I'm a big fan of The Song of Ice and Fire aka HBO's Game of Thrones. I read and reread the books back in the early/mid aughts (the ones that were published back then), though truth be told I was reticent to pick up the series. A friend of mine basically badgered me into reading them in 2002 and I started reading Game of Thrones whilst waiting in line and waiting for The Two Towers to start (one of the last movies I saw at a midnight opening night). Another friend, who I was seeing the movie with - not the one who badgered me into reading it but had read Game of Thrones - got annoyed with my annoyance at the prologue and first chapter. "Just read the fucking book and give it a chance." she said after she grew tired of my whining about my preconceived notions of the book. And then the movie started and Gandalf beat the shit out one of the older and fouler things that dwell in the dark places in the earth.
I picked the book up a few days later on the bus ride to work and ended up tearing through it. The same happened with the second and third books. Nearly a decade later HBO released Game of Thrones and people shit themselves nerd style over it. I figured I'd wait until the first season was released to watch it. It was good, actually quite good, but not good enough for me to shit my britches over - though Peter Dinklage's Tyrion Lannister (and I've been a fan of Dinklage since I saw him in 03's The Station Agent) is brilliant. But when the chips are down, for HBO serieseses I'm still a first season of Deadwood man (Jim Beaver's Whitney Ellsworth is one of my favorite characters of any movie or show).
I was working on another post (expect a lengthy post about modern Irish horror films sometime in the near future) when I was looking up one of my favorite actors, Ciaran Hinds for his role in The Eclipse (2009). What do I see? Mr. Hinds is going to be Mance fucking Rayder in season three of Game of Thrones. Now, as many of you know, I don't fangirl easily. I try very hard not to squee at anything except kittens (and even that is done in the privacy of my own home, most of the time). But...sqeeeeee.
Like most of you GoT fans, book and show, I have my favorites (Brienne, Arya, Sandor, Varys) and Mance rounds out my top five. I thought they would have gone for Vladimir Kulich (though he'd be a perfect Magnar Thenn) or Mads Mikkelsen (though he'd be a perfect Rattleshirt). But Hinds as Rayder makes for an excellent casting choice. I didn't expect it but well played HBO, well played.
Now I'm gonna go draw more hearts on the picture I have of Hinds in my favorite actors shrine.
I picked the book up a few days later on the bus ride to work and ended up tearing through it. The same happened with the second and third books. Nearly a decade later HBO released Game of Thrones and people shit themselves nerd style over it. I figured I'd wait until the first season was released to watch it. It was good, actually quite good, but not good enough for me to shit my britches over - though Peter Dinklage's Tyrion Lannister (and I've been a fan of Dinklage since I saw him in 03's The Station Agent) is brilliant. But when the chips are down, for HBO serieseses I'm still a first season of Deadwood man (Jim Beaver's Whitney Ellsworth is one of my favorite characters of any movie or show).
I was working on another post (expect a lengthy post about modern Irish horror films sometime in the near future) when I was looking up one of my favorite actors, Ciaran Hinds for his role in The Eclipse (2009). What do I see? Mr. Hinds is going to be Mance fucking Rayder in season three of Game of Thrones. Now, as many of you know, I don't fangirl easily. I try very hard not to squee at anything except kittens (and even that is done in the privacy of my own home, most of the time). But...sqeeeeee.
Like most of you GoT fans, book and show, I have my favorites (Brienne, Arya, Sandor, Varys) and Mance rounds out my top five. I thought they would have gone for Vladimir Kulich (though he'd be a perfect Magnar Thenn) or Mads Mikkelsen (though he'd be a perfect Rattleshirt). But Hinds as Rayder makes for an excellent casting choice. I didn't expect it but well played HBO, well played.
Now I'm gonna go draw more hearts on the picture I have of Hinds in my favorite actors shrine.
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