When I arrived at GRRM’s panel on screenwriting today scheduled at 2 pm, I noticed a familiar face sitting next to him at the table. It was like…who the hell is this big guy? I’ve seen him somewhere before? He has got a beard, some sort of silver hair…maybe another hidden Targaryen? In the next second it was like: OMG It is Kristian Nairn. It is our Hodor! He has arrived at last!
And I can tell you. Kristian is very nice, friendly, a geek himself (as he stated) playing WoW for many years.
It was GRRM, obviously very pleased with Kristian’s presence at Octocon, who posed many of the questions to him.
So, I am gonna relate as many answers as I was able to write down. Thankfully, SerMountainGoat from Westeros forums was filming all the session, and promised to upload it on youtube. Yes, I have some pics too. But I must find a way to upload it from the camera.
Well, here is what Kristian has to say about GOT:
First of all, he stated, the sets are unbelievable, he said he has not seen such a thing in his whole life. They shot most of his scenes in the Paint Hall and at Castle Ward so far. He would appear in 5 or 6 episodes, and yes they have been reshooting the pilot scenes with him.
He said he has read only the first book – and that it was amazing, at which point he became kind of red in the face, saying this in front of GRRM.
He pointed out that he was fascinated with kids and how they are bonding together as a real family. There is also a small, funny story involving Kristian, Isaac and Kristian’s mobile..
He said Isaac is a fantastic kid – small and light. Then continued "hopefully he would stay that way" – to much laughter. He also described the basket he uses – it is made of leather and it is very well crafted.
He mentioned his Vimeo audition and that he was not very pleased with it himself. We got to that subject, because GRRM himself admitted he had been shocked by it. Positively.
He also described his costume as very simple but very warm, and he has some trouble wearing it under all those lights on set.
It was a very funny moment when somebody asked: Are you afraid of us fans? He answered: Not at all.
GRRM repeated many of the things he already mentioned at Worldcon. Pointed out once again the possibility of making ASOS into two seasons (if we get there) and making all the stuff of AFFC and ADWD all together, not separately.
He mentioned once again his concern with the butterfly effect. And the influence that the series eventually could produce on his writings, he mentioned one character he might change a bit due to that (I think it is Osha).
GRRM also stated that the composer has been picked up but not yet announced.