PALEY CENTER FOR MEDIA, THE: PALEYFEST 2013: THE WALKING DEAD {LONG VERSION}
Summary
One in a series of evenings and special screenings presented as part of The Paley Center for Media's 30th William S. Paley Television Festival in Los Angeles. Held this year at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, the festival celebrates the excellence and diversity of American television and is dedicated to television’s creative community. This PALEYFEST 2013 seminar honors "The Walking Dead," the drama/horror series based on the graphic novels of the same name about a group of survivors fighting for their lives after the undead begin to walk the earth.
Host Pat Mitchell (president and CEO, The Paley Center for Media) opens the first night of the festival with comments and acknowledgement of William C. Paley, son of the festival's namesake. Mitchell then brings moderator and "renaissance man" Chris Hardwick (TV host, "Talking Dead") to the stage, after which he introduces a highlight reel from the show.
The clip package includes the first ten minutes of the episode "Clear," in which Rick, Michonne and Carl drive to Rick's former home town to find guns, ignoring a frantic hitchhiker on the road. They ward off a group of walkers when their car gets stuck and find the police station empty and decide to search elsewhere. They encounter an elaborate walker trap in the vacant town, and a masked man suddenly fires at them from a rooftop, leading Carl to shoot him. Next is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the show and its special effects, detailing the different cameras used for action shots and the makeup process for the zombies. Co-executive producer and makeup artist Greg Nicotero describes how the extras are turned into the undead, making a brief cameo as a zombie himself. Actors David Morrissey (Phillip Blake/"The Govenor") and Danai Gurira (Michonne) talk about the experience of shooting guns in a pivotal scene in the episode "Home," and Laurie Holden (Andrea) and Milton (Dallas Roberts) describe a scene in "I Ain't a Judas" in which Andrea gruesomely dismembers a walker to become her "guardian angel," explaining how they used both an extra and a dummy to create the effects.
After the screening, Hardwick moderates the following panelists: Nicotero; executive producers David Alpert and Gale Anne Hurd; executive producer and "Walking Dead" comic books author Robert Kirkman; and cast members Holden, Gurira, Emily Kinney (Beth Greene), Scott Wilson (Hershel Greene), Steven Yeun (Glenn Rhee), Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon), and Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes).
The panelists touch on such topics as: the growth of Rick's young son Carl (Chandler Riggs) into a "child soldier"; the parallels which have mounted between Rick and the antagonistic Governor; Holden's interpretation of Andrea's intimate relationship with the Governor and the ramifications of a scene in which she considers killing him in his sleep; Nicotero's friendship with the cast and his "wizard"-like special effects skills; Lincoln's research into the stages of grief to portray Rick's descent into madness after the death of his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies); Reedus's thoughts on the tentative reunion of Daryl and hotheaded brother Merle (Michael Rooker) and Daryl's increasing sense of "self-worth"; Wilson's vivid memories of the scene in which Hershel lost a leg to a zombie bite; Lincoln's reflections on the "flawed and dangerous" Rick's experience becoming a leader; how the complex plot developments have become a metaphor for real-life war zones and people in need; Kirkman's explanation of the difference between killing a character on the page and on the screen; Lincoln's reaction to the show's non-stop "boot camp" nature; the actors' enjoyment at the animated reactions of fans; and experiences filming in hot and tick-ridden Georgia.
Questions from the audience then lead to a discussion of the following topics among others: how fan "memes" of Lincoln's dialogue continue to surface in social media; the actors' attempts to honor the tone of the comics despite plot and character changes; the fun of keeping fans guessing; the actors' awareness that any of them can be killed off and its effect on their performances; the cast's tradition of "death dinners," disguised as birthday parties, when a character dies; Kirkman's creation of "Walking Dead" video game and his decision not to mix the characters in the game and the show; Lincoln's enjoyment at shooting the "cannon"-like Colt Python .357 revolver; Lincoln's most emotionally wrenching scene thus far; Holden's "protective" feelings for her much-maligned character; the potential for a Carol/Daryl romance and Daryl's lack of "game"; deleted scenes which will appear on the show's DVD; whether the cast members have nightmares after viewing gore and bloodied zombies all day; and what the extras who portray walkers must endure.
Details
- NETWORK: N/A
- DATE: March 1, 2013 7:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 2:00:24
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 109801
- GENRE: Seminars
- SUBJECT HEADING: Asian American Pacific Islanders Collection
- SERIES RUN: N/A
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Pat Mitchell … Host
- William C. Paley … Guest
- Chris Hardwick … Moderator
- Emily Kinney … Panelist
- Scott Wilson … Panelist
- Steven Yeun … Panelist
- Laurie Holden … Panelist
- Danai Gurira … Panelist
- Norman Reedus … Panelist
- Andrew Lincoln … Panelist
- Greg Nicotero … Panelist
- David Alpert … Panelist
- Gale Anne Hurd … Panelist
- Robert Kirkman … Panelist
- Sarah Wayne Callies
- David Morrissey
- William C. Paley
- Chandler Riggs
- Dallas Roberts
- Michael Rooker