Westeros

Fans at Octocon in Dublin this past weekened recieved a pleasant surprise when Kristian Nairn, the actor cast as Hodor, appeared with George R.R. Martin to discuss HBO’s Game of Thrones. The Rabbit and LugaJetGirl, two fans who were present, have written up reports on the panel which can be found Here and here respectively.

Among the more notable bits? A composer for the series has been selected, but has yet to be announced, according to the report. Also, Kristian provides an intriguing piece of information regarding a change in the character’s appearance.

As an added bonus, the Rabbit took a few pictures of George and Kristian together. Here’s one of them:

Via WiCnet, we learn that HBO has confirmed actor Ian Beattie has been cast in the role of Ser Meryn Trant, one of the seven knights of the Kingsguard. He’s due to film at the end of October with Miltos Yerolemou, who plays Syrio Forel. Miltos recently revealed that he’s due to film a scene that’s brand new and not from the books, as well. Possibly Lord Stark’s hiring of Arya’s “dancing master”... ?

Also intriguingly, we have a report that a casting call has gone out for a “head priestess” of the Dothraki, described as being in her 50’s, of mixed race or Mediterranean in appearance, and she must have a good singing voice to pronounce a prophecy. This role is needed for episode number 6.

This would be one of the dosh khaleen, the crones who rule over Vaes Dothrak and maintain the rituals of the Dothraki people. Although there’s no clear hierarchy to the dosh khaleen, in the novel the crone who is depicted most is a “bent and shrivelled stick of a woman”, suggesting that the oldest of the women—who are all former khaleesis, consigned to this ritual role following the death of the khal to whom they were wed—takes a leading role in rituals.

After posing a quiz question (a rather spoilerish one at that, actually—naughty, naughty!), HBO has posted a new still from the Game of Thrones production that features Jerome Flynn as the sellsword Bronn. Flynn’s almost unrecognizable to my eye, and I suspect this photo will ease the concerns of some who know him best (or perhaps worst, depending on who you ask) from his Robson & Jerome days when his casting was announced. He really looks the part!

Conan Stevens, the actor cast as the huge and brutal Ser Gregor Clegane, has posted about the various concerns and issues with fight scenes. He includes a number of anecdotes, including two from HBO’s Game of Thrones concerning the dangers of equipment failure and how a character’s style is developed:

In related news, Conan reports that the action film he co-wrote and co-stars in, Bangkok Adrenaline, has had its U,S. release just two days ago. A perfect opportunity to get a look at the 7’ tall actor! He provides a link to the “un"official fan site for the film, which describes its origins and provides links to clips.

Bryan Cogman provides a post written during the Shane’s Castle tourney filming for HBO’s Game of Thrones, filmed back in August, and it’s full of interesting details ... like the Fruit Ninja craze that has swept the crew. And that the tourney—depicted in two separate chapters of A Game of Thrones—is split across episodes IV and V. But one detail leapt out at us as just the sort of thing we love best, that graphic artist Jim Stanes was working on the production and that he had done a great design for House Royce (Bronze Yohn and his sons were at the tourney in the novels).

We quickly found his blog, where we noticed he worked on Kingdom of Heaven (David, Dan, if you’re reading this—we’ve always imagined the Dornish look much like that!) and then @straphe pointed out to us that Stanes had uploaded the Targaryen arms back in December. I did a little more digging and stumbled across this beauty, described as a coded message from the production.

Before the image loaded, I of course thought it was Lysa’s to Catelyn .... but the script is so radically different from our own (which is what is being used for Westerosi)

. Of course, the fact that he uploaded it back in December suggests it was from the pilot, where only Lysa’s message to Catelyn really makes any sense.

In what appears to be a confirmation that Game of Thrones will use Malta for at least some King’s Landing exterior scenes, musician Wilko Johnson—cast as Ser Ilyn Payne, the royal executioner—will be filming there, according the Essex Echo and their discussion with his manager. It’s indicated that he had filmed for a week in September in the Belfast area, and there’ll be more shooting later this month in Malta. The article provides a great quote:

“He pulled his usual scary face on the set, but the director told him ‘you don’t need to do scary, you are scary’.”

Timothy van Patten, one of HBO’s most well-known and well-regarded directors with credits including The Sopranos, Sex and the City, The Pacific, Deadwood, Rome, The Wire, and nearly half the episodes of Boardwalk Empire, has come on board to direct at least one episode of HBO’s new fantasy drama series. He joins previously announced directors Brian Kirk, Daniel Minahan, and Alan Taylor.

Although this information has unofficially been floating around for a week or two (a hat-tip to The Rabbit for first noting it to us), HBO asked us to hold off on reporting it as GRRM had been intending to do it. However, with his busy schedule and departure for Ireland for awhile, they gave us the go ahead. We can certainly understand that, given his profile among A-list television directors.

The Inish Times has a cute profile of young Art Parkinson, recently revealed to be cast in the role of Rickon Stark, the youngest of the Stark children. Art, 8 years old, was apparently chosen after a massive (and unsuccessful) effort across Ireland, England, and Scotland to find just the right actor for Rickon. According to his mother, actress and drama school teacher Movania Parkinson:

The Irish Times has published a profile of Aidan Gillen, the Irish actor cast in the role of Lord Petyr Baelish, better known to fans as Littlefinger. Gillen was a popular fan choice for the role, after his stellar work in such series as the original Queer as Folk and The Wire. The interview is largely focused on another project, Love/Hate, but Game of Thrones is referred to when his current facial hair is brought to the reader’s attention:

For those not familiar with U.K. Politics, Peter Mandelson was a television producer who rose to prominence with his involvement in the Labour party. He was one of the first individuals described as a “spin doctor” in the U.K., and earned the sobriquet of “the Prince of Darkness.” He did indeed wear a mustache in the 80’s and early 90’s.

Gillen’s remark suggests that the specific look for Petyr is his interpretation, which is interesting.

While getting back into the swing of things after his trip to Australia, George R.R. Martin has provided some interesting updates on casting.

The role of the youngest Stark child, Rickon, has finally been filled with the a Belfast-native child actor, Art Parkinson. He very briefly appears in the 2008 Northern Irish horror film Red Mist (produced by Mark Huffam, a key member of the Game of Thrones production):

He seems about 5-7 years old here, so we suppose he’s in the 7-9 range, a good deal older than the 3-year-old described in the books.

More notably, the role of the maegi Mirri Maz Duur—a character who appears late in the first novel, and plays an important role in the narrative—has been given to Mia Soteriou (George writes Sotiriou, but the production confirms that Soteriou is correct). A vocal coach and theatre composer as well as an actress, she appeared in the international hit Mamma Mia!, and has a number of theatrical and television credits in the U.K. Looking at her photos, she certainly looks the part.

Finally, there’s been a minor change in the role Elyes Gabel is playing. Originally cast as the Dothraki warrior Jhogo, he has been redubbed Rakharo, another of Daenerys’s personal guards. The reason given was that it was felt Jhogo sounded too similar to Drogo. We discuss the differences between the two characters, such as they are, on our characters page.

Extras NI has put out a fresh, urgent call for extras to be Dothraki Warriors. The specific brief is for “dark, swarthy skinned, muscly men that are at least 5 ft 10 to 6 ft 6 in height”. Contact information is provided in the above link.

It’s been noted to us that second unit filming in Malta was already supposed to have begun, and principal filming was set to start in October. Could the urgency of this call for extras be a suggestion that there’s a problem with obtaining sufficient extras at the Malta end?  It’s interesting to wonder whether any of these extras will find themselves offered a trip to Malta for the several weeks of shooting there.

HBO has informed us that the character of Magister Illyrio Mopatis, scheming benefactor to Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen, has been recast. Roger Allam, a well-known actor of stage and screen, has been cast in the role after Ian McNeice had to withdraw from the part. McNeice had filmed the role for the pilot, butthe recasting of Daenerys and the consequent necessary reshoots led to a scheduling conflict that could not be sorted out.

Among notable roles played by Allam are Inspector Javert in the first London staging of Les Misérables, two Laurence Oliver Award-winning theatrical roles in 2000 and 2001, sleazy television presenter Lewis Prothero in the film adaption of Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta, and a leading role in the new film Tamara Drewe. Below is an interview with actor from September 8 during the U.K. premiere of the film:

And to wrap up the initial burst of new media from HBO for Game of Thrones, here’s their new still of Daenerys Targaryen, played by Emilia Clarke. Gorgeous!

Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO. Used with permission.

One of the features of Game of Thrones is the number of characters—some quite significant—who are children. Two smaller parts along these lines have now been filled, according to Winter is Coming: Callum Wharry as Prince Tommen Baratheon and Aimee Richardson as his elder sister Princess Myrcella. We reported on her casting for the pilot last year, although it was indicated then that hers was the sort of role that may be recast if the series went forward. Clearly, that’s not the case.

Amrita Acharia, cast in the role of Irri, has been interviewed in national Norwegian paper, Dagbladet. Below is a partial translation provided by A Song of Ice and Fire forum member Lacuna:

[Filler about HBO’s previous sucesses] The norwegian girl has been cast in the new HBO show ”Game of Thrones”, which is currently being filmed in Ireland and Malta. The show is based on the series ”Song of Ice and Fire” by George R. R. Martin. The cast is comprised of several well-know actors, such as Sean Bean, best known for his role as Boromir in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. ”This is of course incredible. I have a supporting role, but I am in eight of the ten episodes of the first series. I play Irri, the maid of one of the main characters”, Acharya says to Dagbladet. A learning experience The Tromsø native received her education at The Academy of Live and Recorded Arts (ALRA) in London, and has mostly done theater work so far. She says the transition to a production like Game of Thrones is enormous. ”There is a massive crew involved. The budget is huge, and the sets are gigantic. Even though I’m not a main character, this really is a great learning experience.” And the 23-year-old has a lot to look forward to. Her career is really kicking off, even though it’s only been a year since she got her bachelor’s degree at ALRA. [Information about her other projects, (TV series Doctors, movie The Devil’s Double), background, (Katmandu, Ukraine, England, Tromsø), rejection for Norwegian citizenship, Visa to the UK expiring.]

At the end, the articles notes that Canal+ will air Game of Thrones in Norway beginning Fall or Winter 2011.