Connect with us

Exclusives

[Interview] Dallas Roberts On The Scope Of “The Walking Dead” And The Mazzara/Gimple Showrunner Switch

Published

on

Airing tomorrow. Sunday, March 31 is the season finale of The Walking Dead, episode 316 “Welcome to the Tombs.” I figured this would be as good of an occasion as any to post my interview with star Dallas Roberts who plays Milton Mamet on the show. We talked about the longterm effects of being on “The Walking Dead” and how the cast reacted to switching showrunners from Glen Mazzara to Scott Gimple for the upcoming fourth season.

In the ongoing third season, Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his fellow survivors continue to seek refuge in a desolate and post-apocalyptic world and soon discover that there are greater forces to fear than just the walking dead. The struggle to survive has never been so perilous. Season 3 also introduced new characters, including the Governor (David Morrissey) and fan-favorite Michonne (Danai Gurira), along with her zombie pets.

The show was recently renewed for its fourth season. Head inside to see if Roberts can talk about it!

The show has such a big scope, does it feel like you’re just shooting a movie for a year?

I’ve done other TV and the genius of long form television is that the stories evolve over a much longer period of time. And with a show like “The Walking Dead” you can have really long 16 hour stories and when stuff gets too slow you can just punctuate it with a zombie coming through the window. It feels like shooting a movie over a long period of time except you don’t know what the ending is going to be. With film you have a beginning, middle and end. And with TV they just keep giving you pages every two weeks or so.

So you’re kept in the dark on the season arc?

Yeah, sort of like it is for the viewer. The last few days of shooting one episode you get the script for the other.

Being on this show for a certain period of time, do you start to view humanity through a different lens?

You know, it’s funny. Allegorically speaking, there’s how we treat each other and what we consider foreign or enemy and how that can change depending on the situation. When I first got the job I went back and watched all of Season 1 and Season 2 in about 28 straight hours, and when I walked back out onto the street I had a real sense of shifting – my brain was still in that world. I kept sensing danger, even though I was in New York [so I suppose] there was – but not the zombie kind.

What’s your take on the showrunner situation? You worked with Glen Mazzara and now you have Scott Gimple coming in.

I’ve lived through it a couple of times [in his TV career]. I wasn’t around for the Darabont era but I was around for the middle and end of the Mazzara era. I was also on a show called “Rubicon” where we shot the pilot and the creator/showrunner left that. So it can feel cataclysmic. It felt weird on “The Walking Dead. It’s like if Derek Jeter goes out and Alex Rodriguez moves from shortstop to 3rd. It does shift the dynamic. You’re also dealing with “creative” types so almost anything will send us into a tizzy.

Anything you can share bout Season 4?

They’re so tightlipped. I can tell you there will be a Season 4.

So I’m suspecting you live through Season 3 then?

[laughs]

Exclusives

Daniel Roebuck Has Joined the Cast of ‘Terrifier 3’! [Exclusive]

Published

on

Daniel Roebuck has been cast as Santa Claus in Terrifier 3, Bloody Disgusting can exclusively report.

Writer-director Damien Leone is currently wrapping production on the highly-anticipated sequel, in which Art the Clown unleashes chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve.

“I’ve been holding this secret for a long time!” Roebuck tells Bloody Disgusting. “I’ve been really excited about it. I’m actually entering into the movies that I watch. It’s extraordinary. This is Terrifier bigger, badder, best.”

Roebuck appears in Terrifier 3 alongside returning cast members David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera, Samantha Scaffidi, Elliot Fullam, and AEW superstar Chris Jericho.

No stranger to iconic horror properties, Roebuck has squared off against Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, played The Count in Zombie’s The Munsters, succumbed to The Tall Man’s sphere in Phantasm: Ravager, and investigated death in Final Destination.

A distinguished character actor with over 250 credits, Roebuck has also appeared in The Devil’s Rejects, 3 from Hell, Bubba Ho-Tep, John Dies at the End, The Fugitive, Lost, Agent Cody Banks, and The Man in the High Castle. Incidentally, he’s also playing Santa in the family drama Saint Nick of Bethlehem, due out later this year.

Terrifier 3 will be released in theaters nationwide later this year via Cineverse and Bloody Disgusting in conjunction with our partner on Terrifier 2, Iconic Events Releasing.

Terrifier 3 comes courtesy of Dark Age Cinema Productions. Phil Falcone Produces with Lisa Falcone acting as Executive Producer. Co-producers include Mike Leavy, Jason Leavy, George Steuber, and Steve Della Salla. Brad Miska, Brandon Hill, and Erick Opeka Executive Produce for Cineverse. Matthew Helderman and Luke Taylor also Executive Produce.

Continue Reading