Sorry, no casting puzzles for you today.

Offers are out on quite a few parts, both major and minor, but I’m not aware of any deals closing besides the ones already announced. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. Who knows? These things can take time.

Meanwhile, readings and auditions continue for a lot of other roles, and I’ve been reviewing tapes when I can. Lots and lots of kids of late. Mycah. Rickon. Tommen. Myrcella. Casting kids is really tough, especially when they only have a very few lines. Sometimes you get lucky and find someone like Maisie or Sophie or Isaac, with acting chops far beyond their years, a real instinct for the art. Those are the rare exceptions. Most kids… well, they can look great, and they try hard, and maybe in a few years they will be terrific… but right now, they’re just kids reciting lines. They never become the character. So the search goes on. But I’ve got every confidence that David and Dan and Nina will turn up someone great, even for the small parts (and maybe we already have, I haven’t finished reviewing all the kids yet, not even close).

The auditions for the part of Ser Ilyn Payne are the strangest I’ve even been witness to. Ser Ilyn has no tongue and no lines, of course, so the actors just have to stand there and look mean & scary, reacting to the dialogue of other characters being read to them by the casting assistants. No words to work with, just their mouth, eyes, facial expressions. Talk about challenging.

I know there are aspiring actors and actresses reading this. You guys have all my empathy. It’s a tough, tough profession you’ve chosen. Good luck to all of you.

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Everyone is all in a frenzy for casting news, I know, I know… but it takes a lot of talent to make quality television and film, and not all of that talent is in front of the cameras.

David Benioff and Dan Weiss and the good folks at HBO have been assembling a terrific team for GAME OF THRONES. I thought you all might like to hear about one of the latest hires come aboard — world-class makeup artist PAUL ENGELEN has signed up to do the hair and makeup design for our series.

You may or may not have heard of Mr. Engelen before, but if you’ve seen a TV show or a film in the last couple of decades, you have certainly seen his work. His credits include Ridley Scott’s recent ROBIN HOOD, Narnia, CASINO ROYALE, V FOR VENDETTA, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, TROY, GLADIATOR, James Bond, Tarzan, A FISH CALLED WANDA, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS… oh, and something called STAR WARS too.

Oh, and he’s been nominated twice for the Academy Award for best makeup, and five times for a BAFTA. Won one of the latter, too.

He’s a exciting addition to the GAME OF THRONES team, and we’re all thrilled to have him on board.

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The LARNE TIMES broke the story a “massive castle” being build in an old quarry near Magheramorne for HBO’s GAME OF THRONES. The quarry is about forty minutes north of Belfast, near the town of Larne.

I can confirm that, more or less. The set being built at Magheramorne will be our Castle Black. Not actually THAT massive a castle — much of Castle Black will be created in post with CGI — but it will come complete with a fully operable winch elevator, David and Dan tell me.

Google tells me that “the gobbinsite at Magheramorne quarry is found as a rare filling of vugs and vesicles.” I have no idea what that means, but hey, it sounds like it came straight out of someone’s fantasy novel. Gobbins, vugs, and vesicles all in one place. I hope they don’t attack the castle. Those gobbins are mean sonsobitches.

Let me caution anyone reading this, however — please DO NOT go rushing off to visit Magheramorne. Quarries can be dangerous places, and construction sites doubly so. We don’t want any fans getting hurt. Besides, why spoil the illusion? Castle Black will be best viewed on screen, in all its glory.

(And no, HBO will not actually be building a 700 foot high wall of ice. We tried, but the cubes kept melting).

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