An Evening with Game of Thrones.

ladies and gentlemen please help me welcome the vice president of the academy of television arts and sciences kevin hamburger and if you don't know this already the third season premieres on sunday march 31 at 9 pm on hbo our moderator tonight is a creator executive producer and star It's always sunny in Philadelphia and of course he's a huge Game of Thrones fan and follower. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Rob Mcelhenny. Thanks thanks. Welcome to an

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with Game of Thrones. Now, as I mentioned, I'm the creator and executive producer of a basic late-night cable situational comedy called It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Now those of you who are familiar with my work some others may be wondering why I was asked to moderate the

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panel and I want to calm everyone down, calm down and, you know, let him take comfort in knowing that I too wonder why they asked me because no, I don't know, there's no connection, they asked me, I said yes and so we're in the same boat, you know, together, so I know at some point things take a dark turn or if you ask the wrong question and you wonder again why they asked this clown to do this, you know I'm probably I'm thinking Same here, but I just want to say that I'm a big fan of the show and I know this is an industry

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full of boring professionals, but I'm wondering if there are any hardcore gaming fans here?

Good evening, I'm going to say it was pretty pathetic, you know, most of these actors are British, which means they're used to a certain level of hooligan type fandom, you know, football fans, and I want to make them feel at home. and create a certain level of chaos in the room, like I don't want them to riot, but I want it to feel like they do here, so let's make these Brits feel at home. I'm going to ask you one more time. There are hardcore Game of Thrones fans here tonight, so without further ado, I'd like to introduce Mr.

Nicolas, Mr. Kitt Harrington, Mr. David Benioff, co-creator, Mr. Dan Weiss, Mr. Peter Dinklage , to Mr. George, R.R. Martin Williams and Miss Sophie Turner. So, George. I'd like to start the night with you and maybe you could tell us and this is a story that you've told a couple of times, but I find it really fascinating when you first met with Dan and Dave and why you chose. them with your baby well, I had written, I think three books at that time and each one had done better than the others at a certain point, as the books were selling well, I started to receive interest from Hollywood from various producers and studios that We were initially interested in doing it as a feature film and I met with some of those people in phone conversations with some people.

I didn't see how it could be made as a feature film. It was just too big, but it made me think. of how it could be done and I decided that the only way to do it was with someone like HBO as a series of television series, each book being a season, uh, but of course I didn't have time to do it, but I told this idea to my agent and he was here in Hollywood for something and he told me that he had set up a meeting with these guys, Benioff and Weiss, so I met them at the Palm restaurant.

I knew a little about his credits beforehand. They were both novelists, he had read his own books, and we had lunch at the Palm, which was pretty epic. We got there for lunch and we started talking and we kept talking and you know they had the same idea, no. to do it as a feature film but to do it as a television production and we talked during lunch, everyone from lunch left, we were alone in the restaurant, they started to readjust all the tables for dinner, then the crowd started to come in and where we were still talking and, you know, I did what they say.

I asked them some specific questions to determine if they had actually read the books or gave me the correct answer, so we shook hands and they took the Ball and I ran with it and the next thing I knew we were in business with HBO, but according to I understood the story, you asked them a specific question and you guessed what he asked us. Should I say the question? I guess I can. let's say the question that asks us who is Jon Snow's mother and uh, we've discussed this before we gave an answer, a shocking answer that, uh, George never actually at that time didn't say whether or not we were right or wrong, but the smile on his face I think was uh, his smile was his, we knew we had passed the wonka test at that point, I think, and were you guys nervous, I mean, how long had you been prepared for this meeting?

Yes, we were. I mean we read thousands of pages and we got to a certain point. I remember I was halfway through Storm of Swords and I called Dan and said if we could, if we could somehow get George to agree to do this, if we could. We got HBO to agree to do this and we got to a third season. We could get to this scene that he had already read because he is a much faster reader than I am. I just think the audience is going to love it, but that means getting George to say yes and hbo to say yes and getting a pilot and getting it all seemed pretty unlikely, but it all depended on this meeting with George, so we were, I would say, intensely nervous, there's never been anything I've worked on before.

I was so excited by the possibility of this and, you know, it was pretty intimidating. There is such a unique opportunity. We knew it was a unique deal. It was one. A series of books like this. There would never be another. book series like this there is a place where we could do it there is no other place in the world besides HBO where you can make a show like this and when you want something so badly yes it makes you nervous and how quickly did you move from that point in forward? I think we launched HBO on time a few weeks after I met George, yeah, March who was in 2006, 2006.

Seven years ago, my God, and from what I understand, you shot the pilot. twice is almost right uh yeah I think ninety percent of the pilot was reshot they cut my cameo yeah the other day they left me on the cutting room floor we still have you somewhere you're in an archive , Well. George um I want, is there any chance he'll come back? Yes, in fact, this year, yes, I think we have a cameo in Dubrovnik for George, no and this will be there, it won't be cut, it will be uh, George i. I would like to ask a little about the theme of the series itself, it seems that on the surface it is a story about power, the acquisition of power, the political and military struggle for it, but you know if you dig a little deeper.

It seems to me that it's more of a story of loss than the loss associated with desperately fighting for something you think you want and then watching like that instead of watching each character as they ascend to the throne, it's more about watching each character and what they do. they're losing along the way is that accurate is it something that I'm just projecting or is it an aspect of something good, that's certainly part of it um, I mean, I think there's a number of things that I'm trying to get into the books. . You know there's a certain metafictional aspect.

If I may use that pretentious word to write any kind of things, you are writing in the shadow of all the people who have written. gone before in some ways you are having a dialogue with them and as someone who has read J.r Tolkien and Roberty Howard and all the great fantasists before in some ways this is almost my answer to them, a lot of this is about war, uh, it's great. Many of the epic fantasies, from The Lord of the Rings on, deal with war, but in my opinion, many of them do not honestly deal with the consequences of war.

What Ward does to us as a society. What war does to us. as individuals and the struggle for power and in the same way, you know what we are, what we are fighting for and I love fantasy. I grew up reading fantasy, but I wanted to put a slightly different spin on it. The whole trope of absolute good versus absolute evil, which was wonderful in the hands of J.R Tolkien, I think became something of a cliché and was broken in the hands of the many Tolkien imitators that followed. I have always preferred to write about gray, human characters. characters that you know, whether they are giants, elves, dwarves or whatever, they are still human, the human heart in conflict with oneself, as Faulkner says, we all have the capacity to do great good and great evil. out of love but also out of hate and I wanted to write that type of complex characters in a fantasy not only do all the good people come together to fight the bad guy good talking about incredible characters I would like to talk a little about Tyrion um slanted dwarves You don't talk about elves, I didn't want to say it, but I'm glad there are some unicorns.

Tyrion there are no unicorns, that's what I like about the show. Tyrion seems almost unfazed, I mean, it seems like there's really only one character who reaches out to him. who seems to be his father apart from that, do you think there is any other character who gets under his skin? It's not just her father, I mean, Shea gets under her skin quite a bit, because it turns out he's falling in love with her too. So those two go hand in hand, right? But I feel like only his father has the most control over his destiny, so that poses a bigger problem;

You can easily manipulate others, that's what I find. yes, even with his sister there is a certain level of control that she could get to him I'm here briefly I'll leave I'll lean this way she might get to you at some point she might get to both of us at some point, but for the most part time We can just, yeah, you know at the end of the scene or at the end of your interaction with her, it seems like you're always ending up with the upper hand. Do you ever catch yourself breaking down in real life?

Resolving a situation the way Tyrion might know, he seems to mentally prepare for every potential move and guess 10 steps ahead. You know, it seems like an exhausting way to live, but I guess as actors you're lucky that people do that. for you, um, what hair line, what just took me to the emperor latte, I don't know, no, yeah, well, speaking of you, that's an American actress, although, what are American actors, that's a different story. I learned that she quickly ordered coffee with milk and it arrived. set of

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wow i just lost the whole country of northern ireland welcome back mr dingley the best coffee uh lina have you found what have you found has been following pete dale , not fair, damn, thanks, I'll skip that kit.

I'm a big fan of your hair now it's glorious, thank you and I'm wondering if it's always been glorious or if there's any particular product, it was glue, it's been glorious for a while, yeah, yeah, these two made me. it grows for the show, so yeah, and now it's become a topic of conversation in every interview. I know, that's why I mentioned it. I don't know what you're supposed to say about that. I wanted to bother you. I wanted this. this is part of creating that level of chaos that I'm excited about uh nikolai also has amazing hair, like the Disney villain, you know like the prince, the prince that you're rooting for like he's super handsome, but oh yeah, what does he have ?

It was the most emotionally difficult scene you've had to play so far. I think it's not difficult because it's exciting and I love it. I love that you know that all the characters are super complex, but I think about Cersei and Tyrion. This is so deep and charged that it's always fun to tap into that emotional side. I met you a couple of weeks ago in the bathroom line. Yes, you did it at a two-year-old's birthday party. Yes, that's kind of true. I did it that weekend. and i had to go to the bathroom really bad but not as bad as lena that's irrelevant but i thought i would like that and i didn't recognize you at all and i had a big fan of the show and we were talking and after i left i realized i had no idea and I had to text these guys to find out if you were covered in tattoos and had dark hair and they said yes, uh, and I was thinking like this, but does that physical transformation, the wig and the costume allow you knowing as an actor, it helps you transform into Cersei and almost like you're wearing a mask because it doesn't liberate you in a way, well, not being blessed with glorious hair.

I'm more interested in the men's hair than the lady's, you know, it's a huge part for me to put on the wig and then get locked into that costume that doesn't allow me much comfort, huh, and then walk out into the world in the them believing it is a huge part for me of becoming her and getting into it, well yeah, in terms of getting in and out, I was thinking about um, I was thinking about catelyn and she, I mean, I was referring to a a bit of loss earlier about how catelynn as a character seems to have lost more or is about to lose more and I wonder how you can leave that at work or that level of emotional distress follows you home oh.

I'm always a nervous wreck, constantly crying, no, that's part of the enjoyment of playing her, it's the challenge, it's exciting, as Lena says, you don't see it as difficult, you just want, you know, to fulfill what you want. The script was given to me by David, Dan and Brian,now we're getting somewhere oh now we're going somewhere I'd just imagine my friends on the show and uh I'll do it I'll read them when we're after my character gets killed yeah I read the first four not the last one okay i couldn't help it when i got part i and you know it's based on books.

I went and read them. Actually, very quickly because I just wanted to know what happened to my character and then I got too far ahead of myself and had to, you know, retell it. Yes, so I have read, yes, yes, I read by season, yes, and I must admit that I took a leaf out of Sophie's book and looked up your character's title and then of course filled in the gaps in between. Well, like Macy, my mom read the book and gave a really good summary, um, Dan and David, can you? talk a little bit about what characters you found, the most general type, suddenly we're at weddings, what characters you found most difficult to cast and why, aria, yes, arya, I would say we probably saw more people, for arya and Daenerys than any other character, I mean, we must have seen how many we have seen 300 arias and this was she was one of the ones we were there, just nobody was right, nobody there was a couple of a couple of kids who felt very acting, who felt that they've just, you know, been through that child actor processing machine that produces some talented people, but you know they're good at what child actors usually play, which is The roles, you know, they're not as adult as this one and no one had that reality that we were looking for and one of the last faces we saw was Maisie's face in the cast, it's the name of the show that aired with the window, you know, it's a little window that big.

We just saw that face that big. We thought, please be good. We were in a place to get to Morocco and we are in the hotel and we have a very, very dubious Internet connection. you're so you can click on the link for mazie's audition you're waiting you're looking at like the little line oh and we're just looking at this little thumbnail image of a face that looked so perfect and waiting and waiting and waiting and then probably It was literally 30 to 10 seconds after the audition and we were like yeah, she's the one, then we had a chemistry read, actually with um, with those two mazie and sophie got together and um, and it was love at first sight. , that's where you guys I met because I read a lot about you, you were very good friends, you met at the audition, yes, I did my first audition which I guess you saw and then I did another audition meeting other girls who were playing Sansa.

I got along very well. really good with Sophie and I just remember she was super tall and after everything we do she's like oh, you're so cute and then I was like, yeah, I'm only a year younger than you, but, yeah, we get along really well. very good and I came out of the audition and told my mom that even if I don't get the part, I really love that girl too because she's really cool, so yeah, oh, you're really cute, you're only a year younger. Anyone else have an interesting casting story. Well, Jason Momoa came in and of his own volition, after doing his audition, he did the Maori haka, the Maori war dance that wasn't written into the scene, he actually had nothing to do with it. to do with the scene, but I would say that it impressed us, it did it, it did it very much, it really did it, so yeah, it was another very difficult thing to cast in the past, it was called dope and rising and you had Peter in mind , yeah, Peter, actually before I think the deal with HBO even closed, I sent you an email.

I met Peter before um at a dinner or something and he ignored me, I talked to my wife the whole time. night, but I remember thinking it's very clever, it's very funny, as you've seen tonight and, you know, when we thought we might have a chance to do this, but before we had the deal because the deal took a long time for Make sent him a note and I think you had already heard about the books and the character and then we met and do you remember what you said? You had it in a lawsuit. Won the man said no, no, no beer beards, no long beards alone.

Fact, it's done with long beards. I just never understood why in fantasy dwarves always don't offend Mr. Tolkien, but, and you know, I think he had just made the Narnia movie a couple of years before we met, so we had to rewrite the whole script . Yeah, and you're still wearing a beard tonight, it's not up to my knees, anyone see the Hollywood beard, the fact that the books were around before we started airing a show, um, and that had so many fans, which took to a phenomenon on which a program was not based. in the books it wouldn't have been like that at the time the show was announced, I started receiving tapes, pictures, links to youtube performances of the main characters from aspiring actors from literally all over the world and of course I'm in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

I was giving my opinion on some of the chosen auditions, but I was not at the casting session. I just sent all these things to uh dan and david uh here's another one that showed up on youtube some of them weren't that bad but some of them were terribly bad and terribly inappropriate based on the characters as described in the books but ya You know, I mean, he's sincere, I don't want you to ridicule him too much, I know there are people out there with dreams and everything. That, but it's not really the way you can't get cast on a major TV show by putting it on YouTube and asking fans to campaign for you or dismissing the fact that you were in a school play and Here's a photo of your performance as Othello or something.

Well, we're running out of time, but I wanted to ask something that I'm sure everyone here is really wondering where you are. Where are you in the series? As? How close are you? Well, I'm writing book six, uh, the winds of winter, um, and of course I'm starting to worry because everyone's asking me what you're going to do if David and Dan and the show catch up to you, which is starting to scare me, I didn't think it was a problem before, but they are moving faster than me. I haven't stopped noticing this. Sometimes I feel like I'm laying tracks for a railroad and I can hear. the locomotive is coming here and it's picking up speed and I see the smoke and I hear the whistle and I better keep laying that track pretty fast here because I'll get crushed if the locomotive comes, but I still have a considerable lead at least.

That's what I'm telling myself, season three is the first of the first half of book three, so season four will be the second half of book three and then I have book four and book five, uh, those are giant books that have to be recombined because they're actually parallel, but I'm hoping it's at least two seasons, maybe three, giving me some time to finish book six and by the time they're done, they'll be doing that season. and I will be writing book seven, that is my story and I stick to that note. uh, that will conclude our evening, so let's leave it one more time for everyone to watch Game of Thrones.