on the writers to match the expectations of the fans in the “blogosphere”.
In other news, it sounds like no new footage was shown from Game of Thrones at the press panel, although “a wisp” was shown. This was probably the teaser that we’ve all seen before (confirmed by HitFix).
There’s a terrific blog post from Conan Stevens (cast as Gregor Clegane, the Mountain that Rides) from Belfast, in which he recounts details such as his diet, his training regimen, and his run-ins with Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo) and Rory McCann (Sandor Clegane, the Hound) at the training center, as well as bumping into executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. He mentions that he’s started work on a short, brutal fight sequence he’ll be taking part in, the choreography being handled by stunt coordinator Buster Reeves and his team.
Finally, after a question from us, he discusses seeing and trying on Gregor’s armor for the first time, and was very impressed by the work that was done. As he notes, having professionals making armor for you is a fair sight better than making it yourself (as he did when he was part of the SCA).
On Monday, he’ll be taking part in “intensive horse riding lessons” from a famous horse riding stunt team, and feels that with all this intense training and this film footage, he’ll be able to apply to be an accredited stuntman in his native Australia.
We’re most of the way through the second week of filming on Game of Thrones, and excellent weather this week has allowed the production to finally start location shooting around Belfast. Word from Northern Ireland (via comments at Winter is Coming) is that the location shoot was in Ballymoney. This region is noted for its lovely, rural farmsteads and the picturesque river Bann. It’s easy to speculate that the rural area might be used to represent the royal progress as it approaches King’s Landing, or perhaps that the river will be used for a scene involving Arya, Sansa, Joffrey, and Mycah the butcher’s boy.
In other news, the Times of Malta has a report on film and television production on the island. Though primarily touting their landing a new Sinbad adventure program for Sky1, HBO’s Game of Thrones is mentioned in passing as a major television production, one of the largest to ever be carried out in Europe. Of particular note? The Malta shoot is said to be about six weeks long. We know the shoot is set to start sometime in September, which is also when Winterfell exterior scenes may be shot. This makes it seem even likelier that there will be some production overlap, and at a guess a single director will be responsible for all scenes shot in Malta.
Another day, another update from George regarding A Dance with Dragons. A very good day of writing, he notes, for a character who was never intended to be a POV but who has proved his “sharpest sword” for cutting through the Meereenese Knot (the term he’s given to an especially knotty plot structure issue.)
Alyssa Rosenberg, a blogger for the venerable editorial magazine The Atlantic, takes the time to make a post about A Song of Ice and Fire. She remarks about how impressive she finds the world building and the fact that Martin leaves so much choice for the readers in their viewpoints on both characters and the setting, and there’s quite a lot of interesting commentary on this facet of the series from readers of the magazine and blog.
Actor Derek Halligan, cast in the role of the Night’s Watch master-at-arms Ser Alliser Thorne, has a long career behind him. At the Creative Choices website, he shares some of his experiences and advice to his fellow actors. It’s noted that while he has many television and film credits to his name, he still prefers theatre.