Quick Hits: Malta once more, read-through, and focus group

• Adam ‘Werthead’ Whitehead of The Wertzone (say it out loud five times in a row, I dare you) has written a great summary piece on Malta locations doubling as King’s Landing in GoT, which was later also featured on the io9 science fiction blog.
• Staying on the same theme – some photos from the Malta set surfaced today (thanks for finding them online, The_Rabbit!). According to this blog entry, the author of the blog visited Mdina a few weeks ago in tourist capacity after filming and took a few pictures. Hope you enjoy them all. We especially like this one of the Mdina gate (which we reported previosly is to stand for King’s gate in King’s Landing) complete with the Baratheon banner. A zoom on the banner is among the photos as well.

Photo by Charmaine Tanti

• Bryan Cogman has posted a production diary entry on the script read-through. They held one in the production building in the Titanic Quarter with all the actors, covering the second half of the season (episodes VI through X):

I am taking on stage direction reading duties – and there are a lot of them.  Quite a high “narrating” the story in the presence of such a terrific cast.  And these read-throughs are valuable.  With so many characters and story threads, shooting all over the place and out of sequence, it’s good to have so many of our actors in the same room, ensuring that everyone knows their part in the grand scheme of things.

• The information on the focus group and the organisational side of it have been a bit patchy. The latest we have heard (and pretty officially too) is that the participants will NOT be shown the full first episode. While originally scheduled for November 9, the focus group session has now been postponed to a future date to be announced. Everyone who has been signed up for the original date is going to be contacted first. All in all, it is just as well that they are taking some more time, as many things around the focus group seemed rushed as they were working under time pressure.
• GRRM has dropped a line from a short visit to London where he has met with his publishers. According to him, “the shoot is still going well” in Malta.
• Last minute info: The missing banners have been found! Carla from Extras NI has done her share of sleuthing, worthy of GoT fans. Well done, and thanks! The banners should be returning to the rightful owner by mail soon. By the way, if you missed it,  Ran has written his piece about the moot here.

• Published on 11/07/2010 at 5:30 AM CDT
• Last updated on 11/07/2010 at 5:30 AM CDT