While
at the TCA Press Tour show creator, executive producer and writer Frank Darabont
and President and Head of Programing for TNT, TBS and TCM, Michael Wright, spoke
about their new drama, Lost Angels, based on the book by John Buntin, titled
L.A.Noir.
Question: What was your reaction to this series, when
it was brought to you?
MICHAEL
WRIGHT: Lost Angels is the brain child
of an incredibly gifted man, named Frank Darabont, who was the creator of The
Walking Dead, The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Lost Angels is the true story of the battle
between the LAPD and the mob, as they tried to infiltrate L.A. in the late
‘40s. This is something that Frank
pitched about a year and a half ago, and was a story that, as he began telling
me, was immediately exciting and engaging.
I knew it should be on television, and could not wait to get into
it. Frank then set about to put together
an incredible team of writers and directors, an incredible crew, and this
amazing cast to bring to life this story that was so magnificently
pitched. It’s very rare that something
manifests on screen, as good or better than it did in the original pitch, and
that’s a testament to Frank.
How
many of these characters are real and how many are fictional, and what did you
use for source material?
FRANK
DARABONT: That’s an impossible question
to answer. We gave ourselves license
here. The source of this very much is a
beautiful non-fiction piece of work, that is a lavishly researched and
beautifully written book. It’s a
reference point. It’s also a jumping off
point because I really wanted to live up to the promise of what a noir show
would deliver. We wanted to go with the
real facts that lend themselves so much to a good, smart, pulpy treatment. So, I gave myself license to part from the
book. We are going to be following the
framework of reality, but what I found very liberating was to say, “Let’s
invent the history that’s underneath the history.” There’s a tremendous amount of invention that
we’ve brought to this, and that’s very freeing.
I grew up with these movies and reading Raymond Chandler. I always wanted the prolific noir hero. Every great noir hero gets the shit beat out
of him, progressively, as the story goes on.
The beatings just get worse. And
we’re adhering to those rules. It’s been
wonderful, working with the writers and inventing the stories inside the
stories. It’s been a real pleasure. I didn’t want to be constrained because I
thought I could do a very straightforward adaptation of this book, that I felt
was a very earnest and well-meaning approach to what is actually a very pulpy,
heated, sexy, violent world.
How
hard did you fight to keep the L.A. Noir title?
DARABONT: We both fought very hard to keep that title.
WRIGHT: It was just not available. The simple answer is that we would love to
have had that title. It was just very
simply one of those things where the lawyers tell you what you can and can’t
do.
So,
how hard was it to come up with Lost Angels?
DARABONT: The title is still in play. It might be something else. The title of the show may be Joe Teague Gets
the Shit Beat Out of Him In Every Episode, by the time we’re done.
Do
these six episodes hit all of the notes of L.A. Noir that you want to hit, or
are you just scratching the surface of the book?
DARABONT: I think we’re just scratching the surface of
the potential that we can draw from the book.
WRIGHT: It’s a rich, layered tapestry that’s the
opening to a much broader, deeper story.
The beautiful thing about serialized drama is that the further you go,
the deeper you go.
What
is it that makes L.A. in the ‘50s so fascinating that you wanted to make a show
about it?
DARABONT: The underbelly of Los Angeles, in that era,
is very attractive and very sexy.
Post-war, when L.A. was expanding, the mob wanted to get in here and
control it. Corruption in the police
department was so rampant that more cops were on the mob payrolls back then
than not. What’s not to love about
that? It’s Hollywood. We’ve got all of Hollywood unfolding. There is the brain of the studios, at that
time, and how did that tied in with the mob.
I could go on and on.
What
are your favorite L.A. noir movies?
DARABONT: Well, if you’re talking top quality, there’s
Sunset Boulevard. In the modern era, I’m
a big advocate of True Confessions. Boy,
do I love that movie. That is a really
great film.
How
did you end up working with both Jon Bernthal and Jeffrey DeMunn again?
DARABONT: For me, it’s as simple as, I love these
actors. I always want to work with
them. And I had two roles in mind for
them for a show, and god bless them for saying yes.
Frank,
were there things you learned from The Walking Dead, in terms of storytelling
for the medium of television, that you applied when scripting this?
DARABONT: No, not particularly. But, the truth is that I’m still
learning. It’s all a learning
curve. Every time you sit down, with any
given episode of any given show, it is a learning curve. You’re learning something new about how to
tell a story. But then, I’ve felt that
way about everything I’ve ever done – television, features or whatever. Directing or writing, it always feels like the
first day of school to me.
This
show has a very male-heavy cast. Will
female audiences be able to connect with the show?
DARABONT: I’ve discovered that women really like seeing
men, especially good, tough, sexy guys.
WRIGHT: I think if we do our job and get people there
to sample it, then we can get them back.
With this job, you never know. I
think this is so character rich. It’s violent
and it’s sexy, but at the end of the day, it’s the character evolution, great
story, great conflict and great catharsis that brings people back, male or
female. That’s what’s driving this. Without giving anything away, there is a
fantastic mystery that is established in the pilot, and then it takes you on
that road for six hours.
WRIGHT: As dark as we need to get, to tell the story
properly. To be honest, that’s always
our approach. We never want to be
gratuitous. If it’s germane, you do
it. That really is our rule. With this particular series, an audience is
coming to it with a vocabulary. They’ve
seen the genre done. So, if you’re not
authentic, it’s easily dismissed. So,
our approach with Frank was, “Whatever you do, be authentic. Don’t be gratuitous, but this is an
inherently violent, sexy, pulpy story.”
That’s what makes it so rich. It
has very high stakes and very big personalities, engaged in genuine life and
death conflict. Using that description,
you understand why a guy in my job is drawn to this story. So, our job is to say to Frank, “Do what you
have to do to make it authentic and interesting.”
DARABONT: What [Michael] actually said to me was, “I
want to give my standards and practices people sleepless nights.”
If
this is successful, do you want to do more seasons?
WRIGHT: God, I hope so. I think there are certain shows that benefit
from a shorter order, whether that’s six, eight or ten. Falling Skies was very successful, so we
extended to 12 episodes. I wouldn’t want
to go past 12 on that show because it’s so time intensive and complex. A show like this, we’d like to do a few more
episodes, but we’re not doing 22. That
would be silly.
DARABONT: It’s a period piece. It’s a complicated and challenging show to
make. Doing six episodes is a challenge,
so we won’t do 20.
Frank,
a number of the projects you’ve done have been retrofitted back to black and
white. Any chance of doing that with
this show?
DARABONT: The thought has certainly crossed our
minds. We might actually dabble with it
and see. But honestly, I’m loving what
we’re shooting so much, and the color palette is so tasty. At the very least it’s always a fun thing on
Blu-ray, to see a black and white version, particularly that would be of that
period.
WRIGHT: But, it’s so beautifully shot. That would be really cool and something you
might see Frank play around with, but the photography is just exquisite.
Frank,
at this point in your career, how do you decide what you’re going to do?
DARABONT: It’s been the same since the very beginning
of my career. I find the thing I’m most
excited about, and I walk down that road.
That philosophy has served me pretty well.
Even
if it doesn’t pay?
DARABONT: At the end of the day, I’m not dipping fries
at McDonald’s for minimum wage.
Honestly, I have never chased a paycheck. I’m not going to go hungry lose my
house. Not to sound Pollyanna about it,
but the reason I got into this business was to try to do the best work that I
could, and so that’s where my nose takes me.
It follows the passion.
What
are you doing on the technical side of things, as far as how you’re shooting
this show?
DARABONT: Because I love shooting with film, we shot
the pilot on Super-16, as I did on The Walking Dead. And then, in the time that passed since we
shot the pilot and we were gearing up to do this, every time I approach
something, I test the digital world again, and this is going to turn into a
plug for the Red camera, but when I tested it, I realized that all of my
arguments against it were going away.
And I realized that there was nothing left but advantages for it, so we
switched, after the pilot. We’ve gone
from Super-16 film to digital. I was one
of the last hold-outs, but I’ve made the switch over and it’s been a fantastic
thing.
Were
you able to change the grain of the Super-16?
DARABONT: We’ll get there. There will probably be a little more
resolution in the episodes after that.
The audience may go, “Lucy, you have some ‘splaining to do.” But when they see the pilot, and when they
see the other episodes, I don’t think it’s going to be too much of a
difference.
Do
you see the advantage of the Red camera’s lightness and mobility?
DARABONT: Oh, God, yes!
Oh, yeah! Just the fact that you
don’t have to reload the Mag film, every ten minutes, is just astonishing. That alone saves me a whole lot of time.
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