Movies
TV: ‘Walking Dead’ Creator Robert Kirkman Talks TV Adaptation
Last month is was finally announced that the brilliant Frank Darabont (“The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Mist”) would be sinking his teeth into “The Walking Dead,” Robert Kirkman’s long-running comic book series about life after the zombie invasion. It was revealed that Kirkman’s tale would unfold on television thanks to AMC. Immediately some concern flared up that there wouldn’t be any gore, but Kirkman believes otherwise. Check out a recent interview with him from MTV.
“When I heard that Darabont was interested in doing it a long, long time ago, I was just ecstatic. For me, “The Walking Dead” is not necessarily a horror thing. It’s not all about the shocks. It’s about characters and all of that dramatic nonsense. And Darabont does that better than anybody,” Kirkman tells MTV. “I’m excited that there is a television show, and I’m excited that Darabont is involved—and one of the big reasons for that is that I trust him. I don’t need to look over his shoulder.” He continues, “Frank understands the material 100 percent. It’s always been shocking to me, doing Hollywood meetings over the years, just how easy it is for someone to come in to the meeting and say something like, “We want the zombies to have super powers.” Knowing that, I’m really excited about it, because from my discussions with Frank, he likes the right things about “Walking Dead.””
Answering many questions from rabid fans, Kirkman reveals that he’d like Drabont to bring his own elements to the story. “I’ve told Frank flat-out that I do not want him to follow the comic to the detriment of the show. I encourage him to veer off if he has something that will work really well on TV that wouldn’t work in a comic. I don’t want people who enjoy the comic to be watching the TV show and going, “Oh, this is leading to that one thing I already know about from the comic.”
More importantly is the blood and guts of the series, which Kirman feels will still have an impact in the TV series. “I had no concerns about that whatsoever, because one of the concerns I have about zombie fiction is when they rely too much on the shocking gore aspects. That’s not really the point of “Walking Dead,” so to a certain extant, I think it will work better at AMC—because it forces people not to rely on that stuff.”
Click the link below for the entire interview.
Maika Monroe (Longlegs) and director David Robert Mitchell are reuniting for It Follows sequel They Follow, and Deadline brings us the latest casting news this week.
Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children, A Nightmare on Elm Street), Justine Lupe (Succession), Anna Mirodin (Ivan), Jayne Taini (Unbelievable), Michael Gandolfini (Daredevil: Born Again), Tom Pecinka (Stereophonic), Melora Walters (Magnolia), Ben Krieger (Song Sung Blue), Natalie Shinnick (The Brutalist) and Jan Hoag (The Fabelmans) have joined the cast this week.
Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice) has also been confirmed to join They Follow.
Deadline notes in their report this afternoon, “Plot details for the long-anticipated sequel are under wraps, other than it taking place a decade after the events of the original film.”
They Follow is expected to enter production this Summer. Stay tuned for updates.
In the first movie, Maika Monroe’s Jay Height is a young woman followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter. In the sequel, the threat is now EVERYWHERE.
“It’s very dark,” Monroe recently teased. “We’re pushing the boundaries on this one for sure.”
“It’s very different from the original,” Monroe told Discussing Film. “The original is a little more heightened and dramatic, and this is really quite grounded and follows the story of these two women that are mentally dealing with a lot. I thought it was really an interesting take on it.”
NEON and Good Fear Content are producing They Follow.
They Follow will feature a new score from Disasterpeace.
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