Recently, I had the chance to speak to producer Gale Anne Hurd as we did a light retrospective on her career. Most people these days, probably know her best for The Walking Dead but her success story goes much farther back to
The Terminator,
Aliens,
Tremors,
Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and even a few comic book movies such as
The Incredible Hulk and
The Punisher. In looking at her career, we talked about her exposure to comics at an early age [she’s a Marvel girl], her start under the legendary
Roger Corman and I even had a little fun asking her about who would direct and star in a Gale Anne Hurd Wonder Woman movie. We also spoke about her production company,
Valhalla Entertainment and the plethora of projects they currently have in development. The majority of the interview is still in the editing bay but I still wanted to share The Walking Dead info with you guys as we’re only a week removed from the season finale.
And here’s a transcript for those who prefer to read:
MARK JULIAN: The Walking Dead Season 2 just wrapped this past Sunday. One of the best season finale's I've ever seen. Can you speak on the show's progression from season 1 to season 2? GALE ANNE HURD: Sure I’m happy to and first of all, thanks for your vote of confidence in the season finale which I have to give a lot of credit to
Glen Mazzarra and
Robert Kirkman who wrote it and
Ernest Dickerson who directed it. I think they all were at the top of their game. The first season, obviously, we only had 6 episodes so it was important for us to setup the world, introduce Rick Grimes as a character, introduce the rest of the cast of characters and end the season with them on the road. In the second season, with 13 episodes, divided by a hiatus, we were able to spend the first 7 episodes getting to know our fairly large cast, explore the world even more so and introduce new characters. And also, look at the moral, ethical choices confronting our characters, whether it’s the love triangle between Rick, Shane and Lori or even the question of what would you do in a given circumstance. That’s Shane confronted with the situation at the high school while they’re trying to get supplies to save Carl’s life. What would you do? Do you think he and Otis were facing certain death from the zombies? Was it the right or wrong thing for him to do, to shoot Otis? He didn’t kill him but it was a death sentence nonetheless.
The midseason finale, terrific episode directed by
Michelle MaClaren, a lot of the viewers were wondering why are we spending so much time on the farm, why are we spending so much time searching for Sophia, why haven’t we gotten off the farm very much? There were a lot of answers in that episode, when we revealed that Sophia, unbeknownst to anyone except Otis, had been captured as a zombie and put in the barn. Then we picked up again, after the hiatus and were able to introduce more character from the outside world, starting with [the episode] Nebraska, the bar [scene]. And then of course, ending with the farm overrun by zombies and our group on the run again and prior to that, some very significant losses to the group in Dale and Shane.
MARK JULIAN: Speaking abstractly, what can fans of the show expect in season 3? When will you start shooting? GALE ANNE HURD: Yes, we start shooting in May, so about 6 weeks away. And I think it’s going to have, in terms of pacing, [it will be] more along the lines of the second half of season 2. As we’ve already announced, we’ve introduce
Michonne, who [appears] in the season finale, being played by Danai Gurira and then we’ll be introducing The Governor, played by
David Morrissey. It’s going to be pretty intense.
Again, this is just a snippet from my chat with Gale. Look for the full interview to be posted on CBM in the coming days.
The Walking Dead is an American post-apocalyptic horror television series developed for television by Frank Darabont. It is based on the comic book series, The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard.
The series stars Andrew Lincoln as Sheriff's Deputy Rick Grimes who wakes up after being in a coma to find the world dominated by "walkers", resembling the zombies of George A. Romero's horror movies. He sets out to find his family and other survivors along the way.
The series premiered on October 31, 2010, and is broadcast on the cable television channel AMC in the United States. The first season premiered to wide acclaim and was nominated for several awards, including the Best Television Series Drama at the 68th Golden Globe Awards. Based on its reception, AMC renewed the series for a second season of 13 episodes which premiered on October 16, 2011. Two episodes into the second season, AMC announced that the show would return for a third season.
The first season of The Walking Dead was well received by critics, with a rating of 82 out of a 100 on Metacritic. The season one premiere was watched by over 5.3 million people. The season two premiere was watched by more than 7 million viewers. The Walking Dead also received many nominations, including a Writers Guild of America Award and a Golden Globe Award for a Best Television Series Drama.
Running Time: 60 minutes (45 min actual air time)
Release Date: February 12 (Season 2-midseason premiere)
TV Rating: TV-MA for sex & nudity, violence & gore, profanity, alchohol/drugs/smoking and frightening/intense scenes
Starring: Andrew Lincoln, Jon Bernthal,Sarah Wayne Callies,Laurie Holden, Jeffrey DeMunn, Steven Yeun, Chandler Riggs, Norman Reedus
Creators: Frank Darabont (show) Robert Kirkman (comic)
Written by: Frank Darabont, Charles H. Eglee, Jack LoGiudice, Robert Kirkman, Glen Mazzara, Adam Fierro, Charlie Adlard, Tony Moore, Evan T. Reilly