Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Zack Snyder is a huge fan of 'Game of Thrones,' and I met him in the training stunt facility that I train at, and I guess he really liked me because he later called me into his office, and we talked about playing Aquaman.
This is going to sound like a lie, but the 'Game of Thrones' set is so good to work on. I've been a part of plays and other projects where egos get in the way and there are constant fallings out. There's none of that there.
I don't have much of an attention span for TV - I nod off during the basketball playoffs - but when I watch 'Game of Thrones' on On Demand, I'm glued to the set. It's mystical and addictive. Tyrion Lannister, that's my man.
I remember watching 'Fargo.' I thought that was cruel. 'GoodFellas,' lots of Scorsese stuff, I think is unnecessarily violent and almost a celebration of violence. I don't see 'Game of Thrones' as being a celebratory violence.
When I was first told about 'Game of Thrones,' I didn't know the books, anything. So I read the pilot, and when I got the first script, it was clear the story was about these people and families and a constant battle for power.
One episode of 'Game of Thrones' is equivalent to my film 'Centurion' in budget and scope. 'Centurion' has a longer running time, but that's kind of the only difference, and I think people now, if they want drama, they watch TV.
I think it's touching that the fans feel so close to the characters that they feel personally hurt. I've felt that way in plenty of TV shows - 'Game of Thrones,' 'Mad Men.' How could they do that to that character? That's drama.
What I like about 'Game of Thrones' is that there's such a wide range. We have everything from very small, just solo instrument pieces, just the solo violin or solo cello, and then we go all the way to these bigger action moments.
The beauty of 'The Hunger Games' and also 'Game of Thrones,' in fairness, both projects have really complex, three-dimensional, contradictory, strong women... The writing of female characters is extraordinary and equal to the men.
There's no way the writing staff of 'Game of Thrones' haven't read 'The Art of War.' There's definitely an influence on 'Game of Thrones' from this book in both a general way and on the character of Lord Baelish and his strategies.
I'm a huge 'Game of Thrones' fan. I'm really into the 'Colbert Report' and 'Last Week Tonight.' And I really like to get on Netflix and watch, like, TV documentaries about: What happened to the mastodon? Or who was Jack the Ripper?
I don't think they're gratuitous with the nudity on 'Game of Thrones.' It's very much part of the world. There's a lot of it, but that's the world they come from. It never is there to distract from the scene or the actors or story.
It's been rumored for almost a year that Tormund was going out and stuff like that. But that's 'Game of Thrones.' The people you think are going to die don't die. Then people will die in a moment when you did not expect them to die.
I try to be measured and thoughtful about what I put out there because I know a lot of young people follow me on Twitter, and I take that seriously - which is why I don't exclusively tweet about cookies and 'Game of Thrones' and YA.
I had worked in TV prior to working on 'Game of Thrones' - 'Game of Thrones' is far more cinematic than any other television show that I had done before, and so I feel that the worlds of TV and film are most definitely merging as one.
Taking place in some Nordic-looking hinterland where all the seasons are out of whack, 'Game of Thrones' is the most aggressive example since 'Battlestar Galactica' of a genre that's perceived as adolescent aspiring to be fully adult.
When 'Game Of Thrones' came out, lots of interviews were coming in, and people asking me to do certain things which would push me out there. Like this whole Instagram and Twitter thing - getting more followers doesn't bother me at all.
In the case of 'Game Of Thrones,' I've been to set a couple of times, and it's really exciting and inspiring for me to see the set and the actors in action, meet them and talk to them, so it definitely helps. If I can go to set, I will.
It was great fun being part of a TV series that I'd been a fan of for five years. I've been watching it every single Monday when with my wife. It was like a ritual - every Monday night on HBO Nordic, we would watch 'Game of Thrones' together.
It's a reasonable thing to tell somebody, 'I've watched 70 hours of 'Game of Thrones.'' That's a totally normal, boring thing to say about yourself. But if you were like, 'I just spent 100 hours playing 'Skyrim,'' people think you're a weirdo.
If you tried to make a 'Game of Thrones' movie, you'd have to eliminate two-thirds of the characters, and there'd have to be one storyline, but on TV, you can really get to know the characters in a way that there just isn't time to do in a movie.
All I know is that I'm a warrior in 'Game of Thrones,' where all men must die, so it might happen at one point. But I feel like they're going to take the story where they think they need to go, so I'll wait, and I'll gladly do whatever they write.
'Game of Thrones' has never much concerned itself with shining a torch on the powerless. Their hunger and suffering in a land ravaged by war is of little concern to the story's most powerful characters, whose antics bring so much pain to the people.
If you compare the violence in 'Happy Valley' to the violence in something like 'Game of Thrones,' it's nothing. But it is shocking because it's so real and grounded. The characters could live next door to you - they're not in a remote fantasy world.
If you get a bad script, then you start expending energy trying to make a silk purse of a sow's ear. When the script's as good as those on 'Game of Thrones,' say, I don't think there was a single occasion where any of us thought there was a bad scene.
Think 'Game of Thrones.' In the old days, this sort of show might be considered bad writing. It doesn't really seem to be moving toward a crisis or climax, it has no true protagonist, and it's structured less like a TV show or a movie than a soap opera.
The challenge is, in terms of a canon like 'X-Men,' it's more like 'Harry Potter' and Hogwarts, or 'Game of Thrones.' It needs time and space to evolve and to bring the reader or viewer in and give them a result that's worth the investment of that time.
The thing that surprised me the other day was, and I was quite taken aback when I realized it, I am nearly five-and-a-half years out of 'Game of Thrones.' I last filmed on it in the winter of 2013 and it's kind of becoming, bizarrely, a bit of a distant memory.
'Game of Thrones' is wonderful. My theory is they employ all these British actors because, one, they are like me and grateful. Two, we turn up, and we know our lines. Three, we don't demand a 60 ft. Winnebago and PA, and four, largely we are very uncomplaining.
I really like to have a moment alone at the house, either in the morning or when I come home from work, when I can just zone out at my computer, relax, stare out the window, get into a 'Game of Thrones' episode, go up on my roof, whatever, then go out to dinner.
I watch a lot of television. The stuff that they're putting on television, series like 'The Americans' and 'Game of Thrones,' it's so superior to most of the films that are coming out of Hollywood in terms of drama, certainly in terms of what we're interested in.
'Luther' is raw and brutal like 'Game Of Thrones,' but it's coincidence. If I'm drawn to anything, it would be the writing. Choosing a project is an organic process where I'm taken in by the character and storyline, not the genre, whether fantasy or gritty and raw.
I first felt the addictive power of 'Game of Thrones' when I was prime minister, living in a world where power was also pursued relentlessly, albeit far less colourfully. Certainly, the characters of my world were nowhere near as good looking or exotically dressed.
The phenomenon that is 'Game Of Thrones' has propelled many actors associated with it into the minds of directors and producers, and it's a fabulous position to be in. It's because it's so adored and respected, of such high quality with such amazing cinematography.
I had actually sent an audition tape for Simon Pegg's movie 'Hot Fuzz,' which came to nothing. Four years after the film released, out of nowhere, I got a call saying the producers of 'Game of Thrones' wanted me to play Hodor after they had seen that particular tape.
I'm into 'The Walking Dead,' 'Shaun of the Dead,' obviously, and I've seen all the Romero movies. I am a classic zombie queen. And I love the White Walkers on 'Game of Thrones.' Weirdly, it wasn't until pretty late in life that I found my entry point into horror films.
When I see a fan coming over, I can't help but make an assumption about what they want to talk about. A middle-aged American woman will head over, and I think, 'Game of Thrones.' Turns out it's 'The Tudors' or 'Elementary' or 'The Hunger Games.' It's always a surprise.
I don't think there's any show comparable to 'Game of Thrones' in terms of the way it does the fantasy element to such a high standard: everything is created with so much care and detail. You really feel like you are transported into this entirely other fictional place.
I've never done a big series like 'Game of Thrones' before. All I knew was that it was HBO, and I'd seen what they had done with 'The Sopranos' and 'The Wire.' But when I started reading the script, it was a no-brainer. Yes, yes, yes. Gold. Every time I turned the page.
You realize, no matter how great, books are not shows or movies; each operates on their own different rules. 'Game of Thrones' is no different. Being forced to come up with those scenes on short notice helped how we were viewing the show and forcing it to come into its own.
There's a lot of 'Game of Thrones' stuff used in a lot of pastiches. I don't know if I've seen a Lego 'Game of Thrones' yet, but there must be one. And there's an animated thing that's been going on for quite some time, and Littlefinger is a newsreader in it, and it's great.
There was a series called 'Game of Thrones' which was very popular here in the United States, a post-Tolkien kind of thing. It was garbage, yet very addictive garbage - because there's lots of violence, all the women take their clothes off all the time, and it's kind of fun.
'Game of Thrones' cares about children. Children are heirs. There's no hemming and hawing about how they're desensitized to violence or they cost too much to send to college. They're a blessing - in many ways the only blessing - and even the evil ones have parents who love them.
My old man, he's done it very differently from me. He had years of honing his craft and years of doing all that stuff before he even had to worry about 'Game of Thrones.' So he's absolutely established himself as an actor without the fear of having to have a personality as well.
'Game of Thrones' was the first fantasy thing I've done, and like a lot of people who enjoy the show watching it, I didn't expect to respond to that world, but when I started doing it, I really started to love it, started to realize that some of the things I'm naturally drawn to.
Funnily enough, I had a real giggle with Gary Oldman when we were doing an interview together for 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.' Because I joked I was probably the only British actor who wasn't in the 'Harry Potter' franchise. The same is true of 'Game of Thrones.' Also 'Star Wars.'
I couldn't enjoy 'A Dance With Dragons,' unfortunately. Of course, I enjoyed it, but it was the first of the books I read as a writer on 'Game of Thrones,' so all I could do is think, 'We're going to have to shift that,' 'We won't be able to afford that,' or 'That's a great scene.'
I think that it's interesting how shows like 'Walking Dead' or even 'Game of Thrones,' with all its fantasy elements, have become so popular. Sometimes, though, I get a little bit annoyed because the whole nerd thing taking over and is now cool, and it wasn't cool when I was younger.
My life is unrecognisable compared to what it was - 'Game of Thrones' has opened doors that were never there before. But it can be dangerous to see it in those terms, I think. It's best to take it as it comes and work as hard as you can, and hopefully the other things fall into place.
'Game of Thrones' has kind of got the Midas touch, certainly for the lead actors and those recurring guest stars. It's the show that can do no wrong because it's so well produced. My contribution is short, but I think, in my mind, it was sweet because it involved such elaborate scenes.