A weekend summary

In the wake of the big green light announcement last week, a few tidbits of interest to the GOT fan community followed.

-Northern Ireland is thrilled about HBO’s decision and the fact that the producer Mark Huffam, a native of NI, is involved in the project. BBC reports the project will generate £20 million ($30m) for the local economy. A video report is available here. Note that the outdoor set they show has been identified as belonging to the previous Belfast production of Your Highness. Speaking of numbers, Northern Ireland’s Minister of Culture reports in his blog that the proposed budget for the (first) season is £30 million ($45m). This puts the budget per episode at $4.5 million. The diagram here shows how the figure relates to budgets of some other notable shows (courtesy of our Russian friends).

Hear Me Roar: We need to keep in mind that HBO gets to use the Paint Hall studios for free and received substantial tax breaks when they decided to shoot there, so more of that sum translates directly into production quality, thus rivaling shows with somewhat higher budgets. As long as lower expenses mean we are more likely to get further seasons, I am all for it.

-The Irish Film and Television Network site reported on the series pick up, summarizing what there is to know about the production. The new and most interesting piece of information is that filming will supposedly also take place at Shane’s Castle in County Antrim), a location we have not heard about before. Here follow links to a selection of photos:

Picture 1
Picture 2
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Gallery 1
Gallery 2

-Nikolaj Coster-Waldau gave two interviews for the Danish press after the green light was given. Here is a translation of what he says about his role and the series:

I am totally game to get started. I know both the director (Tom McCarthy) and the other actors from the pilot episode. It is a fantastic alternative world that has been created, and a very intense drama that takes place in it.

I have not received the script yet, but we will start around July 1st, and I am going to play one of the key roles in the story. It is a relatively expensive series and can probably best be compared with the series Rome, when we are talking size.

There’s not all that much overnatural stuff going on, like it does in Harry Potter, but the entire story takes place on the brink of winter. If nothing is done about it, everyone will succumb to the winter.

Game of Thrones has a bit of that same stuff with rival families [as Deadwood, Rome, and The Sopranos]. I play the queen’s twin brother, who is soon established as bad guy #1, but as we also see in Sopranos, characters are not simply black or white. They have a reason for doing the things they do.

Hear Me Roar: It is obvious from the quotes that Nikolaj digs what the series is all about. Notably, his words also imply that McCarthy is returning to direct some more of the series. He mentions July 1st as the date when the shooting recommences, but that could well be a mistake, as June has been mentioned several times before instead.

-A trailer for the final season of The Tudors has been released, as well as a behind-the-scenes reel, featuring Tamzin Merchant as the fifth wife and queen to Henry VIII. These two videos, and of course the upcoming season scheduled to begin airing on April 11, give the fans ample opportunity to see more of the actress cast to embody Dany in HBO’s series.

-Lastly, the Oscar night on Sunday saw Robert Stromberg, the visual effects supervisor on Game of Thrones, win a joint Academy Award for art direction in James Cameron’s Avatar. For more of his mastery, check the recent Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, where he served as the production designer.

Hear Me Roar: Congratulations! We cannot but be excited that he is on the team bringing the world of Westeros alive.

[Thanks to various commenters for pointing out individual items and for translations.]

• Published on 03/08/2010 at 11:02 AM CDT
• Last updated on 03/18/2010 at 4:23 AM CDT