Beheadings and breakfast

To casually say you just had a delightful sit-down breakfast at the legendary Four Seasons in Los Angeles with the creator of A Song of Ice and Fire, Mr. George R.R. Martin himself, is to downplay the utter fanboish nature of the moment. Sharing a small table with him is sort of surreal, and you have, for a moment, a sense of power. After all, it’s him in one chair, Winter in another, and your friendly neighborhood FaBio in the third.

(The fourth and final chair was occupied by FaB’s fabulous over-the-shoulder computer carry-all, or man-purse, if you will, which not only demands its own seat, but its own menu as well.)

It was a great opportunity, and by that we mean, logistically speaking, we could have easily ganged up on the guy, pinned him down and smacked ‘im in the nose with our dirty socks for a half hour, forcing him to divulge every secret we ever wanted to know. It was there for the taking!

This post wouldn’t have been written had we ended up in jail, however, so alas for that. Would have made a great story. Front page news! Plus he’s one charming dude. Why subject such a nice man to Winter’s socks?

In the end, there was breakfast to be eaten. And it was good. It was Four Seasons good. And I can say with utter certainty it’s even better when The Man picks up the check.

But why start at the end? Let’s go to the beginning.

George R.R. Martin is not an imposing man, but he does command a certain sense of, well, command. The captain’s cap helps foster this, of course, and the everyman suspenders he opts for in lieu of a belt balance that nicely; he is the everyman commander. He looks every inch the storyteller, though perhaps one more visually suited for a fireside nook in some Melville-era lighthouse than in Masha Heddle’s tavern.

We got the sense that he was still a little wearied from his recent jaunt to the hospital, but he came across as plucky and willing nevertheless, opining on such varied topics as the War of the Roses, the casting process, and of course NFL football (I attempted my own private coup by reminding GRRM that Winter was a Philadelphia Eagles fan, but no terminal violence ensued).

We talked about the fun little “Froggy” clues he would occasionally toss out to the fanbase, and we got the opportunity to see that sly little grin (which I knew he always wore) when discussing them; he is still literally amazed we solved the Isaac Hempstead-Wright clue. Interestingly, HBO was initially nervous regarding the fact that he put out his infamous casting clues; he related they simply hadn’t dealt with a new show that had such a gigantic and knowledgeable fanbase, and the buzz probably took them a little unawares. But he assured us they eventually warmed to the idea, mostly because they recognize ASoIaF has a more “mature” fanbase, but also because a near-constant buzz was being provided by someone other than their publicity team.

For the most part, HBO loves Winter-is-coming.net. And we love them. So long as the series is the Greatest Thing Ever.

Our breakfast ended with the arrival of Vince Gerardis, one of the show’s producers–a fine-looking gentleman, sublime of manner and sharp of eye. We grudgingly allowed him to thieve Mr. Martin away from us, but in trade he slyly mentioned …

[Spoiler City]

…he had got to bear witness to the beheading of a certain lead actor at a certain shocking moment. “How much do you really get to see?” Winter asked. Vince wore a rather amazed expression, and said, “All of it. It’s hard to forget, especially knowing who you’re looking at. It’s all right there.”

So there you go with that. I sort of can’t wait. I sort of dread.

Anyway. Time is a-wasting, and I need to get to Pasadena. More to come!

• Published on 01/07/2011 at 2:56 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/20/2016 at 6:04 PM CDT