Visualising 'A Song of Ice and Fire'

Cafe Society
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So, I mentioned in another threat that I’m re-reading George Martin’s ‘Song of Ice and Fire’ epic. Just starting on ‘Feast of Crows’ again, and I’ve discovered once again my favorite hobby with this series, which is filming it in my head… (guilty habit with my favorite books…)

I know it’s a pipe dream, and I’m aware that there is progress in creating this as a mini-series on…BBC I believe?.. but for me, nothing less then one book per movie LOTR epic high-budget treatment.

Now, since I always have this limitless budget and vision in my head, I want to hear what other people would do with it…who would be who, what would or could be done, what couldn’t, etc…

Specifically, I’m curious as to how other people would organize the chronological progression of the story, and/or what device would be used to tell it… for some reason I’ve always pictured occasional title cards with the oft-described heraldry and the name of a house appearing on screen before introducing a new aspect/kingdom…but I would imagine that might be tricky to do well…

Anyone with film expertise and knowledge of these books please comment!

Also…as a separate question…what scene would you most look forward to?

(SPOILER!)

Me, the thought of Arya’s ‘Dancing Master’ and all her interactions with him, culminating in his final stand against the armored knights…gives me goosebumps to imagine every time. I can only imagine some wizened old sword master, standing his ground, pitting grace against brawn… that could be filmed as quite the epic fight I would imagine…

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HBO is filming the ASOIAF mini, actually. They recently announced that Peter Dinklage was going to play Tyrion. Which is something like perfect.

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For me, the only way these books would work is as an hour long animated series; one season per book. Each episode could be focused on a character or two, depending on the breadth or depth of the story. I know HBO is doing a series, but its live action, and I just think that there are thing in the story that are too big to do that way. Plus, you don’t have to worry about actors outgrowing their character or thinking they deserve more money or whatever.

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I’m also concerned about the ages of the characters in the books. I know it reads well that many of the main characters are astonishingly young, but I don’t know if so many 10 to 14 year olds can carry such dramatic roles. Not to mention the creepy overtones of marriage at that age, Tyrion and Sansa for example.