In yet another live feed, Newsarama have brought us all the latest updates straight from the San Diego Comic Con this time featuring the upcoming TV show, based on Robert Kirkman's comic book series, The Walking Dead. Thanks again to the site for these great bits of information!
Kirkman spoke, "I never planned on The Walking Dead becoming this big. There are so many excellent people involved. To see AMC commit to doing such a great job of getting a zombie television show right is fantastic and bizarre. I feel blessed."
Nicotero describes the process of the extras learning to walk like zombies. Kirkman interrupted, "I have to say that Charlie Adlard has out done himself on this project." The audience applauded loudly as Kirkman added, "Charlie actually got to play a zombie during the filming."
Darabont spoke about the adaptation process, "As long as we don't stray too far, Robert's ideas are great--so why not use every other idea he's come up with. There will be things that readers will not expect in the show but they will recognize things that are familiar too."
Darabont announced that Bear McCreary is the series' composer.
A clip shows the opening sequence that is very similar to Rick's shooting and his struggle in the hospital only to find the town abandoned and zombies all about.
Gale Ann Hurd announced two new cast members, Michael Rooker and Norman Reedus.
The cast joked about the shooting of the show in Georgia and the sheer intensity of the heat in the state. Darabont spoke, "I've lost 15 pounds on the set of this show. This cast gets their asses kicked on this set because they're there all the time."
Nicotero spoke about the cast traveling to Comic-Con and how they immediately got off the plane and jumped into the ocean. He also spoke about accommodating the zombies and their make-up in the heat. He joked about lunch breaks and how no one wants to sit with the zombies.
Nicotero also spoke about the programming on AMC and that no one is pulling any punches. He added, "This is a story about characters and drama...but sometimes, someone gets eaten."
They spoke about the amount of gore in the series and how the clip for SDCC had to be edited for the "family-oriented" nature of the show. The show will have as much gore and graphic displays of violence as they can allow.
A fan asked about reaching out to other horror directors to direct future episodes. Darabont mused, "George who? Lucas? No I was thinking another George would be a fantastic director for future seasons."
The panel talked about testing various formats for the show--including black and white. They went with Super 16 and Darabont cooed, "Film grain...mmm...such a creamy look."
They are working on approval to re-time the episodes in B&W versions for future DVD releases.
Holden finished the panel by saying, "This kid playing Carl. Huge love to Chandler Riggs. He operates on another level. She spoke about his talent. "He's about to become your favorite actor if Carl is your favorite character."