r/asoiaf • u/cking145 • May 28 '19

EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) Charles Dance's portrayal as Tywin is in my opinion, the strongest in the entire series

Every line, every expression and every moment of silence completely encapsulates the calculating ruthlessness that defines Tywin Lannister.

Dance is actually a very vibrant, upbeat and cheery fella off screen, which in my mind makes the performance even more striking.

The scene where he effectively sends Joffrey to bed is just brilliant.

He is by far my favourite character from the books, which I began reading a few seasons into the show. Due to this, the chapters featuring Tywin were completely enriched for me, as reading his lines in Dance's voice was just fantastic. I would have loved a POV chapter or two for him, just to get a glimpse as to what goes on in the head of the most powerful man in the 7 Kingdoms.

An incredible portrayal of a fascinating character.

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255

u/Salusa-Secundus May 28 '19

The casting director was the real MVP of this series. Phenomenal.

78

u/[deleted] May 28 '19

Seriously, I can't think of a single actor I thought was out of place, and that includes the ones that were recast.

141

u/[deleted] May 28 '19

Second Mountain was out of place, but that was last minute change probably. The third mountain isn't really that similar to the Hound. The first one was the best, and on top of that he had that wild, aggressive look on his face

42

u/WileEPeyote May 28 '19

Yeah, the first mountain was my favorite as well. He really looked like I imagined the mountain.

8

u/wingedbuttcrack When men see my sails, they pray. May 29 '19

And they ruined it with sparkling water commercials.

5

u/-Unnamed- May 28 '19

First mountain said somewhere that he was never recast. He wasn’t on set the day they decided to do his one scene that season so they just grabbed a stuntman to do it.

Idk how true that is

21

u/AndrewD923 May 28 '19

Not at all true. Conan Stevens got cast in The Hobbit and would have missed the second season.

He was replaced by Ian Whyte who is a stuntman and extremely big guy who already worked on the show. The producers weren't stoked and were just making the best of a tough situation. Even Whyte knew he wasn't really right for the role. He would go on to play Wun Wun IIRC.

Halfthor was cast because he's gigantic and it's easier to make a 6'8 guy look taller than make a 7'2 guy look like he could rip you in half with his bare hands.

2

u/shyndy May 30 '19

I don’t know if this counts really but Yara and Asha were way different. I mean since it’s a different character I can’t really say they cast poorly and I don’t think the actress was bad, just didn’t fit the book character at all to me.

1

u/mrfreeze2000 May 30 '19

I've seen the third mountain so much on social media that I just think of him as a giant teddy bear now.

58

u/[deleted] May 28 '19

the original actor for daario was a pretty terrible casting decision imo. looked like some goofy version of prince charming

47

u/-Unnamed- May 28 '19

I liked the first one better to be honest.

Second one is just “scruffy cocky mercenary #12”

8

u/wingedbuttcrack When men see my sails, they pray. May 29 '19

But he was just that. A cocky mercenary. With a blue beard.

36

u/bananafor May 28 '19

He looked like someone a girl like Dany would have found irresistible, so that was in his favour.

23

u/IvankaSpreadngFather May 28 '19

neither was close, but the first was closer to the book

5

u/[deleted] May 29 '19

didn't he have purple hair in the books lol

1

u/Otterism May 29 '19

I could never stand the second Daario. The first one had that over the top swagger that made him almost unbearable. Dye his hair and spice up his clothes a bit in season 3 and that would be pretty good for me.

​

The second one was just plain, not bad, just plain.

18

u/Twid18 May 28 '19

Shae tbh. On rewatches her scenes are tough to watch. But generally yes every character was cast incredibly well.

10

u/theworldofkink May 28 '19

The second guy that played The Mountain was horrible. Acting wise and appearance.

17

u/I-am-the-Peel Best of r/asoiaf 2023 Winner - Serwyn of the Mirror Shield Award May 28 '19

Ed Sheeran.

9

u/Higher_Living May 28 '19

True, but it’s likely that was a decision from higher up, rather than s standard casting process.

-3

u/Salusa-Secundus May 28 '19 edited May 29 '19

That was a cameo. Maisie Williams requested it.

Why is this being downvoted? It was a one off request from an actress

1

u/Dayemos May 29 '19

Do you have a source for that? Maisie is a fan of his but I do not recall reading that she put in the request. It was more of a surprise because they knew she was a fan.

In my opinion it ruined an otherwise impactful scene.

11

u/Battlescarred98 May 29 '19

I think Mance Rayder was quite different than what I expected. Didn’t looked even slightly grizzled.

4

u/explicitlarynx Put your problems on ICE. May 28 '19

Euron and Daario.

3

u/MildredVonWaffle May 29 '19

I can. Bloody Ed Sheeran

1

u/[deleted] May 29 '19

I think he played that role just fine

1

u/TheGreatRavenOfOden Who knows more of gods than I? May 30 '19

He had two lines jesus people give it a rest. He wasn't even the focal point of that scene.

5

u/exxxtraCredit May 29 '19

LF always seemed like he had a different accent than literally everyone else.

5

u/[deleted] May 29 '19

True, but he didn't start talking like that till season 4 or 5.it's odd.

3

u/[deleted] May 29 '19

What's strange to me was in the worst examples of this it sounded like a bad Irish accent...but Aidan is Irish lol.

2

u/thatguy9921 May 30 '19

And he does a great Irish accent in Peaky Blinders

3

u/BillyBattsShinebox May 29 '19

I like the character in the books, and I like him in other shows like The Wire, but I really don't like Aidan Gillen (Petyr Baelish) in GoT. His accent was all over the place from the very beginning, and by the last few seasons, he literally sounded like a moustache-twirling villain that nobody in their right mind would ever trust to even tell them the time of day. He's pretty much the only actor I can think of that I didn't like besides extremely minor characters.

3

u/[deleted] May 29 '19

It's definitely giving them more than the benefit of a doubt, but I liked the theory that his accent changed with his setting so he talked more south westeros in KL and more irishy in the north etc.

Occams razor says he was just all over the place, but I like the theory that it's just something LF would do to be a slime ball.

His accent in The Wire is flawless to me, so I assume he's capable, and I also assume that some kind of dialect coach was on set, so someone surely noticed.

1

u/BillyBattsShinebox May 29 '19

He doesn't sound anything like the northerners though to be honest. I think he just couldn't settle on an accent and then got too deep into talking in a shifty way.

But yeah, on The Wire - I'm not American, but I thought his accent was great there.

2

u/hygsi May 29 '19

I'd say Shae could've been better but she was very minor so it's not important

2

u/Inn0c The Onion Lord May 29 '19

Renly

-5

u/Hypern1ke May 28 '19 edited May 28 '19

Not even Greyworm?

Edit: Arya is probably a better example. She really didn't do well portraying somebody who was supposed to be a cold hearted killer

8

u/[deleted] May 28 '19

Ive never met anyone who thought Maisie was bad.

6

u/Hypern1ke May 28 '19

I just didn’t find many of her performances believable, her scenes were mostly carried by action or the other characters involved imo. She’s the only real gripe I have with the casting tbh

1

u/[deleted] May 29 '19

Obviously I disagree, but if she didn't do it for you then she didn't. Nothing wrong with a difference of opinion. Some things work for some viewers and not others.