'Baahubali' is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
My first three manuscripts were epic fantasy - like high fantasy - and then the fourth one was a historical fantasy about Mozart as a child. I still have a soft spot for that one!
When we started work on 'Baahubali,' my sheer aim was to be able to live up to the imagination that Rajamouli sir had in mind. As an actor, my intention was to bring up 'Baahubali' live on screen for the audiences. I never even expected in my wildest of dreams that the film would grow on to become a phenomenon of sorts.
As [John] Tolkien himself said, the story [Lord of the Ring ] is not allegorical. He said so when people tried to make analogies to World War II and the fight against Hitler and his fascist coalition.
'The Return Of The King' has a conclusion.
'Lord of the Rings' was about saving the world, big time, big duties.
He is born again! I feel him! The Dragon takes his first breath on the slope of Dragonmount! He is coming! He is coming! Light help us! Light help the world! He lies in the snow and cries like the thunder! He burns like the sun!
I'm proud of Lord of the Rings. I think it's a once in a lifetime role, and a once in a lifetime film. It was made with so much care and passion and meticulous detail and everybody was so behind it.
To play Khal Drogo was phenomenal, and I wished there was more stuff he could have done. I'm going to miss that character.
Game Of Thrones is arguably the hottest thing on television.
You get films like 'Baahubali' once in your life. And Amrendra Bahubali is a character that I can never forget.
Many fantasy novels - 'Lord of the Rings', for instance, or 'Lavondyss' by Robert Holdstock - are beautifully written. Geoff Ryman's 'The Child Garden' is exquisite and utterly beguiling. Mervyn Peake's 'Gormenghast' trilogy is an astonishing piece of multi-faceted storytelling. So quality of writing does not condemn the genre.
'Children of Blood and Bone' is basically 'Black Panther' with magic.
Over the years, more than one reviewer has described my fantasy series, 'A Song of Ice and Fire', as historical fiction about history that never happened, flavoured with a dash of sorcery and spiced with dragons. I take that as a compliment.
'Baahubali' is my favourite project.
I don't have a specific message for 'The Grace of Kings' and the sequels in mind other than wanting to challenge some of the source material I was working from as well as some of the assumptions of epic fantasy.
ELANTRIS is a new BEN HUR for the fantasy genre, with a sweeping, epic storyline and closely personal characters.
In the 'Dreamblood' books, I'm focusing more on what I like about epic fantasy: the layering and depth of tension; the chance to really delve into the minutia of an alternate society and its politics; a large cast of characters to love and hate.
There is much to admire in Peter Brett's writing, and his concept is brilliant. There's action and suspense all the way.
I've read every single fantasy novel there is. I mean, I would challenge a lot of people to read more fantasy novels than I have.
Science fiction is really a rather tiny business compared with its giant cousin, which is fantasy.
Steven Erikson is an extraordinary writer. I read Gardens of the Moon with great pleasure. And now that I have read it, I would be hard pressed to decide what I enjoyed more: the richly and ominously magical world of Malaz and Genabackis; the large cast of sympathetically-rendered characters; or the way the story accumulates to a climax that hits like machinegun fire. My advice to anyone who might listen to me is, Treat yourself to Gardens of the Moon. And my entirely selfish advice to Steven Erikson is, write faster.
Fantasy is the oldest form of literature and science fiction is just a new twist on it.
The success that the Tolkien books had redefined modern fantasy.
I think the amount of production value that was put into 'Game of Thrones' was incredible, and it's unlike anything I've seen on any other production, including 'The Lord of the Rings.'
