amc The Walking Dead (Season 2)

[Rappy Veteran]

AMC is close to finalizing one of the richest development deals ever with Frank Darabont to write and direct a series adaptation of the Image Comics graphic novel series "The Walking Dead," written by Robert Kirkman.

Variety says that Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Motion Pictures and David Alpert of Circle of Confusion are also on board to executive produce.

The story is set among a group of zombie survivors of an apocalypse who are led by a police officer, Rick Grimes, in search of a safe place to live.

AMC Senior Vice President of Programming Joel Stillerman said the series will stay faithful to the tone of the original novels. "This is not about zombies popping out of closets. This is a story about survival, and the dynamics of what happens when a group is forced to survive under these circumstances. The world (in 'Walking Dead') is portrayed in a smart, sophisticated way."

[shh]

I frakkin love these books so this is awesome news!

Edited October 18, 2011 by Anaron

[Gio Takahashi]

Wow, this'll be interesting. I know I'm looking forward to this.

[Rappy Veteran]

Robert Kirkman has promised fans that the Walking Dead comic remains his "main commitment", despite being named an executive producer on its TV adaptation.

The writer said that the planned pilot of his long-running zombie comic would be "110% faithful in tone", but admitted that some characters may not be exactly the same as portrayed in the Image Comics series.

Speaking about Frank Darabont?s involvement, Kirkman told CBR: "I don't know what his actual title is going to be, but the idea is that once he's written and directed the pilot, he doesn't really want to walk away and let someone else handle it because he likes the material so much."

If the show goes beyond a pilot, the scribe plans to write episodes, look over series storylines and be as "hands on" as possible.

However, he assured readers: "My main commitment is to the comics. I want to be the first guy in history that's gotten a movie or TV deal and continued to put out his comic series uninterrupted."

On the comic book translation, Kirkman added: "If it was a cool Walking Dead story that featured the characters and all of the cool stuff was in there, but more, different cool stuff gets added in there, I think that's the best way to do it."

The Walking Dead is expected to be broadcast by AMC once the pilot has been completed.

Digital Spy

[ck2k01]

I heard about this a month or so ago, and I couldn't be happier. The Walking Dead is a great series and Frank Darabont is definitely the man for the job.

[trag3dy]

Awesome. I love some zombie survival horror. I'll be looking forward to this.

[Rappy Veteran]

When it was announced last month that "The Walking Dead," Robert Kirkman's long-running comic book series about life after the zombie invasion, would be adapted as an AMC television series directed by Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption," "The Mist"), it's safe to say that everyone was surprised by the news. Why? Because it was one of the most forehead-slappingly appropriate matches of a filmmaker to a comic book property in, well... I'm hard-pressed to think of any filmmaker/comic pairing that tops it.

I caught up with Kirkman recently to chat about the "Walking Dead" television deal, and the hardworking writer shared some details about why he's just as pleased with the pairing as the rest of us, and what we can expect when "The Walking Dead" and its host of zombies shamble onto TV screens.

MTV: So, everyone seems to be in agreement about how great of a pairing it is for Darabont to be directing "The Walking Dead"...

ROBERT KIRKMAN: 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.

If you've seen "The Shawshank Redemption" or "The Mist," you know he gets to the heart of the characters and shows them dealing with extremes. It's a match made in heaven.

MTV: There were rumors that Guillermo Del Toro was initially interested in the project. Was that the case? Did you know about him being interested, too?

KIRKMAN: I did, yes.

MTV: How much will you be involved in shaping the series on AMC?

KIRKMAN: I'm going to be an executive producer on the show, so I'll have my hands all over the thing. But it's important to me that I'm only involved in the show as much my comic book career will allow. 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.

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."

MTV: How will the TV series relate to the comic? Will it follow the same basic story arc, or will it explore a new area of the "Walking Dead" universe?

KIRKMAN: 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."

I think it will be 100-percent true to the tone of the series, but at the same time it will be an entertaining, secondary way of experiencing "The Walking Dead" in a completely different light, so I'm excited.

MTV: There's been some concern that the series might lose its edge being broadcast on AMC instead of one of the less-restricted networks like HBO or Showtime. Is that something you're worried about? Is that even a concern?

KIRKMAN: 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. As far as "Walking Dead" not having teeth on AMC, if you've ever seen [certain episodes of] "Mad Men" or "Breaking Bad," they push a lot of boundaries as far as content goes.

In fact, I just had a meeting with a bunch of the executives at AMC, and Darabont, and Gale Anne Hurd and David Alpert at Circle of Confusion, and the executives were talking to Darabont about his script and they said, "You can't use the F-word." That was the only limitation they gave him. We were all stunned.

The thing is, you don't necessarily have to see everything that's going on, and sometimes things are even more horrific when you don't see the goriest parts.

MTV

[Rappy Veteran]

Exclusive: A review of the pilot script for The Walking Dead TV series

s there such a thing as having too much dead people in your entertainment quota?

The answer to that question will only be known if AMC decides to give a greenlight to a TV series based on Robert Kirkman's ongoing comic book series about life after the zombie apocalypse, The Walking Dead. If you haven't been paying attention, the 2000s saw the zombie finally rise to mainstream status with a horde of well-received movies in this monster genre: the Resident Evil films (with a fourth now in production); a remake of Dawn of the Dead; 28 Days Later and its sequel which gave the idea of a slow moving corpse a twist with its fast runners; zombie comedies Zombieland and Fido; and the return of the father of modern zombie cinema, George A. Romero, with two new ghoul films, Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead (and there's a third forthcoming, Survival of the Dead.)

With all of that box office success one would think that television executives would be looking to cash in on the zombie hype and get a TV series on the air. Actually, one network did try: back in 2007 CBS ordered a pilot called Babylon Fields which could be best described as a drama set after the dead return from the grave. After viewing the pilot the network decided that the show didn't fit in with the network's fall schedule, and so a series was never ordered. So much for zombies on the tube, right?

Well, not really. Just like any good zombie it's hard to keep the idea of a zombie TV series dead and buried. Last summer the rights to Kirkman's Walking Dead were sold to AMC. Fans of the book may have felt somewhat reassured when it was also mentioned that Frank Darabont would be directing the pilot, as well as writing the pilot's screenplay and serving as an executive producer on the show. The director of The Shawshank Redemption, The Majestic, The Green Mile and The Mist, Darabont was also a producer on a proposed sequel to The Thing, the 1982 John Carpenter movie. Unfortunately that four-hour mini-series never got further than the screenplay stage, but when I reviewed it last year, I found the script to be an outstanding idea for a continuation of The Thing. If Darabont could bring some of that quality found in the Thing mini-series sequel to The Walking Dead TV show, then AMC's Mad Men audience may be in for a real ride.

Only as recently as last week did AMC order a pilot to be made from Darabont's Walking Dead screenplay. If the cable network likes what they see then there'll be a Walking Dead TV series coming as soon as this fall or perhaps around the start of 2011. So, here is the big question: does Darabont's Walking Dead pilot have the necessary ingredients to be not just a decent horror TV series but a good drama?

The answer: Yes, it does.

Contained in Darabont's 60-page pilot script are all the elements to make the show a success. There's plenty of horror that happens in those 60 pages. The director's script covers the broad range of the zombie horror emotional spectrum, such as giving us moments of extreme gore (hey, any zombie TV show wouldn't be a zombie show if it didn't have folks being munched on!), moments of shock value (hey, you didn't think that there was a zombie hiding behind that car, did you?) and the moments that I believe are the best indicator that The Walking Dead TV series has what it takes to transcend the boundaries of being simply labelled a horror show, the psychological horror scenes. Those scenes are the hammers that you're going to remember and the ones that are going to propel this show to be viewed as something more important than just a scary show.

If you're familiar with the beginnings of the comic then you'll be on familiar ground when you watch the pilot episode, even though it would appear that Darabont isn't interested in making a direct adaptation of the comic book's origin story. Our hero is Officer Rick Grimes, a deputy for a small Georgia town outside of Atlanta. About 15 pages into our story Grimes is involved in a police incident where he receives a near-fatal injury. After being taken to the hospital and falling into a short coma, our law enforcement man awakens to find the hospital empty and the telltale signs that something very bad has gone down while he was out. The way that Darabont chooses to introduce Grimes to the post-zombie world is nearly identical to the opening moments of Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later but it's forgivable; the impact of the changed world is that much more heightened with Grimes serving as our introduction to it.

From there Grimes tries to find his family, his wife Lori and their young son Carl. He returns to his home and finds the neighborhood deserted, his wife and son gone. Still not fully comprehending what's happened, Grimes is saved by another father and son who have taken up shelter in a neighbor's house. From these two survivors Grimes learns about the zombie plague and the rules of life: if you're bitten, if a zombie so much as scratches you, you become infected, you die and then you become a zombie yourself. We're also shown some of the rules of the game that the Walking Dead zombies adhere to: there are "walkers", the ones that slowly come up to you. The walkers are slow and a head shot will take them out. That said, there's a lot of walkers out there and if they decide to come at you at once, save that last bullet for yourself, you dig?

From his new neighbors Grimes is told that his family may have decided to head into Atlanta where the government was setting up a safety zone. With that info, Grimes heads off by himself and makes his way into the city. What happens in the next 20-or-so minutes is pretty intense for our hero and I want to leave it for Darabont to show to you.

I'm not sure if Darabont is the kind of guy that puts in camera effects into all of his screenplays but in his Walking Dead script there are a couple of places where he describes the visual tricks that he wants to do to heighten the surreal nature of a scene. There's a moment where Grimes is in a tough situation and has to fire a pistol at close quarters at a zombie. In the environment that he's in, Grimes is momentarily deafened by the blast. In Darabont's script, the description of what we the viewer should experience to communicate the deafness is in there. Reading that sort of scene as well as a few others like that made me more interested in seeing what Darabont's visual style is going to be in this show.

If you were a fan of the comic book before, now you know that the pilot's set-up of the Walking Dead story follows a similar arc as the comic's but it's not exact. I'd guess that about half to two-thirds of the first two issues are contained in the pilot episode but there's also new material. For instance, we now get to see the incident that brought Grimes to the hospital (the comic begins with him coming to in his deserted room) and there's some changes with what happens when he is in Atlanta that differ with the comic's depiction of events. Darabont seems to know what he's doing and in the places where he chooses to include new material, with his changes/additions better serving the story and bring more characterization (at the beginning and middle) and intensity (at the end). In particular there was a new revelation concerning the plight of the other father that Grimes finds living in his old neighborhood that's not in the comic. This new material really underscored the sense of what kind of deep and unsettling world the survivors are now living in.

Darabont's also done a solid job of knowing what works from The Walking Dead and sometimes reproducing it exactly in his screenplay, such as the case with the bicycle Grimes comes across and the reaction of its former owner to the officer's arrival.

The Walking Dead pilot doesn't sell out its concept for the sake of finding a wider audience. This is a show set in a world where families have died and the survivors haven't had the time to cope with their losses, much less come to terms with civilization collapsing around them. Knowing the course that Kirkman's comic book takes and now after seeing how Darabont's chose to make the pilot more of a drama than a flat-out horror action show, AMC's Walking Dead has fantastic potential. The Walking Dead could even do for horror what the new Battlestar Galactica did for science fiction. Cross your fingers and hope that the show comes together as well as it did on the page.

Source

[Rappy Veteran]

Big Shiny Robot! has talked to a few different sources about names that are in the ring for the series and we?re pretty happy. There are a couple of sources we talked to with varying reliability, but these names all made a lot of sense, so we want to throw these out there and get the conversation going. If you don?t know about Walking Dead and have never read it, it?s perhaps one of the best comics being published today. Grab the first trade from Amazon right here and you won?t regret it.

The most reliable sources point us to Jamie Bamber as in the running for Rick. You might remember him from Battlestar Galactica playing Lee Adama.

I?m in the midst of watching BSG for the first time now and I have to say, this would be a great choice. He?s a strong actor, has the right look and handles televised drama really well.

Next on the list is Mark Pellegrino, who is on Dexter and plays Jacob on Lost.

He has a little bit less of the look, but that doesn?t mean he couldn?t work. He?s an incredibly talented actor and any show would do well with him at the helm. And really, doesn?t he look like a guy that would make the hard choices in a zombie apocolypse?

And then the last name on the list. Stuart Townsend. The ?would-be? King of Middle Earth. The ?would-be? Asgardian?.

I?m assuming he could work, but I haven?t seen him in much of anything as he seems to always get replaced at the last minute. If he does get cast, I?d expect that to happen again. But who knows.

Source

[Growled Member]

Mark Pellegrino seems the perfect choice to me. He has the look. That said, I would rather see Jamie Bamber get it. He's a terrific actor.

[Rappy Veteran]

Mark Pellegrino seems the perfect choice to me. He has the look. That said, I would rather see Jamie Bamber get it. He's a terrific actor.

yeah after seeing him on lost, dexter and supernatural I think Mark would be awesome, I am really hopeful about this series!

[Rappy Veteran]

Casting is finally being announced for AMC's forthcoming "The Walking Dead", the Frank Darabont directed adaptation of Image Comics' ongoing series by Robert Kirkman that follows a group of zombie survivors of an apocalypse who are led by a police officer, Rick Grimes, in search of a safe place to live. Jon Bernthal ("Eastwick", Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian) has been tapped to play Grimes' partner and friend Shane, an outgoing bachelor. Shooting begins this May on the pilot with hopes of it turning into an ongoing series. Those of you who are fans of AMC's "Mad Men" know exactly how good this could be.

Source

[Rappy Veteran]

Casting is underway for AMC's "The Walking Dead" TV series as Jon Bernthal ("Eastwick", Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian) was announced to be playing Grimes' partner and friend Shane in the Frank Darabont directed pilot episode. Adding to the story, Bloody Disgusting learned exclusively that Jonny Lee Miller (Hackers, Dracula 2000, "Eli Stone") is the frontrunner (in talks) to play "Rick Grimes", a police officer who leads a group of zombie survivors in search of a safe place to live during the apocalypse. As mentioned earlier, shooting begins this May on the pilot with hopes of it turning into an ongoing series.

Source

[Rappy Veteran]

Get Series Order!!!!!!!

AMC has picked up zombie apocalypse drama "The Walking Dead" for six episodes.

"Dead" is based on Robert Kirkman's graphic novels and the project will be written and directed by Frank Darabont ("Shawshank Redemption"). The series is will premiere in October 2010 on AMC.

"AMC strives to make original shows that play like movies and 'The Walking Dead' is a perfect complement to the network's celebrated movie franchise, Fearfest, which has always been an important destination for our audience," said AMC president Charlie Collier. "With its depth of story and the remarkable talent attached, The Walking Dead gives us an opportunity to raise the bar significantly within this popular genre, and continue our commitment to being the home of premium programming on basic cable."

Source

[Rappy Veteran]

AMC has cast Andrew Lincoln as the lead in its zombie apocalypse thriller "The Walking Dead."

Andrew Lincoln Slides-20 Lincoln ("Teachers," "Love Actually") will play Rick Grimes, a small-town cop who leads a group of survivors in their struggle against a world besieged by zombies.

As previously announced Jon Bernthal ("The Pacific") will play Shane, a survivor who was Rick's police partner before the zombie disaster.

?Andrew Lincoln, wow--what an amazing find this guy is," said Robert Kirkman, who wrote the comic book series upon which the series is based. "Writing Rick Grimes month after month in the comic series, I had no idea he was an actual living breathing human being and yet here he is. I couldn't be more thrilled with how this show is coming together."

"Walking Dead" starts shooting in June in Atlanta, with Frank Darabont as writer, director and executive producer.

[Rappy Veteran]

We failed you once, hopefully we've got this one locked down. Sources close to Bloody Disgusting tell us exclusively that Brandon Routh (Superman, Dead of Night) is a lock for Frank Darabont's "The Walking Dead", the new post-apocalyptic zombie TV series being developed for AMC. The adaptation of Robert Kirkman's astounding comic franchise is set among a group of zombie survivors of an apocalypse who are led by a police officer, Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), in search of a safe place to live. Jon Bernthal also stars. AMC has already ordered 6 episodes before the pilot was even presented.

[Rappy Veteran]

Frank Darabont MVP Jeffrey DeMunn is joining the cast of this AMC series ? probably playing Dale, the car salesman who turns into a cradle-robbing survivalist, who's introduced in the third issue of the comic. [Fearnet]

[Rappy Veteran]

Entertainment Weekly reports that former "Prison Break" star Sarah Wayne Callies has landed the female lead role in AMC's "The Walking Dead," based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics. Callies will play Lori Grimes, the "slowly-unravelingwife of the show's hero, Rick."

Frank Darabont will write, direct and executive produce the series. Gale Anne Hurd, David Alpert and Charles "Chic" Eglee will executive produce.

"The Walking Dead" tells the story of the months and years that follow after a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), who travel in search of a safe and secure home.

The series begins production in June in Atlanta with six, one-hour episodes for season one. It is set to premiere in October 2010 during AMC's Fearfest.

(SHH)

[Rappy Veteran]

AMC has added to the cast of Frank Darabont?s apocalyptic zombie drama ?The Walking Dead.?

The production has tapped Laurie Holden for the role of Andrea, a key member of the survivor group who has a proficiency with a sniper rifle and falls for a man twice her age.

Holden was in writer-producer-director Darabont?s ?The Mist? and had a recurring role in the final season of FX?s ?The Shield.? She?s repped by APA and Framework.

Also, Adam Fierro has joined the production as a consulting producer. The ICM-repped Fierro has worked on such serialized dramas as ?Dexter,? ?The Shield? and ?24.?

In addition, newcomer Steven Yeun also has been added to ?The Walking Dead? cast as Glenn. He and Holden join cast members Andrew Lincoln, Jeffrey DeMunn and Jon Bernthal on the show.

The eagerly anticipated "Walking Dead" starts production in August.

[LOC Veteran]

Andrew Lincoln looks like the kid opposite the Karate Kid from My Cousin Vinny. I wonder if that's him lol gonna check later.

And Routh is still attached I take it? Cool.

[Rappy Veteran]

Production begins today in Atlanta for AMC's adaptation of the Robert Kirkman comic "The Walking Dead." The six-episode first season--written, produced and directed by three-time Academy Award-nominee Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile) and executive produced by Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator, Aliens, Armageddon, The Incredible Hulk)--follows a group of survivors, led by police officer Rick Grimes, traveling in search of a safe and secure home after a zombie apocalypse.

AMC has provided us with this video, in which Darabont discusses his inspiration for doing a series about zombies, the thrust of this survival story and his goal to "do for zombies what 'Mad Men' has done for advertising." Hurd also weighs in with her thoughts on the new series.

Source: Coming Soon

[Rappy Veteran]

Today AMC Television sent over the first actual production photo of onw of the walkers in action. The television series is currently being shot in Atlanta, GA. Of the formation of these zombies, creator, director, and executive producer Frank Darabont has released the following statement: ?Greg Nicotero is absolutely out-doing himself. The work he is doing is beyond what one could hope for. Our Zombies kick a**!?

Read more: First Production Photo from Frank Darabont?s The Walking Dead | /Film http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/06/10/first-production-photo-from-frank-darabonts-the-walking-dead/#ixzz0qUXdMDsz

[DJD]

Today AMC Television sent over the first actual production photo of onw of the walkers in action. The television series is currently being shot in Atlanta, GA. Of the formation of these zombies, creator, director, and executive producer Frank Darabont has released the following statement: “Greg Nicotero is absolutely out-doing himself. The work he is doing is beyond what one could hope for. Our Zombies kick a**!”

Snipped

Read more: First Production Photo from Frank Darabont’s The Walking Dead | /Film http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/06/10/first-production-photo-from-frank-darabonts-the-walking-dead/#ixzz0qUXdMDsz

Best looking zombies ever!!

[Rappy Veteran]

First shot of Andrew Lincoln!

[Sparrowmonk]

Why does he remind me of Jim Carrey?

[Rappy Veteran]