Ohmygodohmygod

[Wiggum]

Huzzah!

LET THE CASTING BEGIN!

HBO Acquires A Song of Fire and Ice
Source: Variety January 17, 2007


HBO has acquired the rights to turn George R.R. Martin's bestselling
fantasy series "A Song of Fire and Ice" into a dramatic series to be
written and executive produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss,
reports Variety.

"Fire" is the first TV project for Benioff (Troy) and Weiss (Halo)
and will shoot in Europe or New Zealand. Benioff and Weiss will
write every episode of each season together save one, which the
author (a former TV writer) will script.

The series will begin with the 1996 first book, "A Game of Thrones,"
and the intention is for each novel (they average 1,000 pages each)
to fuel a season's worth of episodes. Martin has nearly finished the
fifth installment, but won't complete the seven-book cycle until
2011.

The author will co-executive produce the series along with
Management 360's Guymon Casady and Created By's Vince Gerardis.

[dwndrgn]

Well, don't hold your breath. Rights are acquired all the time and it generally takes quite some time, if ever, before anything comes of it. However, should these rights morph quickly into something on the visual mediascape, I do hope that they give every effort to make something worthwhile out of it.

[Wiggum]

Yeah, but this has been rumored for quite sometime and with Martin being involved in it I have a hard time believing it's just going to sit on a shelf.

HBO doing this as a series could easily be utterly brilliant.

[BlueJimmie]

Great news! I'm a big fan of GRRM's "Song..." and I love HBO's Deadwood, ROME and the Soprano's. They will do it the justice it deserves. Now where is the thread that discusses realistic casting...

[Somebloke]

i know that these things have a habit of vanishing in the first few months. I know that these things have a habit of creating awful films/series out of excellent books. I know all of this.

But still-

ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod....

[Wiggum]

The project disappearing would be my only worry.

If HBO is doing it I'm comfortable with the quality aspect, I don't think any of their series (and there have been a lot) have ever disappointed me.

[Winters_Sorrow]

They'd certainly have to cut corners with some elements of the story (depending on how many episodes per series) but I'm still hopeful that, if done similar to Rome, it'll be good.
My over-riding concern would be a mainstream audience's reaction to Ned's fate etc and the fact that there's no real resolution in any of the books currently.

[Rane Longfox]

I'm in two minds as to wether this would be any good. Obviously, with HBO, they won't be skimping on budget, which is a good thing, but such a good series couldn't be done justice too, I think, by a tv adaption. The child actor part is a good point too, although I'm sure they would find some who are up to the challenge.

Here's a post I read about the subject on a different forum. (The poster is something of a literary snob, judging by him comments about fantasy, but there we go)

If you could get whiplash by being surprised about an article in the trades, I’d be wearing a neck brace right now. That’s how shocked I was to learn that HBO has acquired George RR Martin’s fantasy novel series, A Song of Ice and Fire, for a TV series – one that will be executive produced and written by David Benioff, one of my favorite modern writers.

If you only know Benioff from Troy, you’re missing out – his novel 25th Hour, which he adapted for Spike Lee, is brilliant, and his short story collection, When the Nines Roll Over, is terrific as well. But he’s been mostly focusing on Hollywood work, including an adaptation of Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls. A Song of Fire and Ice would be a major move for Benioff, who would be executive producing and writing every episode of every season (along with DB Weiss, whose only credit is the Halo script, but who wrote a novel called Lucky Wander Boy), except for one that will be scripted by George RR Martin himself.

Each book in the seven volume series (there are only five available now) will be one season of the show, starting with 1996's A Game of Thrones. "They tried for 50 years to make 'Lord of the Rings' as one movie before Peter Jackson found success making three," Martin said. "My books are bigger and more complicated, and would require 18 movies. Otherwise, you'd have to choose one or two characters."

I haven’t read the books (I guess now I’ll have to. Dammit. I hate reading this fantasy stuff, but it'll kill time on my flight to London), but Variety says that the Fire and Ice novels “eschewed Tolkien's good-vs.-evil theme in favor of flawed characters from seven noble families.The book has a decidedly adult bent, with sex and violence comparable to series like ‘Rome’ and ‘Deadwood.’” That’s good news at least.

This comes on the heels of HBO announcing they would do a series based on Preacher, a beloved Vertigo comic book that is profane, violent and usually blasphemous. Besides inherent geek appeal, both of these series have a level of ambition to them – Preacher is being sold as five seasons long while A Song of Ice and Fire would last seven. It’s interesting to see that level of ambition when HBO is all too happy to cancel shows like Rome and Deadwood very early on, even when they’re popular. Of course Preacher and A Song of Fire and Ice would have an almost guaranteed afterlife on DVD, and unlike Deadwood, the network would own these properties, meaning they make all the DVD money.

Here’s the sticking point: Rome was cancelled before the second season even started because of the series’ massive cost – the first season weighed in at 100 million dollars. I don’t know how an epic set in a fantasy world with dragons and ice monsters could be much cheaper, but the scope of the series was not a secret from HBO. There’s no word on when the show might begin production, let alone start airing. The book series is projected to end in 2011.

I do hope at some point Benioff is taking time to work on another novel. I really have enjoyed his print work, and while I wish him the best success in Hollywood, it would be great to know that he was also sticking with literature.

Dunno where he got the stuff about the dragons from though... I suppose thats just a generic expectation

[Werthead]

Well there are dragons and they are, according to GRRM himself, going to kick some serious arse later on. I imagine that HBO accompanied the press release with a description of the books, or maybe he just googled the name and saw that the next book will be A Dance with Dragons

This could have knock-on effects for the rest of the genre. I can imagine someone at ABC or NBC thinking, "We need a piece of this action," and finding a script in their in-tray called Chain of Dogs...

[Rane Longfox]

Originally Posted by Werthead

This could have knock-on effects for the rest of the genre. I can imagine someone at ABC or NBC thinking, "We need a piece of this action," and finding a script in their in-tray called Chain of Dogs...

Aye, I think it would help make people take the genre more seriously if people realised it wasn't all D&D. We love Tolkein dearly, but he did leave an irreperably mark on the genre in the public eye

How do people think the story will be affected by being adapted by the script-writer? The only reason I support the Chain of Dogs project is that it's actually being written by Erikson and his junta, but will this detract from Martin's excellence? Obviously he doesn't have enough time to do it on his own...

[Winters_Sorrow]

It's a bonus that GRRM has worked within the Hollywood & TV-land ventures before so he knows the good & bad side of it, so he'll surely know what he's getting into and learn from his early experiences to the project's benefit.

[TomServo]

Ah crap I dont get HBO, I'd have to wait until the DVD came out. Also I'm betting that this is the 'big news' that he mentioned in his Not a blog section. But Wiggs here beat him to the announcement.

[Weasel Soup]

My initial responce was what on earth could make Wiggum scream like a schoolgirl, but then I did myself!

A possible 7 seasons of Martin done well!! Im almost still bouncing.

Well at least just getting the rights now gives me the oppurtunity to save for a TV and the inevitable necessary Cable Subscription with HBO in the package.

Seven Hells! Gods be Good!

I sense the casting thread may have quite the resurgence.

*giggles* hehehe OMG!

I like wednesdays better now.

[TK-421]

Ohhhhhh...that HBO series. HOLLY SH%#$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sure hope TMN in Canada carries it because we don't get HBO but they carried all the other series like Rome, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, blah blah. I think I'll start a letter-writting campaign to make sure they do. That would make me pay the extra $20 or so per month to get it from my cable company.

I hope they do a POV style with each episode being a different one. But 7 seasons...wow. And yes GRRM knows TV well. Along with the future Star Wars TV series, geeks rejoice! The future of television is bright indeed.

[Rane Longfox]

I think the full 7 series is highly unlikely. They cancelled Rome after just one, and look how popular that was. Deadwood went early too... The fantasy hardcore won't be enough to keep it afloat, but we should see 2 seasons before it dies, hopefully