The Mighty Bean
INDEX
'Game of Thrones' news!
Fantasy fanboys (and fangirls) rejoice! HBO has formally sent "Game of Thrones" to series. The epic adaptation of George R.R. Martin's wildly complicated and politically rich fantasy series will begin production in June 2010 in Belfast, Northern Ireland and the series is expected to premiere next spring.
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss adapted the pilot and HBO has ordered nine additional episodes, which are expected to tell the story that unfolds through the first book of Martin's still-developing "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. The deep cast includes Mark Addy as spirited (but occasionally buffoonish) king Robert Baratheon, Lena Headey as the king's scheming wife Cersei Lannister, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Cersei's twin Jamie, Peter Dinklage as cynical, complicated Tyron Lannister, Sean Bean as the stubborn and noble Eddard Stark, Jennifer Ehle as Eddard's regal wife Catelyn, Tamzin Merchant as displaced royal heir Daenerys Targaryen and Jason Moamoa as the savage horseman Khal Drogo.
The cast also includes Kit Harrington, Iain Glen, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Richard Madden, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Ron Donachie and many many more. The pilot was directed by Tom McCarthy. Explaining the plot of Martin's vast novel or its increasingly lengthy follow-ups would take far too long, but suffice to say it tells the story of the battle -- both violent and intellectual -- for a kingdom, pitting several rival factions each with a legitimate or illegitimate claim on the throne.
The first official image from the series appears to be from the very first scene in the book: (click thumb for full size)
http://www.hitfix.com/articles/2010-3-2-hbo-sends-game-of-thrones-to-series
HBO moves forward with "Game of Thrones"
HBO is moving ahead with its fantasy epic Game of Thrones. Tom McCarthy (The Visitor, The Station Agent) will direct the pilot, which David Benioff and D.B. Weiss adapted from the George R.R. Martin novels. HBO has given the go-ahead for the pilot plus nine episodes. It will debut in spring 2011.
Game of Thrones starts shooting in
Main cast
Sean Bean Eddard (Ned) Stark
Jennifer
Ehle Catelyn
Stark
Mark Addy Robert Baratheon
Harry Lloyd Viserys
Targaryen
Esme Bianco Ros
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Jaime Lannister
Alfie Allen Theon Greyjoy
Peter Dinklage Tyrion Lannister
Ron Donachie Rodrik Cassel
Jack
Gleeson Joffrey
Baratheon
Iain Glenn Ser
Jorah Mormont
Kit Harington Jon
Snow
Richard
Madden Robb Stark
Joseph
Mawle Benjen Stark
Rory McCann Sandor
Clegane
Tamzin Merchant Daenerys
Targaryen
Richard
Ridings Gared
Sophie
Turner Sansa Stark
Maisie
Williams Arya Stark
Bronson
Webb Will
Jason Momoa Khal Drogo
Isaac
Hempstead-Wright Bran Stark
Medieval keep becomes film set
A medieval
keep near Stirling has become the setting for a new Hollywood production by
The series is based on George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy adventure novels.
Doune Castle is already a place of pilgrimage for movie fans after it featured as Castle Anthrax in the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Since then, thousands of devout fans make their way to the
castle each year to take part in re-enactments. Written by David Benioff and DB Weiss, the new
production will also film on location in
The A Song of Ice and Fire series, the first of which was
published in 1996, is set in the fictional world of Westeros. It is understood the castle will be used for
scenes depicting the courtyard of the fantasy dream realm of Winterfell.
Doune Castle was built at the end of the 1300s for Robert
Stewart, Duke of Albany.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/8322843.stm
Sean Bean to star in the epic fantasy A Game of Thrones
Although news of planned adaptations of fantasy fiction for
the screen come along fairly often, it's not often that anything actually
eventuates, or if it does, that the wait is worth it. More often than not the
news arrives like a bolt of lightning and then proceeds to fade away so slowly
that we're generally still waiting for something to eventuate years after the
news first broke (what did happen to the Elric and Shannara movies?).
The upshot is that it's fairly difficult to become all that excited when news does break of yet another work of epic fantasy making its way to the screen, and to be honest I barely even registered HBO's purchase of the rights to George R. R. Martin's award winning fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire back in 2007. But this project has been moving forward unusually fast, and with news this week that Sean Bean has joined the cast as Eddard "Ned" Stark, Warden of the North, and Lord of Winterfell, this adaptation is taking on some real substance. Finally it's worth the attention.
So, what do we know? While it may be obvious given HBO's involvement, it's worth stating at the outset that we're obviously not looking at a big screen adaptation here. Although only four of the planned seven novels in George Martin's series have been published, word is that HBO is planning to produce a TV series for the entire sequence of novels, with each series comprising 13 episodes. If there's a downside to this, it's that we're obviously not going to get a big screen bonanza like Lord of the Rings. On the other hand, adapting a long, intricate and complex work of fiction as a television series is possibly the only way to do justice to a novel. Despite the heroic efforts of Peter Jackson and team, few Tolkien purists would be entirely satisfied with many of the compromises made in the Rings movies. Purely from a story telling perspective there's far greater opportunity with a made for television series to be faithful to the text and avoid many of the compromises that are inevitable when reducing hundreds of pages to a couple of hours of screen time. A good example of this would be the SciFi Channel's Dune mini series which might lack the big screen impact of David Lynch's Dune, but the end result is far more recognisably Frank Herbert's work.
A Game of Thrones, the first book in Martin's series, was
published in 1996 and the fifth novel, A Dance with Dragons, is looking like
having an early 2010 release, so all things being equal it'll probably be 2016
before the final novel in the sequence lands on any bookshelves and can be
adapted for the screen. If HBO really intends on adapting the entire sequence
of novels, this not only represents some serious long term planning, but also a
resounding act of faith in the quality of Martin's writing and his ability to
deliver.
But let's not jump the gun. At this stage, we're only looking at a pilot for the first series, and many a series has died an early death with the pilot episode.
Nonetheless, there are many good reasons why this project might succeed where so many others have failed. For a start, Martin's gritty and realistic fantasy is quality writing. The first novel was nominated for the 1998 Nebula Award and the 1997 World Fantasy Award, and won the 1997 Locus Award; chapters published separately as the Blood of the Dragon novella won the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1997. Furthermore, Martin plans to be involved with the production, perhaps as an executive producer with approval of scripts, so we can probably count on the integrity of his vision being retained. There's also a hint that he may write one episode per season, although I've got a strong suspicion that there'll be some pressure to finish writing the remaining novels before HBO runs out of material to film!
Tom McCarthy will be directing, based on a script by David
Benioff (
So, for those who know nothing of the books, what can you expect? Benioff perhaps best captured the essence of the series, if not its gravitas, with an infamous comment in interview with the New York Magazine, describing A Game of Thrones as 'The Sopranos in Middle Earth'. Make of that what you will!
http://sffmedia.com/tv/fantasy-tv/387-sean-bean-to-star-in-the-epic-fantasy-a-game-of-thrones-.html
Ned Stark
Eddard
Eddard Stark, informally called "Ned", is Lord of Winterfell, Lord Paramount of the North, and Warden of the North. He is a POV character. He and Catelyn Tully Stark have five children, and he claims a bastard son, Jon Snow. Eddard is known for his sense of honor and justice; he dislikes deceit, intrigue, and secrecy. Though his family finds him kind, some consider his reserved personality a sign of coldness and disdain.
From the age of eight, Ned was fostered by Jon Arryn at the Eyrie, alongside Robert Baratheon. Ned befriended Robert, and came to consider Lord Arryn a second father. After Ned's father and brother died by command of King Aerys II, the king demanded that Arryn send him the heads of the two wards. Arryn refused and instead launched a rebellion, in which Ned and Robert joined as lords of their houses and chief commanders. Shortly before the final battles of the rebellion, Ned married Catelyn Tully, who had been betrothed to Ned's brother Brandon before his death. Ned was present, along with Howland Reed, at a tower on the Dornish border known as the "tower of joy" when his sister Lyanna died there, an incident surrounded in mystery that haunted Ned ever after.
Once the conflict had ended and Robert had taken the throne, Ned returned home, bringing with him a bastard son, Jon, about whose origins he refused to speak, even to his own wife; he quickly silenced rumors that the boy's mother was the Dornish noblewoman Ashara Dayne. He spent the next fifteen years as Lord of Winterfell, a task he had never expected and did not always feel equal to; he rarely left his lands, and did not involve himself in the complex intrigues of the southern courts.
After Jon Arryn's death, King Robert travelled to Winterfell to ask Eddard to replace Arryn as Hand of the King, the monarch's closest advisor. Ned preferred to decline the request, but went south at his wife's urging to investigate Arryn's death. He discovered that Robert's children were actually the product of incest between Robert's wife Cersei and her brother, Jaime Lannister. Pursuing his usual forthright, honorable approach, he confronted Cersei with this knowledge, giving her a warning to flee while she could. Instead, Cersei used her time to orchestrate Robert's assassination and buy off the city watch, known as the Gold Cloaks. Ned trusted Petyr Baelish to keep the Gold Cloaks loyal to him, but Baelish betrayed him. Cersei had Ned imprisoned for treason. Although Ned's daughter Sansa, who was betrothed to King Joffrey, pleaded for Ned's life, Joffrey unexpectedly had him executed, against Cersei and her council's wishes. Illyn Payne, the King's Justice, decapitated Eddard with his own greatsword, Ice, in public view with his daughters Arya and Sansa present.
Ned is first presented doing the "King's Justice," the execution of an oathbreaker. Ned feels that a ruler must be there to hear a condemned man's final words and to take the mans life himself otherwise killing becomes easy & Ned believes that killing should never be easy. Eddard holds this honor about himself throughout his time in the novels. Ned is also a devout worshiper of the Old Gods, the gods of the First Men. These gods are also said to be the gods of the children of the forest, and are worshipped in a godswood.
http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Game_of_Thrones
Sean Bean ascends to "Game of Thrones"
By Borys Kit and Nellie Andreeva
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter)) - Sean Bean has nabbed the lead in "Game of Thrones," HBO's adaptation of the George R.R. Martin fantasy-book series.
Tom McCarthy ("The Visitor") is directing.
The books revolves around a battle among seven kingdoms and between two ruling families for control of the Iron Throne, the possession that ensures survival through a 40-year winter to come.
Bean will play Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark, known for his sense of honor and justice, who becomes closest adviser to King Robert (Mark Addy).
Kit Harrington will play Jon Snow, Bean's bastard son, and Harry Lloyd will play Viserys, a powerless ruler who seeks to marry off his sister to a powerful king. Jack Gleeson will play Joffrey, King Robert's son.
Peter Dinklage, who starred for McCarthy in "The
Station Agent," also is in the cast for the production, which is in the
pilot stage and begins shooting in October in
"Thrones" marks the latest fantasy epic-style
production for Bean. He recently wrapped shooting on "Percy Jackson &
the Olympians," an adaptation of Rick Riordan's children's book. Bean also
has "Black Death," a supernatural thriller set during
http://http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSTRE56J09D20090720
Has Sean Bean landed a juicy role in HBO’s ‘A Game of Thrones’?
Sean Bean of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Boromir fame, may have landed a role in another book adaptation by an “R.R.” author according to The excellent site WinterisComing .
The first of George R.R. Martin’s “Song Of Fire And Ice” series, “A Game of Thrones,” is currently in pre-production to film a pilot episode for a potential HBO series and Bean’s name has surfaced as one of the main leads in the series.
Bean, if the rumors are true, would be the second principal
cast, along with Peter Dinklage who plays a dwarf (not in the Middle-earth
tradition). Going against his type when he is often cast as a villain, his
character of Ed Stark is noble and highly principled. The plan for the series
is to film the pilot in
I've received word, from what looks to be a legit inside
source, that Sean Bean has been cast as Eddard Stark in the Game of Thrones
pilot. The source mentioned that it happened yesterday but does not know when
it might be officially announced.
Winter Is Coming: Would be great, if true. I'm filing
it under rumors for now, but it seems like the real deal. We will just have to
wait and see at this point. If the deal was finalized yesterday then one can
hope that it will be officially announced very soon. As soon as we get some
official confirmation, I will let everyone know.
UPDATE: It looks like Daily Mail gossip columnist Baz Bamigboye is reporting the Sean Bean rumor as well. He doesn't list a source, so no way of knowing if he is just reporting what he is seeing online or if he has some other inside info. But since it is in the gossip section I'm still considering this a rumor. But the chances of it being true are looking more and more likely. Hopefully HBO will give us the official word soon.
Sean Bean, who is one of the first stars to be cast in the
TV drama A Game Of Thrones, based on the fantasy novels A Song Of Ice And Fire
by George R. R. Martin.
Rugged: Sean Bean
The tales are epic in structure, and are set in a land that has been torn apart
by a civil war and divided into seven kingdoms.
There are warring factions and divided loyalties and I can’t pretend to tell
you much more, because I couldn’t get beyond the first couple of chapters.
But I know Game Of Thrones has legions of fans — not least because it’s also a
computer game.
Anyway, Bean has been asked to play one of the patriarchs of the warring
tribes. He knows this kind of territory well, having played Boromir in Peter
Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings films. A one-hour pilot show will be shot on
location in
The plan by the Rain Mark production company is to make the pilot and hope that
HBO will say ‘yes’ to a further nine episodes in the first series.
Bean was also seen this year in Channel 4’s excellent drama films The Red
Riding Trilogy, based on the novels by David Peace.
