Westeros

Via Bleeding Cool, we’ve learned of a video interview with Natalia Tena (who plays Osha) which covers a range of topics related to her acting, with a particular focus on the Harry Potter films. However, she is asked about HBO’s Game of Thrones, which she speaks of in very enthusiastic terms. In fact, she indicates that she loved working on it so much that she’s been reading the first book. She mentions that after the mini-wrap party on the 11th, she was due to film a brand new scene written for her which seems to be her last scene for the production. The Game of Thrones discussion starts at the 5:10 mark:

The first part of the interview, and some details about it, can be found at Bleeding Cool. In discussing her plans for the coming year, she mentions that Game of Thrones would resume filming in the spring, so far as she knows; presumably she means, in spring if the show is given the greenlight. So an April or May start date seems quite possible.

The Daily Express has a brief interview with Rory McCann, cast in the role of Sandor Clegane. Rather amazing tale there, and it sounds like this role came to him at the best possible time. The one note about the article? Some of the facts and figures are inaccurate—it’s a bit more expensive than £25 million, and it is not an HBO-BBC co-production.

... or the actress playing her, in any case. Kate Dickie is profiled in the Guardian. There’s quite a lot of information about her life, how she came to become an actress, and some suggestions about the sort of roles she’s best known for, such as her Scottish BAFTA winning role in Red Road. At the very end, HBO’s Game of Thrones is mentioned:

George R.R. Martin has confirmed that David Bradley, best known as Harry Potter’s Argus Filch, has been cast as Walder Frey. See our previous post on the matter.

In that item, we also noted GRRM had confirmed that the role of Donal Noye was not being cast, at least not for this season. However, HBO has confirmed that Andrew Wilde (via Winter is Coming. Tobho Mott is the wealthy foreign armorer who is visited by Lord Eddard during his time in King’s Landing. Scenes featuring him, and Joe Dempsie (cast as his bull-headed apprentice Gendry), were already filmed in Malta some weeks back.

That’s where GRRM’s clues seem to be pointing that way, as a number of fans have been commenting on the web and Twitter. David Bradley, presently best known for his role as Argus Filch in the Harry Potter films, fits the clues to a tee. Born in 1942, the actor was part of Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre (hence the Olivier name check), played Cohen the Barbarian in one of the Pratchett adaptions (Cohen being a parody of Conan the Barbarian, presently being played by Jason Momoa, aka Khal Drogo), was in Nicholas Nickleby (Dickens), Vanity Fair (Thackeray), and been in an adaption of The Canterbury Tales (Chaucer).

It’s an interesting choice, in that the actor is about twenty years younger than Lord Walder is in A Game of Thrones, but his acting credentials can’t be denied, including a 1991 Olivier Award for his portrayal of the Fool in King Lear with the Royal National Theatre. Below is a clip featuring him in a similar role, as Henry VIII’s fool, Will Somers, in The Tudors:

As an extra note, in the comments to his post, GRRM notes that Castle Black’s one-armed blacksmith, Donal Noye, is not appearing (at least not in the first season). I’ve heard that Tyrion Lannister will be getting much of his role in the first novel (don’t worry, he’s not losing an arm!)

New clues have appeared on George R.R. Martins’s “Not a Blog”, and it seems clear they’re for a role that’s been much speculated: Lord Walder Frey. The clue is as follows:

Mark Addy, playing King Robert Baratheon (featured in one of EW’s new photos), is profiled in the York Press for his part in a Kidstory fund-raising event. However, there’s quite a lot of Game of Thrones commentary to start with, with Addy noting that he had just completed his last day of filming and is soon looking for a new gig (at the Moot, I asked him when he was done filming, but with all the noise it seems he thought I was asking when filming in general would wrap.) He reiterates that the series will film into December (we’ve been told by production members and GRRM that December 18-19th is the planned wrap date), and that he’s been told it will start airing in April.

He provides some insight into his role as Robert. Here’s some choice quotes:

There’s a couple of Game of Thrones relevant articles out of the U.K. press this morning that may be of interest. The first, reported at 4ni, covers a set visitmade by Northern Ireland’s First Minister and Deputy First Minister. Naturally, it refers to the economic value of having the production in Northern Ireland, but adds the detail that the production could be present for as long as a decade if it’s a success (this is probably drawn from GRRM’s remarks to UTV, and so were just off the cuff). Some of the other details—such as the reference to a move to Malta “soon”—are erroneous.

Besides that, the Essex Echo has an article about muscian Wilko Johnson, who was cast in the role of Ser Ilyn Payne, the King’s Justice. The article states:

Thanks to ninepennyking for the pointers.

Three new pieces of casting have been confirmed by HBO. First up, they have confirmed that Brian Fortune has been cast as “Night’s Watch Officer”, but that his role will basically fill that of the First Steward, Bowen Marsh, from the novel. Fortune has an official site here, and a showreel .wmv file here.

Besides this, the roles George had hinted at as being near to being announced—the wildling Stiv and Ser Kevan Lannister—are now filled. Stiv is played by Stephen Don, a Northern Irish actor. As to Ser Kevan, the younger brother and right-hand man to Lord Tywin, he’s played by Ian Gelder, who U.K. viewers may recognize from a number of genre TV show roles such as Torchwood and Robin Hood.

Here’s Gelder in a tribute video to his notable turn as Mr. Dekker in Torchwood: Children of the Earth:

ETA: Oh, and missed one, Hugo Culverhouse is cast as a stableboy. One with a brief, but rather final, scene.

George R.R. Martin has a “Not a Blog” post discussing the filming in Malta. It is a bit spoilerish for those who’ve not read the first book! He discusses where he’s watched filming set in King’s Landing involving Maisie Williams’s Arya Stark, as well as a scene featuring Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen “at the edge of the Dothraki sea”.

Not all has gone well. GRRM confirms reports we’ve had that a unexpected, massive rainstorm washed away a Dothraki encampment set. Also, a little tongue-in-cheek, he claims two actors have taken a “dislike” to one another and one was left bloodied after a fight ... which we’re guessing may be a reference to a fight scene mishap rather than any genuine hard feelings (we hope!)

Many, many terrific photos from the Moot that happened last night. None taken by me, alas, as my phone camera lacked a flash, but here’s a few examples and links to the galleries where they’ve been posted:

Wyvernwoodhas some of the best shots I’ve seen so far. Here’s one with myself and George chatting with Finn Jones, and Mark Addy’s in the shot:

DrNickVC has posted several terrific pictures. I particularly like this one, featuring (from left to right) Gethin Anthony (Lord Renly), Eugene Simon (Lancel), Joseph Altin (Pypar), DrNick himself, Luke McEwan (Rast), Mark Addy (King Robert), and Finn Jones (Ser Loras):

DocFourFour (aka Rimshot) has a great series of photos he took through the night, including many of the raffle drawings.

I’m sure there are more out there, but these are a great start. Hope to have my own Moot report, with some details I picked up from the actors, later in the evening. Still recovering from the whirlwind trip!

HBO’s production has added an additional director of photography going into the final months of filming for the first season of Game of Thrones. According to Variety, cinematographer Matt Jensen has joined the team. Jensen is a veteran of HBO’s original programming, having acted as director of photography on a number of True Blood episodes.

A tweet led us to take a look at the Game of Thrones IMDB page, to see if there had been any changes in the visual effects lineup ... and it looks like there is. Once the pilot was shot, the search for a long-term arrangement in terms of visual effects started, and it appears that a newer, London-based VFX company by the name of BlueBolt will be in charge of coordinating the visual effects work for the production.

Though new, BlueBolt has some very impressive credits via its founders, with their showreel featuring visual effects scenes from Troy, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Poseidon, The Quantum of Solace, and many more. Their new company is credited with providing special effects for Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Sherlock Holmes.

The new VFX producer specifically for the production seems to be Paddy Kelly, whose credits include Avatar, The Golden Compass, and several of the Harry Potter films. It looks like Kelly himself may be based at BlueBolt’s Dublin facility. BlueBolt co-founder Angela Barson appears to be the VFX supervisor for at least one episode.

We announced yesterday that Academy Award-winning composer Stephen Warbeck had been selected to score HBO’s Game of Thrones. We’ve now been tipped to the that at the Ghent Film Festival this past week, Warbeck was featured in a film composition seminar and a panel with other noted composers, including Angelo Badalamenti and Howard Shore.

While no video of that seminar did exist, it did lead us to find a terrific one-on-one video interview with the composer posted just three days ago, created by CuttingEdge.be (who have a number of good interviews with filmmakers on Youtube). The interview covers everything from Warbeck’s home life (he lives on a farm) to his work process, his good (and bad) experiences, and ... his upcoming projects, including a film with Kenneth Brannagh and “a 10-part thing” for HBO. Wonder what that could be…. ? ;) We’ll start the video at that point (the 19:30 mark or so), but the whole thing’s worth listening to.

As additional material, here’s another interview conducted some time after the release of the soundtrack for the film Proof, which probably means it’s a few years old.

HBO has kindly allowed us to break the word on one of the last major crew announcements for its production of Game of Thrones. They have informed us that Stephen Warbeck, has been selected to score the series. Warbeck’s best known for producing the soundtrack to Shakespeare in Love, for which he received the Academy Award. He has a long list of credits, including award-nominated films such as Billy Elliot and Proof, as well as other notable Hollywood productions such as Quills, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Charlotte Grey, and last year’s Princess Kaiulani.

Rather than leaving you with a sample of his Shakespeare in Love work, here’s a video for the soundtrack for Charlotte Grey which shows a nice range—7:40 in has an atmospheric, staccato piece of music that creates a great sense of tension and could almost fit right into the series as I envision it:

But just in case you want your memory refreshed… here’s a sampling of his Shakespeare in Love work:

Brilliant,memorable scores, to say the least, but bear in mind that Warbeck’s compositions may well be radically different (and influenced by things such as medieval music) compared to his previous work. Regardless, Warbeck’s a highlight in an already-amazing collection of cast and crew members.

UPDATE:

Here’s a remark that Miltos Yerolemou, who plays Syrio Forel, left in response to trolling at Winter is Coming’s post on this topic: