Frank Darabont and TNT President Michael Wright talk...

Question: How hard did you fight to keep the L.A. Noir title?

Darabont: We both fought very hard to keep that title.

Wright: It was just not available. The simple answer is that we would love to have had that title. It was just very simply one of those things where the lawyers tell you what you can and can’t do.

Question: How did you end up working with both Jon Bernthal and Jeffrey DeMunn again?

Darabont: For me, it’s as simple as, I love these actors. I always want to work with them. And I had two roles in mind for them for a show, and god bless them for saying yes.

Question: How dark can this show get on TNT?

Wright: As dark as we need to get, to tell the story properly. To be honest, that’s always our approach. We never want to be gratuitous. If it’s germane, you do it. That really is our rule. With this particular series, an audience is coming to it with a vocabulary. They’ve seen the genre done. So, if you’re not authentic, it’s easily dismissed. So, our approach with Frank was, “Whatever you do, be authentic. Don’t be gratuitous, but this is an inherently violent, sexy, pulpy story.” That’s what makes it so rich. It has very high stakes and very big personalities, engaged in genuine life and death conflict. Using that description, you understand why a guy in my job is drawn to this story. So, our job is to say to Frank, “Do what you have to do to make it authentic and interesting.”

Darabont: What [Michael] actually said to me was, “I want to give my standards and practices people sleepless nights.”

All Interview = www.collider.com
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