via NYMag Vulture
More ComicCon leftovers. (Yeah, I actually liked Veronica Mars, at least for the first two seasons.) From Vanity Fair:
… During a Game of Thrones panel [Friday] at Comic-Con—that began with a standing ovation for Dinklage and an epic In Memoriam reel set to Boyz II Men’s “Hard to Say Goodbye”—the Emmy-winning actor confessed that he has absolute no idea what is in store for his character, Tyrion Lannister, even though his fate has been written by series creator George R. R. Martin.
“In four or five years when this is all over, I think that I will go back and read all of the books and reflect upon it,” said Dinklage, when asked whether he is curious about his character’s future. “But no, I don’t want to know what is coming. I want to know what has happened. But I don’t want to know what is coming so I stray from reading too far into the future.”…
Another person on the panel who had been anxious about the future, it turned out, was George R. R. Martin. The franchise visionary was so nervous about how people would respond to the “Red Wedding” episode that apparently last year, the author said that he was going to fly to a country without Game of Thrones when it aired. When moderator Elvis Mitchell asked whether he had succeeded with his plan, George R. R. Martin revealed he had not.
“I discovered that there are no countries without Throne,” he explained. “In the last year, the books have sold in Mongolia, Iran, Vietnam, Iceland, Scandinavia. So I decided there was no escaping it. I figured I might as well just bunker down in Sante Fe and withstand the storm. And I managed to survive.”…
Keith
I gotta say it: as good as Dinklage is, his British accent is pretty bad (compared to the rest of the cast, naturally, but I can think of a few American actors who do much better accents…Robert Downey Jr, Renee Zellweger). Makes me wonder why Warwick Davis didn’t get the role of Tyrion. Not to knock on Dinklage much, especially since he’s become the main star of the show, but I’m curious why they went with an American actor for that role.
NotMax
At least from the trailer, the new Cosmos looks like an unappetizing mish-mash of CGI glitz and pop-sensationalist history overshadowing science.
Disappointing, but as it is being made for and will air on FOX, not unexpected.
Old Dan and Little Ann
The “Hello Rochester” jingle from my youth was not unique. I am crushed.
Suzanne
@Keith: Because Dinklage is hot.
Violet
@Suzanne: Yep. Very.
Keith
@Suzanne: Still has a terrible British accent, in spite of the accolades.
Suzanne
@Keith: Perhaps. But you asked why they went with an American actor, and it’s because he’s a DwILF.
Violet
@Keith: According to Bill Bryson’s Mother Tongue, the English accent of old is more similar to the current American accent than the current British accent.
Keith
@Violet: So every other cast member on the show really has the terrible accent?
I’d also add that even though I’m a heterosexual male, I would say that Warwick Davis should qualify as a good-looking man. Has damn good comic timing as well….and he and Val Kilmer helped start the whole fantasy thing (inside joke for viewers of the “Life’s Too Short” finale)
Hill Dweller
@Suzanne: But Tyrion has a gruesome face in the book.
Comrade Mary
One theory I’ve heard is that Dinklage has a striver’s accent.
Violet
@Keith: He’s an attractive man and he does have good comic timing, but he’s not sexy. Dinklage is. Exactly what the difference is, I’m not sure. But it’s there.
Suzanne
@Hill Dweller: And who wants to watch that?
This is rather akin to musing why Hooters doesn’t hire flat-chested, homely women.
NotMax
@Suzanne</a.
Ah, but they do.
Turns out they’re just very, very good actresses.
Groucho48
I was going to say Davies would be too old for the part but he’s only 43. He was only 18 in Willow. Kind of a surprise.
SectionH
Apparently this is my night for just diving in.
Mr S and I are total pop culture failures in general, but quite geeky in a few ways. Look, we’ve been SF fans for practically ever. Just as an i.e. (as Pratchett would write), we’ve known George SS Martian (that’s a srs in-joke I defy anyone, even ALL to get) and his wife for more than half our lives. [delete srs brag] George won his first Hugo for a brilliant short story (A Song for Lya?) and then there was With Morning Comes Mistfall, and Dying of the Light (generally dissed so I gather, but it was a f’ing brilliant novel, or at least a piece of writing). Possibly because of that book, I have never wanted to go near GoT, book or TV.
My DIL was at Clarion West in SD a couple of years ago when George was one of the major writers. That was pretty cool too. Yes, she’s sold since.
Hill Dweller
@Suzanne: Martin made Tyrion a disfigured dwarf in a family of beautiful people for a reason.
SectionH
@SectionH: George was at Clarion TEACHING, interacting, all that stuff.
One of the great things about the SF community is that True Fans who are also successful ppl DO give back.
piratedan
@SectionH: I think his series of short stories in the Tuf Voyaging collection is some of his best work tbh, but I have found that reading preferences are very much a ymmv kind of thing.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Keith: Westeros is not Britain.
Yatsuno
Keep it up North Carolina. You’re starting to make SC look sane.
Arclite
You know, I am having trouble getting into the fourth season of Arrested Development. What Michael starts off doing is so out of character, that it turned me off to watching any more.
I’m worried the same about Veronica Mars. That it won’t be the same.
Maybe it’s true that you really can’t go home again.
Arclite
As for GoT, I hope that GRRM can finish the books before he keels over dead. That dude has a fantastic mind, but his body isn’t a sterling pillar of health.
Spaghetti Lee
Three movies that I had high hopes for all appear to be tanking at the box office: Lone Ranger, RIPD, and Pacific Rim. Now, maybe it’s stupid to get emotionally racked up in box office returns, but I figure if non-sequel/franchise/reboot movies occasionally beat out their peers, Hollywood might take a hint and start offering more original fare. I mean, not that those three movies are all that original, but dear god, all I want is something besides the same half dozen franchises every summer. That doesn’t seem like too much to ask, does it?
Oh well, I guess I’ll just wait for Elysium to come out and then fall flat.
SectionH
@piratedan: I might check that out. Quite srsly, I simply have never read anything else by him ever after. Dodging that fact has been a bit awkward since, to put it mildly. The Riverboat novel btw was one of George’s favorites, and when I designed a con shirt for a convention he was GoH at, I had to fix what the riverboat looked like, because it was either a side-wheeler or a sternwheeler, and whatever I’d picked, it was wrong. So I fixed it.
Mr S has JUST NOW seen the thread. He was praising George for his Mad Marketing Skillz re the [holy fuck!?] Vanity Fair quote.
katie5
Since this is an open thread, just want to say that I was disgusted by tonight’s Chris Hayes’s show. He joined the freak show on Anthony Wiener, becoming a gossipy insider.
piratedan
@Spaghetti Lee: u might try RED 2, the first was a nice combination of action and character development, with a keen eye to the supporting characters. This time through, action and a more centered plotline with some personal growth for the main characters and more than a few nods to the casts former roles for fun. Nice escapist fare for the summer with a cast of folks that really know how to chew scenery and scenes.
wasabi gasp
The Band Of Blacky Ranchette – Mope-A-Long Rides Again
wasabi gasp
Liquor Store – Detroit Weirdness
Yatsuno
@katie5: Hour format and different producers. I don’t think it suits young Mr Hayes.
katie5
@Yatsuno: Agreed. Plus time slot, when I think he’s hostage to covering the trivia that constitutes most of the news.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@katie5: When I have watched his show, it has come across as trying to shove his two-hour show into a one-hour slot.
katie5
@The prophet Nostradumbass: Part of the Kubler Ross’s stages of grief, where I mourn the lack of alternate voices as well as nuance. Not only can nunace not be developed when he tries to squeeze his show into half the time (less because there’s more commercials?), but he’s bought/been pushed into the endless pundit circle jerk that defines any day at MSNBC. Same MSNBC contributors in show after show.
RandomMonster
Keith — There’s a fuck-ton more to acting than an accent. Not that “authentic” means a lot in a fantasy novel anyway.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@RandomMonster: There is no such thing as a “British Accent” anyway.
wasabi gasp
White Magic – Winds
wasabi gasp
Ive Mendes – If You Leave Me Now
wasabi gasp
Orlando Cachaito Lopez – Tumbanga
Jay in Oregon
@Arclite:
Comedy folk-singer types Paul and Storm have you covered:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7lp3RhzfgI
and the song got someone’s attention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwUpVKsq0Lo&feature=share&list=UUHVBbduunGVfVoihClN5IJw
Jay in Oregon
@Spaghetti Lee:
Pacific Rim is worth watching and fares pretty well on Rotten Tomatoes. I can’t speak for the other two, though I plan to watch R.I.P.D.
Someone said that if four tentpole movies bomb in the same quarter, it’ll be a bloodbath in Hollywood. We might be hitting that this summer. I suppose it’d be too much to hope that Hollywood stops counting on huge opening weekends to make the bulk of their money?
Arclite
@Jay in Oregon: That is pretty awesome.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Spaghetti Lee: Pacific Rim was #1 internationally, and it hasn’t opened in Japan or China yet.
There’s a very good chance it will break even despite the suck-ass marketing.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@piratedan: I loved RED 2. Nice popcorn fun, even without Karl Urban. (Love that man.) And I adore Victoria. And Ivan.
YellowJournalism
@Arclite: Hubby and I tried watching the fourth season. That opening episode was brutal to get through. I really enjoyed the near-perfect ending of the original series, so to have this new season start the way it did just totally turned me off and keeps me from watching more. Does it get better?
soonergrunt (nexus 7)
@YellowJournalism: yes.
evodevo
@Hill Dweller:
Yes. The same reasoning applied to National Velvet, where the horse in the book was a pinto (and therefore definitely NOT a blooded racehorse), but a gorgeous sorrel/chestnut in the moom pictures. The whole point of the book was that both the horse AND the rider were “lower class”, but accomplished a miracle anyway.
Oh, well ….
Ms. D. Ranged in AZ
I’ve heard a lot of fans complaining about Dinklage’s attitude during the Comic-Con. I don’t blame the guy. Some of the questions he was given weren’t really questions but the moderator waxing on about his thoughts on a scene or character. And the other questions are ones they’ve all been asked before ad nauseum. Plus, Dinklage is actually a very shy person, as many actors are. To be in the middle of the publicity storm and rabid fandom of GOT must be exhausting for an introverted person (I know it would drive me nuts). For the most part he has expressed his gratitude for the recognition and the opportunity to work on the series. I’m not sure what more people expect of the guy.
PS: His accent is fine…it’s a fantasy world…it works. There are things to complain about in the series…that ain’t one of them.
McJulie
@Keith: For what it’s worth, I don’t hear his accent to be intended as a “natural” accent at all, British or otherwise. The character speaks in a stylized way that seems to reflect the way he relates to people — with deliberate ironic distance, and he has a deliberate ironic detached manner of speaking.
As far as whether he’s too attractive to be the Tyrion of the book — until his war wound (which is clearly much more disfiguring in the book) I always interpreted him as probably actually fairly attractive (Lannister genes and all) but not perceived that way because of his dwarfism.
Mnemosyne
@Keith:
Watch The Station Agent. Dinklage is miles above Davis as an actor, and that’s more important than having the perfect accent.
I’m still hoping someone will put Dinklage in a new version of Richard III now that he’s become a star. He apparently did very well in the role in New York a few years ago, but was let down by a mediocre cast and poor direction.