GOT: Casting

[shipperx]

From EW.com:

Actress Gwendoline Christie has been cast in the pivotal part of Brienne, announced Thrones author George R.R. Martin on his blog.

Brienne isn’t physically a very flattering character in the books, described as a large and piggish-looking woman with an awkward personality who’s mocked as “Brienne the Beauty.” But her character, who serves the late king’s brother Renly, is a fan favorite. Brienne is as tough and skilled with a sword as most men and longs for knighthood despite her gender. Christie is a relatively unknown actress who was in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus and joins former Tudors star Natalie Dormer
 

Comments

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I do see where you're coming from, and I think we mainly differ on a matter of degree and - until I see how she/the makeup artists pull this off - we'll probably just have to agree to disagree. It's actuallly the fact that George said she came in looking like Brienne that gives me hope they'll go in the right direction with her.

I do see one crucial different between Brienne and Tyrion, and yes, I admit I'm partly affected in this by my longstanding admiration for/attraction to Peter Dinklage. But even now, dwarfism is considered so far from the norm that it's covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, so as a viewer I'm willing to overlook the missing mismatched eyes and accept the possibility that he'll probably keep his nose (though I hope get the crosswise scar) and still accept that he was looked down on and considered repulsive by the general run of people in Westeros - particularly Tywin, with his rigidity, and Sansa, with her worship of perfect knights and their ladies. Brienne's got to be more than just tall and plain for me to buy into the degree of prejudice she faced, even in that world and time.

But...we'll see. I want this to work. I want to really feel Jamie's shock when his body responds to her in the bath. I'm just wary of HBO, knowing their penchant for sex and nakedness and pretty people.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

*nods*

Oh good, I'm glad. I think you're right, it's a matter of degree. And thanks for sharing that bit about George saying she came in looking like Brienne (I must've missed that).

Having a hefty dose of skepticism when it comes to HBO is just good sense. I'm so tired of the few sexposition scenes; the couple they added to the series were so unnecessary. :-/ Still, there's been a lot of faithful adaptation from book to TV series -- some of the creative choices have been really well done.

Speaking of prettifying examples, we already have one: Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont. He's apparently supposed to be a big, hulking, unattractive bear of a man aka NOT THIS. *pauses to drool* And his story does revolve around his not being attractive (it's partly why Dany isn't attracted to him), but there's not much ado about this shift from book to series because the only person in the ASOIAF world who cares about Jorah's looks is Dany.

I do think there's a significant degree of gendered judgment of Brienne; she's so talented as a knight, strong and loyal, yet the aspect everyone keeps harking to is that she's a masculine-type female. Like with Tyrion, she's doing a man's job yet falling short of the expected standard (kinda like how Dany calls the Unsullied "not men"). There's so much noise made of Brienne being unattractive because as a woman she's expected to be attractive, demure, graceful, and feminine. So yeah, it's back to a matter of degree. I think how the ASOIAF people react to Brienne's looks is more extreme because she's a woman, not solely because she's really that ugly.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

You're so right about Jorah. ::also drools:: I saw him do a naked cartwheel in The Blue Room, and, um, yeah. The Hound isn't as ugly as I pictured him, either. Though my real disappointment is Ilyn Payne, who's nowhere near as cadaverous and terrifying as he's supposed to be.

Anyway, in the scheme of things we'll know soon enough if they pull this off. Long before we get Boook 6, that's for sure.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Heh. Jorah is definitely prettier... and I approve. :)

Re: The Hound... I just wish he could find some shampoo! (though everything is going to hell soon, so I expect he'll never bathe.

Re: Illyn Payne I'm still wondering how he's going to click instead of laugh...

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

The nose thing is simply because it's such a squick for me that I really rather hope it goes away. Selfishly, I just don't want to have to look at it. But he should definitely have a big scar.

And, I guess, I just put it down to a lot of 'ugly' women on TV who aren't all that ugly.

Look at the difference between Robin Weigert as Robin Weigert:
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1807873435/photo/970408275

And Robin Weigert as Deadwood's Calamity Jane:
http://mmii.info/icons/mgsnakeRPJ22/tv_deadwood-calamityJane.gif