Kit Harrington reveals what was actually going through Jon Snow's mind as he rode toward the Wall in the final scene of Game of Thrones.
Tag: HBO
George R.R. Martin: “I can’t go Into a Bookstore Anymore”
In a recent interview with The Guardian, George R.R. Martin candidly discussed the ways in which the immeasurably popular Game of Thrones TV series has affected him, both as a writer and as a human being.
Martin is known for writing at a slow pace, a practice that’s followed him from childhood, but the popularity of his work has put Martin under an immense amount of pressure.
Image Via The Guardian
Martin told The Guardian:
“I don’t think it was very good for me, because the very thing that should have speeded me up actually slowed me down. Every day I sat down to write and even if I had a good day – and a good day for me is three or four pages – I’d feel terrible because I’d be thinking: ‘My God, I have to finish the book. I’ve only written four pages when I should have written 40.’ But having the show finish is freeing, because I’m at my own pace now.”
George R.R. Martin With G.O.T. star Maisie Williams/Image via Vanity Fair
Martin is currently working on finishing The Winds of Winter, which will be followed by A Dream of Spring, and fans are incredibly anxious to get their hands on these works despite the fact that it will likely be years before either sees the light of day.
Now that the TV series has ended and fans have a little more time to hypothesize, googling Game of Thrones will lead you to hundreds of articles all speculating the release dates of these novels. Some claim that Martin has finished writing The Winds of Winter but is hiding it from the public, others assert that it’s impossible for Martin to finish in his lifetime.
As one would expect, being picked apart by the masses day in and day out would have a significant effect on anyone, and Martin admits he’s nostalgic for the days when Game of Thrones had garnered only a small and dedicated audience.
George R.R. Martin being interviewed in 1998/Image via Twisted Sifter
“When I first went to a Brotherhood Without Banners party there would be a few dozen people there, and I became quite friendly with some of them, and every time I attended I would meet new ones and spend time with them and run trivia contests for them. It was great but, as the books became more and more successful and then the show became a hit, so the parties became bigger and bigger and more and more crowded. They still have those parties and they’re still great, and I’m still friendly with the people I met back in 2001 and 2002, but I can’t meet the new people any more because there are too many. I’m sure they’re just as delightful as the old people, but I don’t want to go to a party where an unending succession of people want to take selfies with me, because that’s not fun the way it was in the old days. That’s work.”
On top of this shift in his professional life, Martin has also been forced to alter his personal life around his celebrity.
“I can’t go into a bookstore any more, and that used to be my favorite thing to do in the world. To go in and wander from stack to stack, take down some books, read a little, leave with a big stack of things I’d never heard of when I came in. Now when I go to a bookstore, I get recognized within 10 minutes and then there’s a crowd around me. So you gain a lot but you also lose things.”
Image via Daily Express
However, Martin has had a couple of years to acclimate to a life of fame, and with the show ending he seems to have relaxed from the stress of keeping up with the series.
“I have good days and I have bad days and the stress is far less, although it’s still there… I’m sure that when I finish A Dream of Spring you’ll have to tether me to the Earth.”
Featured image via Forbes
5 of Literature’s Most Epic Pets
Everybody loves animals, even fictional ones. Whether they’re surviving fires or starting them, biting or putting up with the protagonists, or really good sports about villainous mistreatment, these animals are in it for the long haul. Here are some of our favorites, in no particular order.
1. Buttercup – The Hunger Games
Gif via Giphy
This cat’s been through a lot. Bombings, attempted murder, living underground. I’ve never even known a cat who could stand a closed door. Nothing impresses Buttercup. All he wants is to have his head pet and maybe some fresh entrails.
2. Drogon – Game of Thrones
Gif via Tenor
Who doesn’t want a dragon? Personally, I’d rather be able to breathe fire myself, but this is a close second. Our boy got LORGE. Plus, he survives the game of thrones. What’s not to like? I’d ask where my dragons are, but there’s no missing them.
3. Hedwig – Harry Potter
Gif via Giphy
She bite! Sure, Hedwig might not be the cuddliest of pets, but she can find anyone on the planet earth, and isn’t that worth more? Dignity, messengerial integrity, spots, she’s got it all. Plus, she survives longer than about half the human characters. Too soon? It’ll always be too soon.
4. Toto – The Wizard of Oz
Gif via Giphy
Have we left Kansas? Doesn’t bother her. Tornadoes, witches, Toto’s not afraid of anything. It’s also revealed in later books that Toto, like most animals in Oz, is capable of speech. She’s just not much of a talker. Still, her tendency to bite witches speaks loudly enough.
5. Max – How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Gif via Giphy
Has any pet ever put up with more? From the indignity of having to wear just one large antler, to the logistical challenge of having to pull an entire sleigh, Max always does his best to make the Grinch happy. One hopes he got a large helping of roast beef for his trouble.
Featured image via CuriousWhale
5 Upcoming Books Being Adapted for Film (That You Should Read)
We’re in an age where a lot of book properties like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and HBO are grabbing books by the truckload to adapt them for television and film. With even more book adaptations arriving this fall, but some might end up flying under your radar, owing to the source material being more obscure than Stephen King or George R.R. Martin.
Thus, here are 7 books being adapted for the fall and winter that you might want to read before they get their onscreen counterparts do.
5. ‘Watchmen’
Image via Amazon
Watchmen is a seminal graphic novel by famed writer Alan Moore, telling the story of a supremely screwed-up batch of superheroes against the backdrop of an alternate history of America, where Richard Nixon is still President and the world is on the brink of nuclear annihilation.
Image Via 5Forty
Although it already had a Hollywood adaptation by Zack Snyder in 2009, HBO is adapting the book as a series that is set to premiere in October 2019. Well, kind of. Instead of adapting the book straight, its a sequel to the graphic novel, set 30 years in the future and showcasing the fallout of the book’s mind blowing ending. Although Alan Moore is NOT a fan of his work’s adaptations, hopefully this one can win fans over with its new take on the classic material.
4. ‘The Good Liar’
Image Via Amazon
The Good Liar tells the story of a conman who meets a wealthy widow online and intends to swindle her out of as much money as he can, confident she’ll easily fall for his charms. But the widow proves a harder mark than expected and the conman finds himself falling for her for real, despite himself.
Image Via IMDB
This novel will see its big screen debut in November, starring Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren. You’ll have to read it or watch it to see the outcome of the con, one last scam that reveals the inner most hearts of people.
3. ‘The Earthquake Bird’
Image via Amazon
The Earthquake Bird is set in Tokyo in 1989, where an English woman called Lucy with a dark past flees to Japan for a new lease on life. But her dark past haunts her, as her best friend is murdered and she begins an affair, with an ominous cloud growing darker on her each day.
Image Via Deadline
Details on its film adaptation are scarce but its going to be a mystery film starring Alicia Vikander with a release sometime in 2019.
2. ‘His Dark Materials’
Image via Amazon
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of fantasy novels set in a world called the North, where witch-clans rule and armored polar bears are used as weapons of war. The series centers on a young girl called Lyra, who finds herself in conflict with her fearsome uncle and dark forces conspiring against her, all to save her friend who was kidnapped.
Image Via Radio Times
Probably one of the more high profile adaptations on the list, the fantasy series is being adapted by HBO and the BBC, where the first season will debut in late 2019. It will focus on the events of the first book, with more seasons doubtlessly to come after to focus on the rest of the series.
This is one you shouldn’t miss and the original books are classics, making them well recommended to check out.
1. ‘how to build a girl’
How To Build A Girl is a semi-autobiographical novel by Caitlin Moran, published in 2015. The book follows a 90s teen who reinvents herself as a fast talking, gothic writer and critic. By age sixteen, she’s become a fully fledged hard rocking, chain smoking woman who writes for high profile magazines. At once funny and horrifying, the book is a coming of age novel that showcases how the world can fail you and how making yourself into something else isn’t an escape.
Image Via Variety
The film adaptation is coming sometime this year, starring Beanie Feldstein, Jameela Jamil, Chris O’ Dowd, and Alfie Allen. Its set to be a hard look at growing up we all need to see and read.
Featured Image Via Amazon
‘His Dark Materials’ “Perfect for TV Adaptation”, Says Star Ruth Wilson
His Dark Materials is coming to HBO this fall. The show is a joint effort between HBO and the BBC, and stars Ruth Wilson, Dafne Keen, James McAvoy, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. In an interview with The Guardian, Ruth Wilson spoke highly of the show, noting:
His Dark Materials is perfect for television.
She went on to say that with Game of Thrones, HBO has proven that television is no longer film’s poorer sister. In fact, she noted books are inherently better for the small screen, saying you can really take your time with a book’s content as opposed to rushing through its contents in an hour and a half on the big screen.
There’s no difference anymore and in a way, if you’re going to tell a drama – which this is, as well as being fantasy – you’ve got more time. You have eight hours to explore that, rather than an hour and a half.
She says the show ‘feels special’ and she is very hopeful about how it will be received by general audiences. The scale of it would have been impossible years ago but nowadays, fantasy can look just as epic, if not more so, on the small than in film. Having more time to explore the world and get to know the characters are huge pluses as well.
His Dark Materials is a trilogy of epic fantasy books by Philip Pullman. It is a coming-of-age tale centering around two children in a strange alternative Oxford. While magic, witches, and giant armored polar bears exist in this universe, themes of spirituality and physics are also explored. The books have attracted controversy for their criticism of religion, but this hasn’t stopped them from being enormously popular, garnering numerous awards and reaching bestsellers lists. The iconic series will see its debut this fall on HBO and we cannot wait.
Are you excited for this classic fantasy series to finally get its well-deserved TV adaptation? Below, you can watch the official trailer for the show. Let us know what you think in the comments!
Featured Image Via Collider
