The Walking Dead on FXUK

June 29, 2012

Interview: Gale Ann Hurd Reveals More About Season 3

The Walking Dead’s Executive Producer Gale Ann Hurd talks new locations, new characters and fresh challenges.

You guys are now shooting Episode 303. How are things on set?

They’ve been great…We shut down the town [we’re shooting in], and we had a couple hundred fans surrounding the town. And they stuck around not able to see anything, so I have to give them full credit for their persistence.

This season is the longest yet, at 16 episodes. What kind of challenges does a longer season present?

It’s really a marathon this year. The advantage is we have had some cooler weather in May and we’ll be going into cooler weather again in October. The challenge is maintaining the same intense level of storytelling that our audience expects of us, and we certainly plan to deliver on that.

There are so many new locations and characters this season, what are you most excited about?

I will say that I loved the farm, but it is good to be off the farm. And the contrast between our [two main sets] this season is so great…We’re setting up this first community that is functioning in a post-zombie apocalypse. We get to see not only the advantages of putting civilization back on its feet again but also the dark forces at work in what may seem like a Utopia.

A lot of this season is filmed on an air-conditioned soundstage. Are you relieved to be inside or do you miss the outdoor shoots?

We were shooting in the woods again a few days ago, which I’m sure will always be a component of our series. And we encountered the ticks and the chiggers and the wildlife again, so they reminded us of many of our travails last season. Plus we were hit by a deluge of a rainstorm and we had to evacuate that set… But the air-conditioned stages are very much enjoyed by cast and crew alike. [Laughs]

This is your third season of The Walking Dead. What’s the secret to keeping the show feeling fresh and scary?

It’s really important to focus on making the story as richly character-driven as possible because the scares and the sense of jeopardy only come with identifying with those characters when they’re in jeopardy.

There are many new human threats this season, which you’ve always warned about, but what about the zombies. What new tricks can we expect from them?

Obviously we have the absolute best makeup effects team on the planet, led by Greg Nicotero… And every year he ups his game. So we’re not just seeing the same old thing. This season, we’re going to have puppeted animatronic zombies and that’s something that we haven’t seen before.

Have the zombie extras improved their technique over three seasons?

[The zombies] get better and better. Now they’ve had three years of zombie college and they’re about to go to graduate school… Our Walkers all have a history that the performer brings to the table, which is, “Okay where was I bitten, what part of my body has been affected, and how long have I been in the zombie state?” And that determines whether one arm isn’t working or if they were bitten on the neck, maybe their head hangs over to one side.

Next month will be your third visit to Comic-Con to give fans a look at The Walking Dead. What can fans expect?

We like to bring a special reel for the fans at Comic-Con so they can see a special sneak peak of Season 3 before everyone else. It’s sort of a reward for waiting in line to getting it into the hall. And we’ll be bringing a larger contingent of our cast and crew than ever this year. And also because we began shooting a lot earlier this year, the reel will contain a lot more footage than it has in the past.

We’ve heard that you’re working on a pirate TV show. Any similarities between pirates and zombies?

The thing about pirates is they’re a little easier to kill, but at the same time they won’t stop at anything either. They’re all out, all the time, and they’re not easily dissuaded once they’ve got their eye on the prize.

But who would win a battle between the two?

I think it would depend on how many zombies there were and how quickly [the pirates] figure out that you have to destroy the brain or they’ll keep on coming.

The Walking Dead season 3 will premiere on FX UK in the Autumn.

Interview: AMC

5:32am | URL: http://walkingdead.fxuk.com/post/26133588614/interview-gale-ann-hurd-reveals-more-about-season-3

(Notes: 2)

June 11, 2012

Interview: Ernest Dickerson Talks Season 3

The director of The Walking Dead season 3 premiere, Ernest Dickerson, reveals more about the brand new season, including introducing Michonne in all her glory. Read his interview with AMCtv.com here:

What’s been the most exciting thing to direct in the Season 3 Premiere?

I’m really excited for the fans to see a growth in the characters that they know…And in this episode, we’re introducing Michonne in all of her glory. We get to meet her, and I know a lot of people have been looking forward to that.

This is the sixth episode that you’ve directed. What’s the Number 1 secret to creating an awesome episode of The Walking Dead?

It always starts with the script. It starts with the writers. I was fortunate in the first episode to have a really slam-bang script with a lot of action. Hopefully I make it cinematic. What I love about doing this show is each episode is like doing a mini-movie; it’s different than any other television show I’ve ever done.

You directed the memorable Season 2 Finale with the walker attack on the farm. What was that like to film?

I think a lot of people were looking at what we had to accomplish and thought it was impossible… It was really cold the last night, like 27 degrees. There’s nothing more pitiful than a shivering zombie, so we had them on the bus until the last possible second…When the barn was burning, I know they loved being down there.

You’ve gone from directing episodes on a stretch of highway and in the forest to now directing inside on a sound stage. Are you happy to be indoors?

It was slightly more pleasant because we could have air conditioning pumped in there, but it was a really dusty environment and real gritty. I had dust in my hair and I blew my nose and black soot came out. [Laughs] I thought it’d be easy, but no, not at all. There’s no such thing as easy in the world of The Walking Dead.

Glen Mazzara told us he wrote a particularly gross zombie gag for Ep. 301. How does this compare to the Woodchuck Zombie gutting from Season 2?

That’s hard for me to say because the entire time we were shooting the Woodchuck autopsy, what I called the zombie autopsy, I kept wondering if it was gross enough.

8:44am | URL: http://walkingdead.fxuk.com/post/24880903322/interview-ernest-dickerson-talks-season-3

(Notes: 1)

Filed under: The Walking Dead Season 3 FX FXUK Ernest Dickerson

May 8, 2012

Robert Kirkman: “This season is going to blow people away”

The Walking Dead season 3 is officially in production! To mark this exciting occasion the show’s Executive Producer, Robert Kirkman, has revealed more about the brand new season.

After two seasons, you must feel like an old pro on set. What aspects of production still surprise you?

One thing that’s surprising me is how much I’ve fallen in love with Georgia. The town Senoia where we’re filming is absolutely beautiful…The big change this season is we’ve got this amazing prison that we’re filming in. It’s absolutely stunning, and I never get used to being on set.

What went into constructing the prison?

They’ve taken a lot of what you see in the comic book series and brought it to life in ways that I didn’t think possible. This is going to be one of the most impressive looking things that’s ever been put together for a show.

The room in the prison with all the guns and the SWAT gear in the comic is really cool. Is that going to come up on the show?

We’re a big fan of the SWAT gear here at The Walking Dead writer’s room… maybe that’s an indication that we’ll be seeing that stuff in the show. It’s important to us to maintain the tone of the show. Thus far [the characters] have been out on the road, desperate and living in the heat, and we don’t want it to be that they’re relaxing in this safe place now.

With the evil Governor in the picture, does that mean the humans are the bigger threat this season?

The plan was always to evolve naturally into a place where the zombies essentially become a manageable threat. You know the rules. You know how to deal with them. To a certain extent they become something to not really be scared of unless you mess up. Humans, however, do not follow any rules and will always do something that surprises you and are capable of doing things far worse than trying to eat you…We’re definitely going to be seeing a lot of horrible things.

What can you tell us about David Morrissey’s portrayal of the Governor? Have you seen him in costume yet?

I’m actually waiting desperately to see him dressed up in Governor mode and walking the streets of Woodbury. I think he’s going to be absolutely great playing against Andrew Lincoln.

Michonne was introduced in the Season 2 Finale. How are Danai Gurira’s sword skills shaping up?

There’s been quite a bit of sword training going on and [Danai] is doing an amazing job. She’s going to be do all of the hard character stuff and drama that The Walking Dead is known for, but she has tremendous physical capability and the sword training that I’ve seen is absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to see her hack up some zombies.

Can you tell us anything about the sword she’s using?

She’s using a sword that we specially designed for the show…The origins of the sword will be revealed on the show.

This season has got so many exciting story lines…

When you think about The Walking Dead comic series, you think about oh, the stuff they with did the Governor, the stuff they did with the prison and Woodbury and Michonne. And that’s really a lot of the stuff that people remember the story for and that’s stuff we haven’t even gotten to in the TV show yet. So as much as people love the show, and as high as the ratings are, and as cool as the show is, I feel like we haven’t even gotten to the good stuff yet. This season is absolutely going to blow people away.

You’re developing another of your comics, Thief of Thieves, with AMC. What can you tell us about that project?

Thief of Thieves is a great heist story about a man named Conrad Paulson who leads a double life as a master thief known internationally as Redman…I am working with Chic Eglee, who is a fantastic writer who worked on the first season of The Walking Dead, and right now we are in the pilot development stage, so he’s going to be working hard on the pilot script and once that’s written we’ll go from there. But it’s really exciting to be working with AMC again.

This season will be 16 episodes instead of 13. Are you looking forward to the longest production time yet?

The actors and the crew and a lot of the producers would not be thrilled to hear me saying this, but I love doing 16 episodes a year. I think the more the better, and I think it’s a lot of fun. We are going to get to tell bigger stories, and tell more stories, and get into the characters a lot more. So the more the merrier.

Stay tuned for more details on The Walking Dead season 3.

Interview: AMC

10:57am | URL: http://walkingdead.fxuk.com/post/22653181925/robert-kirkman-this-season-is-going-to-blow-people

(Notes: 9)

Filed under: The Walking Dead Season 3 FX FXUK Robert Kirkman AMC

November 18, 2011

The Walking Dead Season 3 In The Works

The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman has revealed that planning for a third season has already begun.

Following the overwhelming success of season two, the show was officially picked up for a third run in late October.

“Despite just having gotten the final word on season three, you don’t do a show like this without being mindful of what you’re building towards,” Kirkman told Entertainment Weekly.

“At least once a week in the writers’ room, we spend an hour or two just talking about all the different things that we’re planning on doing in a proposed third season.”

Kirkman added that many plot threads from the show’s first two seasons will be resolved in the third: ”We’re going to pay off on various different things that have happened in season one and season two.”

Don’t miss The Walking Dead season 2 tonight at 10pm, only on FX.

7:01am | URL: http://walkingdead.fxuk.com/post/12965041467/the-walking-dead-season-3-in-the-works

(Notes: 7)

Filed under: The Walking Dead Season 2 FX FXUK Robert Kirkman Season 3