EXCLUSIVE: Interview With THE WALKING DEAD Producer Gale Anne Hurd

EXCLUSIVE: Interview With THE WALKING DEAD Producer Gale Anne Hurd

Gale Anne Hurd on The Walking Dead season 3, getting her start under the legendary Roger Corman, what's on the horizon for Valhalla Entertainment, her next groundbreaking television series Port Royal and the possibility of a Walking Dead movie.

By MarkJulian - May 25, 2012 05:05 PM EST
Filed Under: The Walking Dead
Source: ComicBookMovie.com

Back in March, after the season finale of The Walking Dead (TWD), I had the opportunity to chat with Executive Producer Gale Anne Hurd about a number of topics ranging from her record breaking show to the early days of her career and what ultimately motivates her to continue producing films and television. You can listen to our chat in it's entirety below. Hurd spearheads her own company Valhalla Entertainment, which currently has an impressive number of comic book, film and television projects that are in various stages of development. Of course, talking with Hurd, I definitely sensed that despite the fact she's presently developing all these projects, it's her post-apocalyptic AMC show that just might be her personal favorite. It's a few months later now and Hurd is currently on TWD set, focused on what will surely be an epic third season which she described as being "intense" and "more along the lines of the second half of season two" in terms of pacing.

When we began to touch on her love for comic books, she revealed that she's a "Marvel Girl" and grew up reading The Incredible Hulk and The Fantastic Four while dabbling in a little Batman, Superman and Archie occasionally. Despite reading the far out fantasies of Marvel and DC growing up, she initially wanted to be a lawyer before going off to college and discovering her love for film. After graduating from Stanford, she worked for legendary horror and sci-fi master, Roger Corman, whom she says gave her an opportunity to really learn the industry at a time when most women were rarely given that option.

Today, Gale's known as an extremely successful film producer with such titles as The Terminator, Aliens and The Incredible Hulk to her credit. As a producer she says she's involved in every step of production and was responsible for assembling the creative teams behind some of your favorite movies. However, despite some very successful films, she says that today, she prefers working in television due in part to the flexibility of telling a story across thirteen hours instead of two. As CEO of Valhalla, Gale continues working in the comic book medium and has a number of properties in development. Currently Valhalla has Greg Pak's Dead Man's Run in comic shops and has adaptions of Magdalena, Gearhead and The Scourge in various stages of development. It appears news from Gearhead could potentially be revealed any day now while The Scourge is close to securing a tv deal.

However, it's her next television show, Port Royal, a pirate series optioned by FX that could very well be a television changer, similar to TWD. She tells me that the show will be nothing like Pirates of the Caribbean and that people should think more along the lines of Sons of Anarchy
and Justified in terms of tone, "It will be brutal and unlike anything you've ever seen on television before" says Hurd.

As we winded down our chat, I decided to have a little fun and asked her hypothetically, who directs and who stars if she's producing a Wonder Woman movie for Warner Bros. Playing along, her first choice for director was James Cameron with Christopher Nolan as a second option, while her choice to wield the Lasso of Truth and twin indestructible bracelets was surprisingly, the diminutive Mila Kunis. But hey, what do I know, that's why I write about movies and Gale makes them. Lastly, I asked her will we ever see a Walking Dead movie? "It's up to Robert Kirkman" she says but it's a possibility after the show is over and that an adjunct like say Rise of the Governor would be an ideal adaption.









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Bodwulf
Bodwulf - 5/25/2012, 6:07 PM
Would love to see them work this into a Walking Dead episode!
ManofSteel23
ManofSteel23 - 5/25/2012, 6:09 PM
skipped it all up until the last paragraph about wonder woman and walking dead movie lol a movie would be pointless,you can tell more with a series,a movie would be rushed compared to the series,the effects are movie worthy anyways so what would be the point
TheShakeBake
TheShakeBake - 5/25/2012, 8:37 PM
It would be sweet if they did a Rise of the Governor movie especially since he gets introduced this season. Hell i hope its just a tv movie like what USA did with Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe
ThunderCougarFalconBird
ThunderCougarFalconBird - 5/26/2012, 7:51 AM
Love The Walking Dead, it's a great tv show but the movies been done already, it's called 28 Days Later!
macfint
macfint - 5/27/2012, 7:04 AM
I understand now that the 1st season was like a pilot. I was originally disappointed with 1st half of 2nd season, there was definatly some filler (cherokee rose) and that well thing was [frick]in illogical. But I understand the lack of Zombies. It may have been budget, but it worked to give this false sense of security at the farm. That set up the finale and the reality that nowhere is truly safe. U lose Nicatero and the whole thing collapses. Give him free reign. Trust him.
Lawliet
Lawliet - 5/28/2012, 8:13 PM
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/05/26/miami-police-confrontation-men-leaves-1-dead-1-hurt/?fb_ref=.T8Q0nInZd7A.like&fb_source=home_multiline

check this shit.. brace yourselves guys!
SuperFrost
SuperFrost - 5/29/2012, 7:02 AM
spin offs of characters from the comic book could be a cool idea... "Rise of the Gov." would bee preety cool because is a very iconic charcter from the series.
CptShellhead
CptShellhead - 6/2/2012, 6:27 AM
I just want the show back... And now. Only 1 more episode of Game of Thrones. Then nothing, guess I'll go outside or read a book. Lol
EarOne
EarOne - 4/8/2013, 1:18 AM
if mila kunis is wonder woman, then the human race is liliputians. she's just too gosh darn SMALL for an amazonian. and there's just no way gettin around it.
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