Game of Thrones begins....

[Habbaku]

The guy they picked for Stannis is excellent--he was great as Thomas Jefferson.

I'm less sure about the pick for Melisandre, but that may be because I don't think the actress is busty enough.  Then again, that was also an early issue with Cersei's casting...

[Josquius]

Stannis quite looks the part. Ecclestoneish. Never seen him in anything though. And he's old apparently, got 10 years on Addy. Guess he doesn't really look it though.

Mel...No. She doesn't look the part at all. I was expecting a more exotic look. And hot. She was in Black Book apparently. Meh.

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http://www.zimbio.com/Sean+Bean/articles/If-pBKPbr3o/Sean+Bean+Game+Thrones+Season+2+Bring+Back

lol.
Though I am very hopeful that they do some prequel scenes. I'd love to see some flashes from the Tower of Joy or the Trident.

[LaCroix]

Haven't seen John Adams yet.  He's good though?  Nice.

before i read the quote from valmy i thought you meant paul giamatti

[Habbaku]

Liam Cunningham (First Knight, Outcasts, Harry Brown) has been cast as Davos.

[jimmy olsen]

Very thrilled with the actor for Stannis.  He was a great Thomas Jefferson.

I am not familiar with the actress they got for Melisandre.

Haven't seen John Adams yet.  He's good though?  Nice.  I think the Melisandre actress played Tom Cruise's wife in Valkyrie.  She just doesn't seem like she's attractive enough to pull it off, but we'll see.

Yes, she doesn't have the voluptuous red haired milf vibe I was hoping for, but shit, you cant accuse her of not being hott enough.

Dillane's Jefferson seems to indicate that he might be suited to play Stannis.

So far I approve. And to be honest, only my opinion matters.

Looks hot as hell to me.

[The Larch]

I'm less sure about the pick for Melisandre, but that may be because I don't think the actress is busty enough.  Then again, that was also an early issue with Cersei's casting...

Caliga, is that you? How did you hack into Habbaku's account?

[Sophie Scholl]

Looks hot as hell to me.

Don't get me wrong, she's attractive.  Melisandre, as written though, is very, very attractive.  Internet level hott.

[Habbaku]

I'm less sure about the pick for Melisandre, but that may be because I don't think the actress is busty enough.  Then again, that was also an early issue with Cersei's casting...

Caliga, is that you? How did you hack into Habbaku's account?

Let's face it; for all her acting chops, Lena Headey is not a physical match for Cersei.

[Slargos]

Looks hot as hell to me.

Don't get me wrong, she's attractive.  Melisandre, as written though, is very, very attractive.  Internet level hott.

[The Larch]

I'm less sure about the pick for Melisandre, but that may be because I don't think the actress is busty enough.  Then again, that was also an early issue with Cersei's casting...

Caliga, is that you? How did you hack into Habbaku's account?

Let's face it; for all her acting chops, Lena Headey is not a physical match for Cersei.

I prefer a good actress that might not be as physically stunning as the character's description from the books (which sometimes is borderline adolescent mental masturbation) than a bombshell that fits the look but can't act as well.

[Sophie Scholl]

Looks hot as hell to me.

Don't get me wrong, she's attractive.  Melisandre, as written though, is very, very attractive.  Internet level hott.

See:  The next post by The Larch.  RR makes a lot of his females insanely hot as per description.  I rather enjoyed Headey as Cersei, so I'll run with the actress for Melisandre for now.  Hod willing, she's a great actress who can pull off the other aspects of the character.

[The Larch]

Looks hot as hell to me.

Don't get me wrong, she's attractive.  Melisandre, as written though, is very, very attractive.  Internet level hott.

See:  The next post by The Larch.  RR makes a lot of his females insanely hot as per description.  I rather enjoyed Headey as Cersei, so I'll run with the actress for Melisandre for now.  Hod willing, she's a great actress who can pull off the other aspects of the character.

A lot of Martin's descriptions for his characters are extremely exagerated (I think that I already talked about that a while ago), to the point of making it very difficult for decent actors to be cast for those roles while being 100% faithful to the source. It's not just hot females (Cersei and Melissandre), it's also extremely ugly people (Tyrion, Brienne), fat people (Illyrio, Lord Manderly), big people (The Mountain, the Umbers), and so on and so forth. Thus, for the series the more exagerated features are evened out in order to get a reasonably sized pool of people able to play the role, and that means forgetting about getting a vintage Jenna Jameson to play Cersei.

[Solmyr]

One could also argue that all the character descriptions are seen through POVs, so any hotness, ugliness, fatness, etc, might be exagerrated in the viewer's mind.

[The Larch]

One could also argue that all the character descriptions are seen through POVs, so any hotness, ugliness, fatness, etc, might be exagerrated in the viewer's mind.

Not everything, plenty of descriptions are stated as a matter of fact, such as Tyrion's and Brienne's ugliness for instance, both through other people's eyes and through their own. Sure some things are going to be subjective, and more so when the POV character is one of the young kids, but others are reinforced constantly and by the characters themselves.

[grumbler]

Not everything, plenty of descriptions are stated as a matter of fact, such as Tyrion's and Brienne's ugliness for instance, both through other people's eyes and through their own. Sure some things are going to be subjective, and more so when the POV character is one of the young kids, but others are reinforced constantly and by the characters themselves.

I don't recall any character descriptions that were not part of a POV, and so I don't know how many could be "stated as a matter of fact."  The primary impressions we have of Tyrion's or Brienne's ugliness comes from the characters themselves.  You would be correct to note that these could only be exaggerations, because other characters see them as unattractive.   Still, they are almost certainly mostly exaggerations.

Some statements (maybe the ones you referred to) are "factual" like Gregor Clegane's 8-foot stature.  Martin was writing a fantasy with magic and whatnot, so he could indulge his taste for the physically bizarre as well.  I don't think the show has to (or even can) follow suit.

I have been happy with the show's casting.  If the people who cast Renly and Ned and Tyrion and Tywin and Littlefinger say that Carice van Houten will make a good Melisandre, I'll take their word for it.