We’ve previously reported the fact that Scientific American published a guest blogger’s letter to HBO, George R.R. Martin, and David J. Peterson regarding the Dothraki language and what role it could have in helping to move linguistic science forward. Now David J. Peterson, along with Language Creation Society president Sai Emrys, has posted a thorough response. Among other things, it seems to include a few, previously unpublished snippets of the Dothraki language, and some examples of its morphology.
The response also goes into great detail regarding the general premise of the original letter, pointing out that the linguistic universals that have been cataloged are not quite so universal as they appear at first blush, as well as the fact that it’s currently too late for them to change the Dothraki language but that Peterson will certainly keep these issues in mind should he be called upon to create other languages for the series or to expand Dothraki.
Jace Lacob of Televisionary is the first person we’ve seen outside of the production who’s seen the whole of the pilot, and probably one of the last who shall do so in that form as a number of scenes will be reshot to accomadate the new actresses in leading roles, Michaelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark and Emilie Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen.
What’d he think? “I was blown away,” he writes, and has been effusive in his praise for the pilot as being one the strongest pilots he’s seen in the current pilot cycle. Over at Twitter, I decided to ask if he had read the series before, as a number of supportive critics have done. He replied that he had not read the books, wanting to go in fresh, though he had read the pilot script earlier and also loved it. He’s looking forward to seeing how the reshot pilot will look.
The fact that he went in fairly “cold” to the series is a great sign—Lacob probably fairly well represents where your average HBO viewer will be when confronted with this new HBO series. If it works for him, as well as for the producers and executives, then it seems to stand fair odds of working for the general subscriber base.
We have a short clip from a new film, All Good Children, which stars Jack Gleeson, the 17-year-old actor cast as Joffrey Baratheon in HBO’s Game of Thrones. The film has received some strong reviews with Variety particularly praising Gleeson, who played a 12-year-old in the film, stating that “Gleeson, with his massive blue eyes and anxious, ever-hopeful expression, is the pic’s big discovery.”
The clip from Vimeo below features a key scene mentioned in the review:
Thanks to Winter is Coming for pointing the clip out on Twitter.
Dark Sword Miniatures has announced that three new George R.R. Martin Masterworks are now completed and ready to be ordered from their online store. The three miniatures—featured fully painted in their gallery by Dark Sword’s in-house painters—are Eddard Stark, Samwell Tarly, and Euron Greyjoy.
Green Ronin reports that the A Song of Ice and Fire Campaign Guide is now in their warehouse and is beginning to ship to those who’ve pre-ordered (which until June 1st includes a free download of the PDF version of the book) from their store and to retailers. The Campaign Guide features a number of original illustrations and maps, including a cover by Michael Komarck.
The 21st entry into the Wild Cards series has just been delivered, according to GRRM. He discusses the story and some of the characters introduced in the post, as well as listing the authors participating. There’s no firm publication date yet, by he thinks Spring 2011 seems likely.
A fan has posted up four clips covering Emilia Clarke’s scenes in her one professional television drama credit to date, an episode of the U.K.‘s daily soap Doctors which aired in August, 2009. The storyline has a bit of a creepy feel to it, and Clarke seems to handle herself very well with her fellow actors in the following scenes:
GRRM has confirmed that Emilia Clarke (with an e) has been cast as Daenerys. GRRM points to her resume page, which shows a number of theatrical productions for Drama Centre London. GRRM notes she provided some amazing readings, beating out a number of terrific actresses to land the part. A commercial, part of an anti-domestic violence campaign, featuring a very emotive Ms. Clarke, below the cut:
Maureen Ryan has confirmed that the role of Daenerys will now be filled by Emilia Clark, a British actress who has not been involved in U.S.-funded productions before, and we can’t seem to find any information on her at this time. She may be a genuine unknown, new to acting.
Ryan also gained confirmation of the start of principal photography as taking place in late July, back from the earlier late June plans, which we’ve reported on previously.
Update: Video now removed. Given the way these videos come and go, we can’t promise it will be around permanently. But while it’s up, here’s what looks to be like a genuine casting tape for the role of Hodor, intended for Nina Gold who is the casting agent in the U.K. for HBO’s Game of Thrones production:
The hopeful Hodor is Kristian Nairn, a professional DJ according to his MySpace page.
It seems likely that the production for HBO’s Game of Thrones has decided to present the Dothraki culture as a multi-ethnic one, a realization that dawned on us today when an Irish actor of African origin, Yare Jegbefume, revealed on Twitter that he had auditioned for the parts of two Dothraki warriors, Jhogo (one of Daenerys’s guards) and Qotho (one of Drogo’s bloodriders). In retrospect, the fact that many of the wedding dancers that have been noted (such as Kelechi Nwanokwu) were also black should have suggested not that they were supposed to represent slaves from far-flung regions (as we had initially assumed) but that the production was taking this particular course.
Although this does not fit the Dothraki as represented in the books—their appearance being a much more homogenous look, a mix of Native American in regards to their coppery skin and Asian due to their eyes and flatter faces—it sounds like an excellent way to widen the field to find the best possible actors. We can’t wait to see how the Dothraki appear on screen next year!
According to a comment from GRRM, principal photography has been pushed back to late July for HBO’s Game of Thrones. Nothing really bad about this, as bringing in so many disparate logistical things together can be difficult, but there’s always the possibility that there’s interesting reasons for it, like having to wait on a newly-cast lead (ala Daenerys) to be free to work, or a director, or other things of this sort.
GRRM also notes that he’s unlikely to spend any time in Northern Ireland to watch the filming, except possibly when his own episode (episode 8) is filmed, and doubtless when he’s in the area for Octocon in October.
Fantasy Flight Games has published a press release announcing the first expansion for their new Battles of Westeros game. The expansion, titled Wardens of the West, will introduce new Lannister commanders, three new Lannister units, and new cards. The full release is below.
Battles of Westeros‘s publication is imminent (June), and Wardens of the West will follow in Q3.
George R.R. Martin mentions that he’s come back from a convention to some hundred new auditions tapes. He notes some of the roles actors are seeking in the tapes: Rast (one of the recruits on the Wall), Mord (brutish jailer at the Eyrie), Jhogo (one of the Dothraki warriors assigned as personal guard to Daenerys) are among the smaller parts, while Lord Tywin Lannister, Ser Barristan Selmy, and Lysa Arryn are among the larger parts.
We expect that the first casting announcements are likely to come by the end of the month, or early next month, with production set to begin in earnest right around the end of June or start of July.
Dark Sword Miniatures has shared their second Daenerys miniature, sculpted by the amazing Tom Meier. The first miniature in the Masterworks series featured Daenerys after having come out of the fire. This one, on the other hand, depicts her in a more casual moment, wearing a Qartheen gown. According to the note on the image, Dark Sword Miniatures owner Jim Ludwig states that they may produce a miniature throne from which Daenerys could then be descending.