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Topic subject(Part 17)
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=23&topic_id=53496&mesg_id=53513
53513, (Part 17)
Posted by ZooTown74, Mon Sep-10-07 02:17 PM
>HR: Well, before we began today, uh, tonight, we collected some cards from people who had questions for you. And this is one that’s sort-of related. Uh, “Does the success of The Wire mean more opportunities for stories — not necessarily roles, stories about minorities — particularly African-Americans, and more shows that are about rich, complex characters rather than flashy, high-concept plots?” That’s from an NBC executive, I think.

* laughter *

AR (to the “executive”): You tell us, man.

DS: That’s got Carolyn Strauss written all over it.

CS: I think that’s all in the hands of the executors, you know. I think with, um, the success of The Wire is due to all the people who are… who are sitting up here on either side of me, and, you know, who are, uh, you know, the best at their game, at what they’re doing. And I think to be able to tell the stories with the complexity and lack of flash, as it were, um, the way David and Ed do, and have them, you know, inhabited by these actors, you know, that’s… lightning often doesn’t strike that many times. I mean, it gives so many people things to shoot for, for sure.

HR: Okay, we have one more question from members of the audience. “Please”— I don’t know who this is addressed to—“Please discuss the scene where Bunk and McNulty use nothing but the F word while recreating a…”

* applause *

WP: Um, I’ll never forget, we were standing around the set, uh, a couple of episodes before that, and David came up to us, and he said, “I have this great scene that I’m writing.” He said, “You’re gonna go back to an old crime scene. You’re gonna realize, ‘Aw, man, this guy messed it up.’ And you go back in, and you’re gonna discover where everything is. And then McNulty’s gonna say to you, ‘I’ll take over here and discover how far the ballistics went.’ And you see how the body is laid out, Bunk. And then you go to the window, and you say, ‘McNulty, wait a minute, the glass is on the inside, the shot came from outside instead of in.’ He says, ‘Yeah, that doesn’t make sense, because you would have to be 7 feet tall to get that trajectory.’ (And you say), ‘Alright, well, wait. Then, if that’s the case, then the bullet is still in here.’ He says, ‘Yeah, let’s find it.’”…

(AR laughs)

WP: “’… ah, I’ve found it. It’s in the refrigerator.’ He goes, ‘Wait, if it’s still here, then the casing may still be outside.’ And you’re going to go outside and go, ‘Ah, see? I found it.’” And (Dominic and I) say, wow, that sounds like a great scene…

* laughter *

WP: … and (David) said… and he said, “Now, you’re gonna do that, but you can only say ‘Fuck.’”

* laughter *

WP: And I said, “Only ‘Fuck’?” And he said, “Well, you can do, you know, variations… ‘Motherfuck,’ ‘Aww, Fuck,’ whatever…” he said, but only “Fuck.” And actually, that is one of the proudest scenes I’ve ever done in my career, because…

* applause *

WP: … it really says… it really says everything about what David said earlier about trusting your actors. And it was also one of the greatest acting exercises in the world. And, uh, I’m very, very proud of that scene. It was a motherfucker.

* laughter *
* applause *

CC: Aiight?

HR: That’s… that’s a very good note to end on.

* laughter *

DS: I wanna add something. Let me add…

HR: You want to add one thing, go ahead.

DS: Ed took the… I gotta correct, Ed took the first pass at that scene, and actually constructed that whole crime scene. But we were channeling a guy, he would just love to have his mentioned in Hollywood somewhere. A guy named Terry McCarthy, uh, a lieutenant still in the Baltimore City Homicide Unit, who said to me years ago when I was a police reporter, he was talking about police profanity. He said, “You know, we’re eventually going to get to that point where two Baltimore cops are going to be able to have a whole conversation using just the word ‘Fuck.’”

* laughter *

DS: And I remembered he said that. So… Ed channeled that.

* applause *

HR: Well, as a former television critic, I was always skeptical of casts sitting around, applauding the shows that they were on. But in this case, it’s, uh, certainly true. And I want to thank our panel, uh, not only for appearing here, (but also) for being a part of this show, The Wire, which is truly a great piece of work. Thank you very much.

* applause *
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