Any fan of The Walking Dead knows that there was a falling out between the show’s creator, Frank Darabont, and the show’s home, AMC. However, most of us don’t know the details of what and why. In a recent interview with IGN about his upcoming TNT series, Mob City, Darabont sheds some light on the topic. Keep in mind that this is only one side of the story, the biggest accusations that he made had to do with money and bullying on the part of AMC, stating that the channel’s priorities were “Money. Greed. Power mongering.”
It’s surprising to read that Darabont had a debriefing with members of the cast and crew, many of whom were willing to walk off the set when Darabont left. He told them not to jeopardize their careers for him. Regarding the atmosphere at the time, Darabont said:
They were bullied, and threatened, and their livelihoods threatened, and there was some weight being thrown around. Like I said, I’ll write a book. And there are a lot of people who will go on record. That are actually very keen to go on record, because like I said there are a lot of people who felt tremendously abused.
Interestingly, two former cast members of The Walking Dead, Jon Bernthal (Shane) and Jeffery DeMunn (Dale), are joining Darabont on Mob City. Darabont handpicked the cast and crew and clearly many of them have remained loyal to him, while other are apparently trapped.
I’ll be interested in reading that book Darabont says he’ll write. Should be a page-turner.
Rock Hard \m/
