Tapestry joins Thrones tourism trail
A HUGE new tapestry celebrating the US hit fantasy TV series Game of Thrones has been unveiled at the Ulster Museum in Belfast.
The unveiling came on the same day that the penultimate series of the TV saga — much of which is filmed at various locations across Northern Ireland — hit the TV screens.
Tourism NI revealed the tapestry as part of a new campaign to entice more Game of Thrones fans to the province.
The 66-metre long artwork depicts scenes from the hit HBO series and will be added to in the coming weeks as series seven airs on Sky Atlantic. It will expand to 77m in total. Game of Thrones is mostly filmed in Northern Ireland and has boosted tourism numbers here since the show first aired in 2011.
The hand-embroidered artwork uses material from Thomas Ferguson Irish Linen in Banbridge, one of the last surviving mills in Northern Ireland. her “most treasured experiences”.
The actress, who’s married to American actor Christian Contreras whom she met at drama school, also received critical acclaim for her performance in the movie One Day alongside American star Anne Hathaway.
And then came Good Vibrations, which was written by Glenn Patterson and Colin Carberry, and told the story of how Terri Hooley set up his Good Vibrations label and helped launch John Peel’s favourite song Teenage Kicks by the Undertones on an unsuspecting world.
Jodie said she’d been instantly drawn to the film after reading the script and added that she particularly loved the fact that it was an independent movie.
The public can see the creation from Saturday, July 22.
Meanwhile, pop star Ed Sheeran made his Game Of Thrones debut with a cameo appearance in the first episode of Season 7 shown yesterday.
He sang during his fleeting appearance in the death-filled episode titled Dragonstone.
“It was like nothing I’d ever done before,” she told Culture NI, adding that getting to work with Belfast actor Richard Dormer who played Hooley had sealed the deal because she was aware of his ‘amazing’ reputation.
She also revealed that the Belfast accent didn’t come easily to her, but she said she enjoyed taking risks. “I like to feel the fear. I’ve never done the Belfast accent before and I am finding it pretty difficult, but I have a wonderful dialect coach,” she said at the time.
“Mind you, the directors seem happy enough with me so far, so, you know, that’s good.”
Jodie had never heard of Hooley or the Good Vibrations record shop and recording label before she got the part.
But she said after googling him she was ‘blown away’ at
The 26-year-old was dressed as a soldier and singing by a campfire when he caught the attention of Maisie Williams’s Arya Stark as she rode through a forest on horseback.
Stark told Sheeran’s unnamed character: “It’s a pretty song, I’ve never heard it before.”
“It’s a new one,” Sheeran re- how much stuff came up about him.
She visited Hooley’s record shop and he took her to the Duke of York pub. She said: “We had a really good chat and it was fascinating to talk to someone who had led such a colourful existence and was so passionate about music.”
Jodie said she’d never been on a movie set where all the supporting actors seemed to know each other the way they did in Belfast and that created a ‘lovely’ family environment, especially as Hooley and two of his children also had cameo roles.
Jodie said she wasn’t doing an impersonation of Hooley’s wife in the film. She only met Ruth during the filming and stressed she was playing the erstwhile Mrs Hooley ‘her way’. plied.
The singer-songwriter celebrated his appearance, posting a shot of his performance on Instagram after tuning in to the show.
The HBO series, based on George RR Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire novels, will reach its conclusion in the final season next year.