New casting clues from George R.R. Martin from his "Not A Blog".
Under the post title of "I'm Blue" he wrote...
"The She-Wolf of France has stormed the barbican. The Aussie turned her into a bunny."
The two clues seem to support Gwendoline Christie as Brienne.
Gwendoline Christie
Clue #1
"The She-Wolf of France has stormed the Barbican."
Christie starred in a video for Patrick Wolf called "Damaris". One of the B-Sides for that single was "Queen Isabella (She-Wolf of France).
Source: Video at The Gaurdian
Clue #2
"The Aussie turned her into a bunny."
This likely refers to Polly Borland (Aussie phtographer) that did a photo shoot called "Bunny Nose, where she turned the 6'3" Gwendoline into a bunny.
Source: Article at FashionsMostWanted
***UPDATE #1***
HBO Watch confirms Gwendoline Christie as Brienne.
Source: HBOWatch
***UPDATE #2***
GRRM confirmed on his "Not a Blog" that Gwendoline Christie is indeed Brienne...
"This was another one of those cases where there was hardly any debate. The day the first batch of auditions went up for the role, we looked at a dozen actresses who were reading for Brienne and one actress who WAS Brienne. Gwendoline gave a great reading, and her look was just perfect. No, when she auditioned, she did not look she does in the photo above.[Referring to the above photo] She came in looking... well, like Brienne.
As for my clues... Christie played in a music video called DAMARIS, which includes a song about Isabelle, the She-Wolf of France (wife of King Edward II, for the history nerds out there), and played in Shakespeare's CYMBELINE at the Barbican theatre. She also posed for Australian photographed Polly Borland for a show called 'Bunny'."
Source: NotABlog
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Also rumors about one Gemma Whelan as "Yara" Greyjoy. Who is assumed to be a renamed Asha Greyjoy from the books. Maybe Asha sounds too much like Osha (who has already been introduced) and to avoid confusion they may have renamed Asha yo Yara.....
Gemma Whelan
I forget, but didn't Brienne wear a blue cloak in The Rainbow Guard also? I know her coat of arms had blue in it also so that fits with the "I'm blue" post title GRRM used.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the idea of 6-3 Christie as Brienne!!!
ReplyDeleteI was worried about them casting some average height woman and ignoring Brienne's most dominant feature - her stature.
Gwendoline is going to have a long sit in the makeup chair.
ReplyDeleteShe is a beautiful woman, but not in the traditional sense. I think with some bad hair and maybe thicker eyebrows , in the right wardrobe, she could pass for plain to unattractive. Even just how she holds her mouth or the expressions on her face will take some oft the beauty edge off... I hope.
ReplyDeleteI would hate to think of a regular character having a lot of prosthetic make-up on a daily basis.
I wouldn't fret about it. There are so many supporting characters on this show that screen time is extremely splintered. I'm guessing the average actor on GoT puts in a lot fewer hours than someone on a traditional network drama.
ReplyDelete(And hey, it's a down economy. They should be glad for the work.) :)
Ha! XD
ReplyDeleteI'm not worrying for her, or the make-up artists, I just find th less make-up the better. Subtlety over blatant, but sometimes it actually takes longer to make it look subtle and real I guess.
So i'll shut up now.... :)
She looks as if she´s born for this role. Hope she catches Biennes spirit.
ReplyDeleteHere's a "nice" video of Gwendoline looking dangerous and less pretty, showing she will be perfect in the role of Brienne of Tarth. No surprise that Nina Gold was spot on yet again!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1W5klIT7dg
I'm only 7 chapters into A Clash of Kings so far, so I still have to meet this character for the first time. If they didn't made a bad mistake, their fantastic track record of casting won't be in any danger.
ReplyDeleteI can see her as Brienne!! so, great choice!!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to time-travell and see the next season...can't wait! I hope they will make more episodes than this season.
ReplyDeleteShe'll be perfect :). No, she's not hideous obviously, but she does have an interesting shaped nose and mouth around which the rest of her beauty can be sapped away via the magic of makeup (or lack thereof) and possibly a short-cropped haircut or wig.
ReplyDeleteWith regards to the girl who might be playing Asha/Yara... I think that (for now) she looks way too sweet for the role. She's ridiculously cute and young looking.
Although I haven't read the books and understand she is meant to be unattractive, I kind of hope they just make her unattractiveness with in the cultural acceptance of GOT universe about her size, behavior, and plainness and leave her as something unique/different and not necessarily grotesque (IMO Behavior says more anyways)...
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way about Yara or asha....
ReplyDeleteI always pictured her more "hawkish" more tomboy and aggressive.... more angular looking too. I trust casting though and obviously she was trying to look sweet in that photo (and every other photo of her I saw) so I won't judge yet.
Not to mention there's no confirmation and the "Yara" thing throws me off a bit. Could they be combining other roles into Asha? Dunno.
I know some hate the idea of a name change , but frankly I don't mind it at all. With so many characters in the series, the easier it is for people to learn the new names the better. They already changed Robert Arryn to Sweet Robin (1 Robert already why confuse people), combined a few bloodriders into the roles of Qotho and Rhakaro. I just don't have a big issue with it.
Here's The Wolfman still of her.
ReplyDeleteI do too. I don't think they need to give her a hump in order to make her social outcast. Overly tall women who refuses to do womanly activities, wears mens clothes/armor and has no womanly curves is unattractive itself in a cultural sense for their world.
ReplyDeleteThat said I do hope they add in the freckles and straw-like hair mentioned in the books... easily done with make-up and a wig.
Right, Robin as Robert. The funny thing is that the novel specifies that Jon named his son after Robert. The "confusion" as it were is silly. An offhanded line about he is nothing like his namesake would have been fine. Anyway, he's a minor enough character that I thought nothing of it. Yara would kind of bother me I guess xD. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteI read an article about 10 roles that could be cut without much complaint, and it was suggested that many of the characters from Dorne/The Iron Islands be cut.
I think I read that too. I guess that is one of the problems caused by creating an atypical fantasy world with more details than most and characters that do their job and their job alone and aren't jack of all trades to fill in 5 or 6 plot needs at once.
ReplyDeleteWow ... she's so tall, that black mini (photo 2) looks like a belt :)
ReplyDeleteAs for Asha, she does look a bit too pretty for the Asha describle in the book, but she could very easily pass for Theon's sister.
Very happy with both of these choices but especially Brienne.
I do not need a wig to make my hair look like straw ... just 15-16 straight hours of sleep works every time :)
ReplyDeletePlease GRRM and especially HBO, please make room for more episodes for this season. Don't cheat the book fans and show fans of all the rich stories!!!!
ReplyDeleteShe comes from Tarth, which is known as the "Sapphire Isles" which are blue. :)
ReplyDeleteThey are going to have to "ugly" her up lol
ReplyDeleteYes it is well and good that she is tall but in the book she is not comely at all. She is described with a big mouth, crooked teeth and no teats. Let's not forget her characters huge hands and gaunt shoulders. P.S. She wore a rainbow cloak with Renly.
ReplyDelete