The success of “The Walking Dead” has some wondering what its effect will be. Won’t other networks try to create their own zombies?
Not quite yet, but in the mean time, some of the creative people involved with the hit show have moved onto other dark, ambitious projects. Frank Darabont, who helped bring “The Walking Dead” to life has moved to another genre, film noir, to create his new project, a three-night, six hour “Mob City.”
The show features a number of people familiar from “The Walking Dead” as well, from Jon Bernthal as an L.A. detective to Jeffrey Demunn.
For me it’s as simple as I love these actors,” Darabont said during a visit to the set, back when the project was known as “Lost Angels.” “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.”
Demunn for one didn’t see any similarity in his character. “To me the center of
Dale on Walking Dead was he’s a pretty parental human being who is willing to sacrifice anything to take care of everyone around him, and Hal Morrison is not like
that.”
Bernthal said the first time the two were back together in the new show it was weird. but part of that was being “all dressed up like this and not sweating, getting eaten by bugs.”
Bernthal was in a 40s suit, as were the other actors on the lavish set, though is face was covered in bandages. (“Every great Noir hero gets the shit beat out of him progressively as the story goes on,” Darabont says).
Berenthal said in playing the detective, Darabont told him “what you’re used to doing is playing caged animals — now I want you to play the cage.”
Berenthal says he’s been thinking about the two shows as he works on the new one. “When Frank brought ‘The Walking Dead’ to the world, I think it was very much an
effort to bring a genre piece to television that had never really been done before and sort of sell this genre to a mass audience, but do it through great storytelling and compelling characters. And I really feel that’s really what we’re doing here.”
“Mob City” has a lot of other familiar cast members including Ed Burns, Rober Knepper, Gregory Itzen and Milo Ventimiglia. It plays out over the next three Wednesday nights, with hopes of it continuing to further seasons.