HBO to make George R.R. Martin' SoI&F into a series...

[Ranger REG]

Well, you're wrong.

Seriously though, they're different mediums. The books are more in depth, but the pacing is horrible. The movies had much better pacing and good character development, but they don't contain the same depth and history of Middle Earth.

AFAIC, the book shouldn't be the screenplay or the script for a motion picture medium. Even JRR Tolkiens himself once mentioned that.

A book can go in-depth because the reader can set the pace of his reading. That's why film novelizations (usually based on the first production script ... minus rewrites during shooting as well as post-production editing) tend to have more than what shown in the final film product. You can't do that with a 2-plus-hour feature-length film. And LOTR is actually one book comprised of three acts (a book publisher's decision, not Tolkiens).

 

[Mistwell]

No - they bought the rights. They did not take out a mere option.

They could choose to cancel production - but they bought the rights just the same. GRRM acknowledged they closed the deal and are cutting cheques for this.

Seeing as they have producers and exec producers hired and are going into pre-production - this looks like it will happen.

No guarantees - but not a mere option.

Confirmed from a source at the New York Comic Con who went to the panel with Martin this weekend:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=189462

He confirmed his "deal" with HBO and the Song of Fire & Ice books. Basically all he said was, it was "optioned" which in Hollywood terms doesn't mean much of anything. The good news is, the way he explained it to us, was that the prime time networks (NBC, CBS, ABC) may option like 100 TV shows every year. Out of those 100, maybe 10 will have pilot episodes made, and out of those 10 pilot episodes, maybe 3 will make it.

With HBO, he said they don't throw money around like the other networks, so they may have 5 shows optioned, 3 pilots made, and 1 show makes it on the air. Basically what he was getting at once, since HBO optioned it, there is a very good chance it will happen. He also said that don't expect anything major to happen (such as a pilot episode) for at least a year.

 

[Ranger REG]

No, the option means HBO get first bid for the screenplay, something G.R.R. Martin has to provide before the option agreement deadline is passed. May not mean nothing but it's the first step.

 

[horacethegrey]

Apologies for bringing up this old thread, despite having no real news about the series at all, but I had get this off my chest.

Does anyone think that Gerard Butler(whom you've probably all seen as Leonidas in 300) would make the perfect Eddard Stark?

Here's a pic of him as Beowulf from Beowulf and Grendel:

And of course, as Leonidas from 300:

And here's another pic from him, but I don't know from where (apologies for not posting it as an image, as it's too big):
http://users.telenet.be/k-film/timeline gerard butler.jpg

 

[ssampier]

I can see him holding Ice.