…is equal to the love you take

Veronica Lake

Since announcing a return to television with the upcoming TNT series L.A. Noir, it was inevitable that Frank Darabont would address his highly publicized departure from The Walking Dead, and he did so in a recent interview with TV Guide.

Naturally, due to the success The Walking Dead had enjoyed up to that point, and because Darabont is a well-known talent, the unexpected exit of the show’s lead creative voice became the subject of great speculation last summer. The reason for Darabont’s leaving was eventually blamed on budget constraints issued by AMC after The Walking Dead’s first season.

Through it all, Darabont remained silent. However, with the first Darabont-less Walking Dead episodes airing when season 2 resumes in February, now is probably as good a time as any for the filmmaker to put the issue to rest.

According to Darabont, the show’s dwindling budget was certainly the impetus for his parting with AMC – though he acknowledges the rift runs deeper.

SOURCE: Screenrant.com -Frank Darabont Discusses ‘The Walking Dead’ Exit & New Series ‘L.A. Noir’

(Both excerpts January 18 , 2012)

TNT last week gave a pilot order to L.A. Noir, which will begin shooting in April. The show kicks off in 1947 and centers on L.A. cop Joe Teague, who’s caught in the moral gray zone between the city’s notorious gangsters and its corrupt police force. Real-life figures from the era, such as mercurial LAPD chief William Parker and famed mob boss Mickey Cohen, are woven into the story’s fictional characters.
In his first interview about the new project since being ousted as The Walking Dead showrunner on AMC, Frank Darabont talked to TV Guide Magazine about how L.A. Noir came about. And for the first time, Darabont addresses his exit from The Walking Dead, including why he thinks he was forced to leave, and how it wasn’t easy for him.

Q: It sounds like you’ve developed a great relationship with Turner so far.
Darabont: They are by all accounts a fantastic place to work. They treat their creative partners with respect and dignity and humanity and integrity, and after the last two years I’m really looking forward to experiencing those things.

Q: What can you say about your departure from The Walking Dead?
Darabont: It was, for the sake of my cast and my crew, a tremendously regretful thing to face, to have to leave. But I was really given no choice. I don’t understand the thinking behind, “Oh, this is the most successful show in the history of basic cable. Let’s gut the budgets now.” I never did understand that and I think they got tired of hearing me complain about it. It’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s as far as I want to go with it because otherwise it’s just provoking more controversy and that’s not really of interest to me. I just want to keep my head down and do my job and be allowed to do my job, that’s key, and continue to, hopefully, enjoy it and do good work.
Q: From all accounts, your departure was particularly hard on the cast and crew.
Darabont  These people are like family to me. It has not been easy for anybody. Let me put it that way: It was like a death in the family. Only I was the dead guy. I felt like William Holden, face down in the swimming pool, narrating this thing

Q: There was never really an official explanation about your exit.
Darabont: It was a lot of obfuscation and on my end just maintaining what I thought was the most dignified silence that I could. Who needs a cat fight in the press, oy vey. There’s plenty of stuff in this world that I’m excited about doing, and how lovely that we’re getting the opportunity to do this with TNT. How great is that.

Frank Darabont (with zombie child) on the set of The Walking Dead - Season 1 (SOURCE: AMCtv)

SOURCE: TVGuide.com
Frank Darabont on His New TNT Show and Leaving The Walking Dead

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