There is no denying that a big budget Game of Thrones
film could be as spectacular as The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit.
While I’ve consistently been impressed with how great the effects on the show look, I do secretly wonder what the series would have looked like had it
been put to film rather than television. I know the story would have suffered
and book readers would have had even more to complain about regarding inconsistencies,
but there’s no doubt that seeing Game of Thrones on the big screen would be an
epic experience.
We all love how graphic and unapologetic the series is. Nudity,
brutal deaths and disturbing subject matter are some of the things Game of
Thrones is most known for, and indeed gained it such a huge fan
base among young people. My problem is if the show was to be adapted for a
film-going audience there is no doubt how ‘watered down’ it would have to be. The
only thing Hollywood studios care about is turning a profit and I fear that
giving this film a hard R rating would restrict audiences, studios know this would reduce profit leading to a PG13 rated film. Imagine how different the story would be if a majority
of the mature content was removed. It’s also obvious to me that this film would also have to cater to people who have not seen the show, which would lead to many
scenes involving exposition and retelling information. I know this is the truth
because your average movie going audience probably doesn’t consist of JUST Game
of Thrones fans and the studio would want to hit that audience to maximise profit.
Though the finished film would perhaps not sit too well with
fans of the series, it is clear to me that if it was to do extremely well at
the box office I can see a rise in television big screen adaptations. As
much as I’d complain while they were being made I can hardly deny that
I wouldn’t be first in line to see a film version of Sherlock starring the
original cast. I just finished True Detective and while I think it’s an
incredible series I would unfortunately cave in and see a film adaptation
should one ever be made. Like I said all these studios care about is the
potential money to be made, if a Game of Thrones film was highly successful
there would be a demand within the industry to recapture that financial success
with something else.
The idea right now is to conclude the series with a feature
film and if a Game of Thrones feature film MUST be made that seems like the
natural thing to do. However to conclude the series it would have to have a huge
dramatic pull, with resolutions from all the remaining characters. This is not
likely to be as effective when placed in a blockbuster. While I love
episodes like Battle of the Blackwater and Battle of Castle Black my favourite
episodes are those in which characters interact and evolve. They are the most
interesting to me due to the complete reversion back to the story’s dramatic
core. There is simply no way that can be captured in a film that’s trying to be
the blockbuster a studio would want. A huge epic movie taking place in the Game of Thrones universe just wouldn’t
mesh well with the already established lore of the series.
To conclude this essay I have boiled down five rules that
must be followed should this film be made successfully.
1. George R.R Marin must agree. Put straight and simple, if George doesn’t agree with the film’s direction then take one that he does.
2. Alan Taylor should direct. He’s
shown his feature filmmaking talent with Thor: The Dark World and he’s the
natural choice being a favourite director on the show.
3. Original cast must
return. Game of Thrones is perfectly cast, should they be forced to recast a
main role like Daenerys, Tyrion or Jon Snow then they should rethink the idea
of a film altogether (maybe read this essay).
4. Writers must have
creative control. Let’s hypothetically say Warner Bros. get the film rights to
the show, there needs to be some kind of condition in the contract that the original
writers must have creative control over the final product. The studio should
not have the power to change things left and right.
5. HBO must be involved. It goes without saying that HBO are
producing incredible television right now and if they aren’t involved in the
film’s production in some capacity then it’d be a real shame.
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