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Norman comicbook.com
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http://www.amc.com/shows/the-walkin...qa-the-fallen-of-the-season-7-premiere-part-1
http://www.amc.com/shows/the-walkin...qa-the-fallen-of-the-season-7-premiere-part-2

 

he Walking Dead director Greg Nicotero on if the premiere was TOO violent

BY DALTON ROSS

Posted October 24 2016 — 3:30 PM EDT
Well, that was gross. Of course, how can a person bashing in another person’s face with a baseball bat covered in barbed wire be anythingbut gross? Oh, and make that two faces he bashed in.
That’s what went down on the season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead when Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) ended both Abraham (Michel Cudlitz) and Glenn (Steven Yeun). The episode was just as disgusting as the comic book event on which it was based, but is that a good thing? Audiences seemed divided on the matter, with hardcore horror fans seeming to enjoy the carnage, while some others… not so much.
Director/Executive Producer Greg Nicotero spoke to reporters on a conference call today to address the violent nature of the premiere, the big twist in going for two deaths instead of one, and a season 6 callback that some may have missed. He also had a message for those who say they are done with the show due to the intense nature of the subject matter. Here are some highlights from the chat:
On why they went for two deaths instead of one:
“Part of the whole show is we really needed to drive Rick and Negan’s story throughout the season, and we felt that one death would do the trick, but the second death, Glenn’s death, really, really propels us into a very different direction. It’s really about, sort of Negan laying down the law, and saying, ‘Listen guys, the bottom line is if you listen to me, we’ll be fine. But if you step out of line, that’s not gonna fly.’ So Glenn’s death has a lot to do with Rick’s future story, Maggie’s future story, and certainly, Daryl’s future story, because Daryl is the one who launched himself at Negan, and so it just made for a more rich overall story arc for a lot of these other characters.”
On why, after a six-month wait, they made viewers wait another 20 minutes into the episode to learn who died, and whether he felt that was manipulative:
“Well, you know, it wasn’t really intended that way. If you really step back and look at the episode, what you realize is the majority of it is from Rick’s point of view. So picking up moments after the death, and then going into the beginnings of Negan trying to break Rick. He basically says, ‘I’m gonna kill you, not today, not tomorrow, but I’m gonna kill you.’ Negan realizes that what he has just done did not do the trick. So the episode is really about Negan’s efforts. He sees that tremendous value in Rick and his people so he’s gonna go the extra effort.
“So by having that moment where Rick is stoic and Rick is defiant, and it takes us about 10 or 12 minutes into the episode to get to the point where Rick is feeling lost and he’s starting to feel defeated and he’s on top of the RV and everything starts flashing back to him. So the episode is 100 percent designed for you to go on this journey with Rick and start thinking as he did, about what happened and when he starts reliving it, it’s the beginning of him being broken, you know?… So it really was about Rick remembering those moments as an effort to, number one, not let it happen again. You know, when Rick starts imagining everybody else, and he sees Rosita and he sees Carl and he sees Daryl, and he sees everybody else, that’s his traumatized way of balancing what to do next. Everything that he does is based on the fact that someone else could die, and that he can’t let that happen.”
On the violence in the episode:
“You know, it’s intense. And a lot of people that read the comic book and read the graphic novel, these moments have been sort of engrained in their brain. I remember sitting next to Steven when I read issue No. 100, and talking with him and [creator Robert Kirkman] about it. And to me, what struck me about it was it was horrifically graphic and senseless and brutal.… In this instance, we felt that it was important to launch us into this season by showing the extent of what Negan is capable of doing. Because that drives so much of where the series is going from here on in. And the opportunity to then start introducing the new world and new characters and intertwining all that. It’s graphic and it’s horrible and while we were designing the make-ups and testing the make-ups and shooting the make-ups, we wanted to push it a little bit.
“When we shot the season 5 opener, and we had everybody at the trough and we went down the line and you saw these guys being murdered and drained of blood. That was purely a mechanism to show how bad the people at Terminus really were. And with Negan, you only have to see that once or twice to know that this guy is furious and means business. So the haunting remnants of that episode are very, very similar to how I felt when I read the comic book, and I experienced that sense of loss and that futility to step in. Rick Grimes is unable to stop this, and that’s something that we’ve never seen in the show, so I think the violence and the brutality are a part of it, and I think there’s a helplessness seeing our hero completely crushed in front of us is more disturbing than the actual violence, to me.”
On Abraham flashing the peace sign before Negan swings the bat:
“In the beginning of season 6, there’s a scene where Sasha is going up the steps to the brownstone and Abraham walks past and he’s a little drunk and he looks at her and gives her a peace sign. And when we were on set we wanted to find an opportunity to have him speak to her without looking at her because we were locked into what we shot in the season finale, which was the point of view was locked on Negan, so that was something that Michael added and it was a beautiful little moment. As soon as he said, ‘Hey do you remember in the first episode,’ I knew exactly what he was talking about and I was like, ‘Absolutely.’ That little peace sign was to her and to audience members that would watch the season 6 premiere would probably notice that.”
On the technical aspects of filming the death scene:
“Listen, death scenes are very difficult to film, but you know from a technical aspect we had multiple stage prosthetics and multiple make-ups on both characters so you know, for me the most significant thing was the bat that had a reservoir of blood and how we were able to get the hits to look explosive as opposed to just blood dripping, so to me when we got to the actual moments of shooting the death sequences it was very technical.… With Stephen we built multiple versions of that prosthetic with the eyeball popped out and then when he’s on the ground and the head is crushed. We actually dug a hole and put Stephen’s face down into the ground and he covered the back of his head with this sort of turtle neck crushed and so that you could see his real hands twitching and moving.”
On what he would say to those claiming they’re done with the show because the season premiere was so traumatic:
“It’s really unfortunate that people want to take a negative spin on it because, as far as I’m concerned, I’m dedicated to watching a show because I want to see where the story’s going to go next. Glenn’s not dead, Abraham is not dead. Their spirits live on, and the fact that Maggie is pregnant with his baby and Sasha and Rosita are carrying the memory of Abraham — there’s more story to tell with the result of what happened with those people. I guarantee you that there are people who are done with the show. It’s unfortunate if that’s really what’s going to happen because the show still has a tremendous amount to offer.”




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'Walking Dead' Star Jeffrey Dean Morgan Doesn't See Negan as a Villain


The actor talks with THR about claims the premiere was too violent and previews what's next for Rick, Daryl and Carl
[Warning: This story contains major spoilers from the season seven premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead, "The Day Will Come When You Won’t Be," as well as the comic book series it is based on.]
AMC's The Walking Dead is headed into unchartered territory.
The zombie drama based on Robert Kirkman's comic book series is fresh off of killing not one but two key members of Rick's (Andrew Lincoln) group. New villain Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) has arrived with a violent thud — the sound of his wire-covered bat Lucille savagely landing on fan favorites Glenn (Steven Yeun) and Abraham (Michael Cudlitz). What's more, Negan managed to break Rick — a first in the history of the TV series. Rick and his fellow survivors are now left to answer to Negan — as well as give the head of the brutal Saviors half of everything whenever they come knocking.
THR caught up with both Morgan to break down Negan's violence, what he sees in Daryl (Norman Reedus) as well as what's next for Rick and Carl (Chandler Riggs).
Where do Negan and Rick go from here? This is not just a reset for Rick's group with these big losses but a season of world building with multiple communities.
We tried to warn people that this was going to turn the show on its ear and we have. That first episode is a good indication of what's to come. Where Negan and Rick go from here is going to be a bit of a chess game for a while. Negan is a move or two ahead of Rick right now. It's not over for Rick. Negan is just starting the breaking in process of Rick. We have all come to love Rick Grimes for how determined he is and Negan recognizes that as well. He's going to stay on top of Rick for a while to make sure it sticks.
You've said that that you don't view Negan as a villain. Given that Rick killed 20 Saviors in season six, how did you approach Negan's first encounter with his group?
This is Negan's stage and he's a bit of a showman. So when we first see him in episode 16 last year when he steps out of that RV, there's a bit of a show he's putting on for these guys. He has a tendency to milk these moments and he does it for maximum impact with all of them kneeling before him. That continued Sunday [with the season seven premiere]. This is part of Negan's thought process of breaking them and he's going to milk this moment first because he's P.T. Barnum and he is running the greatest show on earth and he enjoys that. It's a lot of mental games that he's going to play with the survivors and what we're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. The result of what we saw Sunday was very brutal and as we move forward we'll get to know Negan more —there's going to be at least a few scenes where he's not smashing someone's skull in and in those scenes you'll get to know his charisma and wit a little bit more.
Which is so interesting because in the comics, you actually want to like the guy because he is so charismatic.
I love him and love playing him. I don't see him as a villain and I don't know how I can. In this apocalyptic world that The Walking Dead has created, how do you decipher the good vs. the bad? Just because we've been following Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon and their crew for the past seven years, they've become the heroes of the show. But if we'd been following Negan and the Saviors for the past seven years and how he became the leader of these people, then he'd be the hero of this show. We've seen people we love on this show do some horrible things over the past six years. And so far, we've seen Negan tap a couple people with a baseball bat (laughing). It's two sides of the same coin, really. There's something about Negan and the way he carries himself and the joy he brings to what he's doing that's different and off-putting.
Negan takes Daryl with him back to the Saviors' compound. What does Negan see in Daryl?
Negan admires that Daryl hit him and sees him as someone that could be a good right-hand man. His intention is to break Daryl and have him become one of his guys, which makes sense. After what Negan does in that lineup, he knows where he's got Rick at a certain point. But he sees something in Daryl and is going to take advantage of that. It's a chess game and Negan is going to do anything he can to get the advantage. Negan having Daryl makes Rick think, too. Negan is playing a couple cards, and you can look at it a couple different ways. Negan always has a couple balls in the air and Daryl is one of them.
Do you think there's a potential to see Daryl take over Dwight's (Austin Amelio) role as his right-hand man?
That's the immediate goal, sure. That's the whole purpose of this thing: Negan is going to make Daryl his guy, otherwise why would he take him?
Now that you've had a lot of time to get to know Negan, is he as big of an ass as he is in the comics?
We've shown a lot more on the TV show than you could in the comics because you're filling in the blanks between those panels. There's more than what we can read in the comics. There's a little difference. You can't have Negan's profanity that comic book readers know. But we're also seeing the wheels turning a little more than we see in the comic. In the premiere, you see that he is thinking moving forward — in this case, how am I going to break Rick? With the show, you'll see more of that aspect. In the graphic novel, Negan is a little more open to brutality and more yelling. I need places to go with this character and I'm being very careful and trying not to go over the top and he's an over the top character. This world that The Walking Dead has created where if you have this guy skipping in saying, "F—, f—, f—ety f—" with his red scarf and leather jacket and wielding a baseball bat, you have to be careful that it fits in with that world and I'm keenly aware of that. The differences you'll see, there's much more to see with Negan. You're still going to get those big comic book moments but there's another side of Negan that I get to explore as an actor and bring some 3D qualities that you can't get to see in the comic book.
What's the biggest difference between the Negan in the comics and the AMC incarnation?
The language. In the comic book, Negan's favorite word is every version of f— there could ever be in rapid succession. And you can't do that on AMC. The iconic scenes from the graphic novel, we try to replicate for Blu-ray purposes, which is a lot of work for me trying to figure out the scenes in both ways since my priority is getting it right for the television version. Then we do the Blu-ray version and it's quite colorful. We try to come up with creative replacement words for his f-bombs and that has been amusing. It's tricky for the writers. I always ask why we can't throw in one or two f—s?! If we show the violence that we show, let's just throw in a couple f-bombs! I don't really understand why that has to be a dealbreaker.
What's his relationship like with women? Is his brutality toward women and taking multiple wives something you can do on AMC?
We're going to try. We're not going to lose who Negan is in the comic books because we're on television. It's a tightrope. If you're a fan of the comics, you know his feeling toward women and his wives. There's so much story to tell with Negan and this year is so packed with making The Walking Dead world explode into such a large place as opposed to what it's been in the past six years. There's a lot to get to and we want to remain as loyal as we can to what Kirkman created. My thought on that question is yeah, we're going to try and encompass all of that, including his relationships with women and how he treats them.
Negan was easily able to identify Carl as a future serial killer. What might their relationship look like?
I'm a fan of the graphic novel and one of my favorite things is the relationship Negan has with Carl. I felt moved and totally fascinated by it when I read it and now we're shooting the show and I can't give anything away about where that's going to go or if it's going to go the way of the comic. It's a drawn out thing. We just met Negan. As a fan of the comic and the guy playing Negan, I'd certainly be pushing for a lot of that relationship to stay intact for the television show.
A lot of viewers — and the PTC — complained that the premiere was too violent. What do you think?
I think you can't make everybody happy. Look, it's violent. I was kind of surprised by the graphic nature of it. The reason why it seemed so violent as opposed to other things on that show — and there have been some gruesome things on The Walking Dead — is because these are two characters we know and love and it makes it harder. If it was a zombie head being beaten to a pulp we wouldn't have gotten the same complaints. But these are two characters that are loved by everyone and that creates an emotional feeling you don't have otherwise. Some of that ended up being complaints that it's too violent. But it's a lot, no doubt about it. I hope that people don't tune out the show because there's a lot of story to tell and a lot of good storytelling coming up. But it's hard to make everybody happy. A year ago, people were complaining about the f—ing cliffhanger. And now it's too violent. Last year, all they were screaming at is they wanted to see somebody's head bashed in. And now we're showing that and it's too much. It's a raw deal and it's hard to make everybody happy. At the same time, you don't want to freak people out by showing too much. Greg Nicotero directed it, Scott Gimple wrote it and they wanted to stay close to what the graphic novel was. And that's what Negan did: there's your introduction through a grave thing. And people remember it. I get both arguments but I really think it's more because these characters are so loved; it's a testament to Michael and Steven because I don't know that there's more violence than other stuff that has been shown on this show and others.