Showrunners of HBO's Game of Thrones series, David Benioff and Daniel Brett Weiss, admitted that at the beginning of the work on the saga, they were not sure of their ability to adapt it. They stated this during a meeting with fans of the Game of Thrones at the Austin, Texas Film Festival. According to Vanity Fair, the statements of the duo were widely dispersed thanks to one of the users of Twitter, who outlined the writers' performance on his page on the social network.
In particular, Benioff and Weiss talked about how they defended the idea of the project before HBO, worked on a pilot series, were engaged in the selection of actors and, ultimately, what kind of reaction they had from the fans of the saga.
According to Benioff, at the beginning of the journey they studied web pages with a fan cast of the series. So Jason Momoa, the performer of the role of Khal Drogo, joined the crew.
The scriptwriters admitted that they were very worried when they presented the project to producer Carolyn Strauss (she launched Sex and the City on HBO). The showrunners also recalled that George Martin, having first seen them, doubted at all that they were suitable for this work.
“Before, we never worked on television, we had absolutely no experience in this area. We have no idea why he decided to entrust us with the work of his whole life, ”Benioff quotes a Twitter user.
The pilot episode of the project was criticized by other filmmakers (including the author of "Chernobyl" Craig Meyzin), indicating errors made in writing the script. Benioff and Weiss were surprised that HBO basically gave the show "green light" after a failed pilot.
“We made a mistake wherever possible: script, casting, costumes ...” - the authors of the show said. They suggest that the channel allowed them to stay only because many foreign companies had already bought the rights to display at that time.
Daniel Weiss described work on Game of Thrones as studying at an expensive filming school. So, at the beginning of this study, show runners did not know how to work with costume designers.
For his part, Weiss intended to remove a lot of fantasy elements from the film adaptation, "so that the series would not only interest fans of this genre." The scriptwriters sought to expand the audience of the show so that it would be to the taste of both “mothers and players of the NFL”.
The extended timing of the series, originally only 39 minutes, was explained by show runners to HBO requirements and their own contractual obligations. So another 100 minutes of material was shot.
Finally, one of those present at the meeting asked how the scriptwriters viewed criticism from fans of the saga. Weiss replied that he and his colleague did not listen to the fans, and explained that he saw no reason to take into account the reactions of other people. At the same time, he noted that he was upset by the publication of the series on the Internet.
How Benioff and Weiss lacked stars from the sky
Although Benioff and Weiss had more doubts about the final season of Game of Thrones, the showrunners were delighted to be greeted by Disney Star Wars creators on their team. It was assumed that the creative duo will develop a script for the next trilogy that is not related to the Skywalker family (franchise rights were transferred to Disney in 2012, when the company acquired George Lucas Lucasfilm's studio).
The Disney deal with Benioff and Weiss was planned before the end of the Game of Thrones. In February 2018, screenwriters issued a statement expressing their willingness to begin work on Star Wars immediately after the completion of the current project.
- Frame from the series “Game of Thrones”
- © kinopoisk.ru
In August 2019, Benioff and Weiss left HBO and switched to Netflix - the deal was estimated at $ 200 million.In general, four media giants, including Amazon and Disney, fought for cooperation with them. And until recently, the tandem was somehow going to work on the continuation of the space saga.
“We love Star Wars.” When George Lucas created them, he in a sense created us too. Discussing the franchise with him and the team that is currently working on it has become for us the most exciting moment in life. We will always be indebted to the saga that changed everything, ”said Benioff and Weiss.
Nevertheless, it turned out that even for such an important project, the scriptwriters' busy schedule simply does not have enough time.
“Unfortunately, there is only 24 hours in a day, and we felt that we could not pay due attention to Star Wars and our projects for Netflix at the same time. Therefore, we made a difficult decision to leave the project, ”they explained.
Nevertheless, Lucasfilm president Caitlin Kennedy still does not lose hope of working with the Game of Thrones showrunners. She considers Benioff and Weiss to be one of the best authors of our time and is ready to start cooperation as soon as there is a window in the busy schedule of scriptwriters.
The start of a new trilogy was planned for 2022, with subsequent parts in 2024 and 2026. Whether release dates will change after the departure of Benioff and Weiss has not yet been announced.