Sean Bean is set to appear in a big-budget HBO adaptation of a series of fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin. Bean, familiar to TORn readers at Boromir in the LOTR movie trilogy, will play the role of Ned Stark, one of the leads and one of characters playing the titular "Game of Thrones." The series premiers in 2011 with the newest teaser which includes footage of Bean below. For a little further information, you can also click here to see a behind-the-scenes segment featuring Bean.
Why is he blonde all of a sudden?...
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I can't wait for this to come out... the story looks good and the cast list is impressive...
but I have to nitpick... this trailer shows him as a blonde, where a previous promo pic had him as a brunette... which I think was better for the role.
(Oh who am I kidding... the man could be sporting a bad weave and still set my heart a-twittering... ROWR! )
Blessed are the cracked, For they are the ones who let in the light!
Or so claims praise for Martin on the cover of the edition of Feast for Crows that I'm reading. With the posting of the Game of Thrones teaser on TORN this morning, I thought I would pose the question: Where does Song of Ice and Fire stand in everyone's esteem? A broad question, to be sure, but open for discussion.
ASOIAF holds a very special place in my heart
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After struggling through a number of more traditional fantasy series, I had come to the conclusion that I just don't like modern fantasy and that Tolkien's works were a fluke for me. GRRM's A Game of Thrones turned all that around for me and brought me back to the fantasy genre, just with more care in what I chose to read.
Well except for the R. R. is his name I wouldn't put George R. R. Martin next to Tolkien. First of all he writes a somewhat different kind of fantasy story... but he isn't that good either IMO. I really liked his first books but by A Feast for Crows he really started suffering from the syndrome more fantasy writers suffer from: unnecessarily stretching the story till it becomes one boring, overly long mess. Also he spends way too much time describing clothing, coates of arms, and other stuff that make me think Get going with the bloody story!
It'll probably make for a fun tv series though, but what I dislike about them making a tv adaption of this is that the book series is only half finished. There are plenty of great fantasy series out there that are finished... go film them!
Well, Tolkien never finished the Silmarillion...
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so I guess that's one similarity.
I really like what's been released of ASOIAF. But it's *very* different from LOTR, and I'm not sure "the American Tolkien" is a valid or worthwhile comparison. Tolkien was a unique writer, as those who have tried to imitate him too closely have found out. There's no such thing as "the American Tolkien". For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars, and so on -- while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man, for precisely the same reasons. -- Douglas Adams
I think among currently producing fantasy writers, he is the best. His status among the all-timers is pending but for me, he is definitely in the conversation. I have no choice but to believe in free will.
The cake is a lie The cake is a lie The cake is a lie
GRRM would never have let 8/9 of the Fellowship get out of Moria alive.
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In fact, by the time they reached Moria (late in volume 7 of the series) the slain members of the Fellowship-- i.e., all of them-- would have been replaced by orcs. I don't want to go to work today But the master of the whip says nay, nay, nay.
They shot the pilot to see how the scripts help up on film and to see if HBO would pick it up. HBO cut it into a first episode and then decided to order a first season but with some changes that included casting. Some actors weren't available for a whole season and some they hired only for the pilot and went another way with casting when a season was on the line.
There will be Stewart Townsends from GoT probably.
The latest news is that Season 2 is being seriously discussed so something must be going right in Season 1.
I visit a website to keep updated and when the trailer hit HBO the discussion there was just exactly like things were around here when I was lurking back in 1999 and 2000. It felt like I was in a time machine. Cool. I have no choice but to believe in free will.
The cake is a lie The cake is a lie The cake is a lie
and I really don't care for many fantasy books. Yes, I love many of Tolkien's stories of course, and I enjoyed C.S. Lewis and Lloyd Alexander, and rounding out my favorite fantasy books would be Martin's in progress work. Sure, I have my nitpicks (like the curse words that pop up from time to time that don't seem to fit into the world he's created...they are just too modern sounding IMO, among other things), but those aside I find the series to be compelling and well written. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll finish the series, but given there are at least 3 more books on tap still to be done (with 'Dance of Dragons' nearing completion...or least it seems that way), and that this series was first published in 1996, I just don't know if he'll do it. Do not meddle in the affairs of hobbits for we can bite your kneecaps off!
For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars, and so on -- while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man, for precisely the same reasons. -- Douglas Adams
There is every reason to think he will finish. There was a particular problem at a point in the narrative that forced him to rewrite, reportedly 2000 pages.
He is a hard working writer who in his decade spanning career, has always been productive.
And, HBO may even force him to get books out on a faster pace. I have no choice but to believe in free will.
The cake is a lie The cake is a lie The cake is a lie
Thanks for the positive perspective, sometimes I see it too negatively. It really does sound like ADWD is almost done, and perhaps the final two will not take as long, like the earlier books in the series. For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much -- the wheel, New York, wars, and so on -- while all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man, for precisely the same reasons. -- Douglas Adams
I didn't think TORn is fully the place to go into great detail but it isn't as if the guy has stopped working, he has just hit a major snag.
He called it "the Myranese knot" if I recall and he is very busy doing a lot of other things and he seems to have worked through that.
He has a much longer history of being productive than of being delayed. But, he is an artist (craftsman) and will invariably finish when he finishes.
I suppose were we waiting for LOTR back in the day we too would have been rather pessimistic.
Anyway, foolishly or not, I think once this hurdle is cleared, things will go much quicker. HBO seems to have faith in him with a big investment of money. I have no choice but to believe in free will.
The cake is a lie The cake is a lie The cake is a lie
Why is he blonde all of a sudden?...
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