Nathaniel Philbrick is one of my favorite historians. I especially love his superb maritime history books. And it turns out that one of his books is being made into a movie. Heart of the Sea is based on his book In the Heart of the Sea, in which Philbrick recounts the story of the Essex, a whaleship that was rammed and sunk by a sperm whale in 1820, far out in the Pacific Ocean. Its crew was stranded in small boats for several months until they were rescued and in the meantime they had been forced to commit cannibalism. The disaster served as inspiration for Herman Melville, who used it and his own experience on a whaler to help him create the novel Moby Dick.
The film, directed by Ron Howard, is set to be released sometime in 2014. And there are at least three actors from Game of Thrones that are also in this film: Joseph Mawle (Benjen Stark); Donald Sumpter (Maester Luwin); and Jamie Sives (Jory Cassel). Good Northmen all, and all dead, sadly.* So that frees them up to be in this film. I am looking forward to it.
-Geoff
*Technically, Benjen Stark is missing, but let’s just say that it isn’t looking good for him to be alive at this point.
The Books are Taking Over... 