HBO's Game of Thrones - - Part 16

[Infinity9999x]

When push comes to shove, there was only so much the show could do with the Mountain. In the books he's a once-in-a-generation (if that) complete monster and genetic freak. It's a fantasy story, so he could be whatever George wanted him to be. In those case, a nearly 8-foot-tall behemoth that moved with a far smaller man's speed and possessed legitimately unreal strength.

We, however, live in the real world. Hard to find a guy like that and get him on camera.

That's how I felt. The show did a solid job, but there's only so much you can do. The only person I've ever seen, ever, who comes close to how the Mountain is described (in terms of physical capabilities) was Shaq in his prime. That man was huge, very strong, and surprisingly fast. But people like that don't come around much. Nobody had seen anyone like Shaq before....ever, so yeah.

Honestly though, what I think would have been a better choice, in terms of giving us a more spectacular fight from the Mountain angle, would be to have gotten a smaller actor who could move quicker and use camera tricks to make him appear larger. Not that the guy they got was bad, he really did a very good job, but having an actor that could move even quicker and then use old fashioned movie magic to make him appear bigger would have given them more choreography options.

 

[Victarion]

And is anyone else completely at a loss for why GRRM keeps pushing the movie idea? I can't imagine a fantasy series that would be less suited to film than GOT. We have over 10 main characters in this beast, there's literally no way a film could do them justice. Heck, even with 10 hours they're still having to cut things. I don't understand how, in the same article, he talks about his regreat that the show doesn't have enough time, and then talks about his excitement for a movie..

It's got me a bit confused as well. Without dropping spoilers, I would think that two books about the size of A Storm of Swords could finish it up. Granted, the pacing might be a bit breakneck, but I wouldn't be complaining.

Wouldn't the first, say, quarter of TWOW technically be deleted scenes from ADWD?

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

I can understand why Martin likes (and he also did say he's skeptical) the idea of doing movies. The concept of having a big movie budget, which could dwarf a tv series budget, sounds like something that could pull off major battle sequences that he's seen play out in his head. Having a larger budget just sounds tempting, when you think about it, for having bigger set pieces and bigger everything.

But, he did list off all the HBO series that were supposedly going to get films...with Sex and the City being the only one to get made. He probably knows it's not going to happen.

I am intrigued by him saying that seven seasons won't be enough, though. But, he's probably not taking into consideration whole chunks of story being cut out, right?

 

[Roose Bolton]

Dave and Dan sold HBO eighty hours of television, so that's likely what we'll get. They even said that though they'd "like" seven seasons, realistically it'd be eight.


And where the **** are my Deadwood movies HBO???

 

[iamlegend]

I can understand why Martin likes (and he also did say he's skeptical) the idea of doing movies. The concept of having a big movie budget, which could dwarf a tv series budget, sounds like something that could pull off major battle sequences that he's seen play out in his head. Having a larger budget just sounds tempting, when you think about it, for having bigger set pieces and bigger everything.

But, he did list off all the HBO series that were supposedly going to get films...with Sex and the City being the only one to get made. He probably knows it's not going to happen.

I am intrigued by him saying that seven seasons won't be enough, though. But, he's probably not taking into consideration whole chunks of story being cut out, right?

I think, when push comes to shove, Martin wants the movies almost entirely because he's well aware the show WILL catch him. Guy might have bitten off more than he can chew.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Edit: ****it

 

[Jaspertian1105]

Right? I love the guy for giving us GOT, but he needs to pick up his pace. It's been nearly 20 years since he started this series, more than enough time to finish 8 books.

And as cool as it is that he's doing extras like Dunk and Egg and the History thing...I can't help but go, "how about you tackle those AFTER you finish your series?" There's a reason Tolkein never finished the Simarilion, it's because he was finishing his actually trilogy first. After next season the show will in all likelyhood be caught up with him, so he really needs to get a move on.

And is anyone else completely at a loss for why GRRM keeps pushing the movie idea? I can't imagine a fantasy series that would be less suited to film than GOT. We have over 10 main characters in this beast, there's literally no way a film could do them justice. Heck, even with 10 hours they're still having to cut things. I don't understand how, in the same article, he talks about his regreat that the show doesn't have enough time, and then talks about his excitement for a movie.

I know I sound like I'm really bashing George here, but to clarify, I really am a huge fan of the guy, I just really want him to get the other books out before the show, or before he dies. And I don't want to see GOT butchered in a film.

Not to mention Tolkien had a really demanding day job at Oxford, 4 kids to take care of and a world war in between. You cant compare the authors (there will never be a contest there) but Martin is horribly horribly slow with none of this excuses. He probably thought the show wouldn't last a season, i would switch my duties to screenwriting if i was him

 

[Jaspertian1105]

And LOTR and the Hobbit were butchered into movies , and they are arguably the best fantasy novels ever written. Im pretty sure GOT can be butchered into a movie as well pretty easy

 

[Perfect Cell]

I wouldn't mind a movie based on Robert's Rebellion, or some side work like Dunk and Egg. But I'm content with the main novels being on television only.

 

[Hush]

Not to mention Tolkien had a really demanding day job at Oxford, 4 kids to take care of and a world war in between. You cant compare the authors (there will never be a contest there) but Martin is horribly horribly slow with none of this excuses. He probably thought the show wouldn't last a season, i would switch my duties to screenwriting if i was him

Tolkien was also just on a different level than GRRM, he is not a lesser writer but a totally different writer than GRRM. Where GRRM is a slow methodical plotter and writes an absurdly detailed page after page dissertation of a characters meal, Tolkien will be able to write an entire battle and character revelation in those very same pages. That style of writing is just faster and more clean cut and in being that way allowed a smoother writing process I imagine. GRRM has written 4,273 plus pages not counting the dunk and egg stuff to what Tolkien wrote in his main books (1,1178) and that story is done. It did take Tolkien 12 years but he just didn't have the anticipation GRRM has had.

 

[Jake Cassidy]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awnGvpqiys4

 

[Reek]

 

[Roose Bolton]

 

[Reek]

 

[Ramsay Snow]

Do you love me, Reek?

 

[Roose Bolton]

 

[Reek]

 

[Ramsay Snow]

Really? Really? Poor loyal Reek.

 

[Loki882]

And LOTR and the Hobbit were butchered into movies , and they are arguably the best fantasy novels ever written. Im pretty sure GOT can be butchered into a movie as well pretty easy

The LOTR wasn't "butchered." Were the films perfect, no of course not. But most of the changes that they made worked for FILM (film and books are very different mediums). Tolkien, as much as I like him, had certain writing quirks that just wouldn't work for a movie. His characters tended to be two-dimensional and bland, he had his characters break out into song for no real reason and have it go one for 2-3 pages, and there was an entire large sequence in FOTR that ultimately was completely pointless. The movies actually improved on those in many ways.

 

[Loki882]

Right? I love the guy for giving us GOT, but he needs to pick up his pace. It's been nearly 20 years since he started this series, more than enough time to finish 8 books.

And as cool as it is that he's doing extras like Dunk and Egg and the History thing...I can't help but go, "how about you tackle those AFTER you finish your series?" There's a reason Tolkein never finished the Simarilion, it's because he was finishing his actually trilogy first. After next season the show will in all likelyhood be caught up with him, so he really needs to get a move on.

And is anyone else completely at a loss for why GRRM keeps pushing the movie idea? I can't imagine a fantasy series that would be less suited to film than GOT. We have over 10 main characters in this beast, there's literally no way a film could do them justice. Heck, even with 10 hours they're still having to cut things. I don't understand how, in the same article, he talks about his regreat that the show doesn't have enough time, and then talks about his excitement for a movie.

I know I sound like I'm really bashing George here, but to clarify, I really am a huge fan of the guy, I just really want him to get the other books out before the show, or before he dies. And I don't want to see GOT butchered in a film.

Plus Martin's not exactly a young man either. I don't want this to turn into another Robert Jordan The Wheel of Time situation.

 

[Monsieur Xavier]

I've read that GRRM gave the ending of the sage to the show runner in case he died before finishing it.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

I believe I read an article where Dan and David said that they spent sometime sitting with GRRM, after last season, just being told the plans for the endings of each character and how everything gets tied up. I don't think it was so much about knowing it in case GRRM never finishes it, but more about setting things up now in the show. Good storytelling is definitely about knowing where you're headed for the foreseeable future, so that you can give hints or set things up thematically in some way.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

The dreaded high school photo strikes again!

 

[RedIsNotBlue]

The gods have spoken. Tyrion Lannister...you are hereby sentenced to a haircut.

 

[Loki882]

I believe I read an article where Dan and David said that they spent sometime sitting with GRRM, after last season, just being told the plans for the endings of each character and how everything gets tied up. I don't think it was so much about knowing it in case GRRM never finishes it, but more about setting things up now in the show. Good storytelling is definitely about knowing where you're headed for the foreseeable future, so that you can give hints or set things up thematically in some way.

The problem is that Martin keeps changing the goal-posts. First it was three books, then it was five, and currently it's seven. And there's recent speculation that it might be eight. I get the sense from listening to Martin that even HE doesn't have it all planned out. He may think that he knows where it's going, but then change his mind.