'Walking Dead' director talks action, emotion
Spoiler alert: This story contains details from Sunday’s midseason premiere of AMC’s The Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead Sunday offered a heaping helping of hell: death, dismemberment and a burning lake – tempered by bazooka shots and a smidgen of hope.
In the midseason return of the top-rated AMC drama, Jessie and her sons died and Rick’s son, Carl, barely survived after being shot in the eye. Daryl saved Abraham and Sasha from death at the hands of Negan's Saviors with a well-placed missile.
And, Rick started believing in the Alexandria folk when they joined him and his hardened crew in a walker killing spree, with Daryl completing the assault by leading the remaining zombies to their demise in a tempting lake of fire.
It was “a culmination of every episode we have shot in Season 6,” director Greg Nicotero says. “The theme has been that there’s a larger world out there and this new world brings a series of threats. You’re never going to survive unless you band together as a group.”
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Nicotero discussed some significant scenes, both emotional and action-oriented, with USA TODAY, including the death of Jessie and her boys, antagonistic Ron and fearful Sam.
Earlier in the season, “when Sam is hiding in his room, Jessie keeps catering to him. She’s got a soft spot for him and his vulnerability,” he says. When the group is trying to evade the walkers and “Gabriel says, ‘I’ll protect (Rick’s baby) Judith,’ they all say Sam should go with him. And Sam says to Jessie, ‘No, Mom. I can do it.’ As soon as she gives in to him, she’s dead.”
Father Gabriel’s bravery after so many less-than-heroic moments stands out, Nicotero says. “Rick watches Gabriel take his baby into a sea of zombies and has to trust that he’s going to save her. He may never see his daughter again,” he says.
As Denise saves Carl’s life with her medical ministrations, Glenn is once again spared from the zombie horde at the last second when rifle-wielding Abraham and Sasha appear out of nowhere, showing gold-medal marksmanship as they mow down walkers but avoid hitting Glenn.
Nicotero says Glenn’s survival doesn't stand out after his controversial escape from walkers earlier this season, because “everybody in that episode is in jeopardy.”
Most of the episode was filmed at night, an important departure that creates a different atmosphere, Nicotero says. “We spent six seasons seeing zombies walking through Atlanta and the wilderness and on the freeway and it’s always in broad daylight. One of the genre conventions is nighttime, with some fog and a little moonlight. It’s a little spooky and you don’t know what’s coming out of the darkness.”
The episode, which features a series record of 1,200-plus walkers, includes big, missile-powered action scenes: Daryl's incineration of the Saviors welcome wagon and a giant lake fire.
When the Saviors explode, “there’s a jump cut. We built eight dummies that we wrapped in (detonating) cord and positioned exactly (where) the actors were,” he says. “We locked the camera and replaced the actors with red foam and blood dummies so you can see them blown to pieces.”
The lake fire, shot at two locations, features propane mortars and flame bars. "The flames were as high as the houses,” Nicotero says. At one point, “we had stunt guys in zombie masks with breathing apparatus walk through fire on the grass and into the lake. It was a tribute to the stunt team and the special effects team in terms of pulling that off seamlessly.”"
As Season 6 moves forward, Nicotero warns that the survivors had better not relax.
The walkers, Wolves and Saviors "give a glimpse of the larger world and its pitfalls,” he says. “For the time being, they’ve vanquished the Wolves and the walkers. Now, maybe they are being lulled into a little bit of a false sense of security.”