Game of Thrones gets its director, first actor

I’ve written before of my love for George R.R. Martin’s epic A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series. And two exciting things lie on the horizon for the series. First, Martin is aiming to have the fifth book in the series — A Dance With Dragons — finished and in the hands of readers by year’s end. And second, HBO is moving forward with their adaptation of the series’ first book, A Game of Thrones.

HBO has just announced that Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor) will be directing, and Peter Dinklage will be playing Tyrion Lannister. Now casting Dinklage as Tyrion is an obvious choice in my book. But I’m a little surprised by the choice of McCarthy.

I never would’ve pegged him as a director of dark, violent, adult-oriented fantasy. But one of the book’s greatest strengths is its complex, deeply written characters, and McCarthy has proven more than capable of dealing with such characters in his films. (Seriously, if you haven’t seen The Station Agent, rent it this weekend.)