HitFix Interview: A few minutes with George R.R. Martin at the 'Game of Thrones' food truck
The 'Song of Ice and Fire' author finally saw the HBO drama this week
'Game of Thrones' author George R.R. Martin
Credit: HBO
Winter is coming to HBO on Sunday, April 17.
But on Friday, April 8, dinner was coming to Venice Beach. [Or a tasty pre-dinner appetizer.]
After visiting locations in New York and Los Angeles, the "Game of Thrones" food truck made its final stop on Friday evening, delivering "a taste of Westeros" with a free tasting menu devised by "Top Chef" favorite Tom Colicchio.
Friday's menu offered the choice between suckling head cheese (accompanied by farro and dried fruits) and venison skewers (with baked apple, barley and cinnamon). Both featured options were accompanied by moist lemon cakes. Many people in the long line stretching down Abbot Kinney selected first one entree and then circled back around for another stint in line to try the other. The head cheese came only in a thin sliver and while savory, it could have been any tasty terrine or luncheon meat. The venison, though, was tremendous and I could have made a meal of it, if I'd gone back through the line five or six more times. [Instead, I went across the street and whetted the rest of my appetite at one of the seemingly dozen Korean-Mexican fusion trucks that prowl LA's streets.]
Fans at the "Game of Thrones" truck were treated to a surprise guest, "A Song of Ice and Fire" author George R.R. Martin, who greeted every patron through the line as they neared the end of their journey. Some of the diners were clear fans. A guy in front of me told Martin that he'd previously met him at a book-signing in Dublin. Others had no clue who they were seeing, but they were at least appreciative of the camera crews surrounding Martin and the pilgrims coming up to be photographed with the author.
As food quantities ran low and the gaggle diminished, I snagged a few minutes with Martin, who saw the first two episodes of "Game of Thrones" earlier this week.
Click through for the interview...
HitFix: Have they let you try to food yet?
George R. R. Martin: I had the venison. The venison was great. It was magnificent.
HitFix: And I assume you had no connection with Tom Colicchio and the designing of this spread?
GRRM: None at all.
HitFix: What goes through your mind when you see something like this?
GRRM: It blows my mind. Mind you, I've been out of television for 10 years and I've never worked with HBO before, so I don't know what's customary in way of promotion, but this is certainly not something that I anticipated. If there have been previous foodtrucks running around for "The Sopranos" or "Deadwood," I've missed them. Or they haven't come to Santa Fe, anyway. But a foodtruck by a world-class chef is astonishing. And here I am about to eat a lemon cake... It's amazing.
HitFix: Has anything else from the scale and scope of HBO's promotion for this amazed you?
GRRM: Well, there's one I haven't seen. Tonight they're taking me to see a wall? At Hollywood & Highland? I haven't see that. I don't know what it is. But it sounds pretty amazing? You know anything about that? [I don't.] No? Well, come to Hollywood & Highland tonight and who knows what we'll find!
HitFix: Is this fun for you? Or is it just overwhelming?
GRRM: It's both. I've been doing a lot of interviews. It's my 15 minutes of fame, I've been telling people. I'm sure a year from now, you'll be doing a "Where Are They Now?" feature on me.
HitFix: I know you finally saw the first two episodes this week. Give me some early reactions...
GRRM: They're amazing. They're gorgeous. I saw them on a big screen and it looked like a movie. The special effects hold up to giant magnification. The visuals are just gorgeous. The directors really have great eyes. And, of course, I knew that the acting and writing would be first rate. David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] are terrific writers, both of them, and we have a world-class cast, with people like Sean Bean and Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, amazing discovery, Kit Harrington, the kids. So I loved it.
It was the scenes from my book, many of the scenes from my book pretty much as a wrote them. Original scenes that have been added because of the change of medium, those were pretty good too. I did occasionally miss a scene. I know the book so well. I said, "Well OK, now this scene is coming... Awww. They left that scene out. Oh, that's too bad." Unless they did a three-hour every week... But I don't think HBO was going to give us that. I think my fans will be overjoyed by this series. I think 95 percent of them will love it. There are always a few who are like, "You left out Tom Bombadil! How could you leave out Tom Bombadil!" So there will be those people. But, for the most part I think it should be very successful.
HitFix: Were you particularly impressed with how well they realized any moment or image?
GRRM: The Wall is the biggest fantasy element in the books, really. And The Wall is astonishing, both shots of it, both the opening and later when Jon sees it for the first time, which is a different angle and different painting or CGI thing.
HitFix: And going forward this season, what are you most excited about seeing?
GRRM: Well, I'm looking forward to seeing my own episode, which is Episode Eight, "The Pointy End," which introduces some characters like Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister, who will be seen for the first time there, and there'll be other cool stuff in that chapter. And I'm looking forward, I don't want to spoil things here, but I'm looking forward to the final shot of the first season, which is a rather big and important shot, but I'm not going to say what happens in it, because that would give away too much.
"Game of Thrones" premieres on HBO on Sunday, April 17.
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At the dawn of the 21st Century, Daniel Fienberg came out to Los Angeles for grad school. He hasn't left. "The Fien Print" is a blog about television -- reviews, interviews, analysis -- but it's also about movies and the business of Hollywood. It probably won't be a blog about the Red Sox, though it might seem like that at times.
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April 10, 2011 at 7:34AM EST Reply to Commentdamn cannot wait for the 17th. :)
Sareeta
April 10, 2011 at 11:07AM EST Reply to CommentThe final scene in the book made my jaw drop. Very cool way to end the book and make you excited for more. I hope it has the same impact on viewers.
Billy
April 10, 2011 at 12:08PM EST Reply to CommentDan - How about you're impressions of the first 2(or 6) episodes? Ok, I guess I can wait till the podcast tomorrow. Please tell me you'll be talking a lot about Game of Thrones in the podcast! :)
Billy your impressions
April 10, 2011 at 12:09PM ESTdan Billy - This week's podcast will be amply "Game of Thrones"-y! Impressions aplenty and whatnot... The short version? "Very positive."
April 10, 2011 at 1:31PM EST-Daniel
Jim
April 10, 2011 at 2:00PM EST Reply to CommentDan, do you think that the Game of Thrones pilot could be one of the best of all time? Why or Why not?
matt No. Too much exposition for it to have a lot of momentum.
April 10, 2011 at 9:03PM ESTSareeta
April 10, 2011 at 8:00PM EST Reply to CommentWhere do the numbers need to be to get a 2nd season? I haven't heard of HBO canceling too many shows without at least allowing a 2nd season. Flight of the Concords, #1 Detective Agency, & Tell Me You Love Me were canceled because the creators ran out of material. John from Cincinnati is the only one I can think of that didn't get a 2nd season. Carnivale got a 2nd season, Deadwood a 3rd before being canceled. HBO seems to be fairly generous in allowing enough time for a series to gain an audience.
dan Sareeta - My guess -- this is 100 percent a guess -- is that all "Game of Thrones" needs is a decent premiere and a renewal will come very quickly. I dunno if that means 2.5 million viewers or 3 million or 4 million. But it's an expensive show and HBO will want to set a resumption of production as quickly as possible. So I wouldn't be surprised to see a renewal come within a couple weeks of premiere, provided the show isn't an absolute bomb. Which it won't be.
April 10, 2011 at 9:22PM EST-Daniel
April 10, 2011 at 10:47PM ESTThorrgal Ryan, GRRMartin has 7/8 years to write 2 books. Season 4 and 5 will be a mix of books 4 and 5. Book 4 has half the POV's and the start of the book 5 has the other half, while ending with all the POV's again. So I'm sure they'll work something out for that, no worries.
April 11, 2011 at 7:07AM ESTNot all the season have to be in spring, so mb season 2 will be spring 2012 but season 3 , Storm of Swords, will be pushed back till autumn 2013. then season 4 autumn 2014 and season 5 spring 2015.
If I had to guess by then book 6 would be already finished and book 7 half written. Martin has already said that the delay was mainly casued to the fact he had to rewrite dance completely to solve the issue he ran into while trying to make time pass 5 years for some povs and not for others. That didnt work so he had to change his approach, but now he will have 8 years to write 2 books, plenty of time, specially if the show gets picked up season after season..u know how much money that will mean for him???
April 11, 2011 at 8:30AM ESTjoel Ryan, considering the problem with ADWD is the same as the problem with AFFC, i don't think your point makes any difference. AFFC/ADWD was originally one book, ADWD. the reason AFFC took five years was the same reason ADWD took five more -- timeline issues that required multiple massive rewrites.
April 12, 2011 at 11:57AM ESTThe reason AFFC could come out first was that it concerned the storylines that didn't have anything to do with whatever gave him the timeline problem, apparently -- the dreaded "mereneesee knot" that took years to untie. but i guess he has finally done it.
jen
April 12, 2011 at 2:40PM EST Reply to CommentI am SO JEALOUS. My two main obsessions are GoT and food trucks. MAN!