HBO Officially Greenlights George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones as a TV pilot

[bad company]

AWESOME!! Can't wait for it to come out in Aus

[Paityr]

I can't believe they actually greenlit this project! Freakin' A! That is so awesome!

 

Here's my dream cast for the series:

 

Tyrion:  <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0227759/">Peter Dinklage</a>

Jaime: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000619/">Tim Roth</a> or <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0571727/">Kevin McKidd</a>

Cersei: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001401/">Angelina Jolie</a> (yeah, I'm dreamin')

Tywin: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001626/">Christopher Plummer</a> (probably a bit too old, but he was fantastic in Star Trek 6)

Renly: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0700856/">James Purefoy</a>

Stannis: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001354/">Ciaran Hinds</a>

Dany: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0829576/">Kristen Stewart</a>

Arya: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0266824/">Dakota Fanning</a> (getting too old??)

Catelyn: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001584/">Miranda Otto</a>

 

To name a few...

 

[Lythnia Roylin]

I agree with most of your list...(lol I was just telling my roomie that if only Angelina Jolie were a bit younger, she'd make the best Cersei ever)

 

I like Georgie Henley a bit better for Arya though

Kristen Stewart seems a bit old for Dany, since she's 15 or so in AGoT.

Peter Dinklage would be perfect for Tyrion though!

[Haxorsist]

Kevin McKidd, Ciaran Hinds and James Purefoy... It's Rome all over again, I love it. I haven't read the series, but I've heard good things about it, so I'll watch it.

[Werthead]

The producers have confirmed that the series will probably be shot in the UK, so the cast will likely lean heavily towards British actors.

 

After a lot of discussion with GRRM, they've also decided that some of the kids are going to have to be a bit older. I'm going to guess that Jon and Dany will probably have to be upped to 16. Not just because of the content concerns, but because under-16s are limited in how much time they can appear on-set each day, and Jon and Dany obviously have a lot of screen time.

[el Nynaeve]

In that case, I wonder if I can some how worm my way into the cast? ;D ;D

[Cadsuane]

Do you mean Bran and Dany? I thought Jon was already 16... But it's been a while since I re-read them.

[Barmacral]

Pretty sure both of the oldest stark boy's were already 16. Dany was 14. Bran was 10. Sansa was 14, and Arya was 8. I think.

[Karana Majin]

I cannot stand this news.  The regurgitation doesn't even bother me, and if I even hear someone throw up I get sick.

 

Who would play Robert?  I picture someone like the guy who played Sulla(sp) in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

 

Kristen Stewart?  Ick!!!

[Babalu]

Pretty sure both of the oldest stark boy's were already 16. Dany was 14. Bran was 10. Sansa was 14, and Arya was 8. I think.

 

I think Jon and Robb were 14 at the start of A Game of Thrones, and Sansa was 11. One of Bran and Arya were 8, but I can never remember which of them is the older. I think Dany was 13ish. However old she was, she was young enough for her marriage to be a wee bit creepy.

 

As far as casting goes, I want Sean Bean as Bronn, Ray Winstone as Shaggydog and, in a perfect world, Alan Rickman would be Dolorous Edd.

[Werthead]

The four books published so far cover 2 years, so Jon was 14 at the start and 16 at the finish, Robb was 14-16, Arya was 9-11, Dany was 13-15, Sansa was 11-13, Bran was 7-9 and Rickon was 3-5.

 

The current draft of the script, reviewed here, has Jon and Robb as 17, Dany as 15, Sansa as 13, Arya as 11 and Bran as 8.

 

The pilot episode starts with the book's prologue and ends with, "The things I do for love," an early iconic moment from the novel. The script is very faithful, although there are some new sequences: we see Jon Arryn's death and Cersei and Pycelle's reaction; Jaime grabs Tyrion from a brothel to let him know they're going to Winterfell; and Jaime and Ned have a conversation in Winterfell which establishes some back backstory about Robert's Rebellion. There are no flashbacks at this stage, and the story of the prior war comes out in dialogue between Robert and Ned as well. Dany's first two chapters are also combined in the first episode.

 

We meet all the major protagonists and the Hound, Rodrik Cassel, Septa Mordane, Jorah Mormont, Khal Drogo and Ilyrio are all mentioned as appearing as well as the main cast.

 

HBO will lock the filming location imminently and GRRM will announce the news on his blog when it occurs.

 

The title sequence will feature a map of Westeros and may vary with each episode, showing where the characters are, overcoming the problem of the viewers not being familiar with the geography.

[Liathiana]

A review of the pilot script (warning, spoilers):

 

http://winter-is-coming.blogspot.com/2008/12/winter-is-comings-exclusive-pilot.html

[Emperor]

From Aint it cool:

 

I have a friend who works at HBO. While he said he has not heard anything concrete, he said he shared an elevator ride with Peter Dinklage last week. He followed up with a couple people and it seems that Mr. Dinklage will most likely be our Tyrion! Great casting, in my opinion.

 

[Lythnia Roylin]

That would make me so happy! He looks like he would be a great Tyrion...definitely one of the characters I was worried about (casting-wise)

[Werthead]

Just an update on what is going on with this:

 

Filming for the pilot is locked for October 2009 in Ireland. The BBC and HBO are co-producing.

 

The budge is 'substantial'. Not on the level of Rome or Band of Brothers ($100 million per season), but certainly on a par with some of HBO's other big-budget productions. The original plan, to film this with a more Showtime-esque budget (like The Tudors' $30 million per season), seems to have gone out the window as the project has moved up HBO's visibility and priority list. Whilst it is good they are really putting a lot of resources into the project, it is also worrying because a really high budget may make HBO more cautious about greenlighting the project.

 

If the pilot is approved (I speculate we could get word on this as early as Christmas 2009, but maybe not until the New Year), production will likely resume on the other 11 episodes of Season 1 in early-to-mid 2010. That makes a late 2010 transmission the earliest we can possibly expect to see this project. Early 2011 is probably more practical.

 

The script doing the rounds out there is a very rough first draft. The current script is apparently much stronger. Considering the leaked one is very faithful to the book, this is impressive. The script contains some new scenes not in the book featuring Jaime and Tyrion in King's Landing, which GRRM has approved.

 

The project was transferred from the previous head of HBO to the new one. What normally happens is that the newcomer usually reviews all the previous projects and then cans the ones that aren't actually in production so they can re-evaluate the old ones from scratch or push forward their own projects. Instead, with AGoT the incoming head read the script, loved it, bought the books, loved all of them and then got the rest of the office staff hooked on it as well. This is why the process has taken so long, because everyone wants to get it right.

 

Casting: nothing official just yet. It has been strongly rumoured that Peter Dinklage has discussed the project with HBO. It has also been rumoured that Tricia Helfer has been sent a copy of the script, possibly with a view to playing Cersei, but that sounds a bit more like optimism to me. Adrian Paul (Duncan MacLeod from the HIGHLANDER TV series) is keen for a role after becoming a GRRM fan whilst performing the (award-nominated) audio production of GRRM's DREAMSONGS collection of short stories, and has apparently put his name forward for the auditioning process.

 

That all said, the actual casting process will likely focus on British and Irish actors and will be held behind closed doors. I would not realistically expect announcements for a few months on this front.

[Emperor]

Tricia as Cersei is just perfect.  Great update!

[claireducky]

So excited for this!

[bad company]

So when is it coming to the colonies? (ie Australia :P)

[Dunbar]

The internets, my friend : p

[Werthead]

There has been a flurry of activity on this today. After the initial plan to film the series in the Republic of Ireland, apparently the government of Northern Ireland swung into action and successfully lobbied HBO into agreeing to make the series there instead. Both the BBC and the devolved government of Northern Ireland have issued fresh press releases on the subject today.

 

Shooting is confirmed for the third quarter of 2009. Casting is currently believed to be underway behind closed doors. News is expected on this front soon-ish. There are also strong rumours that there will be additional filming in Morocco and Scotland.

[Emperor]

*Takes this news behind the middle school and tries to get it pregnant*

[Cadsuane]

*inserts at the bottom of Emp's post: "and fails, due to his lack of manliness"*  ;D

 

[claireducky]

When Emp gets done, I think the rest of us should run a train on it.

[Werthead]

Peter Dinklage hired as Tyrion Lannister. The director will be Tom McCarthy.

 

Everyone and their mother wanted Dinklage to be Tyrion, so this is obviously brilliant news :)

[claireducky]

Excellent!