A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his work adapting the short fiction of fellow genre writer Harold Waldrop into a series of short films. With these shorts, Martin is trying to honor his lifelong friend, who passed away from a stroke earlier this year at the age of 77. It's very sweet, and we'll circle back to it, but we also know why most people would click on a headline about George R.R. Martin: has the author made any progress on The Winds of Winter, the long-awaited sixth book in his series of epic fantasy novels adapted by HBO as Game of Thrones?
“Unfortunately, I am 13 years late,” Martin quipped (the last book in his series, A Dance With Dragons, came out in 2011). “Every time I say that, I’m [like], ‘How could I be 13 years late?’ I don’t know, it happens a day at a time.”
"But that’s still a priority. A lot of people are already writing obituaries for me. [They’re saying] ‘Oh, he’ll never be finished.’ Maybe they’re right. I don’t know. I’m alive right now! I seem pretty vital!"
Martin also notes that he never plans to retire, quipping that he's "not a golfer." Some outlets have reported on these quotes as, basically, "George R.R. Martin admits he'll never finish The Winds of Winter!" But I think that's a little disingenuous. I mean, maybe he won't, but clealry he's joking and intends to do the job to the best of his ability.
George R.R. Martin believes Hollywood should make "faithful" adaptations of books
In the meanwhile, Martin has been consulting on some of the Game of Thrones spinoff shows that HBO has been working on. Earlier this year, he made waves by publicly speaking out against the producers of the prequel series House of the Dragon, which has been going further and further afield of its source material: Martin's book Fire & Blood.
Martin discussed his philosophy on changing source material for the screen when talking to THR, and while he's technically speaking about adapting Howard Waldrop's stories, it's hard not to read this and think about his recent misgivings with House of the Dragon:
"Maybe I’m one of the few people in Hollywood who still thinks that when you adapt a work of art, a novel, a short story, you should do a faithful adaptation. [It] annoys me too much because they change things and I don’t think they generally improve them."
HBO has a new Game of Thrones spinoff series coming out next year called A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, based on Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas. So far, it sounds like that one is more to Martin's liking.
George R.R. Martin tries to get more exposure for his fellow writer Howard Waldrop
Now let's circle back to Waldrop. Martin has sunk his own money into producing adaptations of short stories like Night of the Cooters, Mary-Margaret Road Grader and The Ugly Chickens, about a professor (Felicia Day) who sets out on a quest to find a living dodo bird, which has famously been extinct for centuries. “I think the environmentalism is the thing that you look at,” Martin said. “But the story is fun. When you read Howard’s story, you’re going to learn a lot more about dodos than you ever possibly thought you wanted to know.”
The Ugly Chickens has already received a nomination for Best Short Film at the HollyShorts Film Festival, and Martin hopes it might even become an Oscar contender. “I hope these films will get [Howard Waldrop] a lot more readers, because he has a lot of books and he has a lot of short stories. If these little 30-minute shorts do well enough, if they can earn at least some of their money, then we’ll do more of them. Howard has 100 stories at least, but they’re all wonderful and unique in their own way.”
Martin was able to show Waldrop a rough cut of The Ugly Chickens shortly before he died. “I was very thrilled that he liked it a lot,” he says. “And I said, ‘Well, we’re almost finished. We got a few more post-production things to do, but we’ll show it to you.’ But of course, that never happened. He died six days after he saw the rough cut.”
It's clear this is an emotional process for Martin; he and Waldrop first became friends when they were teenagers corresponding cross-country about comic books. They kept up that discussion their whole lives. “I love the guy. I miss him still,” Martin said. “He was certainly my oldest friend in the world of science fiction and fantasy.”
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