Game of Thrones [Hilo antiguo]

Today it was announced that HBO have agreed to film the series Game of Thrones in Ulster. The company is the premier producer of television drama and this will raise the profile of Northern Ireland as a film location.

HBO intend to produce a ten part television series of each of George R R Martin's award winning novels and it is expected that each series will be one year in production, with an overall budget for each series of around £30m.

With at least seven books in the series this is a major success for Northern Ireland Screen, who have done so much to develop Northern Ireland as a location for film production. Rick Hill (chair), Richard Williams (chief executive) and their team deserve great credit for their efforts.

This is a great boost for the creative industries in Northern Ireland and shows that we are able to compete and succeed on the world stage as regards film production.

Back in November 2009 I visited the set during production of the pilot episode at Castle Ward and Northern Ireland is well placed to secure more film production in the future. It is competitive in termso f cost and has a wide range of natural locations as well as the Paint Hall facility in Titanic Quarter.

Producer Mark Huffam was born in Ulster and his CV includes production credits on films such as Saving Private Ryan. He was also the producer of the Abba-themed musical Mamma Mia!

The U.S. production company HBO soon starts filming their new big-budget medieval fantasy series, Game of Thrones. One of the leading roles in the huge production is layed by the Danish actor, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

And he’s looking forward to the start of filming

“I am totally game to get started. I know both the director (Tom McCarthy) and the other actors from the pilot episode. They’ve created a fantastic world. It’s a very intense drama that takes place in this parrallel-world,” he says to ekstrabladet.dk.

That this is a huge deal is something the actor agrees with.

“I haven’t received the script yet, but we will start around July 1, and I’ll play one of the key roles in the show. It is a relatively expensive series and can probably best be compared with the series ‘Rome’, when we are talking size,” he says.

The series premiere is scheduled for spring 2011, with the first season totalling ten episodes.

HBO has previously been behind shows such as Band of Brothers, Rome and Deadwood.

The people behind the huge successes like The Sopranos, Deadwood and Rome have started to produce television series Game of Thrones, and the Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is a part of it.

In November, the pilot went into production, and HBO has just given the green light to produce 10 episodes in what is a kind of understated fantasy story in a fictional version of 15th- to 16th-century England without magic.

“There isn’t a lot of supernatural stuff like in Harry Potter, but the whole action takes place under the threat of winter. So if no one does anything, then you will be overrun by winter,” explains Nikolaj Coster-Waldau to DR Culture.

The TV series is based A Song of Ice and Fire on the novel series written by George RR Martin, and the series already has many loyal fans who are waiting excitedly for the television series.

Multi-layered Characters

The chances of success aren’t hurt by the fact that HBO is producing the series, the same company that has been behind the huge successes like Deadwood, Rome and, not least, The Sopranos.

“Game of Thrones is a bit similar [to The Sopranos], with the rival families. I play the queen’s twin brother, and he’ll be in the running for bad guy number one, but as we also know from The Sopranos, the characters are not just black and white. There is a reason for the things they do,” says Nikolai Coster-Waldau.

The first 10 episodes will reach American viewers in a year’s time.