July 8, 2010

On the Lookout - By Guest Columnist Bernardo Souto


George R. R. Martin is one of those rare best-selling authors that no one has heard about. Ok, “no one” might be a slight exaggeration; after all, he has already sold close to 10 million books around the world over his sparse literary career.


If you have not read his books, you will be inclined to do so....and fairly soon. HBO recently greenlit the production of his A Song of Ice and Fire saga into a full blown TV Series. It should premiere within the first quarter of 2011 if production does not derail from schedule.

Paltry sneak-peak:




Why should I watch the show, one may ask? Well, if you are into the Fantasy genre, similar to Lord of the Rings, you are set. It has dragons! If you are into political intrigue and a fair dose of backstabbing, you are set. It has Kings! If you are into visceral grizzly depictions of the hardship of daily life –akin to Rome, The Sopranos, The Wire –, you are...well...set. Add to that a pinch of incest, wanton violence, moral dilemmas, power hungry despots and now you have the big picture. Oh, and it has midgets!!! One, to be more precise; and he is very often the main character.

HBO is putting together a world-renowned team behind the project, which should be called A Game of Thrones, named after the first book in the series. So far they have got award-winning director Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor) looking after the first episode. Part of the huge cast will include Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings, Troy), Peter Dinklage (In Bruges, Narnia) and Lena Headey (300, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles).

Each book in the series spans around 1000 pages. So far we have four of them, with three more to come. That makes for a lot of content for the small screen. Let’s hope for another quality show from that prestigious network. Winter is coming.





 
 
 * This post was written by Guest Columnist
    Bernardo Souto

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